intl: doc explaining error conventions

1 files changed, 83 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/ext/intl/ERROR.CONVENTIONS b/ext/intl/ERROR.CONVENTIONS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..54f30edcaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/intl/ERROR.CONVENTIONS
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+The intl extension has particular conventions regarding error reporting.
+These conventions are enumerated in this document.
+
+:: The last error is always stored globally.
+
+The global error code can be obtained in userland with intl_get_error_code().
+This is a U_* error code defined by ICU, but it does not have necessarily to be
+returned obtained after a call to an ICU function. That is to say, the internal
+PHP wrapper functions can set these error codes when appropriate. For instance,
+in response to bad arguments (e.g. zend_parse_parameters() failure), the PHP
+wrapper function should set the global error code to U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR).
+
+The error code (an integer) can be converter to the corresponding enum name
+string in userland with intl_error_name().
+
+The associated message can be obtained with intl_get_error_message(). This is a
+message set by the PHP wrapping code, not by ICU. The message should include the
+name of the function that failed in order to make debugging easier (though if
+you activate warnings with intl.error_level or exceptions with
+intl.use_exceptions you get more fine-grained information about where the
+error ocurred).
+
+The internal PHP code can set the global last error with:
+void intl_error_set_code(intl_error* err, UErrorCode err_code TSRMLS_DC);
+void intl_error_set_custom_msg(intl_error* err, char* msg, int copyMsg TSRMLS_DC);
+void intl_error_set(intl_error* err, UErrorCode code, char* msg, int copyMsg TSRMLS_DC);
+
+and by passing NULL as the first parameter. The last function is a combination
+of the first two. If the message is not a static buffer, copyMsg should be 1.
+This makes the message string be copied and freed when no longer needed. There's
+no way to pass ownership of the string without it being copied. 
+
+
+:: The last is ALSO stored in the object whose method call triggered the error,
+   unless the error is due to bad arguments, in which case only the global error
+   should be set
+
+Objects store an intl_error structed in their private data. For instance:
+typedef struct {
+	zend_object	zo;
+	intl_error  err;
+	Calendar*	ucal;
+} Calendar_object;
+
+The global error and the object error can be SIMULTANEOUSLY set with these
+functions:
+void intl_errors_set_custom_msg(intl_error* err, char* msg, int copyMsg TSRMLS_DC);
+void intl_errors_set_code(intl_error* err, UErrorCode err_code TSRMLS_DC);
+void intl_errors_set(intl_error* err, UErrorCode code, char* msg, int copyMsg TSRMLS_DC);
+
+by passing a pointer to the object's intl_error structed as the first parameter.
+Node the extra 's' in the functions' names ('errors', not 'error').
+
+Static methods should only set the global error.
+
+
+:: Intl classes that can be instantiated should provide ::getErrorCode() and
+   getErrorMessage() methods
+
+These methods are used to retrieve the error codes stored in the object's
+private intl_error structured and mirror the global intl_get_error_code() and
+intl_get_error_message().
+
+
+:: Intl methods and functions should return FALSE on error (even argument
+   parsing errors), not NULL. Constructors and factory methods are the
+   exception; these should return NULL, not FALSE.
+
+Not that constructors in Intl generally (always?) don't throws exceptions.
+They instead destroy the object to that the result of new IntlClass() can
+be NULL. This may be surprising.
+
+
+:: Intl functions and methods should reset the global error before doing
+   anything else (even parse the arguments); instance methods should also reset
+   the object's private error
+
+Errors should be lost after a function call. This is different from the way
+ICU operates, where functions return immediately if an error is set.
+
+Error resetting can be done with:
+void intl_error_reset(NULL TSRMLS_DC);				/* reset global error */
+void intl_errors_reset(intl_error* err TSRMLS_DC );	/* reset global and object error */