When KeyNotFoundException is thrown, how do I see which key wasn't found?

Question

A System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary is throwing KeyNotFoundException, but I can't see which key is supposedly missing. How do I determine this?

Answer 1

Custom exception:

class WellknownKeyNotFoundException : KeyNotFoundException
{
    public WellknownKeyNotFoundException(object key, string message)
        : this(key, message, null) { }

    public WellknownKeyNotFoundException(object key, string message, Exception innerException)
        : base(message, innerException)
    {
        this.Key = key;
    }

    public object Key { get; private set; }
}

Handy extension method:

public TValue GetValue<TKey, TValue>(this IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary, TKey key)
{
    try
    {
        return dic[key];
    }
    catch (KeyNotFoundException ex)
    {
        throw new WellknownKeyNotFoundException((object)key, ex.InnerException);
    }
}

Usage:

var foo = new Foo();
var bar = new Bar();

IDictionary<Foo, Bar> dic = new Dictinary<Foo, Bar>
{
    { foo, bar }
};

try
{
    dic.GetValue(foo);
}
catch (WellknownKeyNotFoundException ex)
{
    var key = (Foo)ex.Key;
    Assert.AreEqual(foo, key); // should be
}