Represents a stack trace, which is an ordered collection of one or more stack frames.

For a list of all members of this type, see StackTrace Members.

System.Object
   System.Diagnostics.StackTrace

[Visual Basic]
<Serializable>
Public Class StackTrace
[C#]
[Serializable]
public class StackTrace
[C++]
[Serializable]
public __gc class StackTrace
[JScript]
public
   Serializable
class StackTrace

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are safe for multithreaded operations. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Remarks

StackTrace information will be most informative with Debug build configurations. By default, Debug builds include debug symbols, while Release builds do not. The debug symbols contain most of the file, method name, line number, and column information used in constructing StackFrame and StackTrace objects. StackTrace might not report as many method calls as expected, due to code transformations that occur during optimization.

Example

[Visual Basic, C#, C++] The following console application demonstrates how to create a simple StackTrace and iterate through its frames to obtain debugging and diagnostic information.

[Visual Basic] 
Imports System
Imports System.Diagnostics

Public Class StackTraceSample

    Public Shared Sub Main()

        Try
            Dim sts As New StackTraceSample()
            sts.MyPublicSub()
        Catch
            ' Create a StackTrace that does not capture filename, line number or column information.
            Dim strace As New StackTrace()
            Dim count As Integer

            ' High up the call stack, there is only one stack frame
            While count < strace.FrameCount
                Dim frame As New StackFrame()
                frame = strace.GetFrame(count)
                Console.WriteLine("High Up the Call Stack, Method: {0}", frame.GetMethod())
                Console.WriteLine("High Up the Call Stack, Line Number: {0}", frame.GetFileLineNumber())
                count = count + 1
            End While

        End Try

    End Sub

    Public Shared Sub MyPublicSub()
        MyProtectedSub()
    End Sub

    Protected Shared Sub MyProtectedSub()
        Dim stsh As New StackTraceSampleHelper()
        stsh.ThrowsException()
    End Sub

End Class

Class StackTraceSampleHelper
    Sub ThrowsException()
        Try
            Throw New Exception("A problem was encountered.")
        Catch e As Exception
            ' Create a StackTrace that captures filename, line number or column information.
            Dim strace As New StackTrace(True)
            Dim count As Integer
            Dim indent As String = ""

            ' Low down the call stack, there are four stack frames
            While count < strace.FrameCount
                Dim frame As New StackFrame()
                frame = strace.GetFrame(count)
                Console.WriteLine(indent & "Method: {0}", frame.GetMethod())
                Console.WriteLine(indent & "Line Number: {0}", frame.GetFileLineNumber())
                indent = indent & "  "
                count = count + 1
            End While

            Throw e

        End Try

    End Sub

End Class

' This console application produces the following output when 
' compiled with the Debug Configuration.
'
' C:\StackTraceSample\StackTraceSampleVB\bin>StackTraceSampleVB
' Method: Void ThrowsException()
' Line Number: 46
'   Method: Void MyProtectedSub()
'   Line Number: 35
'     Method: Void MyPublicSub()
'     Line Number: 30
'       Method: Void Main()
'       Line Number: 10
' High Up the Call Stack, Method: Void Main()
' High Up the Call Stack, Line Number: 0
' 
' C:\StackTraceSample\StackTraceSampleVB\bin>StackTraceSampleVB

[C#] 
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

class MyClass
{
    [STAThread]
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        MyClass mc = new MyClass();
        try
        {
            mc.MyPublicMethod();
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            // Create a StackTrace that captures
            // filename, line number and column
            // information, for the current thread.
            StackTrace st = new StackTrace(true);
            for(int i =0; i< st.FrameCount; i++ )
            {
                // High up the call stack, there is only one stack frame
                StackFrame sf = st.GetFrame(i);
                Console.WriteLine("\nHigh Up the Call Stack, Method: {0}",
                    sf.GetMethod() );

                Console.WriteLine(  "High Up the Call Stack, Line Number: {0}",
                    sf.GetFileLineNumber());
            }
        }
    }

    public void MyPublicMethod () { MyProtectedMethod(); }

    protected void MyProtectedMethod ()
    {
        MyInternalClass mic = new MyInternalClass();
        mic.ThrowsException();
    }

    class MyInternalClass
    {
        public void ThrowsException()
        {
            try
            {
                throw new Exception("A problem was encountered.");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                // Create a StackTrace that captures filename,
                // line number and column information.
                StackTrace st = new StackTrace(true);
                string stackIndent = "";
                for(int i =0; i< st.FrameCount; i++ )
                {
                    // Low down the call stack there are four
                    // stack frames, one for each method invocation.
                    StackFrame sf = st.GetFrame(i);
                    Console.WriteLine("\n" + stackIndent + " Method: {0}",
                        sf.GetMethod() );
                    Console.WriteLine(  stackIndent + " File: {0}", sf.GetFileName());
                    Console.WriteLine(  stackIndent + " Line Number: {0}",
                        sf.GetFileLineNumber());
                    stackIndent += "  ";
                }
                throw e;
            }
        }
    }
}

/*
This console application produces the following output when
compiled with the Debug Configuration.

