Global Error Handling

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To create a global error handler
To create a global handler in a page, create a handler for the TemplateControl.Error event. To create an application-wide error handler, in the Global.asax file, add code to the HttpApplication.Error event. These methods are called if an unhandled exception occurs anywhere in your page or application, respectively. You can get information about the most recent error from the GetLastError method.

Note - If you have a global error handler, it takes precedence over error handling specified in the defaultRedirect attribute of the customErrors configuration element.

The following code example shows a handler that gets information about the current error, puts it into a Session variable, and then calls a generic error-handling page that can extract and display the error information.

    protected void Application_Error(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        Session["CurrentError"] = "Global: " +
            Server.GetLastError().Message;
        Server.Transfer("lasterr.aspx");
    }

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This code example shows how to create an error handler in the Global.asax file that will catch all unhandled ASP.NET errors while processing a request — in other words, all the errors that are not caught with a Try/Catch block or in a page-level error handler. In the example, the handler transfers control to a generic error page named GenericErrorPage.aspx, which interprets the error and displays an appropriate message.

void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  // Code that runs when an unhandled error occurs

  // Get the exception object.
  Exception exc = Server.GetLastError();

  // Handle HTTP errors
  if (exc.GetType() == typeof(HttpException))
  {
    // The Complete Error Handling Example generates
    // some errors using URLs with "NoCatch" in them;
    // ignore these here to simulate what would happen
    // if a global.asax handler were not implemented.
      if (exc.Message.Contains("NoCatch") || exc.Message.Contains("maxUrlLength"))
      return;

    //Redirect HTTP errors to HttpError page
    Server.Transfer("HttpErrorPage.aspx");
  }

  // For other kinds of errors give the user some information
  // but stay on the default page
  Response.Write("

Global Page Error

\n");
  Response.Write(
      "

" + exc.Message + "

\n");
  Response.Write("Return to the " +
      "Default Page\n");

  // Log the exception and notify system operators
  ExceptionUtility.LogException(exc, "DefaultPage");
  ExceptionUtility.NotifySystemOps(exc);

  // Clear the error from the server
  Server.ClearError();
}



An error handler that is defined in the Global.asax file will only catch errors that occur during processing of requests by the ASP.NET runtime. For example, it will catch the error if a user requests an .aspx file that does not occur in your application. However, it does not catch the error if a user requests a nonexistent .htm file. For non-ASP.NET errors, you can create a custom handler in Internet Information Services (IIS). The custom handler will also not be called for server-level errors.

You cannot directly output error information for requests from the Global.asax file; you must transfer control to another page, typically a Web Forms page. When transferring control to another page, use Transfer method. This preserves the current context so that you can get error information from the GetLastError method.

After handling an error, you must clear it by calling the ClearError method of the Server object (HttpServerUtility class).

 

--Microsoft