Develop Reference

Is it possible to make a catch block that waits until the whole try block is executed?

What I'm doing
I'm trying to make a cleaner version of nested try catch blocks and I'm solving a very basic exception problem while doing so. I'm making a calculator that will do great things. Before then however, it must take in user inputs as strings and convert them to either floats or integers. I'm doing this by simply calling the in built parseInt and parseFloat functions of java. Right now I'm using a nested try catch block to do this:
String stringToParse = "1.0"
try{Integer.parseInt(stringToParse);}
catch(NumberFormatException n){
try{Float.parseFloat(stringToParse);}
catch(NumberFormatException n){
System.out.println(n)
}
}
Why is that a problem?
This is messy to me and I'd rather have a try block that collects the errors but doesn't immediately go to the catch block, rather it executes the entire try and catches any errors after the try has been executed. I've made a runnable example of this myself that shows what I desire:
String num = "1.0";
int i = 0;
ArrayList<Object> listofResults = new ArrayList<>();
ArrayList<Integer> listOfErrorIndices = new ArrayList<>();
try {
listofResults.add(Integer.parseInt(num));
i++;
listofResults.add(Float.parseFloat(num));
i++;
listofResults.add(Integer.parseInt(num));
} catch (NumberFormatException n) {
listOfErrorIndices.add(i);
}
for (Integer element:listOfErrorIndices) {
System.out.println(element);
//this currently prints out 0 and I want it to print out both 0 and
//2 so that it catches both errors.
}
My idea of how to solve the problem/What I've tried otherwise
My plan is to gather a list of all the NumberFormatException indices (i) thrown in the try. Each time I try to parse the string, an element is added to the resultsList. My goal is to then use this theoretical try catch block to obtain the indices of all the exceptions and then remove them from the resultsList if they threw an error. TLDR; Right now the above code prints out 0 and I want it to print out 0 and 2. Basically, Instead of having nested try catch blocks I use list comprehension and Exception handling indicies with i to remove the error results and only keep the good ones. I don't know if this is possible hence this question. I've looked at the "better ways to implement nested try catch blocks" question however it wasn't useful to me because It provided a solution in delphi and I didn't understand exactly how it worked or if it even worked the way I want mine to work. I at first thought the finally block might be what I needed but that only runs after the catch is executed or if there is no exception, after the try. I need something that postpones the catch block untill the try is complete and I can't think of/find anything that does that.
What are you, crazy?
right now you may be asking, what the hell is the point of this? Well imagine if you had the above problem but instead of two ways to parse the string you had 10 or 100. Pretty quickly, exception handling that with nested try catch blocks would be nigh impossible. I've seen solutions where the catch block calls a custom exception method that then at least takes care of the bad formatting. It looked like this:
try{
//bad code
}
catch{
trysomethingelse();
}
trysomethingelse(){
//equally bad code
catch{
//ya done screwed up son
}
}
However I'm not satisfied because it means that you need a million different method names just to potentially handle one error. Imagine the error would always be the same you just need to try 100 different string parsing methods. Its always going to be a numberformatException if you're trying to convert a string to a number so why have a million catch blocks just for the same error? I want to try to do this with one theoretical catch block that specifies one error that happens many times over in the try block.

You build a list/array of parsers, then iterate that list, catching exception for each.
With Java 8 method references, this is real easy. First, define a Parser functional interface that allows exceptions to be thrown:
#FunctionalInterface
public interface Parser {
Object parse(String text) throws Exception;
}
Next, build your array of parsers to try:
Parser[] parsers = {
Integer::valueOf,
Double::valueOf,
BigInteger::new,
BigDecimal::new
};
Finally, try them one at a time:
String text = "45.8";
Object[] results = new Object[parsers.length];
for (int i = 0; i < parsers.length; i++) {
try {
results[i] = parsers[i].parse(text);
} catch (Exception e) {
results[i] = e;
}
}
Now you can go through the results:
for (Object result : results) {
if (result instanceof Exception)
System.out.println("Error: " + result);
else
System.out.println("Parsed as " + result.getClass().getSimpleName() + ": " + result);
}
Output
Error: java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "45.8"
Parsed as Double: 45.8
Error: java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "45.8"
Parsed as BigDecimal: 45.8
Or put the parsed objects and the exceptions into two different lists. Up to you.

