UnauthorizedAccessException

[StianR]

Hi.

I have a function that returns a value of the numbers of files, folders and subfolders in a directory. But i can't seem to handle the "UnauthorizedAccessException" which i get from certain read only files or folders. I tried to use both the DirectoryInfo.GetDirectories() and DirectoryInfo.GetFiles() methods. as you can see from the code below. This exception is thrown in start of the for each loop, so i'm not able to handel it with a try, Catch Ex As UnauthorizedAccessException to cintinue the loop.

Function CountFolders(ByVal Directory As String) As Integer
 
        Dim FolderCount As Integer = 0
        Dim SubDirectories As New ArrayList
        Dim FolderInfo As DirectoryInfo = New DirectoryInfo(Directory)
 
        For Each Dir As DirectoryInfo In FolderInfo.GetDirectories
            If (Dir.Attributes And FileAttribute.System) = FileAttributes.System Then
                Continue For
            End If
            SubDirectories.Add(Dir.FullName)
            FolderCount += 1
        Next
 
        For Each item As String In SubDirectories
            FolderCount = CountFolders(item) + FolderCount
        Next
 
        Return FolderCount
 
    End Function

How can i handle this exception and continue the loop.

[formlesstree4]

just wrap the loop in the try, catch ex as exception and run the code.

[StianR]

Hi formlesstree4, and thank you for your reply.

No, that will not work. As i explain in my post, to be able to continue the loop (Continue For), the try-catch needs to be inside the for loop. But the UnauthorizedAccessException happens before the loop begins. If i wrap the for loop in a try-catch, i will be able to handle the exception but not continue the loop. see examples below.


This will not work, as try-catch is outside the loop.

Try
            For Each Dir As DirectoryInfo In FolderInfo.GetDirectories
                If (Dir.Attributes And FileAttribute.System) = FileAttributes.System Then
                    Continue For
                End If
                SubDirectories.Add(Dir.FullName)
                FolderCount += 1
            Next
        Catch ex As Exception
            Continue For ' Error : Continue For can only appear inside a For Statement
        End Try

This will work, but it will not handle the exception.

For Each Dir As DirectoryInfo In FolderInfo.GetDirectories
            Try
                If (Dir.Attributes And FileAttribute.System) = FileAttributes.System Then
                    Continue For
                End If
                SubDirectories.Add(Dir.FullName)
                FolderCount += 1
            Catch ex As Exception
                Continue For
            End Try
        Next

The exception is thrown in the "For Each Dir As DirectoryInfo In FolderInfo.GetDirectories" line.

Sorry if my english is a bit unreadable

[formlesstree4]

Well....You could populate an array first so you can handle that exception if it occurs, then do the loop, and control the inside from there.

Example

Try
Dim DLists() As New String = FolderInto.GetDirectores.ToString 'Not sure if I can do this, but yeah.
Catch Ex As UnauthorizedAccessException
'handle here
End Try
'Now do the loop here, but I can't remember if you'll be able to access the DLists() Variable.