Exception Handling

An exception is an event that occurs during the execution of a program that disrupts the normal flow of instruction, that is, an abnormal
condition that disrupts Normal program flow.
The exception handling in Java is one of the powerful mechanism to handle the runtime errors so that normal flow of the application
can be maintained. In java, exception is an event that disrupts the normal flow of the program. It is an object which is thrown at runtime
An exception can occur for many different reasons, including the following:
i. A user has entered invalid data.
ii. Trying to access an out - of –bounds array elements.
iii. A file that needs to be opened cannot be found or does not exist
iv The file we want to load may be missing or in the wrong format.
v. A network connection has been lost (may be non –existence) in the middle of communications or the JVM has run out of memory.
If these cases are not prevented or at least handled properly, either the program will be aborted abruptly, or the incorrect results or
status will be produced. When an error occurs within the java method, the method creates an exception object and hands it off to the
runtime system.
Some of these exceptions are caused by user error, others by programmer error, and others by physical resources that have failed in
some manner.

Advantage of Exception Handling: The core advantage of exception handling is to maintain the normal flow of the application.
Exception normally disrupts the normal flow of the application that is why we use exception handling

Types of Exception
To understand how exception handling works in Java, you need to understand the three categories of exceptions:
i. Checked exceptions: A checked exception is an exception that is typically a user error or a problem that cannot be foreseen by the
programmer. The classes that extend Throwable class except Runtime Exception and Error are known as checked exceptions
[Link], SQLException etc. Checked exceptions are checked at compile-time. For example, if a file is to be opened, but the
file cannot be found, an exception occurs. These exceptions cannot simply be ignored at the time of compilation.
ii. Unchecked (Runtime) exceptions: A runtime exception is an exception that occurs that probably could have been avoided by the
programmer. As opposed to checked exceptions, runtime exceptions are ignored at the time of compilation. The classes that extend
Runtime Exception are known as unchecked exceptions e.g. ArithmeticException, NullPointerException,
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException etc. Unchecked exceptions are not checked at compile-time rather they are checked at runtime.
iii. Errors: These are not exceptions at all, but problems that arise beyond the control of the user or the programmer. Errors are
typically ignored in your code because you can rarely do anything about an error. Error is irrecoverable e.g. OutOfMemoryError,
VirtualMachineError, AssertionErroretc. For example, if a stack overflow occurs, an error will arise. They are also ignored at the time
of compilation.

Exception Hierarchy
All exception classes are subtypes of the [Link] class. The exception class is a subclass of the Throwable class. Other than
the exception class there is another subclass called Error which is derived from the Throwable class.
Errors are not normally trapped form the Java programs. These conditions normally happen in case of severe failures, which are not
handled by the java programs. Errors are generated to indicate errors generated by the runtime environment. Example : JVM is out of
Memory. Normally programs cannot recover from errors.
The Exception class has two main subclasses: IOException class and RuntimeException Class.

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 Checked and Unchecked Exceptions

Java’s Built-in Exceptions

Java defines several exception classes inside the standard package [Link]. The most general of these exceptions are subclasses of the
standard type Runtime Exception. Since [Link] is implicitly imported into all Java programs, most exceptions derived from Runtime
Exception are automatically available. Java defines several other types of exceptions that relate to its various class libraries. Following
is the list of Java Unchecked Runtime Exception.
Exception Description
ArithmeticException Arithmetic error, such as divide-by-zero.
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException Array index is out-of-bounds.
ArrayStoreException Assignment to an array element of an incompatible type.
ClassCastException Invalid cast.
IllegalArgumentException Illegal argument used to invoke a method.
IllegalMonitorStateException Illegal monitor operation, such as waiting on an unlocked thread.
IllegalStateException Environment or application is in incorrect state.
IllegalThreadStateException Requested operation not compatible with current thread state.
IndexOutOfBoundsException Some type of index is out-of-bounds.
NegativeArraySizeException Array created with a negative size.
NullPointerException Invalid use of a null reference.
NumberFormatException Invalid conversion of a string to a numeric format.
SecurityException Attempt to violate security.
StringIndexOutOfBounds Attempt to index outside the bounds of a string.
UnsupportedOperationException An unsupported operation was encountered.
Following is the list of Java Checked Exceptions Defined in [Link].
Exception Description
ClassNotFoundException Class not found.
CloneNotSupportedException Attempt to clone an object that does not implement the Cloneable interface.
IllegalAccessException Access to a class is denied.
InstantiationException Attempt to create an object of an abstract class or interface.
InterruptedException One thread has been interrupted by another thread.
NoSuchFieldException A requested field does not exist.
NoSuchMethodException A requested method does not exist.

Exceptions Methods:
Following is the list of important methods available in the Throwable class.
SN Methods with Description
1 public String getMessage(): Returns a detailed message about the exception that has occurred. This
message is initialized in the Throwable constructor.
2 public Throwable getCause(): Returns the cause of the exception as represented by a Throwable
object.
3 public String toString(): Returns the name of the class concatenated with the result of getMessage()
4 public void printStackTrace(): Prints the result of toString() along with the stack trace to [Link],
the error output stream.
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 5 public StackTraceElement [] getStackTrace(): Returns an array containing each element on the stack
trace. The 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 Throwable fillInStackTrace(): Fills the stack trace of this Throwable object with the current
stack trace, adding to any previous information in the stack trace.

