How should PHP developers approach error handling and validation when working with external libraries like JpGraph for graph visualization?

When working with external libraries like JpGraph for graph visualization in PHP, developers should ensure proper error handling and validation to prevent unexpected behavior or crashes. This can be achieved by checking for errors returned by the library functions and validating input data before passing it to the library. 

// Example of error handling and validation when working with JpGraph

// Validate input data before passing it to JpGraph
if (!is_numeric($dataPoint)) {
    throw new Exception('Invalid data point provided');
}

// Create a graph object
$graph = new Graph(800, 600);

// Check for errors when creating the graph
if ($graph === false) {
    throw new Exception('Error creating graph');
}

// Add data to the graph
$plot = new LinePlot($data);
$graph->Add($plot);

// Check for errors when adding data to the graph
if ($plot === false) {
    throw new Exception('Error adding data to graph');
}

// Render the graph
$graph->Stroke();

Keywords

PHP error handling validation JpGraph external libraries

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