Java exceptions

JAVA - EXCEPTIONS HANDLING
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An exception is a problem that arises during the execution of a prog ram. An exception can occur for many
different reasons, including the following :
A user has entered invalid data.
A file that needs to be opened cannot be found.
A network connection has been lost in the middle of communications, or the JVM has run out of memory.
Some of these exceptions are caused by user error, others by prog rammer error, and others by physical
resources that have failed in some manner.
T o understand how exception handling works in Java, you need to understand the three categ ories of
exceptions:
Chec ked exc eptions: A checked exception is an exception that is typically a user error or a problem
that cannot be foreseen by the prog rammer. For example, if a file is to be opened, but the file cannot be
found, an exception occurs. T hese exceptions cannot simply be ig nored at the time of compilation.
Runtime exc eptions: A runtime exception is an exception that occurs that probably could have been
avoided by the prog rammer. As opposed to checked exceptions, runtime exceptions are ig nored at the
time of compliation.
Errors: T hese are not exceptions at all, but problems that arise beyond the control of the user or the
prog rammer. Errors are typically ig nored in your code because you can rarely do anything about an
error. For example, if a stack overflow occurs, an error will arise. T hey are also ig nored at the time of
compilation.

Exception Hierarchy:
All exception classes are subtypes of the java.lang .Exception class. T he exception class is a subclass of the
T hrowable class. Other than the exception class there is another subclass called Error which is derived from the
T hrowable class.
Errors are not normally trapped form the Java prog rams. T hese conditions normally happen in case of severe
failures, which are not handled by the java prog rams. Errors are g enerated to indicate errors g enerated by the
runtime environment. Example : JVM is out of Memory. Normally prog rams cannot recover from errors.
T he Exception class has two main subclasses : IOException class and RuntimeException Class.

Here is a list of most common checked and unchecked Java's Built-in Exceptions.

Exceptions Methods:
Following is the list of important medthods available in the T hrowable class.

SN

Methods with Desc ription

1

public String g etMessag e()
Returns a detailed messag e about the exception that has occurred. T his messag e is initialized in the
T hrowable constructor.

2

public T hrowable g etCause()
Returns the cause of the exception as represented by a T hrowable object.

3

public String toString ()
Returns the name of the class concatenated with the result of g etMessag e()

4

public void printStac kT rac e()
Prints the result of toString () along with the stack trace to System.err, the error output stream.

5

public Stac kT rac eElement [] g etStac kT rac e()
Returns an array containing each element on the stack trace. T he element at index 0 represents the top
of the call stack, and the last element in the array represents the method at the bottom of the call stack.

6

public T hrowable fillInStac kT rac e()
Fills the stack trace of this T hrowable object with the current stack trace, adding to any previous
information in the stack trace.

Catching Exceptions:
A method catches an exception using a combination of the try and c atc h keywords. A try/catch block is placed
around the code that mig ht g enerate an exception. Code within a try/catch block is referred to as protected
code, and the syntax for using try/catch looks like the following :
try
{
//Protected code
}catch(ExceptionName e1)
{
//Catch block
}

A catch statement involves declaring the type of exception you are trying to catch. If an exception occurs in
protected code, the catch block (or blocks) that follows the try is checked. If the type of exception that occurred
is listed in a catch block, the exception is passed to the catch block much as an arg ument is passed into a method
parameter.

Example:
T he following is an array is declared with 2 elements. T hen the code tries to access the 3rd element of the array
which throws an exception.
// File Name : ExcepTest.java
import java.io.*;
public class ExcepTest{
public static void main(String args[]){
try{
int a[] = new int[2];
System.out.println("Access element three :" + a[3]);
}catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e){
System.out.println("Exception thrown :" + e);

}
System.out.println("Out of the block");
}
}

T his would produce following result:
Exception thrown
Out of the block

:java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3

Multiple catch Blocks:
A try block can be followed by multiple catch blocks. T he syntax for multiple catch blocks looks like the following :
try
{
//Protected code
}catch(ExceptionType1 e1)
{
//Catch block
{
//Catch block
{
//Catch block
}

T he previous statements demonstrate three catch blocks, but you can have any number of them after a sing le try.
If an exception occurs in the protected code, the exception is thrown to the first catch block in the list. If the data
type of the exception thrown matches ExceptionT ype1, it g ets caug ht there. If not, the exception passes down to
the second catch statement. T his continues until the exception either is caug ht or falls throug h all catches, in which
case the current method stops execution and the exception is thrown down to the previous method on the call
stack.

