Managed providers can raise several exceptions. To obtain more detailed information about the cause, you need access to provider-specific error information. This article dicusses how to obtain the underlying provider errors when using ADO.NET in Visual Basic .NET.

Requirements

The following list outlines the recommended hardware, software, network infrastructure, and service packs that you need:

• Microsoft .NET Framework
• Microsoft Visual Basic .NET

This article assumes that you are familiar with the following topics:

• Exceptions
• Microsoft OLE DB
• Error handling

Steps to Obtain Underlying Provider Errors

To obtain more detailed information about the cause of an exception, wrap your code in a try-catch block, catch the exception, and process the Errors collection from the OleDbException class.

1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, and then create a new Windows Application project in Visual Basic .NET. Form1 is created by default.
2. Open Form1.vb in code, copy the following code, and paste the code at the beginning of the form:

   Imports System.Data.OleDb
   					

3. Copy the following code into the Form1 Load event:

   Dim ex As OleDbException
   Dim cn As OleDbConnection = New OleDbConnection("Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Data Source=MyWrongServerName")
   Try
       cn.Open()
   Catch ex
       Dim i As Integer
       For i = 0 To ex.Errors.Count - 1
           MessageBox.Show("Index #" + i.ToString() + ControlChars.Cr _
              + "Message: " + ex.Errors(i).Message + ControlChars.Cr _
              + "Native: " + ex.Errors(i).NativeError.ToString() + ControlChars.Cr _
              + "Source: " + ex.Errors(i).Source + ControlChars.Cr _
              + "SQL: " + ex.Errors(i).SQLState + ControlChars.Cr)
       Next i
   End Try
   					

4. Run the application. A message box should appear after 10 to 15 seconds.

Troubleshooting

If you have a server named "MyWrongServerName," you may not receive an error.

For more information on .NET managed providers, refer to the following MSDN Web site: