Best Practices and Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Performance Considerations

• Rate Limiting: Always respect rate limiting to avoid notification spam
• Conditional Loading: Only load integration code when the target plugin is active
• Non-blocking: Use non-blocking HTTP requests for external notifications
• Memory Management: Be mindful of memory usage in error handlers

Security

• Sanitize Data: Always sanitize error data before processing
• Capability Checks: Verify user capabilities before allowing configuration changes
• Nonce Verification: Use nonces for AJAX requests and form submissions
• Data Validation: Validate all input data, especially from external sources

Error Handling

• Graceful Degradation: Ensure your code doesn’t break if Fatal Error Notify is deactivated
• Avoid Recursion: Be careful not to trigger errors within error handlers
• Logging: Use WordPress’s built-in logging functions when possible
• Testing: Test error scenarios thoroughly, including edge cases

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Not Appearing in Settings

• Ensure the target plugin class exists and is loaded
• Check that your integration is registered with the fen_integrations filter
• Verify the integration file is being included properly

Notifications Not Sending

• Check if the error type is enabled in the plugin settings
• Verify rate limiting isn’t preventing notifications
• Ensure the error isn’t being filtered out by custom hooks
• Check notification channel settings (email, Slack, etc.)

Custom Error Types Not Working

• Ensure error types are returned by get_error_types()
• Check that the error type matches exactly (case-sensitive)
• Verify the integration prefix is being added correctly

Debugging

Enable WordPress debug logging to troubleshoot issues:

// Add to wp-config.php
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

// Add debug logging to your integration
error_log( 'FEN Debug: ' . print_r( $error_data, true ) );

Examples

Custom Error Logger

/**
 * Log all Fatal Error Notify errors to a custom table.
 */
add_action( 'fen_handle_error', function( $error ) {
    global $wpdb;
    
    $wpdb->insert(
        $wpdb->prefix . 'custom_error_log',
        array(
            'error_type' => $error['type'],
            'message'    => $error['message'],
            'file'       => isset( $error['file'] ) ? $error['file'] : '',
            'line'       => isset( $error['line'] ) ? $error['line'] : 0,
            'user_id'    => isset( $error['user'] ) ? $error['user'] : 0,
            'url'        => isset( $error['url'] ) ? $error['url'] : '',
            'timestamp'  => current_time( 'mysql' ),
        ),
        array( '%s', '%s', '%s', '%d', '%d', '%s', '%s' )
    );
} );

Conditional Notifications

/**
 * Only send notifications during business hours.
 */
add_filter( 'fen_ignore_error', function( $ignore, $error ) {
    $current_hour = (int) current_time( 'H' );
    
    // Business hours: 9 AM to 5 PM
    if ( $current_hour < 9 || $current_hour >= 17 ) {
        // Still log critical errors, but don't send notifications
        if ( isset( $error['type'] ) && $error['type'] !== E_ERROR ) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    
    return $ignore;
}, 10, 2 );

Enhanced Error Context

/**
 * Add additional context to all error notifications.
 */
add_filter( 'fen_error', function( $error ) {
    // Add server information
    $error['message'] .= "\n\n--- Server Info ---\n";
    $error['message'] .= "PHP Version: " . PHP_VERSION . "\n";
    $error['message'] .= "WordPress Version: " . get_bloginfo( 'version' ) . "\n";
    $error['message'] .= "Memory Usage: " . size_format( memory_get_usage( true ) ) . "\n";
    $error['message'] .= "Peak Memory: " . size_format( memory_get_peak_usage( true ) ) . "\n";
    
    // Add active plugins
    if ( function_exists( 'get_plugins' ) ) {
        $active_plugins = get_option( 'active_plugins', array() );
        $error['message'] .= "Active Plugins: " . count( $active_plugins ) . "\n";
    }
    
    return $error;
} );