RaBaseException

Namespace: `RA.Utilities.Core.Exceptions`

RaBaseException is the abstract base class for all custom, semantic exceptions within the RA.Utilities ecosystem. It provides a standardized structure for exceptions that represent predictable business-level failures.

🎯 Purpose

The primary purpose of RaBaseException is to establish a consistent contract for all application-specific exceptions. It ensures that every exception carries not only a descriptive message but also a machine-readable error code, which typically corresponds to an HTTP status code.

By inheriting from System.Exception and adding an ErrorCode property (which typically holds an HTTP status code), it ensures that every custom exception in your application carries two key pieces of information:

1. A human-readable Message describing what went wrong.
2. A machine-readable ErrorCode that can be used by higher-level handlers (like API middleware) to translate the exception into a specific, standardized HTTP response.

This allows higher-level layers, such as API middleware, to catch exceptions and automatically translate them into standardized HTTP error responses without needing to inspect the exception message text.

All other custom exceptions in this library, such as NotFoundException and ConflictException, inherit from RaBaseException.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
ErrorCode	int	The error code associated with the exception. By default, this is 500 (Internal Server Error).
Message	string	(Inherited from Exception) A human-readable message describing the error.

🚀 How to Use

While you can throw RaBaseException directly for generic errors, its main function is to be the parent for more specific exceptions.

Example 1: Throwing a General Error

If an error occurs that doesn't fit a more specific exception type, you can use RaBaseException. It's good practice to wrap the original exception as an innerException to preserve the stack trace.

try
{
    // Some operation that might fail
    await _externalService.DoSomethingCritical();
}
catch (HttpRequestException ex)
{
    // Wrap the original exception in a RaBaseException
    throw new RaBaseException(
        BaseResponseCode.InternalServerError, 
        "A critical operation failed while communicating with an external service.", 
        ex // Pass the original exception here
    );
}

Example 2: Creating a Custom Derived Exception

The most common use case is to create your own semantic exceptions that inherit from RaBaseException.

public class PaymentFailedException : RaBaseException
{
    // Set a specific, non-default error code for this exception type.
    public PaymentFailedException(string reason) 
        : base(BaseResponseCode.BadRequest, $"Payment failed: {reason}")
    {
    }
}