Declaring you own Exception: You can create your own exceptions in Java. Keep the following points in mind when writing your
own exception classes:
i. All exceptions must be a child of Throwable.
ii. 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.
iii. 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 MyExceptio nextends Exception{ }
You just need to extend the Exception class to create your own Exception class. These are considered to be checked exceptions. The
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 [Link]
import [Link].*;
public class InsufficientFundsException extends Exception {
private double amount;
public InsufficientFundsException(double amount) {
[Link] = amount;
}
public double getAmount() {
return amount; } }

To demonstrate using our user-defined exception, the following CheckingAccount class contains a withdraw() method that throws an
InsufficientFundsException.

// File Name [Link]

import [Link].*;
public class CheckingAccount {
private double balance;
private int number;
public CheckingAccount(int number) {
[Link] = number;
}
public void deposit(double amount) {
balance += amount;
}
public void withdraw(double amount)throws InsufficientFundsException {
if(amount <= balance)
{
balance -= amount;
}
else
double needs = amount - balance;
throw new InsufficientFundsException(needs);
}}
public double getBalance() {
return balance;
}
public int getNumber() {
return number;
}}

The following BankDemo program demonstrates invoking the deposit() and withdraw() methods of CheckingAccount.
// File Name [Link]
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public class BankDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
CheckingAccount c =new CheckingAccount(101);
[Link]("Depositing $500...");
[Link](500.00);
try
{
[Link]("\nWithdrawing $100...");
[Link](100.00);
[Link]("\nWithdrawing $600...");
[Link](600.00);
}catch(InsufficientFundsException e)
{ [Link]("Sorry, but you are short $" + [Link]());
[Link]();
}}}

Compile all the above three files and run BankDemo, this would produce the following result:
Depositing $500...
Withdrawing $100...
Withdrawing $600...
Sorry, but you are short $200.0
InsufficientFundsException
at [Link]([Link])
at [Link]([Link])

Common Exceptions: In Java, it is possible to define two categories of Exceptions and Errors.
i. JVM Exceptions: - These are exceptions/errors that are exclusively or logically thrown by the JVM. Examples :
NullPointerException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, ClassCastException,
ii. Programmatic exceptions:- These exceptions are thrown explicitly by the application or the API programmers. Examples:
IllegalArgumentException, IllegalStateException.

Catching Exceptions: A method catches an exception using a combination of the try and catch keywords. A try/catch block is placed
around the code that might generate an [Link] 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 argument is passed into a method parameter.
Example:
The following is an array is declared with 2 elements. Then, the code tries to access the 3rd element of the array which throws an
exception.
// File Name : [Link]
import [Link].*;
public class ExcepTest{
public static void main(String args[]){
try{
int a[]=new int[2];
[Link]("Access element three :"+ a[3]);
}catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e){
[Link]("Exception thrown :"+ e);
}
[Link]("Out of the block");
}}

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This would produce the following result:
Exception thrown :[Link]
Out of the block

Multiple catch Blocks: A try block can be followed by multiple catch blocks. The syntax for multiple catch blocks looks like the
following:
try
{
//Protected code
}catch(ExceptionType1 e1)
{
//Catch block }catch(ExceptionType2 e2)
{
//Catch block }catch(ExceptionType3 e3)
{
//Catch block }

The previous statements demonstrate three catch blocks, but you can have any number of them after a single 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
ExceptionType1, it gets caught there. If not, the exception passes down to the second catch statement. This continues until the
exception either is caught or falls through 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 segment showing how to use multiple try/catch statements.
try
{
file =newFileInputStream(fileName);
x =(byte) [Link]();
}catch(IOException i)
{
[Link]();
return-1;
}catch(FileNotFoundException f)//Not valid!
{
[Link]();
return-1;
}

The throws/throw Keywords: If a method does not handle a checked exception, the method must declare it using the throwskeyword.
The throws keyword appears at the end of a method's signature. You can throw an exception, either a newly instantiated one or an
exception that you just caught, by using the throw keyword. Try to understand the different in throws and throw keywords.
The following method declares that it throws a RemoteException:
import [Link].*;
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 [Link].*;
public class className {
public void withdraw(double amount)throws RemoteException,
InsufficientFundsException {
// Method implementation }
//Remainder of class definition
}

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The finally Keyword: The 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(ExceptionType1 e1)
{
//Catch block }catch(ExceptionType2 e2)
{
//Catch block }catch(ExceptionType3 e3)
{
//Catch block }finally
{
//The finally block always executes. }
Example:
public class ExcepTest{
public static void main(String args[]){
int a[]=new int[2];
try{
[Link]("Access element three :"+ a[3]);
}catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e){
[Link]("Exception thrown :"+ e);
}
Finally
{ a[0]=6;
[Link]("First element value: "+a[0]);
[Link]("The finally statement is executed");
}}}
This would produce the following result:
Exception thrown :[Link]
First element value:6
The finally statement is executed

Note the following:

i. A catch clause cannot exist without a try statement.
ii. It is not compulsory to have finally clauses whenever a try/catch block is present.
iii. The try block cannot be present without either catch clause or finally clause.
iv. Any code cannot be present in between the try, catch, finally blocks.