The Microsoft Exception Management Application Block sucks

Many people recommend using the Microsoft Exception Management Application Block (EMAB). I don’t. In all fairness, though, when I was evaluating EMAB, I was evaluating it for use in a client-side application. The EMAB is best suited for server-side applications when there is a need to configure the exception handling behavior of the application after it has been deployed. Since the EMAB has a fairly steep learning curve (in comparison with other components) I don’t recommend it for any other case.

I apologize for the title of this blog entry but its there for a reason. Whenever I evaluate a product I always start with a Google search of “[Product Name] sucks” to see what the complaints are. I wasted almost two weeks evaluating the EMAB for a client-side application. If someone else searches on “EMAB sucks” maybe this blog entry will save them some time.

More key phrases: The Enterprise Library Exception Handling Application Block sucks. EHAB sucks.