Specifying the Exceptions Thrown by a Method

The previous section showed you how to write an exception handler for the writeList method in the ListOfNumbers class. Sometimes, it's appropriate for your code to catch exceptions that can occur within it. In other cases, however, it's better to let a method farther up the call stack handle the exception. For example, if you were providing the ListOfNumbers class as part of a package of classes, you probably couldn't anticipate the needs of all the users of your package. In this case, it's better to not catch the exception and to allow a method farther up the call stack to handle it.

If the writeList method doesn't catch the checked exceptions that can occur within it, the writeList method must specify that it can throw these exceptions. Let's modify the original writeList method to specify the exceptions that it can throw instead of catching them. To remind you, here's the original version of the writeList method that won't compile:

// Note: This method won't compile by design! 
public void writeList() { 
 PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("OutFile.txt")); 
 for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) { 
 out.println("Value at: " + i + " = " + victor.elementAt(i)); 
 } 
 out.close(); 
} 

To specify that writeList can throw two exceptions, you add a throws clause to the method declaration for the writeList method. The throws clause comprises the throws keyword followed by a comma-separated list of all the exceptions thrown by that method. The clause goes after the method name and argument list and before the brace that defines the scope of the method. Here's an example:

public void writeList() throws IOException, 
 ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException { 

Remember that ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException is a runtime exception, so you don't have to specify it in the throws clause, although you can. You could just write this:

public void writeList() throws IOException { 

Getting Started

Object-Oriented Programming Concepts

Language Basics

Object Basics and Simple Data Objects

Classes and Inheritance

Interfaces and Packages

Handling Errors Using Exceptions

Threads: Doing Two or More Tasks at Once

I/O: Reading and Writing

User Interfaces That Swing

Appendix A. Common Problems and Their Solutions

Appendix B. Internet-Ready Applets

Appendix C. Collections

Appendix D. Deprecated Thread Methods

Appendix E. Reference



The Java Tutorial(c) A Short Course on the Basics
The Java Tutorial: A Short Course on the Basics, 4th Edition
ISBN: 0321334205
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 125

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