You'll really need to give a bit more code but a few things to look at are:

If you don't want DBI to die then make sure that the RaiseError attribute is off.

Checking the errstr method is the right way to go for getting the error but you must check it as soon as you can since most DBI method calls will reset it to undef.

You mention that you can't use eval blocks due to your app framework. have you considered using a local die handler to override the behaviour and then use an eval block? 
{
 local $SIG{__DIE__}  = sub {# feedback code here};
 eval {
 # your DBI code
 };
}

[download]
Outside of the block your framework's handler will be in effect.

DBI also provides a HandleError attribute which sets an error handler specifically for errors from DBI. Check the docs for more info on this DBI

In reply to Re: DBI - PL/SQL error catching by Lachesis
in thread DBI - PL/SQL error catching by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.