Exception on FormCreate is not thrown - delphi

By default any unhandled exception occurring in TForm.OnCreate will lead to an error message beeing shown instead of an exception beeing thrown.
The reason is this code in VCL.Forms:
function TCustomForm.HandleCreateException: Boolean;
begin
Application.HandleException(Self);
Result := True;
end;
All my forms inherit from TMyForm. I plan to override this function to solve the problem:
function TMyForm.HandleCreateException: Boolean;
begin
Result := False;
end;
But I cannot imagine anybody wanting an exception on form creation to be swallowed, leaving a potentially halfly initialized form, yet this code still exists in VCL. This leaves me with the question:
Are there any reasons to not treat unhandled exceptions on form creation this way? Or are there better options to handle my problem?
Edited to clarify the original problem. I have the following code:
try
//...
Frm := TBooForm.Create(...);
Frm.ShowModal;
//...
except
//exception in TBooForm.FormCreate not landing here.
end;
If I don't touch global exception handling, an unhandled exception in TBooForm.FormCreate() will not land in the exception block. Instead Frm will display in halfly initialized state, leading to hard to track errors.

Related

Exceptionhandling with IOmniParallelTask not working

Unhandled exceptions within IOmniParallelTask execution should (as I understand the docs) be caught by the OTL and be attached to IOmniTaskControl instance, which may be accessed by the termination handler from IOmniTaskConfig.
So after setting up the IOmniParallelTask instance with a termination handler like this:
fTask := Parallel.ParallelTask.NoWait.NumTasks(1);
fTask.OnStop(HandleOnTaskStop);
fTask.TaskConfig(Parallel.TaskConfig.OnTerminated(HandleOnTaskThreadTerminated));
fTask.Execute(TaskToExecute);
any unhandled exceptions within TaskToExecute:
procedure TFormMain.TaskToExecute;
begin
Winapi.Windows.Sleep(2000);
raise Exception.Create('async operation exeption');
end;
should be attached to the IOmniTaskControl instance you get within the termination handler:
procedure TFormMain.HandleOnTaskThreadTerminated(const task: IOmniTaskControl);
begin
if not Assigned(task.FatalException) then
Exit;
memo.Lines.Add('an exception occured: ' + task.FatalException.Message);
end;
The issue at this point is, that the exception is not assigned to IOmniTaskControl.FatalException and I have no clue why.
Maybe some of you guys have some ideas on what I am doing wrong. The whole VCL sampleproject may be found here: https://github.com/stackoverflow-samples/OTLTaskException
This is an abstraction layer problem. Parallel.ParallelTask stores threaded code exception in a local field which is not synchronized with the IOmniTaskControl.FatalException property. (I do agree that this is not a good behaviour but I'm not yet sure what would be the best way to fix that.)
Currently the only way to access caught exception of an IOmniParallelTask object is to call its WaitFor method. IOmniParallelTask should really expose a FatalException/DetachException pair, just like IOmniParallelJoin. (Again, an oversight, which should be fixed in the future.)
The best way to solve the problem with the current OTL is to call WaitFor in the termination handler and catch the exception there.
procedure TFormMain.HandleOnTaskThreadTerminated(const task: IOmniTaskControl);
begin
try
fTask.WaitFor(0);
except
on E: Exception do
memo.Lines.Add('an exception occured: ' + E.Message);
end;
CleanupTask;
end;
I have also removed the HandleOnTaskStop and moved the cleanup to the termination handler. Otherwise, fTask was already nil at the time HandleOnTaskThreadTerminated was called.
EDIT
DetachException, FatalException, and IsExceptional have been added to the IOmniParallelTask so now you can simply do what you wanted in the first place (except that you have to use the fTask, not task).
procedure TFormMain.HandleOnTaskThreadTerminated(const task: IOmniTaskControl);
begin
if not assigned(fTask.FatalException) then
Exit;
memo.Lines.Add('an exception occured: ' + FTask.FatalException.Message);
CleanupTask;
end;
EDIT2
As noted in comments, OnTerminate handler relates to one task. In this example this is not a problem as the code makes sure that only one background task is running (NumTasks(1)).
In a general case, however, the OnStop handler should be used for this purpose.
procedure TFormMain.btnExecuteTaskClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
if Assigned(fTask) then
Exit;
memo.Lines.Add('task has been started..');
fTask := Parallel.ParallelTask.NoWait.NumTasks(1);
fTask.OnStop(HandleOnStop);
fTask.Execute(TaskToExecute);
end;
procedure TFormMain.HandleOnStop;
begin
if not assigned(fTask.FatalException) then
Exit;
memo.Lines.Add('an exception occured: ' + FTask.DetachException.Message);
TThread.Queue(nil, CleanupTask);
end;
As HandleOnStop is called in a background thread (because NoWait is used), CleanupTask must be scheduled back to the main thread, as in the original code.

