TypeInitializationException

This occurs when a static constructor has an error. It is thrown from static constructors. It wraps the errors from static constructors.

A warning

This exception cannot be reliably trapped outside of the static constructor. It can be useful when investigating errors in static constructors.

This program shows that this exception is raised when any exception is thrown inside a type initializer, also called a static constructor.

using System;

class Program
{
    static Program()
    {
        //
        // Static constructor for the program class.
        // ... Also called a type initializer.
        // ... It throws an exception in runtime.
        //
        int number = 100;
        int denominator = int.Parse("0");
        int result = number / denominator;
        Console.WriteLine(result);
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        // Entry point.
    }
}
Unhandled Exception: System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for
'Program' threw an exception. --->
System.DivideByZeroException: Attempted to divide by zero.
   at Program..cctor....
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Program.Main()

Notes, program

When Main is reached, the static Program constructor is executed. The code in the static constructor attempts to divide by zero.

Fix

To fix this error, you can add try-catch blocks around the body of the static constructor that throws it. Alternatively, you could avoid the exception with an if-statement.

A summary

TypeInitializationException is used to wrap exceptions inside type initializers, also called static constructors. This is a special-purpose exception.