common-errors

Common error classes and utility functions

• Full suite of node.js Error classes like most other modern languages
• Append stack traces from other asynchronously generated Errors
• Generate your own custom Error classes in one line
• Map HTTP status codes to Errors for automatic handling in web services and applications

Install

npm install common-errors

Class Directory

Common Error Classes

• AlreadyInUseError
• ArgumentError
• ArgumentNullError
• AuthenticationRequiredError
• ConnectionError
• DataError
  • MemcacedError
  • MongoDBError
  • RedisError
  • RollbackError
  • SQLError
  • TransactionError
• Error
• HttpStatusError
• InvalidOperationError
• IOError
  • DirectoryNotFoundError
  • DriveNotFoundError
  • EndOfStreamError
  • FileLoadError
  • FileNotFoundError
  • SocketError
• NotFoundError
• NotImplementedError
• NotPermittedError
• NotSupportedError
• OutOfMemoryError
• RangeError
• ReferenceError
• StackOverflowError
• SyntaxError
• TimeoutError
• TypeError
• URIError
• ValidationError

Utility Functions

• log
• prependCurrentStack
• generateClass

Express Middleware Functions

• Crash Protector
• Error Handler

Common Error Classes

AlreadyInUseError

Applicable when a resource is already in use, for example unique key constraints like a username.

new AlreadyInUseError(entityName, arg1, [arg2, arg3, arg4, ...])

Arguments

• entityName - the entity that owns the protected resource
• args - the fields or attributes that are already in use

// Example
throw new errors.AlreadyInUseError('user', 'username');

ArgumentError

Applicable when there's a generic problem with an argument received by a function call.

new ArgumentError(argumentName[, inner_error])

Arguments

• argumentName - the name of the argument that has a problem
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.ArgumentError('username', err);

ArgumentNullError

Applicable when an argument received by a function call is null/undefined or empty.

new ArgumentNullError(argumentName[, inner_error])

Arguments

• argumentName - the name of the argument that is null
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.ArgumentNullError('username', err);

AuthenticationRequiredError

Applicable when an operation requires authentication

new AuthenticationRequiredError(message, [inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.AuthenticationRequiredError("Please provide authentication.", err)

ConnectionError

Applicable when an error occurs on a connection.

new ConnectionError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.ConnectionError('database connection no longer available', err);

DataError

Applicable when an error occurs on or with an external data source.

new DataError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.DataError('Too many rows returned from database', err);

MemcachedError

Applicable when an error occurs while using memcached.

new MemcachedError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.MemcachedError('Expected value not found', err);

MongoDBError

Applicable when an error occurs while using MongoDB.

new MongoDBError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.MongoDBError('Retrieved value not in expected format', err);

RedisError

Applicable when an error occurs while using redis.

new RedisError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.RedisError('expected value not found in redis', err);

RollbackError

Applicable when a transaction was unexpectedly rolled back.

new RollbackError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.RollbackError('database transaction was unexpectedly rolled back', err);

SQLError

Applicable when an error occurs while using a SQL database.

new SQLError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.SQLError('foreign key constraint violated', err);

TransactionError

Applicable when an error unexpectedly interrupts a transaction.

new TransactionError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.data.TransactionError('transaction already complete', err);

Error

This is roughly the same as the native Error class. It additionally supports an inner_error attribute.

new Error(message, [inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.Error("Please provide authentication.", err)

HttpStatusError

Represents a message and a HTTP status code.

new HttpStatusError(status_code[, message])

Arguments

• status_code - any HTTP status code integer
• message - any message

// Example
throw new errors.HttpStatusError(404, "Not Found");

new HttpStatusError(err[, req])

Figure out a proper status code and message from a given error. The current mapping of error codes to HTTP status codes is as follows:

{
    "ValidationError": 400,
    "ArgumentError": 400,
    "AuthenticationRequiredError": 401,
    "NotPermittedError": 403,
    "ArgumentNullError": 404 // , or 400 depending on what's wrong with the request
    "NotFoundError": 404,
    "NotSupportedError": 405,
    "AlreadyInUseError": 409,
}

To change the mappings, modify HttpStatusError.message_map and HttpStatusError.code_map

Arguments

• err - any instanceof Error
• req - the request object

// Example
throw new errors.HttpStatusError(err, req);

InvalidOperationError

Applicable when an invalid operation occurs.

new InvalidOperationError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.InvalidOperationError('divide by zero', err);

IOError

Base class for Errors while accessing information using streams, files and directories.

new IOError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.io.IOError("Could not open file", err)

DirectoryNotFoundError

Applicable when part of a file or directory cannot be found.

new DirectoryNotFoundError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.io.DirectoryNotFoundError("/var/log", err)

DriveNotFoundError

Applicable when trying to access a drive or share that is not available.

new DriveNotFoundError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.io.DriveNotFoundError("c", err)

EndOfStreamError

Applicable when reading is attempted past the end of a stream.

new EndOfStreamError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.io.EndOfStreamError("EOS while reading header", err)

FileLoadError

Applicable when a file is found and read but cannot be loaded.

new FileLoadError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• file_name - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.io.FileLoadError("./package.json", err)

FileNotFoundError

Applicable when an attempt to access a file that does not exist on disk fails.

new FileNotFoundError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• file_name - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.io.FileNotFoundError("./package.json", err)

SocketError

Applicable when an error occurs on a socket.

new SocketError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.SocketError('socket no longer available', err);

NotFoundError

Applicable when an attempt to retrieve data yielded no result.

new NotFoundError(entity_name[, inner_error])

