Catch unhandled exception of invisible thread

Question

In my C++ application i use an activeX component that runs its own thread (or several I don't know). Sometimes this components throws exceptions. I would like to catch these exceptions and do recovery instead of my entire application crashing. But since I don't have access to its source code or thread I am unsure how it would be done.

The only solution I can think of is to run it in its own process. Using something like CreateProcess and then CreateRemoteThread, unsure how it could be implemented.

Any suggestion on how to go about solving this?

Answer 1

If the ActiveX component is launching its own threads, then there isn't a lot that you can do. You could set a global exception handler and try to swallow exceptions, but this creates a high likelihood that your program state will become corrupted and lead to bizarre "impossible" crashes down the road.

Running the buggy component in a separate process is the most robust solution, as you'll be able to identify and recover from fatal errors without compromising your own program state.

Answer 2

Try setting up an exception filter with SetUnhandledExceptionFilter().