Customizable Error Handling for findOrFail in Lucid Models

[Natchii59]

Context

Currently, in AdonisJS, when using the findOrFail method on a Lucid model, if the record is not found, a lucid E_ROW_NOT_FOUND error is thrown by default. While this exception provides useful information, it would be beneficial to allow developers to customize this default error at the model level.

Proposal

I propose adding a feature that allows setting a default exception for record retrieval methods (like findOrFail) directly on the respective model. This configuration would enable specifying a custom exception for cases where the record is not found.

Example

Here’s an example of what the implementation could look like:

export default class User extends BaseModel {
  @column({ isPrimary: true })
  declare id: number

  @column()
  declare fullName: string | null

  @column.dateTime({ autoCreate: true })
  declare createdAt: DateTime

  @column.dateTime({ autoCreate: true, autoUpdate: true })
  declare updatedAt: DateTime | null

  // Adding a custom exception for findOrFail
  static failException = UserNotFoundException
}

Benefits

1. Enhanced Customization: Allows developers to better control the execution flow by adapting errors to their specific needs.
2. Readability: Makes the code clearer and more explicit about the types of errors to expect when a record is missing.
3. Reusability: Facilitates consistent error handling and avoids duplicating logic across different parts of the application.

Conclusion

This feature would provide more flexibility and clarity in error handling within AdonisJS applications. I would be happy to collaborate on the implementation of this proposal or provide any other necessary contribution.

[Xstoudi]

I don't think hyper-specializing the exception at model level is useful, especially if the goal is to be able to end up with <ModelName>NotFoundException for each model.

However, if you consider it's related to your proposal, I think it would be interesting to be able to recover the model who threw the exception like it's possible in Laravel. Something like:

if (error.code === 'E_ROW_NOT_FOUND') {
  console.log(error.model.name) // error.model is User model class
}
```
It was already very briefly discussed here : https://github.com/orgs/adonisjs/discussions/3946