Child DataPortalException uses inner exception?

[atrlxgh]

really I just want to query why when an exception occurs, if an inner exception exists, it uses that instead?

In ServiceProviderMethodCaller.cs when an exception is caught, it does the below

catch (Exception ex)
{
  Exception inner = null;
  if (ex.InnerException == null)
    inner = ex;
  else
    inner = ex.InnerException;

  throw new CallMethodException(obj.GetType().Name + "." + info.Name + " " + Resources.MethodCallFailed, inner);

Long story short, we have certain exceptions custom and not that potentially losing information when an Exception is thrown.

I recreated the 'issue' in the test ChildInnerExceptionFlowsFromDataPortal by throwing an inner exception inside of the CustomException as below

throw new CustomException("Insert not allowed", new OperationCanceledException());

In an ideal world, we need the CustomException to be the one that is captured, but that is not what is happening, and I just want to understand it

[rockfordlhotka]

I'd like to understand the scenario where this occurs so we can address the issue.

Normally what happens is that the exception that's thrown (the top level one) is a reflection exception, which is useless to everyone. That's why we use the innerException, which is the actual exception. By dropping the reflection exception, we keep the exception tree free of noise so it is more useful.

Perhaps we have some scenario where the top level exception isn't a reflection exception, and I'd like to understand how that happens so we can address it.

[atrlxgh]

I used the DataPortalExceptionTests.cs ChildInnerExceptionFlowsFromDataPortal test to show this, and then implementing an extra constructor to take an innerException

  [Serializable]
  public class CustomException : Exception
  {
    public CustomException(string message) : base(message) { }

    public CustomException(string message, Exception innerException) : base(message, innerException) { }
  }

and then changing the throw from Child Insert to throw any exception

    [InsertChild]
    private void Child_Insert(object parent)
    {
      using (BypassPropertyChecks)
      {
        throw new CustomException("Insert not allowed", new OperationCanceledException());
      }
    }

If you need a real world example, this might take a quite a while longer, but I believe this shows the 'issue'