Exception when calling DLL in delphi?

I have a procedure to call a function named [main()] from a DLL , this is the Caller procedure :
procedure call_dll(path:string);
var
lib: HMODULE;
mainfn: procedure(); stdcall;
begin
if FileExists(path) then
begin
try
lib := LoadLibrary(PAnsiChar(path));
Win32Check(lib <> 0);
try
#mainfn := GetProcAddress(lib, 'main');
Win32Check(Assigned(mainfn));
mainfn();
finally
FreeLibrary(lib);
end;
except
end;
end;
end;
Until yet every thing is working fine , I mean after writing the correct path of the DLL everything work without a problem but if I write a wrong path (other file path) in the path parameter it show me a popup error that this is is not a Win32 DLL but I don't want to bother the user with this type of errors , so I need a function to check the DLL and if it's not then it will automatically ask for another file again without showing the popup error ?
It is your code that is raising the exception. Your code makes an explicit choice to handle errors by raising exceptions. The exception is raised by your code here:
Win32Check(lib <> 0);
If you don't want to raise an exception, don't use Win32Check. Instead check the value of lib and handle any errors by whatever means you see fit.
The same issue is present for your other use of Win32Check.
Of course you are swallowing all exceptions with your catch all exception handler. A catch all exception handler is usually a bad idea. I don't understand why you have included that. I think you should remove it.
So if you are seeing dialogs when running outside the debugger it follows that the system is producing the dialogs. You should be disabling the system's error message dialogs by calling SetErrorMode on startup passing SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS.
var
Mode: DWORD;
....
Mode := SetErrorMode(SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
SetErrorMode(Mode or SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
The somewhat clunky double call is explained here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/07/27/198410.aspx

User friendly exception error delphi

I have this method where i execute a sql statement and catch a error in a try except statement
AdoQuery := TAdoQuery.Create(self);
AdoQuery.connection := AdoConnection;
AdoQuery.SQL.Add(sqlStr);
AdoQuery.Prepared := true;
try
begin
AdoQuery.ExecSql;
AdoQuery.Active := false;
end;
except on e:eAdoError do
ShowMessage('Error while creating the table: ' + e.Message);
end;
I can catch the error like this and show it to the user but it's showing some useless info for the user. I Would like to show only the %msg part of the error, take a look at the pic:
I tought e.MEssage allow me to get only the %msg part but it give me the whole thing hardly understoodable by a random user. How do i get only the usefull info in this case
Table reftabtest.rPCE already exists
Thank you.
You can use the Errors property of the TADOConnection object, what you want is the Description member of the Error object.
In your case:
function ParseOBDCError(ErrorDescription : String) : String;
var
Ps : Integer;
Pattern : String;
begin
Pattern := '%msg:';
Ps := Pos(Pattern, ErrorDescription);
if Ps > 0 then
begin
Result := Copy(ErrorDescription, Ps+Length(Pattern)+1);
// if you want, you can clean out other parts like < and >
Result := StringReplace(Result, '<', , '', [rfReplaceAll]);
Result := StringReplace(Result, '>', , '', [rfReplaceAll]);
Result := Trim(Result);
end
else
Result := ErrorDescription;
end;
...
AdoQuery := TAdoQuery.Create(self);
AdoQuery.connection := AdoConnection;
AdoQuery.SQL.Add(sqlStr);
AdoQuery.Prepared := true;
try
AdoQuery.ExecSql;
AdoQuery.Active := false;
except on e : Exception do
begin
if AdoConnection.Errors.Count > 0 then
ShowMessageFmt('Error while creating the table: %s',
[ParseOBDCError(AdoConnection.Errors[0].Description)])
else
ShowMessageFmt('something went wrong here: %s', [e.Message]);
end;
end;
That message dialog wasn't shown by your ShowMessage() code.
First, the icon is wrong - that's not the ShowMessage icon.
Second, the text you added ('Error while creating the table: ') to the message is missing.
This means your exception swallower is not catching the exception, because it's not of the EADOError class. So what's happening is the application's default exception handler is showing the exception.
Before I explain how to fix it, I need to point out that your exception swallower is wrong (your's should not be misnamed an exception handler).
Because you're swallowing the exception: If another method calls yours it will incorrectly think you method succeeded, and possibly do something it shouldn't. You should never write code that makes an assumption that there isn't a significant call stack leading into your method.
Swallowing to show a message to the user doesn't help, because it hides the error from the rest of the program. Especially since, as you can see: there is already code in one place that tells the user about the error without hiding it from the rest of the program. (The problem you have is that you want a friendlier message.)
To fix it:
First find out what the actual exception class is, so you're able to catch the correct error.
Now you have a number of options, but the simplest is as follows:
First log the exception, preferably with call stack. You don't want to be stuck in the situation where the user gets a friendly message but you as developer lose critical information if you need to do some debugging.
To get the call stack you can consider third-party tools like Mad Except, Exceptional Magic, JCLDebug to name a few.
Now show the message to the user.
Finally call Abort. This raises an EAbort exception which by convention is a "silent exception". It tells the rest of the program that there was an error (so it doesn't do things assuming everything is fine). But by convention, any further exception handlers should not show another message to the user. This includes the default handler's dialog in your question.
If the default handler is incorrectly showing EAbort messages, then it should be fixed.

