Robust Error Handling in Scala

Example.scala

import scalaz.\/
import scalaz.syntax.either._

object Example2 {
  // This example simulates error handling for a simple three tier web application
  //
  // The tiers are:
  // - the HTTP service
  // - a user authentication layer
  // - a database layer
  //
  // Each stage defines its own error types

  // A few type aliases for clarity
  type Query = String
  type Host = String
  type Username = String
  type Password = String

  final case class User(username: Username, firstName: String, lastName: String, password: Password)

  object HttpService {
    sealed trait HttpError extends Exception
    final case class CouldNotAuthenticate(username: Username) extends HttpError
    // We don't store any infomration about the cause of an internal
    // error as we don't want to leak internal information to
    // attackers.
    final case object InternalError extends HttpError

    // After calling login we would have a conversion to some kind of
    // HTTP response (not shown). The type is:
    //  \/[HttpError, User] => HttpResponse
    // or in abstract
    //  A => B
    // Readers of Essential Scala should recognise this as a fold
    def login(username: Username, password: Password): \/[HttpError, User] =
      // We use leftMap to convert the error type from the layer below
      // into the error type used at this layer. This is boilerplate to
      // some extent, but there are good reasons for changing how we
      // report errors, which we see here as we want to avoid leaking
      // information to attackers. In a real system we'd also have
      // some kind of logging to record information we need for
      // debugging.
      AuthenticationService.login(username, password).leftMap {
          // Don't leak information about why a login attempt
          // failed. Letting an attacker know they have found a valid
          // username allows them to focus attacks.
        case AuthenticationService.NotFound(username) =>
          CouldNotAuthenticate(username)
        case AuthenticationService.BadPassword(username, password) =>
          CouldNotAuthenticate(username)
        case AuthenticationService.DatabaseError(error) =>
          InternalError
      } 
  }

  object AuthenticationService {
    sealed trait ServiceError
    final case class BadPassword(username: Username, password: Password) extends ServiceError
    final case class NotFound(username: Username) extends ServiceError
    final case class DatabaseError(error: DatabaseService.DatabaseError) extends ServiceError

    def login(username: Username, password: Password): \/[ServiceError, User] =
      for {
        user <- DatabaseService.findUserByUsername(username).leftMap {
          case DatabaseService.NotFound(u) => NotFound(u)
          case e @ DatabaseService.CouldNotAuthenticate(u, p) => DatabaseError(e)
          case e @ DatabaseService.CouldNotConnect(h) => DatabaseError(e)
        }
        _    <- checkPassword(user, password)
      } yield user

    def checkPassword(user: User, password: Password): \/[ServiceError, User] =
      if(user.password == password)
        user.right
      else
        BadPassword(user.username, password).left
  }

  object DatabaseService {
    sealed trait DatabaseError
    final case class NotFound(username: Username) extends DatabaseError
    final case class CouldNotConnect(host: Host) extends DatabaseError
    final case class CouldNotAuthenticate(username: Username, password: Password) extends DatabaseError

    def findUserByUsername(username: Username): \/[DatabaseError, User] =
      // Simulate network and system errors
      Math.random() match {
        case p if p < 0.1 => CouldNotConnect("database.server").left
        case p if p < 0.2 => CouldNotAuthenticate("user", "password").left
        case _ =>
          username match {
            case "noelw" => User("noelw", "Noel", "Welsh", "soverysecret").right
            case "daveg" => User("daveg", "Dave", "Gurnell", "\\m/").right
            case _ => NotFound(username).left
          }
      }
  }
}