VB.NET Language Pocket Reference

Name

Try...Catch...Finally Statement

Synopsis

Try
   tryStatements
[Catch1 [exception [As type]] [When expression]
    catchStatements1
[Exit Try]

Catch2 [exception [As type]] [When expression]
    catchStatements2
[Exit Try]
...
Catchn [exception [As type]] [When expression]
    catchStatementsn]
[Exit Try]

[Finally
   finallyStatements]
End Try

exception optional; System.Exception or a derived type

The exception to catch. If exception is omitted or if it is System.Exception, all exceptions will be caught. However, if exception is omitted, no information about the exception will be accessible within the Catch block.

type optional

The data type of the exception to be handled by the Catch block. Its value can be System.Exception or any derived type. If omitted, its value defaults to System.Exception, and all exceptions will be handled.

expression optional; Boolean

A logical expression that defines a condition under which the error is to be handled by the Catch block.

Description

Handles runtime errors using Structured Exception Handling.

The tryStatements, which are required, constitute the Try block and are the statements that VB monitors for errors.

The Catchblocks, of which there can be more than one, contain code that is executed in response to VB “catching” a particular type of error within the Try block. Thus, the Catch blocks consist of the error-handlers for the Try block.

The phrases exception [As type] and [When expression] are referred to as filters in the VB.NET documentation. In the former case, ...