The C programming language does not offer any support to handle exceptions in the program and this is one of the major differences between C and C++. The Structured Exception Handling (SEH) is an extension to Microsoft C++ and C language support. Although, it is recommended to use the in-built exception handling mechanism if you are using C++ because it helps with the portability of the code across platforms. But, Microsoft compiler allows us to use SEH with C++ and C. The SEH provides a way to handle resources (memory buffers, synchronization primitives, etc) in case the program flow is interrupted due to software or hardware exceptions.
The SEH mechanism which was mentioned in the first post is :
- Exception handler – __except block: called in response to an exception.
- Termination handler – __finally block: always called.
When the developer defines the SEH block (aka exception frame), it gets installed on the stack and with the unwinding of the stack, it gets removed. The exception can be caught in the same function or the caller function. In terms of unwinding the stack, if the exception is unhandled in the callee, it goes higher up the stack in the previous or caller’s frame and appropriate action is taken. So the above two SEH mechanisms may be different in terms of functionality but as far as unwinding the stack is concerned, they are similar.
In this post, we dig into the flow of the exception in user-mode (supported by OS) and in the developer’s code (exception or termination handler written by the developer). It is expected that the reader has some knowledge of C and WinDbg or any other related debugging tool.
The Thread Environment
Let’s take a look at the stack once we return to the user-mode after the ‘First Chance’ exception (see previous post).
Continue reading “Back to the Start – Exception Handling (Part 4)”