Azure Mobile Services error: "The request could not be completed. ()"

Having just published my first (Windows Phone - obviously) app using Azure Mobile Services, I thought I'd share something I learnt in the process. When first testing on an actual device (always test on actual devices!) I hit an issue where the MobileServicesClient was failing with the following message being intercepted by the Application level UnhandledExceptionHandler:

"The request could not be completed. ()"

Notice the empty brackets at the end. In most cases (based on similar exceptions that others have reported and Google helped me find) these would include an indicator of the issue. Such as "(Internal Server Error)" or "(Send failure)".

The call stack wasn't much help either:


   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.MobileServices.MobileServiceClient.CreateMobileServiceException(String errorMessage, IServiceFilterRequest request, IServiceFilterResponse response)
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.MobileServices.MobileServiceClient.ThrowInvalidResponse(IServiceFilterRequest request, IServiceFilterResponse response, JToken body)
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.MobileServices.MobileServiceClient.<RequestAsync>d__f.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.MobileServices.MobileServiceTable.<SendInsertAsync>d__8.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.MobileServices.MobileServiceTable`1.<InsertAsync>d__21.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.GetResult()
   at RadioNow.MainPage.<OnNavigatedTo>d__8.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncMethodBuilderCore.<ThrowAsync>b__0(Object state)


Even when I wrapped all my uses of the client in try..catch blocks this exception was still only getting caught at the application level unhandled exception handler.

Anyway, the issue came down to the devicenot having Wi-Fi enabled and for some reason it wasn't using 3G ro USB passthrough to connect instead.

So, 2 lessons:
1. The WP8 AMS client might throw errors, based on connectivity, that you'll have to catch and deal with at an application level.
2. Be sure to check/test Wi-Fi connections on devices when tethered.