Unit 6 Exception Handling
Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Error Handling in Conventional Languages
Exceptions
Exception Handling in Java
Topics
Exception Hierarchy
Throwable Class
Error and Exception
Types of Exceptions
Throwing Exceptions
Declaring Exceptions per Method
Catching Exception
Designing user-defined Exception classes
Method Overriding and Exceptions
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Error Condition
Our applications should be built to survive error
conditions.
The program / module must handle the error situation
gracefully and not just terminate abruptly
What error are we talking about ?
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Error Condition
An error is a condition due to which a program cannot
normally continue execution and needs to be abruptly
terminated.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Error handling in traditional languages
Traditional error handling methods include
Boolean functions (which return TRUE/FALSE).
Integer functions (returns 1 on error).
And other return arguments and special values.
int main () {
int res;
if (can_fail () == -1) {
cout << "Something failed!" << endl;
return 1;
}
if(div(10,0,res) == -1) {
cout << "Division by Zero!" << endl;
return 2;
}
return 0;
}
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Basic Java
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Unit 6 Exception Handling
Problems with traditional approach
Function can return only
one value & not details
of the error condition
Caller is not forced to
receive the value
returned by the function
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Basic Java
Multiple if-else leads to
cluttered code & is
difficult to maintain
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Exception handling in Java
Javas support for error handling is done through
Exceptions.
What is an Exception?
An exception is an event that occurs during the execution
of a program that disrupts the normal flow of instructions.
In the wake of such an event, the JVM creates an
exception object, that contains information about the error,
including its type and state of the program when the error
occurred.
Creating an exception object and notifying the caller of
the method is called throwing an exception.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Exception handling mechanism
Throws
exception
Method where
error occurred
Method Call
Looking for
appropriate handler
Main
Sample Listing: DivisionErrorDemo.java
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Why use exceptions?
Exception handling provides the programmer with
many advantages over traditional error-handling
techniques:
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
To summarize advantages of Exception
handling
Exception handling provides the programmer with
many advantages over traditional error-handling
techniques:
It provides a means to separate error-handling code from
functioning program code.
It provides a mechanism for propagating errors up the
method call stack, meaning that methods higher up the call
chain can be allowed to handle problems originating lower
in the chain.
It provides a way to organize and differentiate between
different types of abnormal conditions.
Both, application logic and problem handling logic, become
simpler, cleaner and clearer.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Throwable class
When an error occurs in a method the caller of the method is notified
by throwing an exception object, this object should be of the type
class Throwable.
Throwable has two subclasses, Error and Exception.
Object
Throwable
Error
Exception
RuntimeException
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Errors
Errors are exceptional conditions that are external to the
application, and that the application cannot anticipate or recover
from, therefore Errors are not handled by the application.
For example,
An application has to open a file and write to it, due to some
hardware error, the application is unable to open the file we would
get a java.io.IOError.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Types of Exception
Object
Throwable
Error
Exception
RuntimeException
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Types of Exception
Exceptions are of 2 types
Checked exceptions
Unchecked or runtime exception
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Checked exceptions
Types of Exception
These are exceptional conditions that a well written application
should anticipate and recover from.
Since these exceptions are anticipated and are recoverable
conditions, compiler forces these exceptions to be handled.
e.g.: FileNotFoundException, IOException, SQLException
Unchecked or runtime exception
These are exceptional conditions that are internal to the
application, and that the application cannot anticipate or recover
from.
These usually indicate programming bugs, such as logical errors or
improper use of an API.
Since these can be fixed programmatically, compiler does not
force these exceptions to be handled.
e.g.: NullPointerException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
No need to import any java package
Java programming language supports, exception handling
by providing three exception handler components, these
are
How do I handle exceptions?
try
catch
finally
The try, catch and finally blocks are used to write an
exception handler.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
try Block
Any code that might throw an exception is enclosed
within a try block. It is the first step in constructing an
exception handler.
try
{
code
..
try block
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
try Block Example
public int countChars(String fileName)
{
int total = 0;
try {
FileReader r = new FileReader(fileName);
while( r.ready()) {
r.read();
total++;
}
r.close();
}
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
catch Block
The catch block contains
code that is executed if and
when the exception occurs.
A catch block is an exception
handler associated with a try
block and handles the type of
exception indicated by its
argument.
