A Macros 1.1 implementation of https://crates.io/crates/error-chain

The error-chain example

#
mod other_error {
    error_chain! {}
}

error_chain! {
    types {
        Error, ErrorKind, ResultExt, Result;
    }

    links {
        Another(other_error::Error, other_error::ErrorKind) #[cfg(unix)];
    }

    foreign_links {
        Fmt(::std::fmt::Error);
        Io(::std::io::Error) #[cfg(unix)];
    }

    errors {
        InvalidToolchainName(t: String) {
            description("invalid toolchain name")
            display("invalid toolchain name: '{}'", t)
        }
    }
}

becomes

#
mod other_error {
    #[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
    pub enum ErrorKind {
        Msg(String),
    }
}

#[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
pub enum ErrorKind {
    Msg(String),

    #[cfg(unix)]
    #[error_chain(link = "other_error::Error")]
    Another(other_error::ErrorKind),

    #[error_chain(foreign)]
    Fmt(::std::fmt::Error),

    #[cfg(unix)]
    #[error_chain(foreign)]
    Io(::std::io::Error),

    #[error_chain(custom)]
    #[error_chain(description = r#"|_| "invalid toolchain name""#)]
    #[error_chain(display = r#"|t| write!(f, "invalid toolchain name: '{}'", t)"#)]
    InvalidToolchainName(String),
}

So the obvious differences from error_chain! are:

• The ErrorKind is an enum instead of a macro invocation.
• Error links are variants of the enum instead of lines inside the macro.
• Links have explicit annotations marking them as chainable / foreign / custom instead of being grouped into corresponding sections of the macro.
• Attributes like #[cfg] are applied to the variants directly instead of needing special syntax.
• description and display are defined as function expressions specified as attribute values, instead of shorthands integrated into the macro syntax.

The less obvious differences are:

• The ErrorKind must explicitly implement ::std::fmt::Debug, either automatically using #[derive] or manually implemented separately. error_chain! does this implicitly.
• Unlike error_chain!, the ErrorKind need not have pub visibility. The generated Error, Result and ResultExt will have the same visibility as the ErrorKind.
• The ErrorKind can have a special Msg(String) member for converting strings to the ErrorKind. error_chain! does this implicitly.
• Unlike error-chain, the Msg(String) member is optional. If absent, the ErrorKind and Error will not impl From<String> and From<&str>.
• Doc comments, since they're effectively attributes, can be applied on the enum variants without any special syntax like error_chain! has.
• The ErrorKind can be generic.

Enum attributes

• #[error_chain(error = "ErrorName")]

  Override the name of the generated Error struct to the given name. If not provided, the struct will be named Error.

• #[error_chain(result_ext = "ResultExtName")]

  Override the name of the generated ResultExt trait to the given name. If not provided, the trait will be named ResultExt.

• #[error_chain(result = "ResultName")]

  Override the name of the generated Result type alias to the given name. If not provided, the alias will be named Result. If set to the empty string "", the alias will not be generated at all.

• #[error_chain(backtrace = "false")] or #[error_chain(backtrace = false)]

  Disable backtrace functionality in the generated code. This should be kept in sync with the value of the backtrace feature of the error-chain crate. In other words, if you set backtrace = "false" here, you must also specify default-features = false for error-chain in your Cargo.toml

Variant definitions

• Chainable links

  #
  #
  #[error_chain(link = "other_error::Error")]
  Another(other_error::ErrorKind),
  

  A chainable link is an error and errorkind that have been generated using error-chain or derive-error-chain. The variant must have a single field to hold the chained errorkind, and the link attribute must specify a path to the chained error.

  When the proc_macro feature is enabled, the value of the link attribute does not need to be stringified:

  #
  #
  #
  #[error_chain(link = other_error::Error)]
  Another(other_error::ErrorKind),
  

• Foreign links

  #
  #[error_chain(foreign)]
  Fmt(::std::fmt::Error),
  

  A foreign link is an error that implements ::std::error::Error but otherwise does not follow error-chain's conventions. The variant must have a single field to hold the foreign error.

• Custom links

  #
  #[error_chain(custom)]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

  A custom link is an arbitrary variant that can hold any members.

