Translate error codes to string to display

Question

Is there a common way in C++ to translate an error code to a string to display it?

I saw somewhere a err2msg function, with a big switch, but is that re

Answer 1

The big switch is not that bad for this. To get a string for an error code is almost always not performance critical.

You should keep in mind that these error strings are probably not what you want to show your users. The messeges for the user should be kept in resources for easier translation.

strings for error codes are for logs or diagnostics and need no translation.

You can use this trick to define your error codes and the strings in parrallel:

#if defined(ERROR_BUILD_ARRAY)

#define ERROR_START \
        static const err_defn error_table[] = { \
        { WARNING, "Warning" },
#define ERRDEF(num, offset, str) { num, str },
#define ERROR_END { 0, NULL } };

#elif !defined(ERROR_ENUM_DEFINED)

#define ERROR_START \
        typedef enum svn_errno_t { \
        WARNING = OS_START_USERERR + 1,
#define ERRDEF(num, offset, str) /** str */ num = offset,
#define ERROR_END ERR_LAST } svn_errno_t;

#define ERROR_ENUM_DEFINED

ERROR_START

ERRDEF(ERR_BAD_BAD,
            ERR_BAD_CATEGORY_START + 0,
            "Bad error")

ERRDEF(ERR_BAD_FILENAME,
            ERR_BAD_CATEGORY_START + 1,
            "Bogus filename")

ERROR_END

(Copied from subversion sources)