You can do something like this:
interface Parser {
Number parse(String);
}
class IntegerParser implements Parser {
#Override
public Number parse(String) {
// implementation here
}
}
class FloatParser implements Parser {
}
List<Parser> parsers = asList(new FloatParser(), new IntegerParser(), ...);
Number result = null;
List<NumberFormatException> exceptions = new ArrayList<>();
for (Parser parser : parsers) {
try {
result = parser.parse(stringToParse);
break;
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
exceptions.add(e);
}
}
if (result != null) {
// parsed ok with some parser
// probably discard exceptions
} else {
// show exceptions from the list
}

Try this:
public static void test() {
final String num = "1.0";
final ArrayList<Object> listofResults = new ArrayList<>();
final java.util.function.Function<String, ?>[] parseMethods = new java.util.function.Function[3];
parseMethods[0] = Integer::parseInt;
parseMethods[1] = Float::parseFloat;
parseMethods[2] = Integer::parseInt;
int[] badIndeces = IntStream.range(0, parseMethods.length).map(i -> {
try {
listofResults.add(parseMethods[i].apply(num));
return -i-1;
} catch (NumberFormatException exc) {
return i;
}
}).filter(i -> i >= 0).toArray();
for (int element : badIndeces) {
System.out.println(element);
}
}

How to return a value from one class to another ? Java

i'm having a bit of a problem. Here's the situation. I have an amount field in my main class that gets incremented when certain buttons are clicked on. There is a method provided through which you can delete any order (I'm basically programming for a restaurant terminal) and the amount gets decremented. The delete method is placed in another class.
public void posdel(int pos, JTextField amountFieldGot, int amountGot)
{
if(slist==null)
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "No order has been placed yet.",null,JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
}
else
{
if(pos==1)
{
reductionAmount = (slist.quantity*slist.price);
amountGot = amountGot - reductionAmount;
slist=slist.next;
}
else
{
int i=1;
Node temp=slist;
Node prev=null;
while(temp.next!=null && i<pos)
{
prev=temp;
temp=temp.next;
i++;
}
if(pos==i)
{
prev.next=temp.next;
}
else
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Invalid order", null, JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
}
}
}
amountFieldGot.setText(Integer.toString(amountGot));
}
So basically, I have an amountField in my GUI that i pass as a parameter to the posdel method. I also pass the amount value as a parameter. The new amount that i get is amountGot after the deletion of the first order. ( I haven't written the code for other positions.)
Suppose the amount value i pass into the method is 30 (14+16) 14 = order 1, 16 = order2.
And my first order has a value of 14.
So amountGot = 30 - 14 which is 16.
And the amountField in the GUI gets updated to 16.
Now my order 2 becomes my order 1. And if i try to delete this,
my amountField gets update to 14. (30-16 = 14).
So i'm guessing the amount value stays the same itself as 30 and does not get updated to the new amountGot value. Can someone please help me solve this problem ?
below is the code for my delete button.
deleteButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
dishDelPos = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter the position of the order to be deleted");
try
{
dishDeletePosition = Integer.parseInt(dishDelPos);
order1.posdel(dishDeletePosition, amountField, amount);
repaint();
}
catch(NumberFormatException ex1)
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"This is not a valid position");
}
}
});

A few things.
You can make the delete method in the class static. The you would reference it
value = MyClass.deleteMethod();
You can create a new class to perform the method
MyClass myClass = new MyClass();
value = myClass.deleteMethod();
You can do it using a pointer of sorts, by passing in a reference to an already existing instance of the class holding the delete method, to where you want to call it.
myFunction(MyClass myClass)
{
value = myClass.deleteMethod();
}
basically set up your function to return a value
public static int deleteMethod()
{
}
this function returns an int.
or if you need to return more than that then set the class up with global variables of information
class MyClass
{
public int value1;
public int value2;
public String value3;
public void deleteMethod()
{
//does something with global variables
}
}
now fetch the info after calling delete like so
Myclass myClass = new MyClass();
myClass.deleteMethod();
value1 = myClass.value1
value2 = myClass.Value2
value3 = myClass.Value3

