How do I start to debug COM error "HRESULT E_FAIL" for TableToGeodatabase geoprocessing tool?

Question

I've got some code that creates a table using OLEDB connections to an access table. I want to convert this table to a Geodatabase table, so I ask a question How do I convert an access table to a proper geodatabase table? I tried to use the code there, which threw HRESULT E_FAIL, and then after reading Blah's link about using the geoprocessor I came up with this code:

Geoprocessor GP = new Geoprocessor();

ESRI.ArcGIS.ConversionTools.TableToGeodatabase tableToGeodatabaseTool =
    new ESRI.ArcGIS.ConversionTools.TableToGeodatabase();


tableToGeodatabaseTool.Input_Table = _cSM.Geodatabase_FilePath + "\\" + TableName;
tableToGeodatabaseTool.Output_Geodatabase = _cSM.Geodatabase_FilePath;

GP.Execute(tableToGeodatabaseTool, null);

... Which also throws HRESULT E_FAIL. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure how to go about debugging it.

This code is being run from a custom toolbar in ArcGIS. It seems like ArcGIS is locking the access database, but I assume because I'm using ArcObjects that's not the problem. Any ideas?

Edit: Here are the details to the exception that is being thrown. You will note that "inner exception" is empty; it is returned as null:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException was unhandled by user code

  Message="Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component."

  Source="ESRI.ArcGIS.Geoprocessing"

  ErrorCode=-2147467259

  StackTrace:

   at ESRI.ArcGIS.Geoprocessing.GeoProcessorClass.Execute(String Name, IVariantArray ipValues, ITrackCancel pTrackCancel)

   at ESRI.ArcGIS.Geoprocessor.Geoprocessor.ExecuteInner(IGPProcess process, ITrackCancel trackCancel, IGeoProcessor igp, IVariantArray iva)

   at ESRI.ArcGIS.Geoprocessor.Geoprocessor.Execute(IGPProcess process, ITrackCancel trackCancel)

   at Reports.Validation.validate_StumpageValues() in C:\Users\Public\Documents\SilvAssist\Reports\Reports\Validation.cs:line 131

   at Reports.frm_Options.run_Validations() in C:\Users\Public\Documents\SilvAssist\Reports\Reports\frm_Options.cs:line 160

   at Reports.frm_Options.bgWorker_Validations_DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e) in C:\Users\Public\Documents\SilvAssist\Reports\Reports\frm_Options.cs:line 190

   at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.OnDoWork(DoWorkEventArgs e)

   at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument)

InnerException:

Answer 1

I'm wrestling with my own ArcObjects COM errors, here's an idea: put the offending code in a try block, and include a catch {COMException ce}. Then examine ce.ErrorCode. That gets you the 10-digit ArcObjects error code. Then you can try to find an ESRI document listing them all - good luck with that. Googling finds several of varying vintages, none complete - but you might get lucky. Or use the errlook.exe tool that is included with Visual Studio to look up the description for the error code. See http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/conceptualhelp/index.html#//0001000002zz000000. Best of luck!