fix: provide generic exception handling functionality

Introduce a log helper with static functions to get exception message /
exception stack whatever is thrown or provided.

Closes: hyperledger#1702
Signed-off-by: Michael Courtin <michael.courtin@accenture.com>

packages/cactus-cmd-api-server/src/main/typescript/api-server.ts

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import {
   Bools,
   Logger,
   LoggerProvider,
+  LogHelper,
   Servers,
 } from "@hyperledger/cactus-common";
 
@@ -241,7 +242,8 @@ export class ApiServer {
 
       return { addressInfoCockpit, addressInfoApi, addressInfoGrpc };
     } catch (ex) {
-      const errorMessage = `Failed to start ApiServer: ${ex.stack}`;
+      const stack = LogHelper.getExceptionStack(ex);
+      const errorMessage = `Failed to start ApiServer: ${stack}`;
       this.log.error(errorMessage);
       this.log.error(`Attempting shutdown...`);
       try {
@@ -296,9 +298,10 @@ export class ApiServer {
         await this.getPluginImportsCount(),
       );
       return this.pluginRegistry;
-    } catch (e) {
+    } catch (ex) {
       this.pluginRegistry = new PluginRegistry({ plugins: [] });
-      const errorMessage = `Failed init PluginRegistry: ${e.stack}`;
+      const stack = LogHelper.getExceptionStack(ex);
+      const errorMessage = `Failed init PluginRegistry: ${stack}`;
       this.log.error(errorMessage);
       throw new Error(errorMessage);
     }

packages/cactus-common/src/main/typescript/logging/log-helper.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+import { RuntimeError } from "run-time-error";
+
+export class LogHelper {
+  public static getExceptionStack(exception: unknown): string {
+    // handle unknown exception input
+    const defaultStack = "NO_STACK_INFORMATION_INCLUDED_IN_EXCEPTION";
+    const invalidStack = "INVALID_STACK_INFORMATION";
+    let stack = defaultStack;
+    let exceptionHandled = false;
+
+    // 1st need to check that exception is not null or undefined before trying to access the wanted stack information
+    if (exception) {
+      if (exception instanceof RuntimeError) {
+        // handling RuntimeError stack inclusive nested / cascaded stacks
+        stack = this.safeJsonStringify(exception);
+        exceptionHandled = true;
+      }
+
+      if (!exceptionHandled && typeof exception === "object") {
+        // 2nd need to check if a stack property is available
+        if (Object.hasOwnProperty.call(exception, "stack")) {
+          // 3rd check if the stack property is already of type string
+          if (
+            typeof (exception as Record<string, unknown>).stack === "string"
+          ) {
+            stack = (exception as { stack: string }).stack;
+          } else {
+            // need to stringify stack information first
+            stack = this.safeJsonStringify(
+              (exception as { stack: unknown }).stack,
+              invalidStack,
+            );
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return stack;
+  }
+
+  public static getExceptionMessage(exception: unknown): string {
+    // handle unknown exception input
+    const defaultMessage = "NO_MESSAGE_INCLUDED_IN_EXCEPTION";
+    const invalidException = "INVALID_EXCEPTION";
+    const invalidMessage = "INVALID_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE";
+    const customExceptionPrefix = "A CUSTOM EXCEPTION WAS THROWN: ";
+    let message = defaultMessage;
+    let exceptionHandled = false;
+
+    // 1st need to check that exception is not null or undefined before trying to access the wanted message information
+    if (exception) {
+      if (typeof exception === "object") {
+        // 2nd need to check if a message property is available
+        if (Object.hasOwnProperty.call(exception, "message")) {
+          // 3rd check if the message property is already of type string
+          if (
+            typeof (exception as Record<string, unknown>).message === "string"
+          ) {
+            message = (exception as { message: string }).message;
+          } else {
+            // need to stringify message information first
+            message = this.safeJsonStringify(
+              (exception as { message: unknown }).message,
+              invalidMessage,
+            );
+          }
+          exceptionHandled = true;
+        }
+      }
+
+      // handling of custom exceptions
+      if (!exceptionHandled) {
+        // check if thrown custom exception is a string type only -> directly use it as exception message
+        if (typeof exception === "string") {
+          message = exception;
+        } else {
+          // custom exception is of a different type -> need to stringify it
+          message =
+            customExceptionPrefix &&
+            this.safeJsonStringify(exception, invalidException);
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return message;
+  }
+
+  private static safeJsonStringify(
+    input: unknown,
+    catchMessage = "INVALID_INPUT",
+  ): string {
+    let message = "";
+
+    try {
+      message = JSON.stringify(input);
+    } catch (error) {
+      // stringify failed maybe due to cyclic dependency
+      message = catchMessage;
+    }
+    return message;
+  }
+}

packages/cactus-common/src/main/typescript/public-api.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 export { LoggerProvider } from "./logging/logger-provider";
+export { LogHelper } from "./logging/log-helper";
 export { Logger, ILoggerOptions } from "./logging/logger";
 export { LogLevelDesc } from "loglevel";
 export { Objects } from "./objects";