Question

I’m trying to write a single if-else block within a catch method, but when I get the error that ‘not all code paths return type int.’

Essentially, I’m writing a method that saves a UserName and Password to a Sql CE database, and I want to test for one specific error. (UserName already exists.) The UserName column is unique, so it will reliably throw a SqlCeException with NativeError = 25016. I want to display that with an error message, otherwise handle other exceptions in a more generic way.

My code is:

  try
  {
    //insert command  (This is where the duplicate column error is thrown)
    //Select @@Identity & Return it
  }
  catch (SqlCeException ex)
  {
   if (ex.NativeError == 25016)
        MessageBox.Show("Username already in use."); 
   else
     //whatever
  }

I’ve tried showing a different, more generic message and get the no return error.
I’ve tried throwing a new exception and catching it in another block. Same error.
I’ve tried returning -1 (as a sort of flag value). Same error.

There doesn’t appear to be a more specific error than SqlCeException for this specific case (Though I ma have just failed me debug-fu).

Any creative work-arounds?
Worst case, I’ll write a method that checks the DB for duplicate usernames before calling this method.

Answer 1

It looks like your method returns an int. You need to return a value of type int from your catch block.

  try
  {
    //insert command  (This is where the duplicate column error is thrown)
    //Select @@Identity & Return it
  }
  catch (SqlCeException ex)
  {
   if (ex.NativeError == 25016)
        MessageBox.Show("Username already in use."); 
   else
   {
     //whatever  
   }
   return -1;
  }