Error Handling › Error Handling Technique Selection

Error Handling Technique Selection

The techniques described in this chapter can all provide effective error handling for client/server applications.

The technique you choose for an application will depend on the type of application being developed:

• For most applications you should use the flow or remote use and exit states technique. This technique provides the easiest and quickest way to handle client/server errors. You will want to select the remote use as your procedure interaction to allow more than the 8 exit states allowed on a return flow.
• If you need to use a flow for the client/server procedure interaction (perhaps you are putting error handling techniques in an existing system before the remote use was available), one of the other techniques can be effective.

Concerns that must be addressed are the cost of maintenance and production administration for the application system:

• The exit states and action block technique helps reduce the cost of development and maintenance because the code generator implements the exit states automatically, but it may provide some challenges for application maintenance and distribution.
• The Server Supplied Error Information technique provides some advantages in these areas because it does isolate the client from changes in server errors, but it requires the application design the error handling architecture.

Note: To position applications to take advantage of future CA Gen software releases, always use exit states and messages in the server procedure steps.

To choose an error handling technique, map the capabilities of each technique to the needs of the application's requirements and select the technique that best meets those needs.

You can modify the chosen technique to better meet the application's needs. For example, modifying a technique to return more than one error condition from the server to the client.