From 5fa73a1f17f34af26b93c2b232e2c2cf386a04b5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alex Holliday <ajhollid@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 May 2024 11:03:12 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Added documentation for error handling

---
 README.md                         | 37 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 Server/middleware/handleErrors.js |  9 +++++---
 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5440f0e7d..a8e1b1f32 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ BlueWave uptime monitoring application
     - <code>POST</code> [/api/v1/monitors](#post-monitors)
     - <code>POST</code> [/api/v1/monitors/delete/{monitorId}](#post-monitors-del-id)
     - <code>POST</code> [/api/v1/monitors/edit/{monitorId}](#post-monitors-edit-id)
-5.  [Contributors](#contributors)
+5.  [Error Handling](#error-handling)
+6.  [Contributors](#contributors)
 
 ---
 
@@ -544,6 +545,40 @@ curl --request POST \
 
 ---
 
+### Error handling {#error-handling}
+
+Errors are returned in a standard format:
+
+`{"success": false, "msg": "No token provided"}`
+
+Errors are handled by error handling middleware and should be thrown with the following parameters
+
+| Name    | Type      | Default                | Notes                                |
+| ------- | --------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
+| status  | `integer` | 500                    | Standard HTTP codes                  |
+| message | `string`  | "Something went wrong" | An error message                     |
+| service | `string`  | "Unknown Service"      | Name of service that threw the error |
+
+Example:
+
+```
+const myRoute = async(req, res, next) => {
+  try{
+    const result = myRiskyOperationHere();
+  }
+  catch(error){
+    error.status = 404
+    error.message = "Resource not found"
+    error.service = service name
+    next(error)
+    return;
+  }
+}
+
+```
+
+Errors should not be handled at the controller level and should be left to the middleware to handle.
+
 ## Contributors
 
 <a href="https://github.com/bluewave-labs/bluewave-uptime/graphs/contributors">
diff --git a/Server/middleware/handleErrors.js b/Server/middleware/handleErrors.js
index 2febc6b31..78764c1e1 100644
--- a/Server/middleware/handleErrors.js
+++ b/Server/middleware/handleErrors.js
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 const logger = require("../utils/logger");
 
 const handleErrors = (error, req, res, next) => {
-  error.status = error.status ? error.status : 500;
-  logger.error(error.message, { service: error.service });
-  res.status(error.status).json({ success: false, msg: error.message });
+  const status = error.status || 500;
+  const message = error.message || "Something went wrong";
+  const service = error.errorService || "Unknown service";
+
+  logger.error(error.message, { service: service });
+  res.status(status).json({ success: false, msg: message });
 };
 
 module.exports = { handleErrors };