MVC Global error handling: Application_Error not firing

Question

I am attempting to implement global error handling in my MVC application.

I have some logic inside my Application_Error that redirects to an ErrorController but it's not working.

I have a break point inside my Application_Error method in the the Global.aspx.

When I force an exception the break point is not being hit. Any ideas why?

Solution 1

You can try this approach for testing:

protected void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var error = Server.GetLastError();
    Server.ClearError();
    Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
    Response.Write(error ?? (object) "unknown");
    Response.End();
}

Web.config

<customErrors mode="Off" />

• Rich Custom Error Handling with ASP.NET
• How to: Handle Application-Level Errors

Solution 2

I think a better way to handle this would be using the HandleErrorAttribute to decorate your controller (perhaps a base controller). This would give you the option to do logging or handle errors in different controllers with different errors by extending this attribute and modifying it to fit your needs, say by changing the view that gets rendered. Using this attribute uses the standard filter processing in MVC and builds the page using views rather than writing directly to the response as you might do using Application_Error.

Comments

[Dan]

No! thats a poor idea. I want the global error handling, to log the error and present a friendly screen to the user.

[Dan]

Your links are not really relevant to my question.

[Konstantin Tarkus]

@Dan, you have not get my point. Debugger just can't step into your Application_Error method. Use my code without debugger and you will see that it works. BTW, you beat off any desier to help you.

[Dan]

Sorry - its not my attention to offend, just thought your initial answer was not up to scratch\clear.

[Dan]

No don't handle it elsewhere, im just getting an ungraceful standard asp.net error page.

[Admin]

Actually the debugger CAN step into the Application_Error method.

[Michael Maddox]

Using the HandleError attribute doesn't help with errors that happen outside controllers as far as I can tell (for example in RegisterRoutes in Global.asax.cs).

[tvanfosson]

@Michael - true, it only applies to a controller or controller method since the framework only recognizes the attributes there. In practice I don't find this to be a problem. For me, the only code that runs outside of an action is done at start up. I use ELMAH with a custom HandleError attribute anyway so both of my bases are covered.

[Crwydryn]

Marked down because the debugger CAN step into Application_Error as suggested by @user181328

[Clarence]

@tvanfosson same for ajax calls, also. It goes straight to the global.asax application_error if you have it... after some research and testing, I've decided upon a three prong solution. A. custom attribute using RegisterGlobalFilters not decorated controllers B. Updating web.config to turn custom error handling on C. JavaScript that captures all messages, either using the model and a helper method or direct from the ajax status code and a redirect to the error page via javaScript whereby the model and the ajax funnel their error into