What is the general way of handling complex results from functions with an object? A simple method might return true or false, and that would be all I need to know. A more complex method might return true or false, but there might be more information I would want to get out of the class, such as why it failed ( there might be several reasons ).
I could do it with an exception, but I’ve read in some places that using an exception for a “normal” functions isn’t good practice. Also since throwing an exception destroys the object, I can’t do anything else with it, so an exception wouldn’t work if I want to continue to use the object. It seems to me that an exception should be thrown when things are really wrong, not an expected, recoverable error.
So, another way to this is to have a result property after having run a method, and if that method returns false, I can ask what the result state for it is. Is this the way to do it?
Obvious solution: Return an array, like
("success" => false, "explanation" => "saw a mouse and ran screaming like a little girl", "solution" => "call an exterminator").