Glossary · Automation software engineering and architecture
Error handling
German: Fehlerbehandlung
In software engineering, error handling is the set of techniques by which a program detects, reports and responds to errors, such as invalid inputs, failed operations, communication faults or resource shortages, so that it continues in a defined way instead of producing undefined behavior.
- Software engineering
In one sentence
Error handling is how software detects, reports and responds to errors so it continues in a defined way instead of failing unpredictably.
Example
When a recipe download fails its checksum, the error handling rejects the recipe, keeps the previous one active and shows an alarm with the file name.
How it applies
- Engineering: Error handling includes checking return values and status codes, validating inputs, handling exceptions, setting timeouts and defining fallback behavior. Every error path should lead to a known state; silently ignored errors are a common source of field problems.
- Operation: Errors that operators or service staff must act on should produce clear messages: what happened, what the system did and what to do next. Internal errors should be logged with enough context for analysis.
- Documentation: Alarm and error message lists, with causes and remedies, are among the most consulted parts of machine documentation. The documentation team should work with developers so message texts, IDs and troubleshooting information stay consistent across the software, HMI and manuals.
Error handling vs. fault handling
Error handling is a software-level term for dealing with detected errors in program execution. Fault handling in automation also covers hardware and process faults and the machine's Fault reaction, such as stopping or switching to a safe state. Software error handling is one building block of fault handling.