diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AlwaysFailingParser.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AlwaysFailingParser.java
index 41d4904f8..8a00aa39d 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AlwaysFailingParser.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AlwaysFailingParser.java
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ public class AlwaysFailingParser implements ValueParser {
 	}
 
 	@Override
-	public Object parse(String str) {
+	public Object parse(String str) throws Exception {
 		throw new IllegalArgumentException("'"+str+"' is not valid for type '"+typeName+"'");
 	}
 
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/EnumValueParser.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/EnumValueParser.java
index 73a231735..a2541168c 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/EnumValueParser.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/EnumValueParser.java
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@ public class EnumValueParser implements ValueParser {
 		this.values = values;
 	}
 	
-	public Object parse(String str)  {
+	public Object parse(String str) throws Exception  {
 		// IMPORTANT: check the text FIRST before fetching values
 		// from the hints provider, as the hints provider may be expensive when resolving values
 		if (!StringUtil.hasText(str)) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException(createBlankTextErrorMessage());
+			throw toError(createBlankTextErrorMessage());
 		}
 		
 		Collection<String> values = this.values.get();
@@ -57,9 +57,13 @@ public class EnumValueParser implements ValueParser {
 		if (values==null || values.contains(str)) {
 			return str;
 		} else {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException(createErrorMessage(str, values));
+			throw toError(createErrorMessage(str, values));
 		}
 	}
+	
+	protected Exception toError(String message) throws Exception{
+		return ExceptionUtil.asValueParseException(message);
+	}
 
 	protected String createBlankTextErrorMessage() {
 		return "'"+typeName+"'" + " cannot be blank.";
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ExceptionUtil.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ExceptionUtil.java
index b242cf64b..9b6f7c723 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ExceptionUtil.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ExceptionUtil.java
@@ -61,22 +61,26 @@ public class ExceptionUtil {
 		// The message of nested exception is usually more interesting than the
 		// one on top.
 		Throwable cause = getDeepestCause(e);
-		String msg = cause.getClass().getSimpleName() + ": " + cause.getMessage();
-		return msg;
+		// If value parse exception, do not append any additional information
+		if (cause instanceof ValueParseException) {
+			String msg = cause.getMessage();
+			if (StringUtil.hasText(msg)) {
+				return msg;
+			} else {
+				return "An error occurred: " + getSimpleError(cause);
+			}
+		} else if (cause != null) {
+			String msg = getSimpleError(cause) + ": " + cause.getMessage();
+			return msg;
+		} else {
+			return "An error occurred: " + getSimpleError(e);
+		}
+	}
+
+	private static String getSimpleError(Throwable e) {
+		return e.getClass().getSimpleName();
 	}
 	
-	/**
-	 * 
-	 * @param e
-	 * @return only the message in the error without any appended information
-	 */
-	public static String getMessageOnly(Throwable e) {
-		// The message of nested exception is usually more interesting than the
-		// one on top.
-		Throwable cause = getDeepestCause(e);
-		String msg = cause.getMessage();
-		return msg;
-	}
 
 	public static IllegalStateException notImplemented(String string) {
 		return new IllegalStateException("Not implemented: " + string);
@@ -131,4 +135,8 @@ public class ExceptionUtil {
 			return exception(error);
 		}
 	}
+	
+	public static Exception asValueParseException(String message) {
+		return new ValueParseException(message);
+	}
 }
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/RegexpParser.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/RegexpParser.java
index 938121eae..fbf89b73c 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/RegexpParser.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/RegexpParser.java
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public class RegexpParser implements ValueParser {
 	}
 
