[Python-Dev] FormatError() in callproc.c under win32

[Thomas Heller]

Ulrich Eckhardt schrieb:
> Hi!
> 
> In callproc.c from trunk is a function called SetException(), which calls 
> FormatError() only to discard the contents. Can anyone enlighten me to the 
> reasons thereof? Is it just to check if the errorcode is registered in the 
> stringtables?

I think that your guess is somewhat similar to what I thought when I
wrote the code.

> 
> The reason I ask is the CE port. The FormatMessage API exists there (or, 
> rather, the FormatMessageW API), but the tables containing the error messages 
> are optional for the OS and for space reasons many vendors chose not to 
> include them. That means that the function there regularly fails to retrieve 
> the requested string.
> 
> My first approach was to fall back to simply providing a sting with a numeric 
> representation of the errorcode, but that would change the meaning of above 
> function, because then it could never fails.
> 
> My second approach was to enhance PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr() to handle the 
> additional error codes that are checked in SetException(). However, those 
> require more context than just the error code, they use the EXCEPTION_RECORD 
> passed to SetException() for that.
> 
> My third approach would be to filter out the special error codes first and 
> delegate all others to PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(). The latter already handles 
> the lack of a string for the code by formatting it numerically. This would 
> also improve consistency, since the two functions use different ways to 
> format unrecognised errors numerically. This approach would change where and 
> how a completely unrecognised error code is formatted, but would otherwise be 
> pretty equivalent.

The third approach is fine with me.  Sidenote: The only error codes that I remember
having seen in practice are 'access violation reading...' and 'access violation writing...',
although it may be that on WinCE 'datatype misalignment' may also be possible.

-- 
Thanks,
Thomas