CSC 308 2.

System Development with Java

Exception Handling
Budditha Hettige Department of Statistics and Computer Science
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Errors
Errors can be categorized as several ways;
Syntax Errors Logical Errors Runtime Errors

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Syntax Errors
Error in the syntax of a sequence of characters or tokens that is intended to be written in a particular programming language All syntax errors can be reliably detected until run-time Many Syntax errors can be detected at compile-time

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Common Java syntax errors

Capitalization of key words
Line xx: class or interface declaration expected

Writing a string over a new line

Line xx: ';' expected

Missing brackets in a no-argument message

Line xx: Invalid expression statement

Forgetting to import a package

Line nn: Method yyyy not found in class xxxx.

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Syntax Error correction

1. Go to the error line 2. Identify the error 3. Correct the error
Error line

Error description

You must have a good working knowledge of error messages to discover the cause of the error
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Logical Errors
Errors that indicate the logic used when coding the program failed to solve the problem You do not get error messages with logic errors Your only clue to the existence of logic errors is the production of wrong solutions

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Common Logic Errors in Java

Using a variable before it is given a value
int x; x = x + 1; System.out.println("X = " + x);

Misplaced Semi-colon (usually with a loop or if statement)

if ( x > y) ; { System.out.println("X is bigger"); }

Confusing the equivalence operator == with the assignment operator =

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Logical error correction

Debugging can be used to find what the logical errors in your program
Debug line

Results

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Runtime Errors
low-level errors
dereference of a null pointer out-of-bounds array access divide by zero attempt to open a non-existent file for reading bad cast (e.g., casting an Object that is actually a Boolean to Integer)

higher-level
call to Stack's "pop" method for an empty stack call to "factorial" function with a negative number call to List's nextElement method when hasMoreElements is false
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Runtime Errors contd..

Errors can arise due to User error
providing a bad file name or a poorly formatted input file

Programmer error
These errors should be detected as early as possible to provide good feedback.
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Exceptions can occur at many levels

Hardware/operating system level.
Arithmetic exceptions; divide by 0, under/overflow. Memory access violations; segfault, stack over/underflow.

Language level.
Type conversion; illegal values, improper casts. Bounds violations; illegal array indices. Bad references; null pointers.

Program level.
User defined exceptions.
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Ways to handle errors

Write an error message and quit.
This doesn't provide any recovery

Return a special value to indicate that an error occurred

calling code check for an error. This can reduce the efficiency of the code

Use a reference parameter or a global variable to hold an error code Use exceptions. This seems to be the method of choice for modern programming languages.
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What Is an Exception?
An exception is an event that occurs during the execution of a program that disrupts the normal flow of instructions. Example
Divide by zero errors Accessing the elements of an array beyond its range Invalid input Hard disk crash Opening a non-existent file Heap memory exhausted
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Example
Divide by zero

class DivByZero { public static void main(String args[]) { System.out.println(3/0); System.out.println(Pls. print me.); } }
Where the error Error Message is occured Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero at DivByZero.main(DivByZero.java:3)

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Default exception handler

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Provided by Java runtime Prints out exception description Prints the stack trace Hierarchy of methods where the exception occurred Causes the program to terminate
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero at DivByZero.main(DivByZero.java:3

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What Happens When an Exception Occurs?

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When an Exception Occurs?

When an exception occurs within a method, the method creates an exception object and hands it off to the runtime system
Creating an exception object and handing it to the runtime system is called throwing an exception Exception object contains information about the error, including its type and the state of the program when the error occurred

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When an Exception Occurs? (1)

The runtime system searches the call stack for a method that contains an exception handler

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When an Exception Occurs? (2)

When an appropriate handler is found, the runtime system passes the exception to the handler
An exception handler is considered appropriate if the type of the exception object thrown matches the type that can be handled by the handler The exception handler chosen is said to catch the exception.

If the runtime system exhaustively searches all the methods on the call stack without finding an appropriate exception handler, the runtime system (and, consequently, the program) terminates and uses the default exception handler
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Searching the Call Stack for an Exception Handler

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How exception handler works?

Exception "thrown" here

Thrown exception matched against first set of exception handlers

Exception handler

If it fails to match, it is matched against next set of handlers, etc.

