Uncaught exceptions in 4.2 Drupal 6

I've received several uncaught exceptions in 4.2 for Drupal 6 in different circumstances. I think it must be some problem with how the error system is handling errors in different circumstances.

The errors stop processing and end up on a white screen with the backtrace shown.

I have received these in various circumstances but most often when extensions ExtendedReport and CiviDiscount Module Extension were enabled and I then searched for and tried to delete test contributions (error after selecting a test contribution from the search result and trying to delete it) and on merging duplicate contacts (error upon submitting the form to complete the merge).

I'm making the bug report about the way the errors were handled more so than the errors themselves. These errors stopped processing of the merge or delete actions and ended up on a white screen with plain text rather than the usual more sophisticated error handling that CiviCRM does.

More details about the error messages are in this forum thread:

http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,25856.msg109387.html#msg109387

Some example error messages:

Merging two records:

Quote
<br />
<b>Fatal error</b>: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'A fatal error was triggered' in /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php:262
Stack trace:
#0 /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Contact/Form/Merge.php(185): CRM_Core_Error::fatal('The main contac...')
#1 /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/Form.php(338): CRM_Contact_Form_Merge->preProcess()
#2 /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/StateMachine.php(135): CRM_Core_Form->buildForm()
#3 /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/QuickForm/Action/Next.php(60): CRM_Core_StateMachine->perform(Object(CRM_Contact_Form_Merge), 'next', 'Next')
#4 /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/packages/HTML/QuickForm/Controller.php(203): CRM_Core_QuickForm_Action_Next->perform(Object(CRM_Contact_Form_Merge), 'next')
#5 /OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/packages/HTML/QuickForm/Page.php(103): HTML_QuickForm_Controller->handle(Object(CRM_Contact_Form_Merge in <b>/OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php</b> on line <b>262</b><br />

Merging two records:

Quote
Fatal error: Uncaught <table border="1" cellspacing="0"> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#ff9999"> <b>PEAR_Exception</b>: DB Error: syntax error in <b>unknown</b> on line <b>unknown</b></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#ff9999">- <b>DB_Error</b>: DB Error: syntax error in <b>unknown</b> on line <b>unknown</b></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#aaaaaa" align="center"><b>Exception trace</b></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc" width="20"><b>#</b></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc"><b>Function</b></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc"><b>Location</b></td></tr> <tr><td align="center">0</td><td>CRM_Core_Error::exceptionHandler(Object(DB_Error))</td><td>unknown:unknown</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">1</td><td>call_user_func(Array, Object(DB_Error))</td><td>/OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/packages/PEAR.php:931</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">2</td><td>PEAR_Error->PEAR_Error('DB Error: syntax…', -2, 16, Array, 'SELECT id, item_…')</td><td>/OUR/WEB/SITE/si in/OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php on line 568

Merging two records:

Quote
Fatal error: Uncaught <table border="1" cellspacing="0"> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#ff9999"> <b>PEAR_Exception</b>: DB Error: a515ac9c2796ca0e23adbe92c68fc9fc in <b>unknown</b> on line <b>unknown</b></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#ff9999">- <b>DB_Error</b>: DB Error: a515ac9c2796ca0e23adbe92c68fc9fc in <b>unknown</b> on line <b>unknown</b></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#aaaaaa" align="center"><b>Exception trace</b></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc" width="20"><b>#</b></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc"><b>Function</b></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc"><b>Location</b></td></tr> <tr><td align="center">0</td><td>CRM_Core_Error::exceptionHandler(Object(DB_Error))</td><td>unknown:unknown</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">1</td><td>call_user_func(Array, Object(DB_Error))</td><td>/OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/packages/PEAR.php:931</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">2</td><td>PEAR_Error->PEAR_Error('DB Error: a515ac…', 'a515ac9c2796ca0e…', 16, Array in/OUR/WEB/SITE/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php on line 568

On trying to delete test contributions:

Quote
Fatal error: Uncaught <table border="1" cellspacing="0"> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#ff9999"> <b>PEAR_Exception</b>: DB Error: syntax error in <b>unknown</b> on line <b>unknown</b></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#ff9999">- <b>DB_Error</b>: DB Error: syntax error in <b>unknown</b> on line <b>unknown</b></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" bgcolor="#aaaaaa" align="center"><b>Exception trace</b></td></tr> <tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc" width="20"><b>#</b></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc"><b>Function</b></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cccccc"><b>Location</b></td></tr> <tr><td align="center">0</td><td>CRM_Core_Error::exceptionHandler(Object(DB_Error))</td><td>unknown:unknown</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">1</td><td>call_user_func(Array, Object(DB_Error))</td><td>/home/OUR/WEB/SITE/DIRECTORY/sites/all/modules/civicrm/packages/PEAR.php:931</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">2</td><td>PEAR_Error->PEAR_Error('DB Error: syntax…', -2, 16, Array, 'SELECT id, item_…')</td><td>/home/mobikefed/www/www/si in/home/OUR/WEB/SITE/DIRECTORY/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php on line 568