NotImplementedException vs. NotSupportedException

  • Article

In responding to a recent blog post, one of the readers, Jeremy Gray, noted that I was using a NotImplementedException where I should have been using a NotSupportedException.  At first I did not agree.  There was a method on an interface which my underlying object could not implement therefore I felt the choice of NotImplementedException was an appropriate.

However I was also not very familiar with NotSupportedException and decided to investigate a bit more.  After all, part of the fun of blogging is being wrong in a very public fashion and this was certainly a golden opportunity.  The post was commenting on API design, what better way to be wrong than with a different API design issue?

After doing a bit of research I agree with Jeremy and draw the following distinction between the two exception types

  • NotSupportedException: Throw this exception when a type does not implement a method for which there is a corresponding property indicating whether or not the method in question is supported.

    For Example:

    • IColletion<T>.Add -> IsReadOnly
    • Stream.Seek -> CanSeek
    • Stream.Write -> CanWrite

  • NotImplementedException: Throw this exception when a type does not implement a method for any other reason.

    For Example: ICollection.Count, ICloneable.Clone, etc ... [1]

The method in question on my previous blog post was ICollection<T>.Add().  I was dealing with an immutable collection for which Add is not possible.  Since there is a property, IsReadOnly, which serves as an indicator that Add() is not allowed, NotSupportedException is the better choice. 

[1] Not implementing these methods is likely a bad idea.