Variant attributes

In addition to the above attributes that identify the type of the variant's link, the below attributes can be used on all links.

• #[error_chain(description = "some_function_expression")]

  Specifies a function expression to be used to implement ErrorKind::description(). This value is also returned from the implementation of ::std::error::Error::description() on the generated Error.

  This can be an inline lambda:

  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(description = r#"|_| "invalid toolchain name""#)]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

  or it can be a separate function:

  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(description = "invalid_toolchain_name_error_description")]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  
  // <snip>
  
  fn invalid_toolchain_name_error_description(_: &str) -> &str {
      "invalid toolchain name"
  }
  

  The function expression must have the signature (...) -> &'static str. It should have one parameter for each field of the variant. The fields are passed in by reference.

  Thus in the above example, since InvalidToolchainName had a single field of type String, the function expression needed to be of type (&str) -> &'static str

  If not specified, the default implementation behaves in this way:

  • Chainable links: Forwards to the chained error kind's description()
  • Foreign links: Forwards to the foreign error's implementation of ::std::error::Error::description()
  • Custom links: Returns the stringified name of the variant.

  When the proc_macro feature is enabled, the value does not need to be stringified:

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(description = |_| "invalid toolchain name")]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(description = invalid_toolchain_name_error_description)]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  #
  

  When the proc_macro feature is enabled, closure expressions that only call write! on the ::std::fmt::Formatter can instead use a shorthand:

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(description = const("invalid toolchain name"))]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

• #[error_chain(display = "some_function_expression")]

  Specifies a function expression to be used to implement ::std::fmt::Display::fmt() on the ErrorKind and generated Error

  This can be an inline lambda:

  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(display = r#"|t| write!(f, "invalid toolchain name: '{}'", t)"#)]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

  or it can be a separate function:

  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(display = "invalid_toolchain_name_error_display")]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  
  // <snip>
  
  fn invalid_toolchain_name_error_display(f: &mut ::std::fmt::Formatter, t: &str) -> ::std::fmt::Result {
      write!(f, "invalid toolchain name: '{}'", t)
  }
  

  The function expression must have the signature (&mut ::std::fmt::Formatter, ...) -> ::std::fmt::Result. It should have one &mut ::std::fmt::Formatter parameter, and one parameter for each field of the variant. The fields are passed in by reference. For brevity, closure expressions do not need the &mut ::std::fmt::Formatter parameter and instead capture f from the closure environment.

  Thus in the above example, since InvalidToolchainName had a single field of type String, the function expression needed to be of type (&mut ::std::fmt::Formatter, &str) -> ::std::fmt::Result

  If not specified, the default implementation of ::std::fmt::Display::fmt() behaves in this way:

  • Chainable links: Forwards to the chained errorkind's implementation of ::std::fmt::Display::fmt()
  • Foreign links: Forwards to the foreign error's implementation of ::std::fmt::Display::fmt()
  • Custom links: Writes the description of the variant to the formatter.

  When the proc_macro feature is enabled, the value does not need to be stringified:

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(display = |t| write!(f, "invalid toolchain name: '{}'", t))]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(display = invalid_toolchain_name_error_display)]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  #
  

  When the proc_macro feature is enabled, closure expressions that only call write! on the ::std::fmt::Formatter can instead use a shorthand:

  #
  #
  // Tuple variants use `{0}`, `{1}`, and so on
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(display = const("invalid toolchain name: '{0}'"))]
  InvalidToolchainName(String),
  

  #
  #
  // Struct variants use `{name_of_the_field}`
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(display = const("invalid toolchain name: '{name}'"))]
  InvalidToolchainName { name: String },
  

• #[error_chain(cause = "some_function_expression")]

  Specifies a function expression to be used to implement ::std::fmt::Error::cause() on the generated Error

  This can be an inline lambda:

  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(cause = "|_, err| err")]
  Io(::std::path::PathBuf, ::std::io::Error),
  

  or it can be a separate function:

  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(cause = "parse_file_error_cause")]
  Io(::std::path::PathBuf, ::std::io::Error),
  
