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
    Create a Sheen Logo Effect with CSS

    I was inspired when I first saw Addy Osmani's original ShineTime blog post.  The hover sheen effect is simple but awesome.  When I started my blog redesign, I really wanted to use a sheen effect with my logo.  Using two HTML elements and...

  • By
    7 Essential JavaScript Functions

    I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent.  Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Using jQuery and MooTools Together

    There's yet another reason to master more than one JavaScript library: you can use some of them together! Since MooTools is prototype-based and jQuery is not, jQuery and MooTools may be used together on the same page. The XHTML and JavaScript jQuery is namespaced so the...

  • By
    jQuery Link Nudging

    A few weeks back I wrote an article about MooTools Link Nudging, which is essentially a classy, subtle link animation achieved by adding left padding on mouseover and removing it on mouseout. Here's how to do it using jQuery: The jQuery JavaScript It's important to keep...

Discussion

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