Article
11/18/2011

ArgumentException Class

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

The exception that is thrown when one of the arguments provided to a method is not valid.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.Exception
    System.SystemException
      System.ArgumentException
        System.ArgumentNullException
        System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException
        System.Globalization.CultureNotFoundException
        System.Text.DecoderFallbackException
        System.Text.EncoderFallbackException

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
Public Class ArgumentException _
    Inherits SystemException

[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public class ArgumentException : SystemException

The ArgumentException type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	ArgumentException()	Initializes a new instance of the ArgumentException class.
	ArgumentException(String)	Initializes a new instance of the ArgumentException class with a specified error message.
	ArgumentException(String, Exception)	Initializes a new instance of the ArgumentException class with a specified error message and a reference to the inner exception that is the cause of this exception.
	ArgumentException(String, String)	Initializes a new instance of the ArgumentException class with a specified error message and the name of the parameter that causes this exception.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	Data	Gets a collection of key/value pairs that provide additional user-defined information about the exception. (Inherited from Exception.)
	HResult	Gets or sets HRESULT, a coded numerical value that is assigned to a specific exception. (Inherited from Exception.)
	InnerException	Gets the Exception instance that caused the current exception. (Inherited from Exception.)
	Message	Gets the error message and the parameter name, or only the error message if no parameter name is set. (Overrides Exception.Message.)
	StackTrace	Gets a string representation of the frames on the call stack at the time the current exception was thrown. (Inherited from Exception.)

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetBaseException	When overridden in a derived class, returns the Exception that is the root cause of one or more subsequent exceptions. (Inherited from Exception.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetType	Gets the runtime type of the current instance. (Inherited from Exception.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	ToString	Creates and returns a string representation of the current exception. (Inherited from Exception.)

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Remarks

ArgumentException is thrown when a method is invoked and at least one of the passed arguments does not meet the parameter specification of the called method. All instances of ArgumentException should carry a meaningful error message describing the invalid argument, as well as the expected range of values for the argument.

The primary derived classes of ArgumentException are ArgumentNullException and ArgumentOutOfRangeException. These derived classes should be used instead of ArgumentException, except in situations where neither of the derived classes is acceptable. For example, exceptions should be thrown by:

ArgumentNullException whenever nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) is passed to a method that does not accept it as a valid argument.
ArgumentOutOfRangeException when the value of an argument is outside the range of acceptable values; for example, when the value "46" is passed as the month argument during the creation of a DateTime.

If the method call does not have any argument or if the failure does not involve the arguments themselves, then InvalidOperationException should be used.

ArgumentException uses the HRESULT COR_E_ARGUMENT, which has the value 0x80070057.

For a list of initial property values for an instance of ArgumentException, see the ArgumentException constructors.

Platform Notes

Silverlight for Windows Phone

ArgumentException displays the message Argument Exception instead of Exception of type 'System.ArgumentException'.

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to throw and catch an ArgumentException.

Note:
To run this example, see Building Examples That Use a Demo Method and a TextBlock Control.

Public Class Example
   Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock)
      ' ArgumentException is not thrown because 10 is an even number.
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("10 divided by 2 is {0}", DivideByTwo(10)) & vbCrLf
      Try
         ' ArgumentException is thrown because 7 is not an even number.
         outputBlock.Text += String.Format("7 divided by 2 is {0}", DivideByTwo(7)) & vbCrLf
      Catch Ex As ArgumentException
         ' Show the user that 7 cannot be divided by 2.
         outputBlock.Text &= "7 is not divided by 2 integrally." & vbCrLf
      End Try
   End Sub

   Private Shared Function DivideByTwo(ByVal num As Integer) As Integer
      ' If num is an odd number, throw an ArgumentException.
      If ((num And 1) _
                  = 1) Then
         Throw New ArgumentException("Number must be even", "num")
      End If
      Return (num / 2)
   End Function
End Class
' This code produces the following output.
' 
' 10 divided by 2 is 5
' 7 is not divided by 2 integrally.

using System;

public sealed class Example
{
   public static void Demo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock)
   {
      // ArgumentException is not thrown because 10 is an even number.
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("10 divided by 2 is {0}", DivideByTwo(10)) + "\n";
      try
      {
         // ArgumentException is thrown because 7 is not an even number.
         outputBlock.Text += String.Format("7 divided by 2 is {0}", DivideByTwo(7)) + "\n";
      }
      catch (ArgumentException)
      {
         // Show the user that 7 cannot be divided by 2.
         outputBlock.Text += "7 is not divided by 2 integrally." + "\n";
      }
   }

   static int DivideByTwo(int num)
   {
      // If num is an odd number, throw an ArgumentException.
      if ((num & 1) == 1)
         throw new ArgumentException("Number must be even", "num");

      // num is even, return half of its value.
      return num / 2;
   }
}


// This code produces the following output.
// 
// 10 divided by 2 is 5
// 7 is not divided by 2 integrally.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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