App wide catchall exception handler

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
  • Start date Start date
J

John

Hi

I have a vs2008 winform app that has a start-up form assigned through
application framework i.e. no Sub Main. How can I setup a catchall exception
handler to my app to catch any unexpected exceptions?

Thanks

Regards
 
Hi

I have a vs2008 winform app that has a start-up form assigned through
application framework i.e. no Sub Main. How can I setup a catchall exception
handler to my app to catch any unexpected exceptions?

Thanks

Regards
Click to expand...

Try-catch-finally?
 
John said:
I have a vs2008 winform app that has a start-up form assigned through
application framework i.e. no Sub Main.
Click to expand...

Why not?
I haven't played with the Application Framework yet and, personally, I
/like/ Sub Main.
How can I setup a catchall exception handler to my app to catch
any unexpected exceptions?
Click to expand...

Apart from the occasional left-field stuff that the Framework throws at
you, you shouldn't /have/ any unexpected exceptions.

Exceptions are exceptional, not "unexpected".

IMHO, this is one of the big weaknesses of .Net.
It hands you this big thing called "Exception Handling" on a platter,
then leaves /you/ to work out what to do with it. Other languages are
far more explicit and actually push you to keep Exception Handling very
much in mind as you write your code.

Every "entry point" into your code (Sub Main, methods that run on
Threads, any action that the user initiates) should have its /own/
Try..Catch constructs.

Having a global, "catch-all" Exception Handler is /limited/ in its use,
and then mainly as a last-resort, back-stop. The most you can do here
is to log the error to a file, somewhere. By the time you get here, the
program's teetering on the edge, ready to collapse in a messy heap.
There's nothing you can do to recover from (or /Handle/) the exception.
You have to do that /much/ closer to the site of the problem.

HTH,
Phill W.
 
RobinS said:
While we all agree that our applications should not throw unhandled
exceptions, what if it does?
Click to expand...

You tell us. If it does throw an unhandled exception, what will your
catch-all handler _do_ about it? Log the exception, and then, what?
 
John Saunders said:
You tell us. If it does throw an unhandled exception, what will your
catch-all handler _do_ about it? Log the exception, and then, what?
Click to expand...

throw it, then restart... just like ms's failed initial attempt at sp1 for
vista, fail, restart, fail, restart, fail, restart, ad infinitum, ad
nauseum... sometimes its good to just give up.
 
Dave said:
throw it, then restart... just like ms's failed initial attempt at sp1 for
vista, fail, restart, fail, restart, fail, restart, ad infinitum, ad
nauseum... sometimes its good to just give up.
Click to expand...

If it's unhandled, then your application is probably not in a good enough
state for you to know that it makes sense to restart.

Depending on what kind of application it is, you're probably better off just
not catching such an exception.
 
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