Do I need to create a variable/object to return when catching an exception?

Question

I have this way of handling exceptions for some time now, but lately has been bothering me.

    protected function sendPostmarkBatch($envios_preparados)
    {
        try {
            $client = new PostmarkClient($this->postmarkToken());

            $sendResult = $client->sendEmailBatchWithTemplate($envios_preparados);

        } catch (PostmarkException $e) {
            log_message('error', 'HTTP: ' . $e->httpStatusCode . ' MESSAGE: ' . $e->message . ' ERROR CODE: ' . $e->postmarkApiErrorCode);

            $sendResult = new stdClass();
            $sendResult->ErrorCode = $e->postmarkApiErrorCode;
        } catch (Exception $generalException) {
            log_message('error', 'GENERAL EXCEPTION: ' . $generalException);

            $sendResult = new stdClass();
            $sendResult->ErrorCode = '1';           
        }

        return $sendResult;     
    }

Is it really necessary to create the object or variable $sendResult at 'catch' to return it or it's already created even if 'try' fails? Is there a better way of doing it?

Thanks!

Answer 1

It's necessary.

I'm not sure if it's suits your logic, but you can do something like this:

    protected function sendPostmarkBatch($envios_preparados)
    {
        $sendResult = new stdClass();
        
        try {
            $client = new PostmarkClient($this->postmarkToken());

            $sendResult = $client->sendEmailBatchWithTemplate($envios_preparados);

        } catch (PostmarkException $e) {
            log_message('error', 'HTTP: ' . $e->httpStatusCode . ' MESSAGE: ' . $e->message . ' ERROR CODE: ' . $e->postmarkApiErrorCode);

            $sendResult->ErrorCode = $e->postmarkApiErrorCode;
        } catch (Exception $generalException) {
            log_message('error', 'GENERAL EXCEPTION: ' . $generalException);

            $sendResult->ErrorCode = '1';           
        }

        return $sendResult;     
    }

If $client->sendEmailBatchWithTemplate($envios_preparados) fails, your $sendResult variable won't be overwrited.