The Moth

Below find the VB code for global exception handling in NETCF, as described here. First though, a sort paragraph that you may skip if you desire.

It is worth noting some behaviours of surrounding Application.Run with try..catch (which we already established is not needed). On its own, it cannot catch exceptions thrown from a thread, but it can catch ones thrown on the GUI. It can also catch them when thrown in a Control.Invoke, but only after the built-in CF error dialog appears. If you use try..catch in combination with AD.UnhandledException, it gets more interesting. The try..catch handler is always hit straight after the AppDomain handler with a ThreadAbortException (and a different StackTrace); in those cases, your handling code better run fast, as the process is on its way out and even a MessageBox will not stay up for long. The exception (no pun intended) to the last comment and the order the two handlers are run, is when the exception is thrown on the GUI thread. So, once again, AppDomain.UnhandledException is all you need.

Without further ado here is the VB version:

Public NotInheritable Class EntryPoint
    Private Sub New()
    End Sub
 
    <MTAThread()> _
    Shared Sub Main()
        ' Add Global Exception Handler
        AddHandler AppDomain.CurrentDomain.UnhandledException, _
                                        AddressOf OnUnhandledException
 
        Application.Run(New Form1)
    End Sub
 
    ' In CF case only, ALL unhandled exceptions come here
    Private Shared Sub OnUnhandledException(ByVal sender As Object, _
                                ByVal e As UnhandledExceptionEventArgs)
        Dim ex As Exception = TryCast(e.ExceptionObject, Exception)
        If (ex IsNot Nothing) Then
            ' Can't imagine e.IsTerminating ever being false
            ' or e.ExceptionObject not being an Exception 
            EntryPoint.HandleException(ex, e.IsTerminating)
        End If
    End Sub
 
    '' This should not throw any exceptions 
    '' and should run as quick as possible
    Private Shared Sub HandleException(ByVal ex As Exception, _
               ByVal t As Boolean)
        ' Log ex.StackTrace or whatever
        'MessageBox.Show(ex.StackTrace, ex.Message);
        Dim fs As FileStream = Nothing
        Dim sw As StreamWriter = Nothing
        Try
            fs = New FileStream("GEH.txt", FileMode.Append, _
              FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None, 1000, False)
            sw = New StreamWriter(fs)
            sw.WriteLine("DateStamp: " + DateTime.Now.ToString())
            sw.WriteLine("ToString(): " + ex.ToString())
            sw.WriteLine("Message: " + ex.Message)
            sw.WriteLine("StackTrace: " + ex.StackTrace)
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000)             'for a laugh
            sw.WriteLine("THE END")
            sw.Flush()
        Finally
            If sw IsNot Nothing Then
                fs.Close()
                sw.Close()
            End If
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class