How do I create a custom Error in JavaScript?

Question

Update your code to assign your prototype to the Error.prototype and the instanceof and your asserts work.

function NotImplementedError(message = "") {
    this.name = "NotImplementedError";
    this.message = message;
}
NotImplementedError.prototype = Error.prototype;

However, I would just throw your own object and just check the name property.

throw {name : "NotImplementedError", message : "too lazy to implement"}; 

Edit based on comments

After looking at the comments and trying to remember why I would assign prototype to Error.prototype instead of new Error() like Nicholas Zakas did in his article, I created a jsFiddle with the code below:

function NotImplementedError(message = "") {
  this.name = "NotImplementedError";
  this.message = message;
}
NotImplementedError.prototype = Error.prototype;

function NotImplementedError2(message = "") {
  this.message = message;
}
NotImplementedError2.prototype = new Error();

try {
  var e = new NotImplementedError("NotImplementedError message");
  throw e;
} catch (ex1) {
  console.log(ex1.stack);
  console.log("ex1 instanceof NotImplementedError = " + (ex1 instanceof NotImplementedError));
  console.log("ex1 instanceof Error = " + (ex1 instanceof Error));
  console.log("ex1.name = " + ex1.name);
  console.log("ex1.message = " + ex1.message);
}

try {
  var e = new NotImplementedError2("NotImplementedError2 message");
  throw e;
} catch (ex1) {
  console.log(ex1.stack);
  console.log("ex1 instanceof NotImplementedError2 = " + (ex1 instanceof NotImplementedError2));
  console.log("ex1 instanceof Error = " + (ex1 instanceof Error));
  console.log("ex1.name = " + ex1.name);
  console.log("ex1.message = " + ex1.message);
}

The console output was this.

undefined
ex1 instanceof NotImplementedError = true
ex1 instanceof Error = true
ex1.name = NotImplementedError
ex1.message = NotImplementedError message
Error
    at window.onload (http://fiddle.jshell.net/MwMEJ/show/:29:34)
ex1 instanceof NotImplementedError2 = true
ex1 instanceof Error = true
ex1.name = Error
ex1.message = NotImplementedError2 message

This confirmes the "problem" I ran into was the stack property of the error was the line number where new Error() was created, and not where the throw e occurred. However, that may be better that having the side effect of a NotImplementedError.prototype.name = "NotImplementedError" line affecting the Error object.

Also, notice with NotImplementedError2, when I don't set the .name explicitly, it is equal to "Error". However, as mentioned in the comments, because that version sets prototype to new Error(), I could set NotImplementedError2.prototype.name = "NotImplementedError2" and be OK.

All of the above answers are terrible awful - really. Even the one with 107 ups! The real answer is here guys:

Inheriting from the Error object - where is the message property?

TL;DR:

A. The reason message isn't being set is that Error is a function that returns a new Error object and does not manipulate this in any way.

B. The way to do this right is to return the result of the apply from the constructor, as well as setting the prototype in the usual complicated javascripty way:

function MyError() {
    var temp = Error.apply(this, arguments);
    temp.name = this.name = 'MyError';
    this.message = temp.message;
    if(Object.defineProperty) {
        // getter for more optimizy goodness
        /*this.stack = */Object.defineProperty(this, 'stack', { 
            get: function() {
                return temp.stack
            },
            configurable: true // so you can change it if you want
        })
    } else {
        this.stack = temp.stack
    }
}
//inherit prototype using ECMAScript 5 (IE 9+)
MyError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype, {
    constructor: {
        value: MyError,
        writable: true,
        configurable: true
    }
});

var myError = new MyError("message");
console.log("The message is: '" + myError.message + "'"); // The message is: 'message'
console.log(myError instanceof Error); // true
console.log(myError instanceof MyError); // true
console.log(myError.toString()); // MyError: message
console.log(myError.stack); // MyError: message \n 
// <stack trace ...>


 
//for EMCAScript 4 or ealier (IE 8 or ealier), inherit prototype this way instead of above code:
/*
var IntermediateInheritor = function() {};
IntermediateInheritor.prototype = Error.prototype;
MyError.prototype = new IntermediateInheritor();
*/

You could probably do some trickery to enumerate through all the non-enumerable properties of the tmp Error to set them rather than explicitly setting only stack and message, but the trickery isn't supported in ie<9

In ES2015, you can use class to do this cleanly:

class NotImplemented extends Error {
  constructor(message = "", ...args) {
    super(message, ...args);
    this.message = message + " has not yet been implemented.";
  }
}

This does not modify the global Error prototype, allows you to customize message, name, and other attributes, and properly captures the stack. It's also pretty readable.

Of course, you may need to use a tool like babel if your code will be running on older browsers.