How to avoid exceptions when using TGeckoBrowser in a Delphi app

Prompted by a q here yesterday, I'm trying to re-familiarise myself with TGeckoBrowser
from here: http://sourceforge.net/p/d-gecko/wiki/Home.
(Nb: requires the Mozilla XulRunner package to be installed)
Things seem to have moved backwards a bit since I last tried in the WinXP era, in that
with a minimal D7 project to navigate to a URL, I'm getting errors that I don't recall
seeing before. I've included my code below. These are the errors which I've run into
navigating to sites like www.google.com, news.bbc.co.uk, and here, of course.
The first exception - "Exception in Safecall method" - occurs as my form first displays, before naviagting anywhere at all. I have a work-around in the form of a TApplication.OnException handler.
My q is: a) Does anyone know how to avoid it in the first place or b) is there a tidier way of catching it than setting up a TApplication.Exception handler, which always feels to me like a bit of
an admission of defeat (I mean having one to avoid the user seeing an exception, not having an application-wide handler at all).
This exception occurs in this code:
procedure TCustomGeckoBrowser.Paint;
var
rc: TRect;
baseWin: nsIBaseWindow;
begin
if csDesigning in ComponentState then
begin
rc := ClientRect;
Canvas.FillRect(rc);
end else
begin
baseWin := FWebBrowser as nsIBaseWindow;
baseWin.Repaint(True);
end;
inherited;
end;
in the call to baseWin.Repaint, so presumably it's
presumably coming from the other side of the interface. I only get it the first
time .Paint is called. I noticed that at that point, the baseWin returns False for GetVisibility,
hence the experimental code in my TForm1.Loaded, to see if that would avoid it.
It does not.
2.a After calling GeckoBrowser1.LoadURI, I get "Invalid floating point operation"
once or more depending on the URL being loaded.
2.b Again, depending on the URL, I get: "Access violation at address 556318B3 in module js3250.dll. Read of address 00000008." or similar. On some pages it occurs every few seconds (thanks I imagine to some JS timer code in the page).
2a & 2b are avoided by the call to Set8087CW in TForm1.OnCreate below but I'm
mentioning them mainly in case anyone recognises them and 1 together as symptomatic
of a systemic problem of some sort, but also so google will find this q
for others who run into those symptoms.
Reverting to my q 1b), the "Exception in Safecall method" occurs from StdWndProc->
TWinControl.MainWndProc->[...]->TCustomGeckoBrowser.Paint. Instead of using an
TApplication.OnException handler, is there a way of catching the exception further
up the call-chain, so as to avoid modifying the code of TCustomGeckoBrowser.Paint by
putting a handler in there?
Update: A comment drew my attention to this documentation relating to SafeCall:
ESafecallException is raised when the safecall error handler has not been set up and a safecall routine returns a non-0 HResult, or if the safecall error handler does not raise an exception. If this exception occurs, the Comobj unit is probably missing from the application's uses list (Delphi) or not included in the project source file (C++). You may want to consider removing the safecall calling convention from the routine that gave rise to the exception.
The GeckoBrowser source comes with a unit, BrowserSupports, which looks like a type library import unit, except that it seems to have been manually prepared. It contains an interface which includes the Repaint method which is producing the SafeCall exception.
nsIBaseWindow = interface(nsISupports)
['{046bc8a0-8015-11d3-af70-00a024ffc08c}']
procedure InitWindow(parentNativeWindow: nativeWindow; parentWidget: nsIWidget; x: PRInt32; y: PRInt32; cx: PRInt32; cy: PRInt32); safecall;
procedure Create(); safecall;
procedure Destroy(); safecall;
[...]
procedure Repaint(force: PRBool); safecall;
[...]
end;
Following the suggestion in the quoyed documentation, I changed th "safecall" to StdCall on the Repaint member (but only that member) and, presto!, the exception stopped occurring. If it doesn't reappear in the next couple of days, I'll post that as an answer, unless anyone comes up with a better one.
My project code:
uses
BrowserSupports;
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
Set8087CW($133F);
Application.OnException := HandleException;
end;
procedure TForm1.HandleException(Sender: TObject; E: Exception);
begin
Inc(Errors);
Caption := Format('Errors %d, msg: %s', [Errors, E.Message]);
Screen.Cursor := crDefault;
end;
type
TMyGeckoBrowser = class(TGeckoBrowser);
procedure TForm1.Loaded;
begin
inherited;
GeckoBrowser1.HandleNeeded;
(TMyGeckoBrowser(GeckoBrowser1).WebBrowser as nsIBaseWindow).SetVisibility(True);
end;
procedure TForm1.btnLoadUrlClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
try
GeckoBrowser1.LoadURI(edUrl.Text);
except
end;
end;
Looking at the headers, the prototype for Repaint is effectively as follows:
HRESULT __stdcall Repaint(PRBool force);
and that means that
procedure Repaint(force: PRBool); safecall;
is a reasonable declaration. Remember that safecall performs parameter re-writing to convert COM error codes into exceptions.
This does mean that if the call to Repaint returns a value that indicates failure, then the safecall mechanism will surface that as an exception. If you wish to ignore this particular exception then it is cleaner to do so at source:
try
baseWin.Repaint(True);
except
on EOleException do
; // ignore
end;
If you wish to avoid dealing with exceptions then you could switch to stdcall, but you must remember to undo the parameter re-writing.
function Repaint(force: PRBool): HRESULT; stdcall;
Now you can write it like this:
if Failed(baseWin.Repaint(True)) then
; // handle the error if you really wish to, or just ignore it
Note that Failed is defined in the ActiveX unit.
If you want to troubleshoot the error further then you can look at the error code:
var
hres: HRESULT;
....
hres := baseWin.Repaint(True);
// examine hres
Or if you are going to leave the function as safecall then you can retrieve the error code from the EOleException instance's ErrorCode property.

