Faults and error pipeline¶

A failure in ClaimIntake reaches the caller in one of three ways. A validation failure in SubmitClaim is thrown as FaultException<ClaimValidationFault> and arrives as a typed SOAP fault. Any other exception thrown by SubmitClaim arrives as WCF's default generic fault, with no exception detail because includeExceptionDetailInFaults is false. A failure in GetClaimStatus never reaches the caller as a fault: the method catches it and returns null. In every case a [LogErrorBehavior] error handler logs the exception first and leaves the fault itself untouched.

Fault surface summary¶

Aspect	Finding
Declared fault contracts	1 - `ClaimValidationFault` on `SubmitClaim`
Service behavior attributes	`[LogErrorBehavior]` on 1 service class
`IErrorHandler` implementations	`ClaimIntakeErrorHandler` (`src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/Behaviors/ClaimIntakeErrorHandler.cs`)
`includeExceptionDetailInFaults`	false
Effect on callers	A caller sees a typed `ClaimValidationFault` for a failed validation, a generic fault with no detail for any other exception, and a null result when `GetClaimStatus` fails

Service behaviors¶

Behavior	Applied to	Declared in	Effect
`[LogErrorBehavior]`	`ClaimIntake`	`src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/Behaviors/LogErrorBehaviorAttribute.cs`	Installs `ClaimIntakeErrorHandler` on every channel dispatcher through `ApplyDispatchBehavior`
`<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>`	`ClaimIntake` (`behaviorConfiguration="ClaimIntakeBehavior"`)	`Web.config` `<serviceBehaviors>`	Exception type, message, and stack trace are not included in generic faults
`<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>`	`ClaimIntake` (`behaviorConfiguration="ClaimIntakeBehavior"`)	`Web.config` `<serviceBehaviors>`	The WSDL is published at `ClaimIntake.svc?wsdl`

The code attribute and the configuration behavior do not interact: the attribute adds an error handler, and serviceDebug only controls whether WCF puts exception detail into a generic fault.

Error handler¶

Field	Value
Type	`ClaimIntakeErrorHandler` : `IErrorHandler`
Source	`src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/Behaviors/ClaimIntakeErrorHandler.cs`
Installed by	`LogErrorBehaviorAttribute` : `IServiceBehavior` - `ApplyDispatchBehavior`
Scope	Every channel dispatcher on every service carrying the attribute
`HandleError` return	`false` - the exception is not considered handled
`ProvideFault` behavior	Leaves the fault unchanged - a thrown `FaultException<ClaimValidationFault>` is sent as the typed fault and every other exception produces the default fault

HandleError writes one error entry through the log surface that records the exception type, message, stack trace, the SOAP action of the failing call, and the Windows identity of the caller, then returns false. Returning false means the exception continues through the WCF pipeline, so the fault the caller receives is whatever WCF would have produced without the handler.

Logged exception detail¶

Field	Value written	Source of the value
Exception type	Full type name	`error.GetType().FullName`
Message	Exception message	`error.Message`
Stack trace	Full stack trace	`error.StackTrace`
SOAP action	Action of the failing request	`OperationContext.Current.IncomingMessageHeaders.Action`
Caller identity	Windows account name	`ServiceSecurityContext.Current.WindowsIdentity.Name`

Aspect	Finding
Log surface	`ILogService`
Destination	Not determined from source
Failure of the logger itself	The logging call is wrapped in a try/catch that discards the exception, so a logging failure is silent and the fault path is unaffected

Error pipeline diagram¶

The following diagram visualizes how an exception becomes a fault.

flowchart TD
    OP["Operation throws<br>an exception"] --> DISP["Channel dispatcher"]
    DISP --> PROVIDE["ClaimIntakeErrorHandler.ProvideFault<br>leaves the fault unchanged"]
    PROVIDE --> KIND{"Exception type"}
    KIND -->|"FaultException of ClaimValidationFault"| TYPED["Typed fault ClaimValidationFault"]
    KIND -->|"Any other exception"| DEFAULT["WCF produces the default fault<br>with no exception detail"]
    TYPED --> CALLER["Caller receives SOAP fault"]
    DEFAULT --> CALLER
    DISP --> HANDLER["ClaimIntakeErrorHandler.HandleError"]
    HANDLER --> LOG["Exception detail logged<br>via ILogService"]
    HANDLER --> RET{"HandleError returns"}
    RET -->|"false"| NOTHANDLED["Exception not considered handled<br>WCF pipeline continues"]

Declared fault contracts¶

Fault type	Declared on	Members	Raised when
`ClaimValidationFault`	`SubmitClaim`	`Code`, `FieldErrors`, `Message`	The injury date is in the future (BR-CLM-001) or the employer policy is not active on the injury date (BR-CLM-002)

Failure modes by operation¶

Operation	Failure	What the caller receives	Detail exposed
`SubmitClaim`	Injury date in the future or policy not active on the injury date	Typed fault `ClaimValidationFault`	`Code`, `Message`, and the list of failing fields
`SubmitClaim`	`PKG_CLAIM_INTAKE.INSERT_CLAIM` fails with `OracleException`	Generic SOAP fault	None
`GetClaimStatus`	No claim matches the claim number	Default value with no fault	None
`GetClaimStatus`	Any exception during the lookup	Default value with no fault	None
`FlagClaimForReview`	`PKG_CLAIM_INTAKE.ADD_REVIEW_FLAG` fails with `OracleException`	Nothing - a one-way operation returns no message and the failure is only logged	None

Swallowed failures¶

Location	Behavior	Consequence
`ClaimIntake.GetClaimStatus` (`src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/ClaimIntake.svc.cs:104`)	A `catch (Exception)` block logs the exception through `ILogService` and returns null without rethrowing	The caller cannot distinguish a database failure from an unknown claim number, and `ClaimIntakeErrorHandler` never sees the exception

Index
Overview
Architecture
Activation and hosting
Operations
Authentication and authorization
Dependencies
Configuration
Operations and processes
Business rules
Data model
Operational runbook
Tech debt

Sources¶

src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/Behaviors/LogErrorBehaviorAttribute.cs
src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/Behaviors/ClaimIntakeErrorHandler.cs
src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/ClaimIntake.svc.cs
src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/DataContracts/ClaimValidationFault.cs
src/SAIF.Claims.Intake.Service/Web.config