PRB: Err.Raise Doesn't Always Generate Expected Error

• Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Using Err.Raise to generate a specific run-time error may generate a "Application-defined or object-defined error" message rather than the expected text that corresponds to the error number.

CAUSE

Err.Raise only fills in the Source, Description, HelpFile, and HelpContext properties of the Err object for Visual Basic for Applications errors. For other errors, it returns "Application-defined or object-defined error."

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Err.Raise is useful for generating errors when writing OLE Automation objects because the Err object gives the programmer and user more information than is possible if you generate errors with the Error statement.

Whether or not to use Err.Raise in code that is not related to OLE Automation depends on if you want the additional information returned by using Err.Raise versus the Error statment. Err.Raise is most useful for providing the user with information on a user-defined error when writing code for an OLE Automation object; it provides the user with information on a user-defined error. Please see the Raise Method topic in the Visual Basic Help menu for an example on using Err.Raise with user-defined errors in an OLE Automation application.

The following example demonstrates the information that can be obtained using Err.Raise such as the Source property, Description property, and other properties of the Err Object. In addition, it shows the differences in behavior of Error.Raise when raising Visual Basic for Applications errors versus non-Visual Basic for Application errors.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add the following code to the Form_Click event procedure:

      Private Sub Form_Load()
         On Error Resume Next
         Err.Clear
         Err.Raise 6
         'Err.Raise 381
         If Err.Number <> 0 Then
            Msg = "Error # " & Str(Err.Number) & " was generated by " & _
            Err.Source & Chr(13) & Err.Description
   
            MsgBox Msg, , "Error", Err.HelpFile, Err.HelpContext
         End If
      End Sub
   
   

3. Run the program. The error "Overflow" is correctly generated.

4. Change the line containing "Err.Raise 6" into a comment, and uncomment the line containing "Err.Raise 381".

5. Run the program. Rather than the expected error "Invalid property array index," the error "Application-defined or object-defined error" is generated.

Visual Basic for Applications Errors

The following is a list of Visual Basic for Applications errors. For a complete list of trappable errors, please search for the "Trappable errors" topic in the Help file.

   3      Return without GoSub
   5      Invalid procedure call
   6      Overflow
   7      Out of memory
   9      Subscript out of range
   10     Duplicate definition
   11     Division by zero
   12     Precision lost converting Variant
   13     Type mismatch
   14     Out of string space
   16     String expression too complex
   17     Can't perform requested operation
   18     User interrupt occurred
   20     Resume without error
   28     Out of stack space
   35     Sub or Function not defined
   47     Too many DLL application clients
   48     Error in loading DLL
   49     Bad DLL calling convention
   51     Internal error
   52     Bad file name or number
   53     File not found
   54     Bad file mode
   55     File already open
   57     Device I/O error
   58     File already exists
   59     Bad record length
   61     Disk full
   62     Input past end of file
   63     Bad record number
   67     Too many files
   68     Device unavailable
   70     Permission denied
   71     Disk not ready
   74     Can't rename with different drive
   75     Path/File access error
   76     Path not found
   91     Object variable not Set
   92     For loop not initialized
   93     Invalid pattern string
   94     Invalid use of Null
   423    Property or method not found
   424    Object required
   430    Class doesn't support OLE Automation
   438    Object doesn't support this property or method
   440    OLE Automation error
   445    Object doesn't support this action
   446    Object doesn't support named arguments
   447    Object doesn't support current locale setting
   448    Named argument not found
   449    Argument not optional
   450    Wrong number of arguments
   451    Object not a collection
   452    Invalid ordinal
   453    Function not defined in specified DLL
   454    Code resource not found
   455    Code resource lock error
   456    Get and Put cannot be used with arrays
   457    Can't create object