The Other Kind Of Exception Handling
Posted by Davy Brion on February 9th, 2009
public class Developer
{
// lots of other methods here....
public void FigureOutException(Exception e)
{
var exception = GetMostInformativeStuff(e);
Read(exception.Message);
GoToThePartOfCodeThatCausedTheException(exception.StackTrace);
if (YouUnderstandTheProblem())
{
FixIt();
}
else
{
AskForHelpFromCoworkerOrGoogle();
}
}
private Exception GetMostInformativeStuff(Exception exception)
{
if (exception.InnerException != null)
{
return GetMostInformativeStuff(exception.InnerException);
}
return exception;
}
private void Read(string message)
{
// in most cases, the exception message is pretty clear as to what the problem is
// this isn't always the case though, but you should at least read the message!
}
private void GoToThePartOfCodeThatCausedTheException(string stackTrace)
{
// open the first file in our code that occurs in the stacktrace, beginning from the top and look at the
// line number that is listed within that line... this is usually the first place to look
}
private bool YouUnderstandTheProblem()
{
// if the exception message makes sense, and the stacktrace points to line that threw the exception, you
// will be able to figure it out (in most cases)
// not really correct randomness, but it shouldn't be truly random in real life either
return new Random().Next(0, 2) == 1;
}
private void FixIt()
{
// ...
}
private void AskForHelpFromCoworkerOrGoogle()
{
// ...
}
}
Shouldn’t this be common sense?
February 10th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
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