Issue: Invalid ZIP file crashes NBug

[shaxxx]

When exception is thrown, after UI dialog is displayed NBug creates ZIP file in specified location. If internal exception occurs in NBug, it will leave invalid ZIP file on disk.
On every subsequent application start NBug will try to load invalid ZIP file, generate IO Exception, crash and warn user about it's internal exception. Note that empty ZIP file is handled just fine.

Proposed solution:

Create ZIP file at temporary location (or memory) and move it to the right location once when serialization is done or ensure that ZIP archive is always valid even if NBug crashes.

[soygul]

Can you post the details of a sample IOException you get. If I didn't skip something, ad5501b must have resolved the issue. Can you test it?

Thanks.

[shaxxx]

Ok, I've pulled last commit and issue is not resolved.

I get System.IO.InvalidDataException thrown from ZipStorer.Open method, and NBug Internal Exception Viewer opens with Error detail. If users clicks on quit application will never start, invalid ZIP file will stay on disk, user will try to start the app again and internal exception viewer will come up again creating endless loop and making application unusable.

It's really easy to test it, take any non zip file, name it Exception_*.zip, and put it in the folder with the app.

You were close with the last commit, but we need to actually delete invalid zip file first because after Logger.Error DeleteCurrentReportFile is never called. Just change order of the lines 88 and 89 in Dispatcher.cs

                        Logger.Error("An exception occurred while extraction report data from zip file. Check the inner exception for details.", exception);
                        storer.DeleteCurrentReportFile();

to

                        storer.DeleteCurrentReportFile();
                        Logger.Error("An exception occurred while extraction report data from zip file. Check the inner exception for details.", exception);

This way Internal Exception Viewer is displayed only once and there is no loop (question is should it be displayed at all since we know what kind of exception occurred, why it happened, and we're pretty sure it's not in fact NBug Internal Exception).

I've noticed earlier that Logger.Error not only logs, but also throws error which IMHO is a really not transparent and should be re factored in the future.

[shaxxx]

I was also thinking about decorating all Logger methods with DebuggerStepThroughAttribute since it would make debugging so much easier. I can do it, just didn't want to on my own.

[soygul]

Logger.Error throws error only if release mode is not set to true, though it is best to prevent the loop in debug mode too so I committed your fix.

[soygul]

You'll notice that Settings.ThrowExceptions will cause NBug to throw or swallow internal exceptions. Settings.HandleExceptions will cause it to handle unhandled exceptions or swallow them. So if Settings.ThrowExceptions = false, Logger.Error will never throw exceptions (same goes for release mode = true). Have a look in here: https://github.com/soygul/NBug/blob/master/NBug/Settings.cs#L275

If you set Settings.HandleExceptions = false, logger methods will never be invoked so they will never appear in your stack trace.

[shaxxx]

Thanks for the fix.
I know that I can set NBug to swallow exceptions, but default settings are fine, and the way it works in internal exception handling is good, I was just referring to separation of concerns, the fact that something called logger should do just that, simply log the errors.

Once again, thanks for the help & support.
Regards.

[soygul]

If you have the time to decorate the logger functions and test to see there are no side affects, please do so:) I'll be off for the week and might forget this completely..

[pmarienfeld]

Hi Teoman

I recently stumbled upon the same issue with an invalid exception zip file. Furthermore subsequent valid exception zip files are not being sent anymore once an invalid file is stored in the path. Would you mind releasing a new version (1.2.3) along with this fix to the nuget gallery. Thanks.

Best regards
Philip

[soygul]

I don't have Windows & Visual Studio at the moment so I can't do that unfortunately. You'll have to compile and use it yourself.

[pmarienfeld]

Ok. So I'll go with a local build then until you're back on the .NET track. Thanks for your quick response.