CA2208: Instantiate argument exceptions correctly

The CA2208 code analysis rule checks for common mistakes when constructing argument exceptions. There are three main argument exception classes: ArgumentException, ArgumentNullException, and ArgumentOutOfRangeException. Unfortunately, it’s easy to make a mistake when using these. I’ll explain the common mistakes that CA2208 checks for and how to fix them (and when to suppress the warning instead). … Read more

C# – Hide a method from the stack trace

When you want to exclude a method from showing up in the stack trace, you can apply the StackTraceHidden attribute to the method: Note: This attribute was added in .NET 6. You can apply StackTraceHidden to a class to hide all of its methods from the stack trace: Use StackTraceHidden with throw helper methods StackTraceHidden … Read more

C# – Global exception event handlers

There are two global exception events available in all .NET applications: You wire up these event handlers in Main() (before anything else has executed), like this: Note: If you’re using top-level statements, put these statements at the top of the ‘entry point’ file. This outputs the following before crashing: Notice the FirstChanceException event fired first. … Read more

C# – Try/finally with no catch block

Try/finally blocks are useful for when you are required to do something at the end of a method no matter what. The finally block always executes, even if there’s an exception (there is one case where this isn’t true, which I’ll explain in the Unhandled exception section below). There are a few common scenarios where … Read more

C# – How to create a custom exception

To create a custom exception, create a subclass of the Exception class, like this: Then throw it just like you would any other exception, like this: It’s a good idea to call the base constructor from your constructor and pass in your custom error message. If this exception is unhandled, or if you are logging … Read more

C# – Conditionally catch exceptions with filtering

You can use exception filtering to conditionally catch exceptions, like this: Note: This feature was added in C# 6. Any SqlException that doesn’t meet the condition specified in the when clause will not be caught. Previously, without exception filtering, you’d have to handle that scenario in the catch block and rethrow, like this: Exception filtering … Read more