Java - Catching multiple exceptions and Identifying which exception occured

I had some difficulty with the title, wasn't sure how to word it more accurately.
I'm having this issue, I have a several methods which ask the user for 3 Double inputs.
For each input it checks if it's valid (for example if its a positive value), if it's not it throws an IllegalArgumentException. Now I made a Tester class to check if the methods are working properly. It's supposed to catch the exception thrown by the methods and re-ask the user for the input which caused that specific exception.
All 3 methods throw and IllegalArgumentException but the error message is different for each one. Is there anyway (when catching the exception) to see which input cause the error? Here's a sample of my code:
public class account
{
double value;
public account(double initialValue)
{
if (initialValue < 0)
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Initial value cannot be negative.");
}
value = initialValue;
}
public add(double addValue)
{
if (addValue < 0)
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Added value cannot be negative.");
}
value = value + addValue;
}
}
and the tester class would be something like:
public class accountTester
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
try
{
double initialValue = Double.parseDouble(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter initial value"));
account acc = new account(initialValue);
double addValue = Double.parseDouble(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter value to add"));
acc.add(addValue);
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Wrong ammount");
initialValue = Double.parseDouble(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Re-enter ammount"));
}
}
So what would I have to change in the tester class to throw that code only if the IllegalArgumentException is "Initial value cannot be negative."
Sorry if I made this hard to understand.
EDIT: According to my prof, we're supposed to use do
String error = e.toString;
if (error.contains("Added value cannot be negative.")
{
//DO CODE FOR FIRST ERROR
}
I know this isn't the most proper way of doing it though.

Since you can't match over Strings like you would do in a functional language you have to provide three different kind of objects if you want to be able to distinguish them using the try-catch mechanics.
Or with a simplified approach attach a parameter to the exception so that you can use just a catch clause but you could behave differently. Something like
class MyIllegalArgumentException extends IllegalArgumentException {
public int whichParameter;
public MyIllegalArgumentException(String string, int which) {
super(string);
whichParameter = which;
}
}
now you can:
catch (MyIllegalArgumentException e) {
if (e.whichParameter == 0)
..
else if (e.whichParameter == 1)
..
}
You could also check the string for equality but this would be really not a good design choice, you could also have many try-catch blocks but this is not always possible.
After having expanded your code the solution is easy:
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
double initialValue = ...
account acc = new account(initialValue);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
...
}
try {
double addValue = ...
acc.add(addValue);
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Wrong ammount");
initialValue = Double.parseDouble(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Re-enter ammount"));
}
}

Surround each method call with its own try/catch block?

In your catch block you should only catch IllegalArgumentException. Then what you can do is invoke the getMessage() function which will enable you to do a very simple String.equals call.

How to return a flag plus an optional message in Java?

I want to write a method in Java that verifies that some conditions hold on some data, and acknowledges that the data is valid or produces an appropriate error message otherwise.
The problem is that we cannot return more than one thing from a method, so I'm wondering what the best solution is (in terms of readability and maintainability).
First solution. Easy, but we cannot know what exactly made the check fail:
boolean verifyLimits1(Set<Integer> values, int maxValue) {
for (Integer value : values) {
if (value > maxValue) {
return false; // Out of limits
}
}
return true; // All values are OK
}
Second solution. We have the message, but we are using exceptions in a way that we shouldn't (besides, it should probably be a domain-specific checked exception, too much overhead IMO):
void verifyLimits2(Set<Integer> values, int maxValue) {
for (Integer value : values) {
if (value > maxValue) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The value " + value + " exceeds the maximum value");
}
}
}
Third solution. We have a detailed message, but the contract is not clean: we make the client check whether the String is empty (for which he needs to read the javadoc).
String verifyLimits3(Set<Integer> values, int maxValue) {
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
for (Integer value : values) {
if (value > maxValue) {
builder.append("The value " + value + " exceeds the maximum value/n");
}
}
return builder.toString();
}
Which solution would you recommend? Or is there a better one (hopefully!)?
(Note: I made up this little example, my real use case concerns complex conditions on heterogeneous data, so don't focus on this concrete example and propose Collections.max(values) > maxValue ? "Out of range." : "All fine." :-).)

If you need more than a single value you should return a simple class instance instead. Here is an example of what we use in some cases:
public class Validation {
private String text = null;
private ValidationType type = ValidationType.OK;
public Validation(String text, ValidationType type) {
super();
this.text = text;
this.type = type;
}
public String getText() {
return text;
}
public ValidationType getType() {
return type;
}
}
This uses a simple Enumeration for the type:
public enum ValidationType {
OK, HINT, ERROR;
}
A validator method could look like this:
public Validation validateSomething() {
if (condition) {
return new Validation("msg.key", ValidationType.ERROR);
}
return new Validation(null, ValidationType.OK);
}
That's it.

