Overview
An exception represents an error that occurs during the execution of an automation. There are two main types of exceptions, Application Exceptions and Business Rule Exceptions, explained below.
An exception object contains information about the error, including its type and the state of the program when the error occurred.
Creating an exception object and handing it to the system is called throwing an exception.
How do you Throw an Exception?
Exceptions can occur in two ways; naturally, when something disrupts the normal flow of the automation, or manually thrown using the Throw or ReThrow activities. To learn how to throw an Exception, please check out our tutorials on throwing exceptions:
- How to Throw an Exception
- How to Throw a Business Rule Exception
- How to ReThrow an Exception
What is an Application Exception?
An application exception is an error related to a technical issue. Some examples include an application that failed to start or a website not responding.
Retrying can resolve the issue.
Application Exceptions can be both naturally occurring (an activity within the workflow fails) or manually created with the Throw or Rethrow activity discussed here.
What is a Business Rule Exception?
A Business Rule Exception is an error related to the data the automation depends on. Examples include a scraped Excel file in the incorrect format, or an email sent from the business group with the wrong attachment.
Retrying does not solve the issue. Other courses of action would be more appropriate, like notifying the business group via an email that the automation failed.
Business Rule Exceptions can only occur if they are manually added to the workflow through the Throw and Rethrow activities discussed here. These exceptions cannot occur if an activity within the workflow fails.
Commonly Used Properties
The following are some commonly used properties for Exceptions. A property is a characteristic or attribute of an object (i.e. Exception). To learn more about properties, click here.
HelpLink - Gets a link to the help file associated with this exception
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.HelpLink |
Help File |
String |
InnerException - Gets the exception instance that caused the current exception
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.InnerException |
Inner Exception |
String |
Message - Gets the message that describes the current exception
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.Message |
Exception Message |
String |
Source - Gets the name of the application that caused the error
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.Source |
Application Name |
String |
TargetSite - Gets the method that throws the current exception
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.TargetSite |
Method Name |
String |
StackTrace - Gets a string representation of the immediate frames on the call stack
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.StackTrace |
Immediate Frames |
String |
Hresult - Gets or sets HRESULT, a coded numerical value assigned to a specific exception
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.Hresult |
HRESULT |
Integer (Int32) |
Commonly Used Methods
The following are some commonly used methods for Exceptions. Methods are actions that objects (i.e. Exceptions) can perform. To learn more about methods, click here.
GetBaseException - Gets the exception that is the root cause
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.GetBaseException |
Root Cause |
String |
GetType - Gets the data type
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.GetType |
Data Type |
Type |
ToString - Converts the exception to a string
| Example Property | Return Description | Return Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Exception.ToString |
String of Exception |
String |