 	@Override
-	public Object parse(String str) {
+	public Object parse(String str) throws Exception {
 		Matcher matcher = pat.matcher(str);
 		if (matcher.matches()) {
 			return matcher;
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParseException.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParseException.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c4da05427
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParseException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 Pivotal, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     Pivotal, Inc. - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util;
+
+/**
+ * Exception if there is a failure when parsing a value. It does not wrap
+ * other exceptions such that when thrown, the parse exception is the "deepest"
+ * error.
+ *
+ */
+public class ValueParseException extends Exception {
+
+	/**
+	 * 
+	 */
+	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+	
+	public ValueParseException(String message) {
+		super(message);
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParser.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParser.java
index 1ee05bb02..d06881746 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParser.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParser.java
@@ -22,5 +22,5 @@ public interface ValueParser {
 	 * May either return null, or throw an {@link IllegalArgumentException} to indicate
 	 * that the String is not the format this parser expects.
 	 */
-	Object parse(String str);
+	Object parse(String str) throws Exception;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParsers.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParsers.java
index 2dde3ddb8..2662440d9 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParsers.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/ValueParsers.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public class ValueParsers {
 		Assert.isLegal(lowerBound==null || upperBound==null || lowerBound <= upperBound);
 		return new ValueParser() {
 			@Override
-			public Object parse(String str) {
+			public Object parse(String str) throws Exception {
 				int value = Integer.parseInt(str);
 				if (lowerBound!=null && value<lowerBound) {
 					if (lowerBound==0) {
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/yaml/completion/YTypeAssistContext.java b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/yaml/completion/YTypeAssistContext.java
index 71a46f8ad..deeb5115d 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/yaml/completion/YTypeAssistContext.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/commons/commons-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/yaml/completion/YTypeAssistContext.java
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ public class YTypeAssistContext extends AbstractYamlAssistContext {
 			values = typeUtil.getHintValues(type, getSchemaContext());
 		} catch (Exception e) {
 			DocumentEdits edits = new DocumentEdits(doc.getDocument());
-			return ImmutableList.of(completionFactory().errorMessage(ExceptionUtil.getMessageOnly(e), query, type, edits, typeUtil));
+			return ImmutableList.of(completionFactory().errorMessage(ExceptionUtil.getMessage(e), query, type, edits, typeUtil));
 		}
 		if (values!=null) {
 			ArrayList<ICompletionProposal> completions = new ArrayList<>();
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/AbstractCFHintsProvider.java b/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/AbstractCFHintsProvider.java
index aae039e72..734d76ed6 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/AbstractCFHintsProvider.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/AbstractCFHintsProvider.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractCFHintsProvider implements Callable<Collection<YVa
 				hints.addAll(resolvedHints);
 			}
 		} catch (Throwable e) {
-			// Convert any non "no-target" errors to something useful. The
+			// Convert any non "no-target" errors to something readable. The
 			// "no-target" errors
 			// are generated by the target provider so they should be propagated
 			// as is without further
@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractCFHintsProvider implements Callable<Collection<YVa
 				logger.log(Level.SEVERE, e.getMessage(), e);
 
 				if (ExceptionUtil.getThrowable(e, IOException.class) != null) {
-					throw ExceptionUtil.exception(
-							"Connection failure to Cloud Foundry. Please check the log for more details.", e);
+					throw ExceptionUtil.asValueParseException(
+							"Connection failure to Cloud Foundry. Please check the log for more details.");
 
 				} else {
-					throw ExceptionUtil.exception(
-							"Failed to fetch values from Cloud Foundry. Please check the log for more details.", e);
+					throw ExceptionUtil.asValueParseException(
+							"Failed to fetch values from Cloud Foundry. Please check the log for more details.");
 				}
 			}
 			else {
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/CFServicesValueParser.java b/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/CFServicesValueParser.java
index 50c05771a..1b2ca83fa 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/CFServicesValueParser.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/CFServicesValueParser.java
@@ -24,5 +24,9 @@ public class CFServicesValueParser extends EnumValueParser {
 	protected String createErrorMessage(String parseString, Collection<String> values) {
 		return "There is no service instance called '" + parseString + "'. Available service instances are: " + values;
 	}
+	
+	protected String createBlankTextErrorMessage() {
+		return "At least one service instance name must be specified";
+	}
 
 }
diff --git a/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/ManifestYmlValueParsers.java b/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/ManifestYmlValueParsers.java
index 92c2af451..897c04138 100644
--- a/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/ManifestYmlValueParsers.java
+++ b/vscode-extensions/vscode-manifest-yaml/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/manifest/yaml/ManifestYmlValueParsers.java
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ public class ManifestYmlValueParsers {
 		private final Set<String> UNITS = Sets.union(GIGABYTE, MEGABYTE);
 
 		@Override
-		public Object parse(String str) {
+		public Object parse(String str) throws Exception {
 			str = str.trim();
 			String unit = getUnit(str.toUpperCase());
 			if (unit==null) {
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public class ManifestYmlValueParsers {
 		Assert.isLegal(lowerBound==null || upperBound==null || lowerBound <= upperBound);
 		return new ValueParser() {
 			@Override
-			public Object parse(String str) {
+			public Object parse(String str) throws Exception {
 				int value = Integer.parseInt(str);
 				if (lowerBound!=null && value<lowerBound) {
 					if (lowerBound==0) {