Laravel: Using try...catch with DB::transaction()

We all use DB::transaction() for multiple insert queries. In doing so, should a try...catch be placed inside it or wrapping it? Is it even necessary to include a try...catch when a transaction will automatically fail if something goes wrong?

Sample try...catch wrapping a transaction:

// try...catch
try {
	// Transaction
	$exception = DB::transaction(function() {

		// Do your SQL here
		
	});

	if(is_null($exception)) {
		return true;
	} else {
		throw new Exception;
	}

}
catch(Exception $e) {
	return false;
}

The opposite, a DB::transaction() wrapping a try...catch:

// Transaction
$exception = DB::transaction(function() {
	// try...catch
	try {

		// Do your SQL here
	
	}
	catch(Exception $e) {
		return $e;
	}
	
});

return is_null($exception) ? true : false;

Or simply a transaction w/o a try...catch

// Transaction only
$exception = DB::transaction(function() {

	// Do your SQL here
	
});

return is_null($exception) ? true : false;

In the case you need to manually 'exit' a transaction through code (be it through an exception or simply checking an error state) you shouldn't use DB::transaction() but instead wrap your code in DB::beginTransaction and DB::commit/DB::rollback():

DB::beginTransaction();

try {
    DB::insert(...);
    DB::insert(...);
    DB::insert(...);

    DB::commit();
    // all good
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    DB::rollback();
    // something went wrong
}

See the transaction docs.

If you use PHP7, use Throwable in catch for catching user exceptions and fatal errors.

For example:

DB::beginTransaction();

try {
    DB::insert(...);    
    DB::commit();
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    DB::rollback();
    throw $e;
}

If your code must be compartable with PHP5, use Exception and Throwable:

DB::beginTransaction();

try {
    DB::insert(...);    
    DB::commit();
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    DB::rollback();
    throw $e;
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    DB::rollback();
    throw $e;
}

You could wrapping the transaction over try..catch or even reverse them, here my example code I used to in laravel 5,, if you look deep inside DB:transaction() in Illuminate\Database\Connection that the same like you write manual transaction.

Laravel Transaction

public function transaction(Closure $callback)
    {
        $this->beginTransaction();

        try {
            $result = $callback($this);

            $this->commit();
        }

        catch (Exception $e) {
            $this->rollBack();

            throw $e;
        } catch (Throwable $e) {
            $this->rollBack();

            throw $e;
        }

        return $result;
    }

so you could write your code like this, and handle your exception like throw message back into your form via flash or redirect to another page. REMEMBER return inside closure is returned in transaction() so if you return redirect()->back() it won't redirect immediately, because the it returned at variable which handle the transaction.

Wrap Transaction

try {
    $result = DB::transaction(function () use ($request, $message) {
		// execute query 1
        // execute query 2
        // ..
    });          
	// redirect the page
	return redirect(route('account.article'));
} catch (\Exception $e) {
	return redirect()->back()->withErrors(['error' => $e->getMessage()]);
}

then the alternative is throw boolean variable and handle redirect outside transaction function or if your need to retrieve why transaction failed you can get it from $e->getMessage() inside catch(Exception $e){...}

I've decided to give an answer to this question because I think it can be solved using a simpler syntax than the convoluted try-catch block. The Laravel documentation is pretty brief on this subject.

Instead of using try-catch, you can just use the DB::transaction(){...} wrapper like this:

// MyController.php
public function store(Request $request) {
    return DB::transaction(function() use ($request) {
        $user = User::create([
            'username' => $request->post('username')
        ]);

        // Add some sort of "log" record for the sake of transaction:
        $log = Log::create([
            'message' => 'User Foobar created'
        ]);

        // Lets add some custom validation that will prohibit the transaction:
        if($user->id > 1) {
            throw AnyException('Please rollback this transaction');
        }

        return response()->json(['message' => 'User saved!']);
    });
};

You should see that in this setup the User and the Log record cannot exist without eachother.

Some notes on the implementation above:

• Make sure to return anything the transaction, so that you can use the response() you return within its callback as the response of the controller.
• Make sure to throw an exception if you want the transaction to be rollbacked (or have a nested function that throws the exception for you automatically, like any SQL exception from within Eloquent).
• The id, updated_at, created_at and any other fields are AVAILABLE AFTER CREATION for the $user object (for the duration of this transaction at least). The transaction will run through any of the creation logic you have. HOWEVER, the whole record is discarded when SomeCustomException is thrown. An auto-increment column for id does get incremented though on failed transactions.

Tested on Laravel 5.8

in laravel 8, you can use DB::transaction in try-catch. for example :

try{
    DB::transaction(function() {
        // do anything
    });
}
catch(){
    // do anything
}

if each of query be failed on try, the catch block be run.

I'm using Laravel 8 and you should wrap the transaction in a try-catch as follows:

try {
    DB::transaction(function () {
        // Perform your queries here using the models or DB facade
    });
}
catch (\Throwable $e) {
    // Do something with your exception
}