The solution is simple: create a custom VerificationResult class. It can have a boolean status flag and a String message field, among other things you may want to add. Instead of returning either a String or a boolean, return a VerificationResult.
Also, depending on context, throwing an exception may actually end up being the right thing to do. This has to be considered on a case-by-case basis based on concrete scenarios, though.
Alternative solution: a last error query
Another option you can use is to have the verification return a boolean, and have a separate method e.g. String whatWentWrongLastTime() that a user can query in case false is returned. You'd have to be very careful with any concurrency issues etc. that may overwrite the "last" verification error.
This is the approach taken by e.g. java.util.Scanner, which does NOT throw any IOException (except for the constructors). To query if something "went wrong", you can query its ioException() method, which returns the last IOException, or null if there wasn't any.

IllegalArgumentException is the way to go if it really means that: You make some demands to the caller of the method (the contract) but they are ignored. In this case an IAE is appropriate.
If that doesn't reflect your use case, I'd use one of the solutions of the others.

Another approach - use a Status object:
public class Status {
public final static Status OK = new Status("OK");
private String message;
public Status(String message) { this.message = message; }
public String getMessage() { return message; }
}
To Verify, either return Status.OK if the input is valid or create a new Status message.
public Status validate(Integer input, int maxValue){
if (input > maxValue) {
return new Status(
String.format("%s value out of limits (maxValue=%s)", input, maxValue);
}
return Status.OK;
}
Using the verifier is simple as that:
Status status = validate(i, 512);
if (status != Status.OK) {
// handle the error
}

I think the best solution is to create your own exception that holds as much error description information as you want. It should not be a RuntimeException subclass; you want callers to have to deal with a failure to validate, because too many programmers fail to put in error handling. By making failure a checked exception, you force them (you?) to put at least something in, and code review can relatively easily pick up if they're being stupid about it. I know it's bureaucratic, but it improves code quality in the long run.
Once you've done that, consider whether you need to return a value on successful validation or not. Only return a value if that value contains information other than “oh, I've got here now” (which is obvious from the program flow). If you do need to return a result, and it needs to be a complex result, by all means use a custom class instance to hold it! To not do that is just refusing to use the facilities that the language gives you.

In this case, the method returning 'false' looks like a business logic result rather than a real Exception. So verifyLimits should return a result anyway rather than throwing an Exception when 'false'.
class VerifyLimitsResult{
//Ignore get, set methods
Integer maxValue;
Integer value;
public VerifyLimitsResult(Integer maxValue, Integer value) {
this.maxValue = maxValue;
this.value = value;
}
public boolean isOK(){
return value==null;
}
public String getValidationInfo(){
if(isOK()){
return "Fine";
}else{
return "The value " + value + " exceeds the maximum value/n"
}
}
}
....
VerifyLimitsResult verifyLimits4(Set<Integer> values, int maxValue) {
for (Integer value : values) {
if (value > maxValue) {
return new VerifyLimitsResult(maxValue, value);
}
}
return new VerifyLimitsResult(maxValue, null);
}

If you check a reasonable amount of items and be concerned about the number of objects you create to return the result, there's an alternative with interface.
First you create an interfaceto be called whenever the limit is violated:
// A simple listener to be implemented by the calling method.
public interface OutOfLimitListener {
// Called whenever a limit is violated.
public void outOfLimit(int value, int maxValue);
// ... Add additional results as parameters
// ... Add additional states as methods
}
You can add parameters and/or methods. For example the actual position of the violating value could be a parameter. As antother example add a method that is called at the end of each test with parameters for the number of checks and the number of violates.
An implementation of this interface is passed as argument to your checking method. It calls the listener every time one of the limits is violated:
private boolean verifyLimits(Set<Integer> values, int maxValue, OutOfLimitListener listener) {
boolean result = true; // Assume all values are OK
for (Integer value : values) {
if (value > maxValue) {
listener.outOfLimit(value, maxValue);
result = false; // At least one was out of limits
}
}
return result;
}
And finally you use this method just by implementening the interface:
#Test
public final void test() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
// Make up a test set of random numbers
Set<Integer> testSet = new HashSet<Integer>();
for(int i=0; i<10; i++) testSet.add((int) (Math.random() * 100));
// Implement the interface once with appropriate reaction to an out-of-limit condition
OutOfLimitListener listener = new OutOfLimitListener() {
#Override
public void outOfLimit(int value, int maxValue) {
System.out.printf("The value %d exceeds the maximum value %d\n", value, maxValue);
}
};
// Call verification
verifyLimits(testSet, 50, listener);
}
Android and other GUI Interfaces use this pattern heavily. For me, it got the prefered method when the result contains more then one value.

