errorDialog - how reliable?

[Richard Gaskin]

Alex Rice wrote:

> Can someone assuage my concerns there could be situations like this in
> the Rev engine for standalones- where errorDialog messages can vanish
> without a trace? I want my thrown exceptions to MAKE SOME NOISE.
> Without fail. I see the lockErrorDialogs property and it is set to
> false.

There are times when checking the result is best.  And times when throw is
your friend.  And other times when lockErrorDialogs will catch nearly
everything.

I agree it would be ideal to have a single mechanism for error-catching that
did it all, but some errors are not fatal.  In some cases all you want to do
is advise the user and keep going, or do something else....
 
If making those decisions in your app seems hard, imagine deciding for the
engine, across 12 operating systems, and compounded by a complex IDE.

At the extreme of error-handling is the generic dialog with an inexplicable
number and a cryptic message like "That action cannot be completed because
it cannot be found" (an actual Apple message).  When error handling is most
generic it is most complete, but also least helpful for the user.

FWIW, while a single _optimal_ solution has eluded me all these years, I've
found few errors that could not be trapped for and handled gracefully one
way or another.  That's why we love good testers....

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
 ___________________________________________________________
 Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com
 Tel: 323-225-3717                       AIM: FourthWorldInc