Today, I was wrestling with some Dart code and kept running into this error message that just said “Exception has occurred.” Super helpful, right? I mean, it tells me something went wrong, but gives me zero clues about where it went wrong. It’s like your car making a weird noise and the mechanic just saying, “Yep, it’s broken.”
So, I started digging. My first instinct was to sprinkle `print()` statements everywhere, like digital breadcrumbs, to try and trace the flow of execution. This kinda worked, but it was messy and time-consuming. I felt like there had to be a better way.
Then it hit me – I needed to see the actual line number where the exception was being thrown. After some searching and messing around, I figured out how to get Dart to cough up that crucial piece of information.
Here’s what I did:
Catch those sneaky exceptions: First, I wrapped the troublesome part of my code in a `try-catch` block. This is like setting a trap for the error. You’re basically saying, “Okay, Dart, if something goes wrong here, don’t just crash, tell me about it!”
try {
// Code that might cause problems
} catch (e) {
// Do something with the error
Getting the Stack Trace: I add ‘stacktrace’ after the catch error parameter ‘e’.
try {
// your code
} catch (e, stacktrace) {
print(stacktrace);
The `stacktrace` is the key! It’s like a detective’s report, showing you the exact sequence of function calls that led to the error. And, most importantly, it includes the line numbers!
When I ran my code with this setup, the console finally spilled the beans. It showed me the stack trace, and BAM! There it was, the line number where the `throw` was happening. It was like finding the missing puzzle piece.
With the line number in hand, I could jump straight to the problem area in my code and see what was going on. Turns out, I had a tiny typo that was causing all the chaos. A classic “Doh!” moment.
It might seem basic, but trust me, knowing how to get that line number can save you a ton of debugging time. It is great!
