position of the try catch statement

Question

I have some code that currently looks somewhat like this:

public void MainFunction() 
{
   try
   {
      SomeProblemFunction();
   }
   catch
   {
      AllFineFunction();
   }
}

private void SomeProblemFunction() { ... }
private void AllFineFunction() { ... }

As you can see, I'm currently wrapping the call to SomeProblemFunction around a try statement because that function could fail (it relies on an outside web service call).

My question is this: should the try statement be a) outside the problem function (like I have it now) or b) inside the problem function?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Typically you want to allow your exceptions propagate up to your application boundaries. You're only going to want to do one of a few things with your exception:

• Wrap it
• Replace it
• Let it propagate

Update

From your question it seems that you are looking for a fault tolerant solution for your web service calls. This is a more complex problem than simply "where do I put my try-catch?" You would still place your exception handling at the application boundary, but there you would implement your fault tolerance strategy. This would need to have many considerations, including asynchronously calling your web service, number of retry attempts, etc. I would suggest doing a search for web service fault tolerance.

Answer 2

What you have is correct; see the MSDN example:

public class ThrowTestB
{
    static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // TryCast produces an unhandled exception.
            TryCast();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            // Catch the exception that is unhandled in TryCast.
            Console.WriteLine
                ("Catching the {0} exception triggers the finally block.",
                ex.GetType());

            // Restore the original unhandled exception. You might not 
            // know what exception to expect, or how to handle it, so pass  
            // it on. 
            throw;
        }
    }

    public static void TryCast()
    {
        int i = 123;
        string s = "Some string";
        object obj = s;

        try
        {
            // Invalid conversion; obj contains a string, not a numeric type.
            i = (int)obj;

            // The following statement is not run.
            Console.WriteLine("WriteLine at the end of the try block.");
        }
        finally
        {
            // Report that the finally block is run, and show that the value of 
            // i has not been changed.
            Console.WriteLine("\nIn the finally block in TryCast, i = {0}.\n", i);
        }
    }
    // Output: 
    // In the finally block in TryCast, i = 123. 

    // Catching the System.InvalidCastException exception triggers the finally block. 

    // Unhandled Exception: System.InvalidCastException: Specified cast is not valid.
}