Advantages of [HandleError] over Application_Error

Question

I'm aware there are plenty of questions in SO about Error handling in ASP.NET MVC.

I see, mostly people are trying to achieve things in three ways:

1. Create a BaseController and override the OnException method

2. Using [HandleError] or custom exception filters.

3. Application_Error event in global.asax.cs

The first two ways can't handle all the exceptions and they do only that are raised by action methods/filters, so obviously the third one is going to be the best approach for a global exception handler.

My question is why I should go for [HandleError] approach? What benefits it brings that I can't get through Application_Error?

Finally, do I want to take the customErrors section serious at all in a MVC application?

Note: My requirement is usual. Whenever an exception occurs, log it and return a custom error page. The custom error page may change depend upon the status code.

Answer 1

The most obvious is that [HandleError] allows you to handle errors differently in different controllers and actions. Its much more elegant than some kind of switch statement in your Application_Error handler.

Another benefit is that [HandleError] still has access to the controller and all the MVC goodness that comes with it, so you can still return a View or call another action. Once you fall out to Application_Error, you've lost ControllerContext and you don't really have options left to you except to redirect.