microsoft / microsoft/durabletask-java

Only the innermost exception is returned when activity functions throw

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P2
Dominant language
Java
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29
Forks
18
Avg merge
1d 10h
Merged PRs (30d)
2

Description

When an activity function throws an exception, we return a FailureDetails but it only represents the innermost exception. Request changing this behavior to match the other durable language implementations returning the outermost user error and all inner errors recursively.

Repro code:

    @FunctionName("CustomRetryActivityFunction")
    public String customRetryActivityFunction(
            @DurableOrchestrationTrigger(name = "ctx") TaskOrchestrationContext ctx) {
        TaskOptions options = new TaskOptions(retryContext -> {
            FailureDetails lastFailure = retryContext.getLastFailure();
            if (lastFailure != null
                    // BUG: Only the innermost failure is available in the Java SDK
                    // BUG: isCausedBy() relies on Class.forName() but we do not provide the fully qualified class name
                    //      in the FailureDetails 
                    && lastFailure.getErrorType().equals("OverflowException")
                    // && lastFailure.isCausedBy(InvalidOperationException.class)
                    // BUG: We do not implement inner failures in the Java SDK yet
                    // && lastFailure.getInnerFailure() != null
                    // && lastFailure.getInnerFailure().isCausedBy("java.lang.OverflowException")
                    && retryContext.getLastAttemptNumber() < 3) {
                return true;
            }
            return false;
        });
        return ctx.callActivity("RaiseComplexException", ctx.getInstanceId(), options, String.class).await();
    }

    @FunctionName("RaiseComplexException")
    public String raiseComplexException(
            @DurableActivityTrigger(name = "instanceId") String instanceId,
            final ExecutionContext context) throws InvalidOperationException {
        AtomicInteger count = globalRetryCount.computeIfAbsent(instanceId, k -> new AtomicInteger(0));
        int current = count.incrementAndGet();
        if (current == 1) {
            OverflowException inner = new OverflowException("Inner exception message");
            InvalidOperationException ex = new InvalidOperationException(
                "This activity failed\r\nMore information about the failure", inner);
            throw ex;
        } else {
            return "Success";
        }
    }

Result:

Image

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing FailureDetails returned for activity-function failures and how retryContext.getLastFailure() exposes it. Compare the Java SDK behavior with the other durable language implementations mentioned in the issue. Done means the outermost user error, its fully qualified type, and all nested inner failures are available recursively for inspection.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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