Pushing data to an analytics API

Question

This is code that handles pushing data to an analytics API, and IMO it feels too much like Java.

logActivity is a method that uses Dispatch to POST the data to this API. I am worried that an exception could occur and that is why I wrapped the methods in a try/catch block. However, this feels very Javaesque.

Do I even need the try/catch block? Can logActivity method fail and cause the end point to stop working? Any better ways to do this?

 def buyLinkAnalytics(notif: Notification, reqInfo: RequestInfo): Unit = {
 try {
 logActivity(buy_link_requested, Some(LoggedInAccount(AccountId(notif.emails.get.to._id))), notif.productId.get._id.toString, None, reqInfo)
 } catch {
 case e: Exception => {
 log.error(e.toString)
 }
 }
}
 def productShareAnalytics(notif:Notification, reqInfo:RequestInfo): Unit = {
 try {
 logActivity(product_shared, Some(LoggedInAccount(AccountId(notif.emails.get.to._id))), notif.productId.get._id.toString, None, reqInfo)
 } catch {
 case e: Exception => {
 log.error(e.toString)
 }
 }
 }
 def welcomeAnalytics(notif:Notification, reqInfo:RequestInfo): Unit = {
 val uri = reqInfo.stripedUri
 try {
 logActivity(welcome, Some(LoggedInAccount(notif.accounts.get.from.get)), uri, None, reqInfo)
 } catch {
 case e: Exception => {
 log.error(e.toString)
 }
 }
 }
 def myCatalogAnalytics(notif:Notification, reqInfo:RequestInfo): Unit = {
 val uri = reqInfo.stripedUri
 try {
 logActivity(welcome, Some(LoggedInAccount(notif.accounts.get.from.get)), uri, None, reqInfo)
 } catch {
 case e: Exception => {
 log.error(e.toString)
 }
 }
 }
 def handleAnalytics(notif:Notification, reqInfo:RequestInfo) {
 notif.notification match {
 case BuyProduct => buyLinkAnalytics(notif, reqInfo)
 case ProductShare => productShareAnalytics(notif, reqInfo)
 case Welcome => welcomeAnalytics(notif, reqInfo)
 case MyCatalog => myCatalogAnalytics(notif, reqInfo)
 case _ => log.debug("Notification Type not found. Nothing put into analytics")
 }
 }
 def sendActivityLog[A] (account_id: String, activityLog: A, authParams: Map[String, String] = Map.empty[String, String], endpoint: String)(implicit fmt: Format[A]) = {
 val activityLogJson = Json.stringify (Json.toJson (activityLog))
 val scv = url(s"${config.getString("activity_log.url")}$endpoint/$account_id?key=wc_analytics") << activityLogJson <:< Map("Content-Type" -> "application/json") <:< authParams
 logger.debug(s"LOGGED: ${scv.url} << $activityLogJson")
 Http (scv OK as.String)
 }
 def logActivity (
 action : String,
 visitor : Option[Visitor],
 uri : String,
 target_id : Option[String],
 requestInfo : RequestInfo,
 context : String = "-") = {
 import core.security.AppId.WcApp
 // In theory, no loggable business event should ever occur without an AppId.
 // But default to WC if we have to.
 val appId = requestInfo.appId.getOrElse (WcApp)._id
 val authParams = findAuthParams(requestInfo)
 if (visitor == None) {
 sendActivityLog ("None", ActivityLog (appId, action, uri, "-", context), authParams, activity_account)
 }
 visitor.foreach {
 case LoggedInAccountWithOther (account_id, other_id) =>
 sendActivityLog (
 account_id._id,
 ActivityLog (
 appId,
 action,
 uri,
 target_id.getOrElse (other_id._id),
 context
 ),
 authParams,
 activity_account
 )
 case v =>
 sendActivityLog (v.accountId._id, ActivityLog (appId, action, uri, "-", context), authParams, activity_account)
 }
 }

Answer 1

If you think that those try/catch blocks look too verbose, then you can create utility method like:

def logExceptions[R](body: => R): R =
 try { body }
 catch {
 case e: Exception => log.error(e.toString)
 }

Then rewrite your code like:

def buyLinkAnalytics(notif: Notification, reqInfo: RequestInfo) {
 logExceptions {
 logActivity(buy_link_requested, Some(LoggedInAccount(AccountId(notif.emails.get.to._id))), notif.productId.get._id.toString, None, reqInfo)
 }
}
def productShareAnalytics(notif:Notification, reqInfo:RequestInfo) {
 logExceptions {
 logActivity(product_shared, Some(LoggedInAccount(AccountId(notif.emails.get.to._id))), notif.productId.get._id.toString, None, reqInfo)
 }
}
...