The Exception Assistant
Versions: 2008,2010
Published: 10/23/2010
Code: vstipDebug0030
The Exception Assistant appears whenever a run-time exception occurs. It shows the type of exception, troubleshooting tips, and corrective actions as applicable:
Exception Object and Description
The layout is pretty straightforward you have the Exception Object type and description:
Troubleshooting Tips
Then you have the the Troubleshooting tips area that give advice on how to resolve the problem in a user-friendly format. The items are typically links to more information that can be found in the online or offline Help:
Help Online
Search for more Help Online is pretty interesting when you click the link:
You'll get a dialog asking permission to send information online:
Clicking OK will result in sending the information to MSDN online and doing a search:
Actions
The Actions area let's you get information on the Exception object:
The View Detail link will show a dialog that will expose the details of the object for you to review:
Copy the exception to the clipboard will capture textual information you can put into any text editor for analysis. It's not overly detailed but does provide a starting point for resolving the issue:
Turning off the Exception Assistant
Although not suggested, you can actually turn this feature off. Just go to Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> General and uncheck "Enable the exception assistant":
This is what the same error looks like with the Exception Assistant off:
Unwind the Call Stack on Unhandled Exception
If you want more information on the details of this option, check out this great article by Bill Horst: