How to get your failing batch records?

Is there a way to get the records in the batches that failed? The AsyncApexJob only gives me the number of failures- but nothing more than that really...

http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/object_reference/index_Left.htm#CSHID=sforce_api_objects_asyncapexjob.htm|StartTopic=Content%2Fsforce_api_objects_asyncapexjob.htm|SkinName=webhelp

Solution

I don't think there's a way to get all of the desired details using default functionality. I worked around this by creating a Batch Status object where I can log the errors that occur within the batch. Essentially I wrapped my batch execute code in a try/catch block and within the catch, I add a new Batch Status record with the details of the error.

global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<sObject> scope) { 

    List<Batch_Status__c> BatchStatuses = new List<Batch_Status__c>();

    try {
        // ... batch execute code ...
    }
    catch(Exception e) {
        // exception logging
        Batch_Status__c BatchStatus = new Batch_Status__c();

        // ... add exception detail to BatchStatus ...
        BatchStatuses.add(BatchStatus);
    }

    insert BatchStatuses;
}