If anyone is curious on how to create a custom error and get the stack trace:

function CustomError(message) {
  this.name = 'CustomError';
  this.message = message || '';
  var error = new Error(this.message);
  error.name = this.name;
  this.stack = error.stack;
}
CustomError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);

try {
  throw new CustomError('foobar');
}
catch (e) {
  console.log('name:', e.name);
  console.log('message:', e.message);
  console.log('stack:', e.stack);
}

This section of the standard may explain why the Error.apply call doesn't initialize the object:

15.11.1 The Error Constructor Called as a Function

When Error is called as a function rather than as a constructor, it creates and initialises a new Error object. Thus the function call Error(...) is equivalent to the object creation expression new Error(...) with the same arguments.

In this case the Error function probably determines that it's not being called as a constructor, so it returns a new Error instance rather than initializing the this object.

Testing with the following code seems to demonstrate that this is in fact what's happening:

function NotImplementedError() { 
   var returned = Error.apply(this, arguments);
   console.log("returned.message = '" + returned.message + "'");
   console.log("this.message = '" + this.message + "'");
}
NotImplementedError.prototype = new Error();

var nie = new NotImplementedError("some message");

The following output is generated when this is run:

returned.message = 'some message'
this.message = ''

function InvalidValueError(value, type) {
    this.message = "Expected `" + type.name + "`: " + value;
    var error = new Error(this.message);
    this.stack = error.stack;
}
InvalidValueError.prototype = new Error();
InvalidValueError.prototype.name = InvalidValueError.name;
InvalidValueError.prototype.constructor = InvalidValueError;

Accoring to Joyent you shouldn’t mess with the stack property (which I see in lots of answers given here), because it will have a negative impact on performance. Here is what they say:

stack: generally, don't mess with this. Don't even augment it. V8 only computes it if someone actually reads the property, which improves performance dramatically for handlable errors. If you read the property just to augment it, you'll end up paying the cost even if your caller doesn't need the stack.

I like and would like to mention their idea of wrapping the original error which is a nice replacement for passing on the stack.

So here is how I create a custom error, considering the above mentioned:

es5 version:

function RError(options) {
    options = options || {}; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
    this.name = options.name;
    this.message = options.message;
    this.cause = options.cause;

    // capture stack (this property is supposed to be treated as private)
    this._err = new Error();

    // create an iterable chain
    this.chain = this.cause ? [this].concat(this.cause.chain) : [this];
}
RError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype, {
    constructor: {
        value: RError,
        writable: true,
        configurable: true
    }
});

Object.defineProperty(RError.prototype, 'stack', {
    get: function stack() {
        return this.name + ': ' + this.message + '\n' + this._err.stack.split('\n').slice(2).join('\n');
    }
});

Object.defineProperty(RError.prototype, 'why', {
    get: function why() {
        var _why = this.name + ': ' + this.message;
        for (var i = 1; i < this.chain.length; i++) {
            var e = this.chain[i];
            _why += ' <- ' + e.name + ': ' + e.message;
        }
        return _why;
    }
});

// usage

function fail() {
    throw new RError({
        name: 'BAR',
        message: 'I messed up.'
    });
}

function failFurther() {
    try {
        fail();
    } catch (err) {
        throw new RError({
            name: 'FOO',
            message: 'Something went wrong.',
            cause: err
        });
    }
}

try {
    failFurther();
} catch (err) {
    console.error(err.why);
    console.error(err.stack);
    console.error(err.cause.stack);
}

es6 version:

class RError extends Error {
    constructor({name, message, cause}) {
        super();
        this.name = name;
        this.message = message;
        this.cause = cause;
    }
    [Symbol.iterator]() {
        let current = this;
        let done = false;
        const iterator = {
            next() {
                const val = current;
                if (done) {
                    return { value: val, done: true };
                }
                current = current.cause;
                if (!val.cause) {
                    done = true;
                }
                return { value: val, done: false };
            }
        };
        return iterator;
    }
    get why() {
        let _why = '';
        for (const e of this) {
            _why += `${_why.length ? ' <- ' : ''}${e.name}: ${e.message}`;
        }
        return _why;
    }
}

// usage

function fail() {
    throw new RError({
        name: 'BAR',
        message: 'I messed up.'
    });
}

function failFurther() {
    try {
        fail();
    } catch (err) {
        throw new RError({
            name: 'FOO',
            message: 'Something went wrong.',
            cause: err
        });
    }
}

try {
    failFurther();
} catch (err) {
    console.error(err.why);
    console.error(err.stack);
    console.error(err.cause.stack);
}

I’ve put my solution into a module, here it is: https://www.npmjs.com/package/rerror