Exceptions on DBGrid editing

I have implemented an editable DBGrid. If a field is not filled correctly an exception is thrown and a message is shown, for example:
'08:00::00' is not a valid time
How can I catch those exceptions so that I can show messages written by me instead of the automatically generated ones? I would be thankful for any help.
As #teran pointed in his comment, the exception is raised by the TDataSet (or one of it's components) that is bind to the TDBGrid, or by the DB engine itself.
You can try to handle the TDataSet.OnPostError (see also OnUpdateError and OnEditError):
TDataSet.OnPostError: Occurs when an application attempts to modify or insert a record and
an exception is raised. Write an OnPostError event handler to handle
exceptions that occur when an attempt to post a record fails.
Note that you could always use Application.OnException global event handler to catch any EDBxxx exceptions in your application.
EDIT: The EConvertError exception is raised before any actual data modifications, or any Post operation by the TDateTimeField field i.e.:
0045af91 +085 Project1.exe SysUtils StrToDateTime <- EConvertError
004ab76a +042 Project1.exe Db TDateTimeField.SetAsString
004a9827 +007 Project1.exe Db TField.SetText
004a95d9 +029 Project1.exe Db TField.SetEditText
004d6448 +014 Project1.exe DBGrids TCustomDBGrid.UpdateData
004d087f +02b Project1.exe DBGrids TGridDataLink.UpdateData
004d599a +01a Project1.exe DBGrids TCustomDBGrid.MoveCol
StrToDateTime is throwing the exception inside TDateTimeField.SetAsString, not touching the data, and
the TDataSet.OnxxxError event handlers will not be fired at all.
So your choices are (test the application in release mode):
1.Intercept and handle EConvertError via Application.OnException.
2.Use TField.EditMask to restrict user input to a valid time format e.g. !90:00;1;_ or use inplace DateTimePicker editor inside your Grid. (and avoid catching this exception).
3.Override TDateTimeField: use persistent fields with your TDataSet and create an inter-poser class as such:
type
TDateTimeField = class(Db.TDateTimeField)
protected
procedure SetAsString(const Value: string); override;
end;
TForm1 = class(TForm)
...
procedure TDateTimeField.SetAsString(const Value: string);
begin
try
inherited SetAsString(Value);
except
on E: EConvertError do
begin
ShowMessage(E.Message);
Abort;
end;
end;
end;
If an exception is being raised then there should be two error messages being shown when run in the debugger. One of these will be caught by the debugger and the 2nd handled by the UI (when running your program as a user you will only see the 2nd).
The exception error message should have contain a string like
Appname.exe raised exception EExceptionName with message XXX
You will need to take note of EExceptionName.
Around the block of code creating the exception you will need to write
...
try
code that can cause the exception here
except
on e: EExceptionName do
begin
ShowMessage('Your apps nicer error message here');
end;
end;
note - if you don't make a call to exit; after handling an exception, your code will continue executing everything after your try..except block. Also, if there are many things that can cause the same error message in the same code block then you may not be able to write anything too specific. e.Message is a string that holds the message that is shown in the unhandled exception and may be useful to also present to the user.
Also try to move away from BDE - ADO is far better supported on modern systems.

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