Question

I admit it: I don’t bother with too much exception handling. I know I should do more but I can never wrap my head around where to start and where to stop. I’m not being lazy. Far from it. It’s that I’m overwrought with exception handling ambivalence. It just seems that there is a seemingly infinite number of places in even the smallest app where exception handling can be applied and it can begin to feel like overkill.

I’ve gotten by with careful testing, validating, and silent prayer but this is a bad programming accident waiting to happen.

So, what are your exception handling best practices? In particular, where are the most obvious/critical places where exception handling should be applied and where are places where it should be considered?

Sorry for the vague the question but I really want to close the book on this once and for all.

Answer 1

Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices team did a good job incorporating best practices of exception management into Enterprise Library Exception Handling Application Block

Event if wouldn’t use Enterprise Library, I highly recommend you to read their documentation. P&P team describes common scenarios and best practices for exceptions handling.

To get you started I recommend read following articles:

• Exception Handling on MSDN
• Exception Management in .NET on MSDN
• Exception Handling Best Practices in .NET on CodeProject

ASP.NET specific articles:

• User Friendly ASP.NET Exception Handling
• Global Exception Handling with ASP.NET
• Exception handling in C# and ASP .Net