Get thrown exception in finally block.

Question

Is there a way, how to get currently thrown exception (if exists)?

I would like reduce amount of code and apply some reuse for task looks like:

Exception thrownException = null;
try {
    // some code with 3rd party classes, which can throw unexpected exceptions
}
catch( Exception exc ) {
    thrownException = exc;
    LogException( exc );
}
finally {
    if ( null == thrownException ) {
        // some code
    }
    else {
        // some code
    }
}

and replace it with this code:

using( ExceptionHelper.LogException() ) {
    // some code with 3rd party classes, which can throw unexpected exceptions
}
using( new ExceptionHelper { ExceptionAction = ()=> /*some cleaning code*/ } ) {
    // some code with 3rd party classes, which can throw unexpected exceptions
}

public class ExceptiohHelper : IDisposable {
    public static ExceptionHelper LogException() {
        return new ExceptionHelper();
    }

    public Action SuccessfulAction {get; set;}
    public Action ExceptionAction {get; set;}

    public void Dispose() {
        Action action;
        Exception thrownException = TheMethodIDontKnow();
        if ( null != thrownException ) {
            LogException( thrownException );
            action = this.ExceptionAction;
        }
        else {
            action = this.SuccessfulAction;
        }

        if ( null != action ) {
            action();
        }
    }
}

Is this scenario posible?

Thanks

Answer 1

The idea is that you handle exceptions in the catch block...

That said, Exception is a reference type, so you can always declare an Exception variable outside the try scope...

Exception dontDoThis;
try
{
    foo.DoSomething();
}
catch(Exception e)
{
    dontDoThis = e;
}
finally
{
    // use dontDoThis...
}

Answer 2

If you are looking to catch unexpected exceptions you should be handling the UnhandledException. You should only catch exceptions at lower levels that you intend handle (not just to log), otherwise you should let them bubble up and be caught at a higher level, or as I mentioned before in the UnhandledException method.

Answer 3

What do you think about the following. Instead of looking at the problem as "How to get the last exception?", what if you change it to, "How do I run some piece of code with some more control?"

For example: Instead of an ExceptionHelper you could have an ActionRunner.

public class ActionRunner
{
    public Action AttemptAction { get; set; }
    public Action SuccessfulAction { get; set; }
    public Action ExceptionAction { get; set; }

    public void RunAction()
    {
        try
        {
            AttemptAction();
            SuccessfulAction();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            LogException(ex);
            ExceptionAction();
        }
    }

    private void LogException(Exception thrownException) { /* log here... */ }
}

It would at least give you some reuse of the SuccessfulAction and ExceptionAction assuming only the AttemptAction varies between calls.

var actionRunner = new ActionRunner
{
    AttemptAction = () =>
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Going to throw...");
        throw new Exception("Just throwing");
    },
    ExceptionAction = () => Console.WriteLine("ExceptionAction"),
    SuccessfulAction = () => Console.WriteLine("SuccessfulAction"),
};
actionRunner.RunAction();

actionRunner.AttemptAction = () => Console.WriteLine("Running some other code...");
actionRunner.RunAction();