C# Cookbook

5.14. Obtaining a Stack Trace

Problem

You need a view of what the stack looks like at any particular point in your application. However, you do not have an exception object from which to obtain this stack trace.

Solution

Use the following line of code to obtain a stack trace at any point in your application:

string currentStackTrace = System.Environment.StackTrace;

The variable currentStackTrace now contains the stack trace at the location where this line of code was executed.

Discussion

A good use of the Solution is tracking down stack overflow problems. You can obtain the current stack trace at various points in your application and then calculate the stack depth. This depth calculation can then be logged to determine when and why the stack is overflowing or potential trouble spots where the stack may grow very large.

It is very easy to obtain a stack trace using the System.Environment.StackTrace property. Unfortunately, this stack trace also lists three methods defined in the System.Environment class that are called when you use the Environment.StackTrace property. The returned stack trace, using this method, will look something like the following:

at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e)
at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e)
at System.Environment.get_StackTrace( )
at Chapter_Code.Class1.ObtainingStackTrace( ) in c:\book cs cookbook\test.cs:line 260
at Chapter_Code.Class1.Main(String[] args) in c:\book cs cookbook\main.cs:line 78

The first three items in the stack ...