Skip to Content
VBScript in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition
book

VBScript in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

by Paul Lomax, Matt Childs, Ron Petrusha
March 2003
Intermediate to advanced
512 pages
14h 30m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from VBScript in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4. Error Handling and Debugging

Errors, bugs, and therefore, debugging, are a part of life for a programmer. As the saying goes, if you haven’t found any mistakes, then you aren’t trying hard enough.

Dealing with errors actually involves two very different processes: error handling and debugging. Error handling is a combination of coding and methodology that allows your program to anticipate user and other errors. It allows you to create a robust program. Error handling does not involve weeding out bugs and glitches in your source code, although some of the error-handling techniques covered in this chapter can be used to great advantage at the debugging stage. In general, error handling should be part of your overall program plan, so that when you have an error-free script, nothing is going to bring it to a screeching halt. With some sturdy error handling in place, your program should be able to keep running despite all the misuse that your users can — and certainly will — throw at it.

The following ASP page illustrates some simple error handling:

<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Error Checking</TITLE>
<BODY>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" RUNAT="SERVER">

Dim n, x

n = 10 
x = Request.Form.Item("txtNumber")

If x = 0 Or Not IsNumeric(x) Then
  Response.Write "x is an invalid entry"
Else
  y = n / x
  Response.Write y
End If

</SCRIPT>

</BODY>
</HTML>

The error handling in this example is the best kind — it stops an error before it can occur. Suppose you hadn’t used the conditional If...Else statement ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

VBScript in a Nutshell

VBScript in a Nutshell

Matt Childs, Paul Lomax, Ron Petrusha
VBScript Pocket Reference

VBScript Pocket Reference

Paul Lomax, Matt Childs, Ron Petrusha
VBScript Programmer's Reference, Third Edition

VBScript Programmer's Reference, Third Edition

Kathie Kingsley-Hughes, Daniel Read, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596004885Errata Page