Example:
Here is code seg ment showing how to use multiple try/catch statements.
try
{
file = new FileInputStream(fileName);
x = (byte) file.read();
}catch(IOException i)
{
i.printStackTrace();
return -1;
}catch(FileNotFoundException f) //Not valid!
{
f.printStackTrace();
return -1;
}

The throws/throw Keywords:
If a method does not handle a checked exception, the method must declare it using the throws keyword. T he
throws keyword appears at the end of a method's sig nature.
You can throw an exception, either a newly instantiated one or an exception that you just caug ht, by using the
throw keyword. T ry to understand the different in throws and throw keywords.
T he following method declares that it throws a RemoteException:
import java.io.*;
public class className
{

public void deposit(double amount) throws RemoteException
{
// Method implementation
throw new RemoteException();
}
//Remainder of class definition
}

A method can declare that it throws more than one exception, in which case the exceptions are declared in a list
separated by commas. For example, the following method declares that it throws a RemoteException and an
InsufficientFundsException:
import java.io.*;
public class className
{
public void withdraw(double amount) throws RemoteException,
InsufficientFundsException
{
// Method implementation
}
//Remainder of class definition
}

The finally Keyword
T he finally keyword is used to create a block of code that follows a try block. A finally block of code always
executes, whether or not an exception has occurred.
Using a finally block allows you to run any cleanup-type statements that you want to execute, no matter what
happens in the protected code.
A finally block appears at the end of the catch blocks and has the following syntax:
try
{
//Protected code
{
//Catch block
{
//Catch block
{
//Catch block
}finally
{
//The finally block always executes.
}

Example:
public class ExcepTest{
public static void main(String args[]){
int a[] = new int[2];
try{
System.out.println("Access element three :" + a[3]);
}catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e){
System.out.println("Exception thrown :" + e);
}
finally{
a[0] = 6;
System.out.println("First element value: " +a[0]);
System.out.println("The finally statement is executed");
}
}
}

T his would produce following result:
Exception thrown :java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
First element value: 6
The finally statement is executed

Note the following :
A catch clause cannot exist without a try statement.
It is not compulsory to have finally clauses when ever a try/catch block is present.
T he try block cannot be present without either catch clause or finally clause.
Any code cannot be present in between the try, catch, finally blocks.

Declaring you own Exception:
You can create your own exceptions in Java. Keep the following points in mind when writing your own exception
classes:
All exceptions must be a child of T hrowable.
If you want to write a checked exception that is automatically enforced by the Handle or Declare Rule, you
need to extend the Exception class.
If you want to write a runtime exception, you need to extend the RuntimeException class.
We can define our own Exception class as below:
class MyException extends Exception{
}

You just need to extend the Exception class to create your own Exception class. T hese are considered to be
checked exceptions. T he following InsufficientFundsException class is a user-defined exception that extends the
Exception class, making it a checked exception. An exception class is like any other class, containing useful fields
and methods.

Example:
// File Name InsufficientFundsException.java
import java.io.*;
public class InsufficientFundsException extends Exception
{
private double amount;
public InsufficientFundsException(double amount)
{
this.amount = amount;
}
public double getAmount()
{
return amount;
}
}

T o demonstrate using our user-defined exception, the following Checking Account class contains a withdraw()
method that throws an InsufficientFundsException.
// File Name CheckingAccount.java
import java.io.*;
public class CheckingAccount
{
private double balance;
private int number;

public CheckingAccount(int number)
{
this.number = number;
}
public void deposit(double amount)
{
balance += amount;
}
public void withdraw(double amount) throws
{
if(amount <= balance)
{
balance -= amount;
}
else
{
double needs = amount - balance;
throw new InsufficientFundsException(needs);
}
}
public double getBalance()
{
return balance;
}
public int getNumber()
{
return number;
}
}

T he following BankDemo prog ram demonstrates invoking the deposit() and withdraw() methods of
Checking Account.
// File Name BankDemo.java
public class BankDemo
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
CheckingAccount c = new CheckingAccount(101);
System.out.println("Depositing $500...");
c.deposit(500.00);
try
{
System.out.println("nWithdrawing $100...");
c.withdraw(100.00);
System.out.println("nWithdrawing $600...");
c.withdraw(600.00);
}catch(InsufficientFundsException e)
{
System.out.println("Sorry, but you are short $"
+ e.getAmount());
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

Compile all the above three files and run BankDemo, this would produce following result:
Depositing $500...
Withdrawing $100...
Withdrawing $600...
Sorry, but you are short $200.0
at CheckingAccount.withdraw(CheckingAccount.java:25)
at BankDemo.main(BankDemo.java:13)

Common Exceptions:

In java it is possible to define two caterg ories of Exceptions and Errors.
J VM Exc eptions: - T hese are exceptions/errors that are exclusively or log ically thrown by the JVM.
Examples : NullPointerException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, ClassCastException,
Prog rammatic exc eptions . T hese exceptions are thrown explicitly by the application or the API
prog rammers Examples: Illeg alArg umentException, Illeg alStateException.

Java exceptions

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