How to: Filter Errors in a Catch Block in Visual Basic

Article
02/04/2013

Catch statements provide more than one option for filtering errors. One method for filtering is doing so by types of exception. In such cases, it is important to move from the most specific type of exception to the most general, since the Catch statements are executed in order.

A When clause can also be used to filter on a conditional expression, such as a specific error number. You can combine both approaches as well.

Note

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To filter on exception type

Insert a Catch statement for each type of exception you wish to check, going from the most specific to the most general.

Try
    Throw New Exception
Catch ex As System.IO.IOException
    ' Code reacting to IOException 
Catch ex As System.NullReferenceException
    ' Code reacting to NullReferenceException
Catch ex As Exception
    ' Code reacting to any exception
End Try

To filter on a conditional expression

Use a Catch When statement to filter on a conditional expression. If the conditional expression evaluates as True, the code following the Catch block will be executed.
```
Try
    ' Code goes here.
    ' Check for type mismatch error.
Catch ex As Exception When Err.Number = 5
    ' Code reacting to exception. 
End Try
```

How to: Filter Errors in a Catch Block in Visual Basic

To filter on exception type

To filter on a conditional expression

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