Exception handler

If exception matches none of handlers, program is abandoned

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Advantages
Separating Error-Handling code from regular business logic code Propagating errors up the call stack Grouping and differentiating error types

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Java Exception Handling

A method can duck any exceptions thrown within it, thereby allowing a method farther up the call stack to catch it. Hence, only the methods that care about errors have to worry about detecting errors Any checked exceptions that can be thrown within a method must be specified in its throws clause

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Grouping and Differentiating Error Types

Because all exceptions thrown within a program are objects, the grouping or categorizing of exceptions is a natural outcome of the class hierarchy An example of a group of related exception classes in the Java platform are those defined in java.io
IOException and its descendants IOException is the most general and represents any type of error that can occur when performing I/O Its descendants represent more specific errors. For example,
FileNotFoundException means that a file could not be located on disk.

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Catching Exceptions
try { <code to be monitored for exceptions> } catch (<ExceptionType1> <ObjName>) { <handler if ExceptionType1 occurs> } ... } catch (<ExceptionTypeN> <ObjName>) { <handler if ExceptionTypeN occurs> }

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Example

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Multiple catch

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How try and catch works?

NO Match

Try {

Catch {

Catch {

Statement after the last catch

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Leaves the method

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Example
1. Execute This

2. Goto this catch()

3. Execute This
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No any catch for matching ???

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Catching Exceptions with finally

Syntax:
try { <code to be monitored for exceptions> } catch (<ExceptionType1> <ObjName>) { <handler if ExceptionType1 occurs> } ... } finally { <code to be executed before the try block ends> }
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Catching Exceptions the finally Keyword

Block of code is always executed despite of different scenarios:
Forced exit occurs using a return, a continue or a break statement Normal completion Caught exception thrown

Exception was thrown and caught in the method

Uncaught exception thrown

Exception thrown was not specified in any catch block in the method
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How try and catch finaly works?

Try { Catch { Catch { NO Match

Finally() { }

Statement after the last catch

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Sequence of Events for finally clause

Preceding step try block throw statement

matching catch

finally

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next step

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Throwing Exceptions
Java allows you to throw exceptions (generate exceptions)
throw <exception object>;

An exception you throw is an object

You have to create an exception object in the same way you create any other object

Example:
throw new ArithmeticException(testing...);
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Rules in Exception Handling

A method is required to either catch or list all exceptions it might throw
Except for Error or RuntimeException, or their subclasses

If a method may cause an exception to occur but does not catch it, then it must say so using the throws keyword
Applies to checked exceptions only Syntax:
<type> <methodName> (<parameterList>) throws <exceptionList> { <methodBody> }
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Sequence of Events for No throw

Preceding step try block throw statement

unmatched catch matching catch unmatched catch next step

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Sequence of Events for throw

Preceding step try block throw statement

unmatched catch matching catch unmatched catch next step

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The exception hierarchy

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The Error and Exception Classes

Throwable class
Root class of exception classes Immediate subclasses
Error Exception

Exception class
Conditions that user programs can reasonably deal with Usually the result of some flaws in the user program code Examples
Division by zero error Array out-of-bounds error

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The Error and Exception Classes

Error class
Used by the Java run-time system to handle errors occurring in the run-time environment Generally beyond the control of user programs Examples
Out of memory errors Hard disk crash

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User define Exception

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Creating Your Own Exception Class

Steps to follow
Create a class that extends the RuntimeException or the Exception class Customize the class

Members and constructors may be added to the class

Example:
class HateStringExp extends RuntimeException { /* some code */ }
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Sample Code
class TestHateString { public static void main(String args[]) { String input = "invalid input"; try { if (input.equals("invalid input")) { throw new HateStringExp(); } System.out.println("Accept string."); } catch (HateStringExp e) { System.out.println("Hate string!); } class HateStringExp extends RuntimeException } { } /* some code */
}
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Example
public class CustomExceptionTest { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { int age = getAge(); if (age < 0) {

throw new NegativeAgeException(age);

} Else { System.out.println("Age entered is " + age); } } static int getAge() { return -10; } }
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Exception class
public class NegativeAgeException extends Exception { private int age; public NegativeAgeException(int newAge) { age = newAge; } public String toString() { return "Age cannot be negative" + " " +age ; } }
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