add Context#error(). Closes #31

lib/context.js

@@ -554,6 +554,31 @@ module.exports = {
     return this.res.headersSent;
   },
 
+  /**
+   * Throw an error with `msg` and optional `status`
+   * defaulting to 500.
+   *
+   *    this.error(403)
+   *    this.error('name required', 400)
+   *    this.error('something exploded')
+   *
+   * @param {String|Number} msg
+   * @param {Number} status
+   * @api public
+   */
+
+  error: function(msg, status){
+    if ('number' == typeof msg) {
+      var tmp = msg;
+      msg = http.STATUS_CODES[tmp];
+      status = tmp;
+    }
+
+    var err = new Error(msg);
+    err.status = status || 500;
+    throw err;
+  },
+
   /**
    * Default error handling.
    *

test/context.js

@@ -21,6 +21,47 @@ function context(req, res) {
   return ctx;
 }
 
+describe('ctx.error(msg)', function(){
+  it('should set .status to 500', function(done){
+    var ctx = context();
+
+    try {
+      ctx.error('boom');      
+    } catch (err) {
+      assert(500 == err.status);
+      done();
+    }
+  })
+})
+
+describe('ctx.error(msg, status)', function(){
+  it('should throw an error', function(done){
+    var ctx = context();
+
+    try {
+      ctx.error('name required', 400);
+    } catch (err) {
+      assert('name required' == err.message);
+      assert(400 == err.status);
+      done();
+    }
+  })
+})
+
+describe('ctx.error(status)', function(){
+  it('should throw an error', function(done){
+    var ctx = context();
+
+    try {
+      ctx.error(400);
+    } catch (err) {
+      assert('Bad Request' == err.message);
+      assert(400 == err.status);
+      done();
+    }
+  })
+})
+
 describe('ctx.length', function(){
   describe('when Content-Length is defined', function(){
     it('should return a number', function(){