How can PHP developers effectively handle error messages and validation checks to provide a smooth user experience in web applications?

To effectively handle error messages and validation checks in PHP web applications, developers can use try-catch blocks to catch exceptions and display user-friendly error messages. Additionally, they can implement server-side validation to ensure data integrity and prevent malicious input.

try {
    // Perform validation checks here
    if ($input_data < 0) {
        throw new Exception("Input data cannot be negative");
    }

    // Process the data if validation passes
    // ...
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
}