  // <snip>
  
  fn parse_file_error_cause<'a>(_: &::std::path::Path, err: &'a ::std::io::Error) -> &'a ::std::error::Error {
      err
  }
  

  The function expression must have the signature (...) -> &::std::error::Error. It should have one parameter for each field of the variant. The fields are passed in by reference. The result is wrapped in Option::Some() for returning from ::std::error::Error::cause()

  Thus in the above example, since Io had two fields of type ::std::path::PathBuf and ::std::io::Error, the function expression needed to be of type (&::std::path::Path, &::std::io::Error) -> &::std::error::Error

  If not specified, the default implementation of ::std::error::Error::cause() behaves in this way:

  • Chainable links: Returns None
  • Foreign links: Forwards to the foreign error's implementation of ::std::error::Error::cause()
  • Custom links: Returns None

  When the proc_macro feature is enabled, the value does not need to be stringified:

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(cause = |_, err| err)]
  Io(::std::path::PathBuf, ::std::io::Error),
  

  #
  #
      # #[error_chain(custom)]
  #[error_chain(cause = parse_file_error_cause)]
  Io(::std::path::PathBuf, ::std::io::Error),
  #
  

Conflicts with error-chain macros when the proc_macro feature is enabled

If you have the proc_macro feature enabled and have code like this:

#![feature(proc_macro)]

#[macro_use] extern crate derive_error_chain;
#[macro_use] extern crate error_chain; // Want to use `bail!` and `quick_main!`

#[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
#[error_chain(result = "MyResult")]
enum ErrorKind {
    Msg(String),
}

quick_main!(|| -> MyResult<()> {
    bail!("failed");
});

it'll fail to compile with:

error: macro `error_chain` may not be used in attributes

This is because the compiler thinks #[error_chain(result = "MyResult")] is the invocation of an attribute macro, notices that error_chain! is a macro_rules macro brought into scope from the error-chain crate, and thus complains that a macro_rules macro cannot be used as an attribute macro. It does this even though there is no attribute macro named error_chain and that the custom derive from this crate has registered error_chain as an attribute it supports.

See https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/38356#issuecomment-324277403 for the discussion.

To work around this, don't use #[macro_use] with the error-chain crate. Instead, either use the macros you need from it:

#![feature(proc_macro)]

#[macro_use] extern crate derive_error_chain;
extern crate error_chain;

use error_chain::{ bail, quick_main };

#[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
#[error_chain(result = "MyResult")]
enum ErrorKind {
    Msg(String),
}

quick_main!(|| -> MyResult<()> {
    bail!("failed");
});

or fully qualify their paths:

#![feature(proc_macro)]

#[macro_use] extern crate derive_error_chain;
extern crate error_chain;

#[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
#[error_chain(result = "MyResult")]
enum ErrorKind {
    Msg(String),
}

error_chain::quick_main!(|| -> MyResult<()> {
    error_chain::bail!("failed");
});

useing the error_chain! macro itself is more complicated: it must be renamed so that it doesn't just cause the above error again, and other macros it uses must also be imported, even though they're an implementation detail:

#![feature(proc_macro)]

#[macro_use] extern crate derive_error_chain;
extern crate error_chain;

use error_chain::{ error_chain as error_chain_macro, error_chain_processing, impl_error_chain_kind, impl_error_chain_processed, impl_extract_backtrace };

#[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
#[error_chain(error = "MyError", result = "MyResult", result_ext = "MyResultExt")]
enum MyErrorKind {
    Msg(String),
}

error_chain_macro! {
}

To use it fully-qualified, the macros it depends on must still be used to bring them into scope:

#![feature(proc_macro)]

#[macro_use] extern crate derive_error_chain;
extern crate error_chain;

use error_chain::{ error_chain_processing, impl_error_chain_kind, impl_error_chain_processed, impl_extract_backtrace };

#[derive(Debug, ErrorChain)]
#[error_chain(error = "MyError", result = "MyResult", result_ext = "MyResultExt")]
enum MyErrorKind {
    Msg(String),
}

error_chain::error_chain! {
}

It's possible this experience will be made better before the proc_macro feature stabilizes.