How to simulate inner exception in C++

Question

Basically I want to simulate .NET Exception.InnerException in C++. I want to catch exception from bottom layer and wrap it with another exception and throw again to upper la

Answer 1

One problem with the inner exception is the possibility to throw it again while maintaining polymorphic behaviour.

This can be (somewhat) alleviate by actually managing the exception lifetime yourself and providing polymorphic copies.

// Base class
class exception: virtual public std::exception, private boost::noncopyable
{
public:
  virtual exception* clone() const = 0;
  virtual void rethrow() const = 0; // throw most Derived copy
};

// ExceptionPointer
class ExceptionPointer: virtual public std::exception
{
public:
  typedef std::unique_ptr pointer;

  ExceptionPointer(): mPointer() {}
  ExceptionPointer(exception* p): mPointer(p) {}
  ExceptionPointer(pointer p): mPointer(p) {}

  exception* get() const { return mPointer.get(); }
  void throwInner() const { if (mPointer.get()) mPointer->rethrow(); }

  virtual char* what() const { return mPointer.get() ? mPointer->what() : 0; }

private:
  pointer mPointer;
};

How to use ?

try
{
  // some code
}
catch(exception& e)
{
  throw ExceptionPointer(e.clone());
}

// later on
try
{
}
catch(ExceptionPointer& e)
{
  e.throwInner();
}