[AccessD] vbWatchdog error handler

[John Colby]

And of course some of us pick up apps written by others. As in most things
in life, there is no one size fits all.

I have not used it yet, but an app which can hook directly into the
interpreter and catch the errors live as they happen has advantages over
'ooops, I didn't put an error handler there..."  I currently use MZTools to
insert an error handler which I wrote, that can do things like turn on and
off error logging, turn on and off messages to the developer etc.  But I
have to do the insertion any and everywhere that an error could occur.

It certainly feels like a global hook into the interpreter is a more robust
solution.

On Tue, May 30, 2023 at 6:30 AM James Button via AccessD <
accessd at databaseadvisors.com> wrote:

> A problem with some clients is that they take data in without full
> validation
> And that includes altering control data used to validate input,
> And as an external organisation/person, the developer is often not allowed
> to
> see the data -
> So cannot actually analyse the cause of a failure.
>
> I used to include a multi-level reporting facility that the clients IT
> technical
> staff could activate to get reports,
>  and then they could discuss the report content over the phone, or send
> extracts.
>
> A real help when the process is dealing with fair sized batches of data,
>  that maybe coming into the clients systems from 3rd parties.
>
> Recently the sort of problem I have been asked to deal with are associated
> with
> codepage glitches
> Where MS has changed defaults used within windows Apps
>  so that what were ":" or ' generate 3 or more character strings
>  that appear to the receiving facility as including newlines, and other
> unusual
> characters .
>
> From the viewpoint of an (external) support supplier the reporting
> facility was
> at times invaluable -
> Consider, have you checked that the code you supplied deals with things
> where
> sets of very large numbers are being multiplied, and divided, and the
> result is
> supposed to be cash, accurate to 2? Or 4 decimal places where an
> intermediate
> division results in a number where there are 10 zeros before first nonzero
> decimal digit,  or a multiplication has 15 digits before the decimal
>
> I was working on a stockbroker facility and had to generate a 64 bit
> calculation
> facility as the hardware only did 32 bit values.
> So - how many shares are there in the larger (global) organisations, and
> what is
> their total worth in currencies that are billions (ZAL?) to the USD.
>
> And that is without considering some of the calculations needed in modern
> (Astro) physics.
>
> JimB
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AccessD
> <accessd-bounces+jamesbutton=blueyonder.co.uk at databaseadvisors.com> On
> Behalf Of
> Stuart McLachlan
> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2023 8:04 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] vbWatchdog error handler
>
> Me too. :)
>
> Error handling should be pro-active.  Untrapped errors that require this
> sort of
> framework are
> an indication of poor design and testing.
> It's just a PITA that the VBA developers have never bothered to implement
> Try...Catch and
> you have to resort to IFs and/or the clunky On Error Goto.
>
> In the rare event that a user finds a new way to break the application,
> they
> will generally let
> you know and you can implement a fix.
>
> I can see it being useful during pre-release testing, but not in
> production.
>
>
> On 30 May 2023 at 5:28, Gustav Brock via AccessD wrote:
>
> > Hi Dan and John
> >
> > I must say, I´ve never understood the need for extensive error
> > handling. We test our applications very carefully, thus errors are
> > extremely rare and certainly not happening on a daily basis.
> >
> > /gustav
> >
> > Fra: Daniel Waters<mailto:df.waters at outlook.com>
> > Sendt: 30. maj 2023 02:48
> > Til: Access Developers discussion and problem
> > solving<mailto:accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Emne: Re: [AccessD]
> > vbWatchdog error handler
> >
> > Hi John,
> >
> > I used this up until about 5 years ago.  It's an excellent addition,
> > and much more than worth the money.  Set up a table to store the error
> > data, create a report that shows that data, and set up a daily email
> > so you'll know of any errors that occurred yesterday at each of your
> > customers.  Or you can set up an immediate email for any error or if a
> > certain type of error occurs.
> >
>
>
>
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-- 
John W. Colby
Colby Consulting