Is there a way to decode numerical COM error-codes in pywin32

Question

Here is part of a stack-trace from a recent run of an unreliable application written in Python which controls another application written in Excel:

pywintype         


        

Answer 1

No-one has yet mentioned the strerror attribute of the pywintypes.com_error Exception. This returns the result of FormatMessage for the error code. So instead of doing it yourself like this

try:
    [whatever code]
except pythoncom.com_error as error:
    print(win32api.FormatMessage(error.excepinfo[5]))

You can just do this:

try:
    [whatever code]
except pythoncom.com_error as error:
    print(error.strerror)

Note it will return None if you have a non-standard HRESULT :(