Question

I am calling an actionResult from my global.ascx file like so…

 Response.Redirect(String.Format("~/Error/{0}/?message={1}", action, exception.Message));

What I would like to do is have the whole exception object available in the action result method so I can get and display the stack trace info on my page….Is it possible to pass along the whole exception object? What is the best way to handle this? Or is there a work around to get the proper Stack Trace info? Currently its a property that is populated correctly on the exception object.

Answer 1

If you redirect you can’t send complex objects. I mean you could use Session and TempData (which uses Session behind the scenes) but it’s ugly and something I would recommend against.

If you want complex objects don’t redirect. Set proper status code and transfer which is much more RESTful and SEO friendly:

protected void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Exception exception = Server.GetLastError();
    Response.Clear();
    Context.ClearError();
    var routeData = new RouteData();
    routeData.Values["controller"] = "error";
    routeData.Values["action"] = "Http500";
    routeData.Values["exception"] = exception;
    IController errorController = new ErrorController();
    errorController.Execute(new RequestContext(new HttpContextWrapper(Context), routeData));
}

where ErrorController looks like this:

public class ErrorController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Http500(Exception exception)
    {
        Response.StatusCode = 500;
        // TODO: do something with the exception like logging it 
        // and render some view explaining the annoyed user 
        // that something very wrong happened to your application 
        // which wasn't your fault of course or something
    }
}

If you redirect you can’t send complex objects.