INFO: Translating Large Office Automation Error Values

While automating an Office application, you might receive a large error value such as -2147221494. Troubleshooting the error is greatly facilitated by determining the exact description of the error. This article discusses several methods of obtaining the error messages associated with these large error values.

These large error values are known as HRESULTs and are defined in the header file Winerror.h. The numbers are so large because the first bit represents whether the number is an error result. You can use one of the following methods to obtain a description for the error.

Use the Error Lookup Utility

You can use the Error Lookup (ErrLook.Exe) utility that comes with Visual C++ to get meaningful descriptions of these errors:

1. In the Visual C++ development environment, click Error Lookup on the Tools menu.
2. Enter the error value, such as -2147221494, and click Lookup.
3. The error message "Not able to bind to the source" for example, is returned.

Use FormatMessage() at Run-Time

If you want to programmatically obtain a description for an error, you can call the FormatMessage() API. For sample code and information about using FormatMessage(), click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If you are using Visual C++ 6.0, you can use the watch window to display the error message for an HRESULT. You can add an HRESULT to the Watch Window and append ", hr" (without the quotes) to it to have Visual C++ translate the error for you.