try
{
}
catch(ExceptionType name)
{
}
catch(ExceptionType name)
Every try block is associated
with zero or more catch
block
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Basic Java
{
}
Unit 6 Exception Handling
catch Block Example
public int countChars(String fileName)
{
int total = 0;
try {
FileReader r = new FileReader(fileName);
while( r.ready()) {
r.read();
total++;
}
r.close();
}
catch(FileNotFoundException e){
System.out.println("File named " + fileName + "not found. " +e);
total = -1;
}
catch(IOException e){
System.out.println(Unable to perform I/O, please try later);
total = -1;
}
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Try Catch Block Example
public static double divide(int a, int b)
{
double quotient=0;
try{
quotient=a/b;
} catch (ArithmeticException e)
{ System.out.println(" Divisor is zero");}
return quotient;
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Try catch Block Example
public static void main(String[] args)
{
int a=0;
int b=0;
try{
a=Integer.parseInt(args[0]);
b=Integer.parseInt(args[1]);
}
catch (NumberFormatException e)
{
System.out.println(" Please enter an integer only ...");
}
double ans=divide(a,b);
System.out.println("The quotient is "+ ans);
}
See listing : HandledDivisionErroDemo.java
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Exercise
Write some code that is capable of generating exceptions
like
ArithmeticException,
NumberFormatException,
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException etc
Write an exception handler, that is, enclose these line of
code in try block and write appropriate catch blocks to catch
different exception types.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Exception Handler
It is possible to write a generic catch block to catch any
type of exception that might occur
public int countChars(String fileName) {
int total = 0;
try {
FileReader r = new FileReader(fileName);
while( int c = r.read() != -1)
total++;
r.close();
}
Such
Whenever
an catch
catch(FileNotFoundException
e){a generic
block
Exception
should
than
System.out.println("File named
" other
+ be
fileName
+ "not found. " +e);
included
FileNotFound
at theorend,
}
after
IOException
the specific
occur,
catch(IOException e){
catch
this catch
blocks
block is
System.out.println(Unableinvoked
to perform I/O, please try later);
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(Unable to continue processing, due to
some
internal error);
}
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Basic Java
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}
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Clean up code
public int countChars(String fileName)
{
int total = 0;
Developer needs to
try {
perform clean up
FileReader r = new FileReader(fileName);that is, release the
file that was opened
while( r.ready()) {
programmatically
r.read();
total++;
}
r.close();
}
catch(FileNotFoundException e){
System.out.println("File named " + fileName + "not found. " +e);
total = -1;
r.close();
}
catch(IOException e){
System.out.println(Unable to perform I/O, please try later);
total = -1;
r.close();
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
finally Block
A finally block is executed irrespective of whether the try block
throws an error or not.
finally block is guaranteed to be executed and can be used for any
clean-up code.
If no catch block matches an exception thrown, control is transferred
to the finally block.
There can be only one finally block for a try block.
try{
}
catch(ExceptionType name){
}
finally{
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
finally Block Example
public int countChars(String fileName) {
int total = 0;
FileReader r = new FileReader(fileName);
try {
while( r.ready()) {
r.read();
total++;
}
}
catch(FileNotFoundException e){
System.out.println("File named " + fileName + "not
found. " + e);
total = -1;
}
catch(IOException e){ Clean up code
System.out.println("IOException
goes into finallyoccured "+ "while
counting " + e);
block
total = -1;
}
finally {
r.close();
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
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System-Defined Exception
Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
IndexOutOfBoundsException :
When refer to object as a null pointer
SecurityException :
When using a negative size of array
NullPointerException :
When assign object of incorrect type to element of array
NegativeArraySizeException :
When beyond the bound of index in the object which use index, such
as array, string, and vector
ArrayStoreException :
System-Defined Exception
When violate security. Caused by security manager
IllegalMonitorStateException :
When the thread which is not owner of monitor involves wait or notify
method
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Throwing an Exception
All methods use the throw statement to throw an exception.
The throw statement requires a throwable object as argument. A
throwable object are instances of any subclass of the Throwable
class.
throw causes the method to terminate and returns an exception
object to the caller.
public static double divide(int a, int b)
{double quotient=0;
try{ if (b==0)
{ throw new ArithmeticException();
}
quotient=a/b;
}
catch (ArithmeticException e)
{ System.out.println(e.getMessage()+"\n Divisor is zero");
}
return quotient;
}
See listing : ThrowDivisionErroDemo.java
.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Propagation of uncaught exception.
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
The throws clause
A method can specify to throw an exception by
adding a throws clause to the method declaration.
The throws clause comprises the throws keyword
followed by a comma-separated list of all the
exceptions thrown by that method.
The clause goes after the method name and
argument list and before the brace that defines the
scope of the method.
public void writeList() throws FileNotFoundException,
IOException {
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Propagation of uncaught exception.
public class PropagatingExceptionTest {
void method1() throws IOException
{ ..
method2();
void method2() throws IOException
{
throw new IOException();
.
}
public static void main(String[]
Basic Javaargs) throws IOException {
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Unit 6 Exception Handling
Exception handling mechanism
GUI
Control
userLoginForm()
{
authenticateUserInControl();
}
Handles
Exception with
authenticateUserInControl()
try/catch
{
authenticateUser();
Business Logic
Database
}
authenticateUser() throws Exception
{
Throws
retrieveUserInfo()
exception
}
retrieveUserInfo() throws Exception
{
retrievesData()
{
}
}
See listing : ThrowsDemo.java
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Some Useful Methods
The Throwable class has some useful methods that can
be called on any Exception type
String getMessage()
Returns the message that was set while the exception object was
created, by calling the parameterized constructor
Exception(String message)
String toString
Returns a String representation of the exception object
void printStackTrace()
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
StackTrace
printStackTrace() method helps to trace the origin of the
Exception
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
User defined Exceptions
If an exception cannot be
represented by those in
the Java platform, a user
can define his own
exception.
The user defined
exception class should
be
a
subclass
of
Exception or any of its
sub types.
public class
ProductNotFoundException
extends Exception
{
}
public Product getProduct(int
prodId) throws
ProductNotFoundException {
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Throwing Exceptions
Use the throw clause to throw the user defined exception object
The throw statement requires a throwable object as argument.
Throwable objects are instances of any subclass of the Throwable
class.
throw causes the method to terminate and returns an exception
object to the caller.
public Product getProduct(int prodId) throws
ProductNotFoundException {
// Retrieve product info from the database
// select * from Product where prod_id = prodId
if(!found)
throw new
ProductNotFoundException();
return product;
}
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
User defined Exceptions
Exception
AgeException
OutOfAgeLimitException
TooYoungException
IllegalAgeFormatException
TooOldException
NegativeAgeException
See listing : UserDefinedExceptionsDemo.java
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Basic Java
Unit 6 Exception Handling
Question time
Please try to limit the questions to the topics discussed during the session. Thank you.
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Basic Java
