vbWatchdog v4 Released

vbWatchdog changed my life as a VBA developer.

I went from a typical procedure that looked like this:

Sub MyRoutine()
    On Error Goto MyErrorHandler

    'Some code 

ExitRoutine:
    Exit Sub 
MyErrorHandler:
    Select Case Err.Number
    Case Else 
        HandleError Err.Number, Err.Description, Errors 
    End Select 
    GoTo ExitRoutine 
End Sub 

To one that looks like this:

Sub MyRoutine()
    'Some code
End Sub

And the best part is the second version now provides me with more detailed error information than the first.  If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to read all about my Error Handling Evolution.

New Features

I write about this now because Wayne has just released a new version of vbWatchdog.  

Version 4 includes several under-the-cover changes:

  • The vbWatchdog .msi and .dll's are now code signed (to help avoid false positives from antivirus software)
  • Certain visual elements now work better with high-DPI screens
  • The code gets compiled with better compiler optimizations
  • A couple of minor bug fixes

Personally, I'm much more excited about the new ErrEx properties that were added:

  • ErrEx.HostPath
  • ErrEx.HostVersion
  • ErrEx.ProcessUsername
  • ErrEx.ProcessID
  • ErrEx.ProcessThreadID
  • ErrEx.ProcessUptime
  • ErrEx.SystemUptime
  • ErrEx.SysInfoCPUID
  • ErrEx.SysInfoOSVersion
  • ErrEx.SysInfoPhysicalRam
  • ErrEx.SysInfoPhysicalRamUsed
  • ErrExCallstack.IsWithinFinallyBlock

License/Upgrade Costs

The cost of a Single developer license with Basic support is $215.  

There are additional costs for:

  • 1 year of priority support and updates
  • VB6 projects

If you already have a license for SimplyVBA v1 or vbWatchdog v2/v3, be sure to upgrade now as there is a 50% discount for existing customers through 31 August 2022.  (After that time, the usual 40% upgrade discount will apply.)

External references

vbWatchdog - Global Error Handler and Tracing utility
A fantastic global error handler for any VBA enabled application - such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel.

Referenced articles

Error Handling Evolution
How you handle errors says a lot about you as a programmer. Most people evolve with experience in how they handle errors. From the most naïve to the most advanced, here is what that evolution looks like.