Logging and using the context information

Sometimes a log message is not enough to fix an error. For example, when you are following best practices by developing and testing an application with all possible errors reported, you can get an error message. However, without the execution context, it is only telling you that there was an error and it is not clear what actually caused it.

For our example, we will use a very simple and poorly coded action that just echoes Hello, <username>! where the username is taken directly from $_GET.

Getting ready

1. Configure PHP to use the most strict error reporting. In php.ini, replace the error_reporting value with -1. This change requires restarting the server.

2. Set up a fresh Yii application by using yiic webapp as described in the official guide.

How to do it...

Carry out the following steps:

1. First, we will need a controller to work with. Therefore, create protected/controllers/LogController.php as follows:

   <?php
   class LogController extends CController...