Error handling

Returned values

In most cases when SVG++ methods returns bool values, they can be used as an alternative to exceptions - if method returns false, then calling method immediately returns with false result and so on.

Error reporting is controlled by Error Policy. policy::error::raise_exception used by default throws exception objects, derived from std::exception and boost::exception. In this case only true may be returned as a result code.

Default Error Handling

Default policy::error::raise_exception uses Boost.Exception for transporting arbitrary data to the catch site.

boost::error_info uses tags tag::error_info::xml_element and tag::error_info::xml_attribute to pass information about place in SVG document where error occurred alongside with the exception object. Value type depends on XML parser and XML Policy used.

Example of SVG++ exception handling when RapidXML NS parser is used:

typedef rapidxml_ns::xml_node<> const * XMLElement;

try
{
  /* ... */
  document_traversal</* ... */>::load_document(/* ... */);
}
catch(svgpp::exception_base const & e)
{
  typedef boost::error_info<svgpp::tag::error_info::xml_element, XMLElement> element_error_info;
  std::cerr << "Error reading SVG";
  if (XMLElement const * element = boost::get_error_info<element_error_info>(e))
    std::cerr
      << " in element '"
      << std::string((*element)->name(), (*element)->name() + (*element)->name_size())
      << "'";
  std::cerr << ": " << e.what() << "\n";
}

Error Policy Concept

struct error_policy
{
  typedef /* ... */ context_type;

  template<class XMLElement, class ElementName>
  static bool unknown_element(
    context_type const &,
    XMLElement const & element,
    ElementName const & name);

  template<class XMLAttributesIterator, class AttributeName>
  static bool unknown_attribute(context_type &,
    XMLAttributesIterator const & attribute,
    AttributeName const & name,
    BOOST_SCOPED_ENUM(detail::namespace_id) namespace_id,
    tag::source::attribute);

  template<class XMLAttributesIterator, class AttributeName>
  static bool unknown_attribute(context_type &,
    XMLAttributesIterator const & attribute,
    AttributeName const & name,
    tag::source::css);

  static bool unexpected_attribute(context_type &,
    detail::attribute_id id, tag::source::attribute);

  template<class AttributeTag>
  static bool required_attribute_not_found(context_type &, AttributeTag);

  template<class AttributeTag, class AttributeValue>
  static bool parse_failed(context_type &, AttributeTag,
    AttributeValue const & value);

  template<class XMLElement>
  static bool unexpected_element(context_type &, XMLElement const & element);

  template<class AttributeTag>
  static bool negative_value(context_type &, AttributeTag);

  typedef /* ... */ intercepted_exception_type;

  template<class XMLElement>
  static bool add_element_info(intercepted_exception_type & e,
    XMLElement const & element);
};

If Error Policy method returns true, then SVG++ continues SVG processing skipping the part with the error. In some cases it may lead to problems in further processing.

If method returns false, then processing immediately stops.