Safe Function Calls with attempt

By  on  

As browser implement new APIs, the truth is that though the APIs provide more power, I'd argue they bring about more volatility.  Whether it's the API that's the issue or us trying to use it, you're bound to run into errors which may break parts of your app.  Crap.  And a try/catch blocks everywhere?  Bleh.  That's why I use an attempt function in such cases:  it keeps the code cleaner and with less side effects.

The JavaScript

What we'll do is essentially call the function for the user, catching any crap that comes along:

function attempt(fn, args, binding) {
	try {
		return fn.apply(binding, args);
	} catch(e) {
		console.log('Exception, fix me please', e);
	}
}

// Use it!
attempt(function() {
	/* volatile stuff */
}, ['argOne', someVar], this);

Provide the function, args, and binding and you're all set.  You can use anonymous functions, named functions, whatever.  And you don't need to add your own try/catch blocks everywhere.  Nothing groundbreaking in the code above but it's safe and easy!

Recent Features

  • By
    Facebook Open Graph META Tags

    It's no secret that Facebook has become a major traffic driver for all types of websites.  Nowadays even large corporations steer consumers toward their Facebook pages instead of the corporate websites directly.  And of course there are Facebook "Like" and "Recommend" widgets on every website.  One...

  • By
    5 More HTML5 APIs You Didn’t Know Existed

    The HTML5 revolution has provided us some awesome JavaScript and HTML APIs.  Some are APIs we knew we've needed for years, others are cutting edge mobile and desktop helpers.  Regardless of API strength or purpose, anything to help us better do our job is a...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Create a 3D Panorama Image with A-Frame

    In the five years I've been at Mozilla I've seen some awesome projects.  Some of them very popular, some of them very niche, but none of them has inspired me the way the MozVR team's work with WebVR and A-Frame project have. A-Frame is a community project...

  • By
    Form Element AJAX Spinner Attachment Using MooTools

    Many times you'll see a form dynamically change available values based on the value of a form field. For example, a "State" field will change based on which Country a user selects. What annoys me about these forms is that they'll often do an...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!