C:\StackTraceSample\bin\Debug>StackTraceSample

 Method: Void ThrowsException()
 File: c:\pp\samples\stacktraceframe\myclass.cs
 Line Number: 50

   Method: Void MyProtectedMethod()
   File: c:\pp\samples\stacktraceframe\myclass.cs
   Line Number: 37

     Method: Void MyPublicMethod()
     File: c:\pp\samples\stacktraceframe\myclass.cs
     Line Number: 31

       Method: Void Main(System.String[])
       File: c:\pp\samples\stacktraceframe\myclass.cs
       Line Number: 12

High Up the Call Stack Method: Void Main(System.String[])
High Up the Call Stack Line Number: 17

C:\StackTraceSample\bin\Debug>

This console application produces the following output when
compiled with the Release Configuration.

C:\StackTraceSample\bin\Debug>StackTraceSample

 Method: Void ThrowsException()
 File:
 Line Number: 0

   Method: Void Main(System.String[])
   File:
   Line Number: 0

High Up the Call Stack Method: Void Main(System.String[])
High Up the Call Stack Line Number: 0

C:\StackTraceSample\bin\Debug>StackTraceSample

*/

[C++] 
#using <mscorlib.dll>
#using <System.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Diagnostics;

__gc class MyClass {
private:
    __gc class MyInternalClass {
    public:
        void ThrowsException() {
            try {
                throw new Exception(S"A problem was encountered.");
            } catch (Exception* e) {
                // Create a StackTrace that captures filename,
                // line number and column information.
                StackTrace* st = new StackTrace(true);
                String* stackIndent = S"";
                for (int i =0; i< st->FrameCount; i++) {
                    // Low down the call stack there are four
                    // stack frames, one for each method invocation.
                    StackFrame* sf = st->GetFrame(i);
                    Console::WriteLine(S"\n{0} Method: {1}", stackIndent, sf->GetMethod());
                    Console::WriteLine(S"{0} File: {1}", stackIndent, sf->GetFileName());
                    Console::WriteLine(S"{0} Line Number: {1}", stackIndent, __box(sf->GetFileLineNumber()));
                    stackIndent = String::Concat(stackIndent, S"  ");
                }
                throw e;
            }
        }
    };

protected:
    void MyProtectedMethod() {
        MyInternalClass* mic = new MyInternalClass();
        mic->ThrowsException();
    }

public:
    void MyPublicMethod () {
        MyProtectedMethod();
    }
};

void main() {
        MyClass* mc = new MyClass();
        try {
            mc->MyPublicMethod();
        } catch (Exception*) {
            // Create a StackTrace that captures
            // filename, line number and column
            // information, for the current thread.
            StackTrace* st = new StackTrace(true);
            for (int i = 0; i < st->FrameCount; i++) {
                // High up the call stack, there is only one stack frame
                StackFrame* sf = st->GetFrame(i);
                Console::WriteLine(S"\nHigh Up the Call Stack, Method: {0}",
                    sf->GetMethod());

                Console::WriteLine(S"High Up the Call Stack, Line Number: {0}",
                    __box(sf->GetFileLineNumber()));
            }
        }
    }


/*
This console application produces the following output when
compiled with the Debug Configuration.

V:\>StackTraceSample

 Method: Void ThrowsException()
 File: z:\source.cpp
 Line Number: 18

   Method: Void MyProtectedMethod()
   File: z:\source.cpp
   Line Number: 38

     Method: Void MyPublicMethod()
     File: z:\source.cpp
     Line Number: 43

       Method: Int32 main()
       File: z:\source.cpp
       Line Number: 49

High Up the Call Stack, Method: Int32 main()
High Up the Call Stack, Line Number: 54

----------

This console application produces the following output when
compiled with the Release Configuration.

V:\>StackTraceSample

 Method: Void ThrowsException()
 File:
 Line Number: 0

   Method: Int32 main()
   File:
   Line Number: 0

     Method: UInt32 _mainCRTStartup()
     File:
     Line Number: 0

High Up the Call Stack, Method: Int32 main()
High Up the Call Stack, Line Number: 0

*/

[JScript] No example is available for JScript. To view a Visual Basic, C#, or C++ example, click the Language Filter button in the upper-left corner of the page.

Requirements

Namespace: System.Diagnostics

Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family

Assembly: Mscorlib (in Mscorlib.dll)

See Also

StackTrace Members | System.Diagnostics Namespace | Exception.StackTrace | Environment.StackTrace | ServerFault.StackTrace