By Rahul Barve

Objectives
 Introduction to Exception Handling
 Need for Exception Handling
 A Simple Example
 Understand Exception Hierarchy
 Exception Types
 Exception Handling Keywords
 User Defined Exceptions

By Rahul Barve
Exception Handling

By Rahul Barve
Exception Handling
 Exception Handling is an object oriented way of
handling errors which occur during program’s
execution.
 Problem solving code is decoupled from error
handling code and hence the program is less complex.

By Rahul Barve
Exception Handling
 Exceptions in Java are actual objects.
 Exception objects encapsulate the error
information.
 Exceptions are created when an abnormal situation
occurs in a Java program.

By Rahul Barve
Exception Hierarchy
Throwable

Error Exception

RuntimeException InterruptedException IOExeption

SocketException

EOFException
NullPointerException

ArithmeticException ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

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Exception Hierarchy
 The topmost class in the exception hierarchy is
Throwable.
 It belongs to java.lang package.
 It includes all types of runtime errors and hence it is
derived by Error and Exception.

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Error

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Error
 Error indicates a runtime error which is not under
the control of a developer.
 It describes resource exhaustion in JVM.

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Error
 Rare and usually fatal.
 E.g.
 StackOverflowError
 OutOfMemoryError

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Exception

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Exception
 Exception indicates a runtime error which is under
the control of a developer.
 Frequent but not fatal.

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Exception Types

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Exception Types
 Exceptions are further divided into 2 types:
 Unchecked Exceptions
 Checked Exceptions

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Unchecked Exceptions

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Unchecked Exceptions
 Unchecked Exceptions occur due to programming
mistakes i.e. a non robust code.
 They are also called as Runtime Exceptions and hence
expressed using a class RuntimeException.
 All classes descended from RuntimeException
are runtime exceptions.

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Unchecked Exceptions
 Include problems such as:
 Bad cast
 Out of bounds array access
 A null pointer access

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Unchecked Exceptions
 NullPointerException
 ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
 ArithmeticException

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Checked Exceptions

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Checked Exceptions
 Occur due to problems in the environment settings.
 These exceptions are enforced by a compiler to be
handled.
 These exceptions are expressed with the help of
classes which are not descendants of
RuntimeException.

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Checked Exceptions
 Problems include such as:
 Opening a file that does not exist.
 Unable to load a class.

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Checked Exceptions
 FileNotFoundException
 ClassNotFoundException

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Handling Exceptions

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Handling Exceptions
 To handle the exceptions, it is necessary to enclose the
statements, which are probable to fire an exception,
within a try block.

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Handling Exceptions
 E.g.
try {
//Statement 1
//Statement 2
}

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Handling Exceptions
 If an exception is raised, it needs to be handled using
an exception handler.
 This is done using a catch block.

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Handling Exceptions
 E.g.
catch(<Exception Type> <ref-name){
//Statements
}

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Handling Multiple Exceptions

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Handling Multiple Exceptions
 If a block of code is capable for firing multiple
exceptions, it is possible to handle them by providing
multiple catch blocks.

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Handling Multiple Exceptions
 E.g.
try {
//Statements
}
catch(<exception type> <ref-name>) {
//Statements
}
catch(<exception type> <ref-name>) {
//Statements
}

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Handling Multiple Exceptions
 When using multiple catch blocks, if the exception
types represent parent-child relationship, then the
catch block of sub type must appear before the
catch block of super type.

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Handling Multiple Exceptions
 It is also possible to handle multiple exceptions using
a single catch block.
 This feature has been introduced by Java version 1.7.

By Rahul Barve
Handling Multiple Exceptions
 E.g.
try {
//Statements
}
catch(<ex 1> | <ex 2> <ref-name>) {
//Statements
}

By Rahul Barve
Handling Multiple Exceptions
 Since a single catch block is handling multiple
exceptions, it is necessary to identify the type of the
exceptions, so that different types of actions can be
taken based upon the exception type.
 This is done by using instanceof operator.

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try / catch Limitation

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try / catch Limitation
 Although try and catch blocks are useful to handle
the exceptions, they have a common limitation.
 None of these give guarantee about the execution of
the statements.

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try / catch Limitation
 Sometimes, it becomes mandatory to execute the
statements irrespective of whether the exception is
fired or not.
 This is accomplished by using a finally block.

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finally
 Statements enclosed within a finally block always
execute.
 This is generally useful to perform clean-up
operations.

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finally
 E.g.
finally {
//Statements
}

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finally
 The finally block especially creates an impact for
the methods of which the return type is other than
void.

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try-catch-finally Rules

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try-catch-finally Rules
 Every try block must be used in conjunction with
either catch, finally or both.
 The blocks must appear one after the other without
any statements in between.

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try-catch-finally Rules
 catch block cannot appear without try block.
 finally block cannot appear without try block.

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Using throws

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Using throws
 If several methods of a class are probable to fire an
exception, it becomes difficult to manage writing
try-catch constructs in each method.
 This can be simplified by using throws.

By Rahul Barve
Using throws
 Used by method and constructor definitions which
may fire exceptions but not willing to handle.
 Instructs the compiler to enforce the calling program
to handle the exception (Checked Exceptions only).

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Using throws
public void readFile(String fileName) throws
FileNotFoundException {
//Statements
}
public void openFile(String fileName) {
readFile(fileName); //ERROR
}

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Using throws
 If a called program method uses throws clause for a
checked exception, then the calling program method,
when using throws clause, must use a type which is
equal or a super type.

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Using throws
public class MyClass{
public void testOne()
throws Exception {…}
}

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Using throws
public class YourClass {
//ERROR
public void testTwo() throws IOException{
new MyClass().testOne();
}
//OK
public void testThree() throws Exception{
new MyClass().testOne();
}
//OK
public void testFour() throws Throwable{
new MyClass().testOne();
}
}
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Using throws
 In method overriding, using throws clause, an
overridden method can widen the scope but cannot
narrow it.

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Using throws
public class Base {
public void test1() throws Exception {…}
public void test2() throws Exception {…}
public void test3() throws Exception {…}
}
public class Derived extends Base {
//OK
public void test1() throws IOException{…}
//OK
public void test2() {…}
//ERROR
public void test3() throws Throwable{…}
}
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Using throw

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Using throw
 In most cases, JRE is responsible for firing an
exception; but sometimes it might be necessary to fire
an exception forcefully.
 This can be accomplished by using throw clause.

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Using throw
 Syntax: throw <Throwable>
 E.g.
if(<condition>){
Exception ex = new Exception();
throw ex;
}

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Using throw
 Sometimes, it becomes necessary to create a domain
specific exception and throw it explicitly.
 Such exceptions are known as User Defined
exceptions.

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Using throw
 User defined exceptions are generally customized by
creating a class that inherits either Exception or
RuntimeException.
 E,g,
public class LowBalanceException
extends Exception {…}

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Using throw
 Once, a user defined exception class is created it can
be used to raise an exception forcefully depending
upon the condition.

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Using throw
public void withdraw(float amount)
throws LowBalanceException {
if(balance < amount){
String msg = “Low Balance!!”;
LowBalanceException lx =
new LowBalanceException(msg);
throw lx;
}
}
By Rahul Barve
Lets Summarize
 Introduction to Exception Handling
 Need for Exception Handling
 Exception Hierarchy
 Types of Exceptions
 Exception Handling Keywords
 User Defined Exceptions

By Rahul Barve