C# 3.0 Cookbook, 3rd Edition

5.3. Writing a More Flexible StackTrace Class

Problem

You have a StackTrace object that contains a listing of stack frames. You need to iterate through these stack frames as if you were using a ReadOnlyCollection-type object.

Solution

Create an extension method to the StackTrace class to return a ReadOnlyCollection of StackFrame objects, as shown in Recipe 5.3.

Example 5-1. Writing a More Flexible StackTrace Class

public static ReadOnlyCollection<StackFrame> ToList(this StackTrace stackTrace)
{
    if (stackTrace == null)
    {
        throw new ArgumentNullException("stackTrace");
    }

    var frames = new StackFrame[stackTrace.FrameCount];
    for (int counter = 0; counter < stackTrace.FrameCount; counter++)
    {
        frames[counter] = stackTrace.GetFrame(counter);
    }

    return new     ReadOnlyCollection<StackFrame>(frames);
}

Discussion

This recipe extends the System.Diagnostics.StackTrace object with the ToList method to obtain a list of stack frames, which it then provides to the user. The StackTrace class provides a convenient way to obtain a stack trace, an exception object, or a specific thread from the current point in code. Unfortunately, the StackTrace provides only a very simplified way to get at each stack frame. It would be much better if the StackTrace object operated like a collection.

The StackTrace object can now be used as if it were a collection of StackFrame objects. To obtain a StackTrace object for the current point in code, use the following code:

 StackTrace sTrace = new StackTrace(); IList<StackFrame> frames ...