Arguments

• entity_name - a description for what was not found
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.NotFoundError("User", err)

NotImplementedError

Applicable when a requested method or operation is not implemented.

new NotImplementedError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.NotImplementedError("Method is not yet implemented.", err)

NotPermittedError

Applicable when an operation is not permitted

new NotPermittedError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - any message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.NotPermittedError("username cannot be changed once set.", err)

NotSupportedError

Applicable when a certain condition is not supported by your application.

new NotSupportedError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.NotSupportedError('Zero values', err);

OutOfMemoryError

Applicable when there is not enough memory to continue the execution of a program.

new OutOfMemoryError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.OutOfMemoryError('Maximum mem size exceeded.', err);

RangeError

Represents an error that occurs when a numeric variable or parameter is outside of its valid range. This is roughly the same as the native RangeError class. It additionally supports an inner_error attribute.

new RangeError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.RangeError("Value must be between " + MIN + " and " + MAX, err);

ReferenceError

Represents an error when a non-existent variable is referenced. This is roughly the same as the native ReferenceError class. It additionally supports an inner_error attribute.

new ReferenceError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.ReferenceError("x is not defined", err);

StackOverflowError

Applicable when the execution stack overflows because it contains too many nested method calls.

new StackOverflowError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.StackOverflowError('Stack overflow detected.', err);

SyntaxError

Represents an error when trying to interpret syntactically invalid code. This is roughly the same as the native SyntaxError class. It additionally supports an inner_error attribute.

new SyntaxError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.SyntaxError("Unexpected token a", err);

TimeoutError

Applicable when an operation takes longer than the alloted amount.

new TimeoutError(time[, inner_error])

Arguments

• time - a time duration
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.TimeoutError('100ms', err);

TypeError

Represents an error when a value is not of the expected type. This is roughly the same as the native TypeError class. It additionally supports an inner_error attribute.

new TypeError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.TypeError("number is not a function", err);

URIError

Represents an error when a value is not of the expected type. This is roughly the same as the native URIError class. It additionally supports an inner_error attribute.

new URIError(message[, inner_error])

Arguments

• message - a message
• inner_error - the Error instance that caused the current error. Stack trace will be appended.

// Example
throw new errors.URIError("URI malformed", err);

ValidationError

Useful for denoting a problem with a user-defined value. Generally, you won't throw this error. It serializes to JSON, and it can also function as an envelope for multiple errors.

new ValidationError(message, [code], [field])

Arguments

• message - any message
• code - an optional error code
• field - an optional description of the data

Methods

• addError(error) - add an error object to the errors array, and return this.
• addErrors(errors) - append an array of error objects to the errors array, and return this.

// Example
function validateUsername(username){
	var errors = new errors.ValidationError();
	if(username.length < 3) errors.addError(new errors.ValidationError("username must be at least two characters long", "VAL_MIN_USERNAME_LENGTH", "username"));
	if(/-%$*&!/.test(username)) errors.addError(new errors.ValidationError("username may not contain special characters", "VAL_USERNAME_SPECIALCHARS", "username"));
	return errors;
}

Utility Functions

Log

Modifies an error's stack to include the current stack and logs it to stderr. Useful for logging errors received by a callback.

log(err[, message])

Arguments

• err - any error or error message received from a callback
• message - any message you'd like to prepend

// Example
mysql.query('SELECT * `FROM` users', function(err, results){
	if(err) return errors.log(err, "Had trouble retrieving users.");
	console.log(results);
});

prependCurrentStack

Modifies an error's stack to include the current stack without logging it. Useful for logging errors received by a callback.

prependCurrentStack(err)

Arguments

• err - any error or error message received from a callback

// Example
mysql.query('SELECT * `FROM` users', function(err, results){
	if(err) {
		return errors.prependCurrentStack(err); // caller has better idea of source of err
	}
	console.log(results);
});

generateClass

Simple interface for generating a new Error class type.

helpers.generateClass(name[, options])

Arguments

• name - The full name of the new Error class
• options
  • extends - The base class for the new Error class. Default is Error.
  • globalize - Boolean (default true) to store the Error in global space so that the Error is equivalent to others included from other versions of the module.
  • args - Array of names of values to accept and store from the class constructor. Default is ['message', 'inner_error'].
  • generateMessage - A function for defining a custom error message.

// Example
var ArgumentNullError = helpers.generateClass("ArgumentNullError", {
  extends: ArgumentError,
  args: ['argumentName'],
  generateMessage: function(){
    return "Missing argument: " + this.argumentName;
  }
});

throw new ArgumentNullError("username");

Express Middleware Functions

Crash Protector

Express middleware for preventing the web server from crashing when an error is thrown from an asynchronous context.
Any error that would have caused a crash is logged to stderr.

// Example
var app = express();

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/../public'));
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(errors.middleware.crashProtector());

//insert new middleware here

app.get('/healthcheck', function (req, res, next){res.send('YESOK')});

app.use(app.router);
app.use(errors.middleware.errorHandler);

module.exports = app;

Error Handler

Express middleware that translates common errors into HTTP status codes and messages.

// Example
var app = express();

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/../public'));
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(errors.middleware.crashProtector());

//insert new middleware here

app.get('/healthcheck', function (req, res, next){res.send('YESOK')});

app.use(app.router);
app.use(errors.middleware.errorHandler);

module.exports = app;

Authors

This library was developed by David Fenster at Shutterstock

Contribute

Please do! Check out our Contributing guidelines.

License

MIT © 2013-2017 Shutterstock Images, LLC