Where to define error messages

Question

I'm making my first "real" C# program and I'm thinking about where I should define error messages? Should I do something like this:

static class Error
{
    public static string Example { get { return "Example Error"; } }
}

I could also use values here instead of properties but that would still mean I can't do something like this:

public static string FailedToParse(string filepath, string exmessage)
{
    return ("Failed to parse " + filepath + ".\n" + exmessage);
}

So, is that a good idea? Should I make a new class and write a method for each error? How do you guys implement this and why?

I already read

dev hedgehog · Answer 1 · 2013-10-27T17:53:17.327

I think this is something everything should figure out by themselves.

One like to display nice messages to users another just throw those default generated ones.

Personally I like to have codes for errors.

Something like this:

I create a static class called ExceptionFactory and just pass the code to the method called RaiseException.

public static class ExceptionRegions
{
  public static int Internet = 0xA;
  public static int FileSystem = 0xB;
}

public class InternetConnectionException : Exception
{
  public InternetConnectionException () : base("No internet connection available") { }
}

public class FileSystemAccessException : Exception
{
  public FileSystemAccessException () : base("Access to specified path caused an error") { }
}

public static class ExceptionFactory
{
  public static void RaiseException(int code)
  {
    switch(code)
    {
      case ExceptionRegions.Internet : throw new InternetConnectionException();
      ...
      ...
    }
  }
}

Btw, this is a well known pattern called Factory Pattern. :)

Why I like this, because it allows me to set regions in my application. Usually an application has many interfaces such as file system, or web services, or database and all I need to do is create a code for each area and the factory will throw a nice message to user without exposing to the user name of database and number of code line or whatever the default generated error message looks alike.

Where to define error messages

1 Answers1