Create your own custom unchecked exception that extends from RuntimeException.

You can use simple Key-Value, by using HashMap, of course with predefined keys.
Return the HashMap for further processing.

I would vote for the second solution (either using IllegalArgumentException or defining a specific one).
Generally good practice is ensuring that any return value from a method can safely be ignored (because some day somebody will forget to check it anyway) and, in cases when ignoring a return value is unsafe, it's always better to throw/catch an exception.

You could return the flag as a boolean and log the results of tests that don't verify, you'll want to log them anyhow...
presuming you'll be checking millions of values.

In Java, what is the best way of continuing to call a function until no exception is thrown?

In my Java code, I have a function called getAngle() which sometimes throws a NoAngleException. Is the following code the best way of writing a function that keeps calling getAngle() until no exception is thrown?
public int getAngleBlocking()
{
while(true)
{
int angle;
try
{
angle = getAngle();
return angle;
}
catch(NoAngleException e)
{
}
}
}
Or would it be a better idea to rewrite getAngle() to return NaN upon error?

I'm surprised to read some of the answers to this thread because this scenario is precisely the reason checked exceptions exist. You could do something like:
private final static int MAX_RETRY_COUNT = 5;
//...
int retryCount = 0;
int angle = -1;
while(true)
{
try
{
angle = getAngle();
break;
}
catch(NoAngleException e)
{
if(retryCount > MAX_RETRY_COUNT)
{
throw new RuntimeException("Could not execute getAngle().", e);
}
// log error, warning, etc.
retryCount++;
continue;
}
}
// now you have a valid angle
This is assuming that something outside of the process changed in the meantime. Typically, something like this would be done for reconnecting:
private final static int MAX_RETRY_COUNT = 5;
//...
int retryCount = 0;
Object connection = null;
while(true)
{
try
{
connection = getConnection();
break;
}
catch(ConnectionException e)
{
if(retryCount > MAX_RETRY_COUNT)
{
throw new RuntimeException("Could not execute getConnection().", e);
}
try
{
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(15);
}
catch (InterruptedException ie)
{
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
// handle appropriately
}
// log error, warning, etc.
retryCount++;
continue;
}
}
// now you have a valid connection

I think you should investigate why getAngle() is throwing an exception and then resolve the problem. If this is random, like input from a sensor, maybe you should wait some time until calling again. You could also make getAngle() blocking, that means getAngle() will wait until a good result is acquired.
Ignoring how you're solving your problem you should have some kind of timeout mechanism, so you don't end up in an endlessloop. This supposes that you don't want to have an possibly infinite loop, of course.

You want to call a method as long as it throws an exception?
This is not programming. You should use the debugger and take a look at the real issue.
And you should never catch an exception without any message or logging!

Could you not have used recursion?
i.e.;
public int getAngleBlocking()
{
int angle;
try
{
angle = getAngle();
return angle;
}
catch(NoAngleException e)
{
return getAngleBlocking();
}
}
}

I would not recommend to do it that way, because when getAngle() never returns a valid value (always throws an exception for some reason) you end up in an endless loop. You should at least define a break condition (e.g. timeout) for this case.

In the end I opted for returning a NaN value, as this prevents careless use of Integer.MIN_VALUE somewhere else.
public float getAngle(boolean blocking)
{
while(true)
{
int dir = getDirection();
if(dir == 0 && !blocking)
return Float.NaN;
else
return (dir - 5) * 30;
}
}

Unless you are using a class that is entirely outside of your control, you really want to reconsider throwing an exception to indicate no angle.
Sometimes, of course, this is not possible either because the class is not yours, or, it is not possible to make dual use of the returned type as both the result or error status.
For example, in your case, assuming all integer (negative and 0) degrees are possible angles, there is no way for you to return an int value that indicates error and is distinct from a valid angle value.
But lets assume your valid angles are in range -360 -> 360 (or equiv. in radians). Then, you really should consider something like:
// assuming this ..
public static final int NO_ANGLE_ERROR = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
// do this
public int getAngleBlocking()
{
int angle;
do {
angle = getAngle();
}while(angle == NO_ANGLE_ERROR);
}

Never use Exceptions to handle flow logic in your code.
as suggested first check why you sometimes get the execption