How to catch FileNotFoundException for new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext()

Question

I am trying to create a program where I want to input the spring configurations file from user just to create some demo application. If I directly call new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(filePath), it throws FileNotFoundException if the file doesn't exist.

I want to catch this exception and display the user an error message instead of terminating the application. Even if I surround the call to constructor by try-catch or using throws declaration, the exception is not caught and the application terminates printing the stack trace.

Any ideas how can I catch the thrown exception? This is a Spring MVC application

The caller function (Inside the @Controller class)-

private String getFlavours(ModelMap model, String configFile) {
    FlavourService flavourService = new FlavourService();
    String results = null;

    try {
        results = flavourService.generateFlavour(configFile);
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
        System.out.println("In FNF Execp");
        model.addAttribute("errorMessage", "Requested configurations file not found");
        return "index";
    }

    model.addAttribute("results", results);
    model.addAttribute("configFile", configFile);
    return "springDemo";
}

The called function (Inside other normal class FlavourService from different package)-

public String generateFlavour(String configFile) throws FileNotFoundException {
    String path = "somepath"; //this is path from classpath
    String filename = configFile;

    context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(path + filename);

    //code to generate required output

    return output;
}

I am getting the exception as -

SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet HelloWeb threw exception
java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [com/cts/spring/config/dsf] cannot be opened because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource.getInputStream(ClassPathResource.java:158)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:329)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:303)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:216)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:187)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:251)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:127)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:93)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:129)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:540)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:454)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:139)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:83)
    at com.cts.spring.FlavourService.generateFlavour(FlavourService.java:31)
    at com.cts.spring.controller.SpringFlavoursController.getFlavours(SpringFlavoursController.java:38)
    at com.cts.spring.controller.SpringFlavoursController.viewFlavours(SpringFlavoursController.java:30)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invoke(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:215)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:132)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:104)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandleMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:749)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:690)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:83)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:945)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:876)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:961)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:863)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:641)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:837)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:722)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:303)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:243)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:201)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:163)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:108)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:402)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:249)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:267)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:245)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:260)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

If I try creating a similar problem in Java Project using spring only, I get a different exception where it mentions that FileNotFoundException is nested exception as follows -

Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: IOException parsing XML document from class path resource [dsf]; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [dsf] cannot be opened because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:343)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:303)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:216)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:187)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:251)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:127)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:93)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:129)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:540)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:454)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:139)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:83)
    at MainApp.main(MainApp.java:16)
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [dsf] cannot be opened because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource.getInputStream(ClassPathResource.java:158)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:329)
    ... 13 more

Clearly, it is not throwing a FileNotFoundException, so of course you can not catch it. — Raedwald, Mar 12 '15 at 09:46
@Raedwald as you can see in the first case (my actual application) its showing `FileNotFoundException` In the later case I got to know that its an nested exception. How can i deal with that??? Because I don't want to mess exception handling by just taking some superclass of exception to handle a nested exception — Mukund Jalan, Mar 12 '15 at 14:09
See also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7593535/how-to-catch-a-nested-exception-in-java — Raedwald, Mar 13 '15 at 09:50

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 11 '15 at 07:00

1

Use a higher level of Exception for catching, say IOException. It might so happen that you are catching only FileNotFoundException and there might be other type of exception spring might be throwing.
use FileSystemXmlApplicationContext instead, to pass FileSystem paths as parameters.

http://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/current/javadoc-api/org/springframework/context/support/FileSystemXmlApplicationContext.html#FileSystemXmlApplicationContext-java.lang.String-

answered Mar 11 '15 at 07:00

prasad vsv

1,138
8
10

thanks for the idea. It didn't work for `IOException` but worked for `Exception` like a charm. It is giving me an nested exception of `FileNotFoundException`. I want to know, how can I catch the nested exception only because catching exception of type `Exception` may not be effective if some other exception is thrown by the code due to some other reason. – Mukund Jalan Mar 12 '15 at 05:46

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 11 '15 at 07:00

0

Create a new File Object before passing the file Path in Constructor and check that file actually exist or not

Try This

File file=new File(filePath);
if(!file.exists) // Check if file Actually Exists or not 
 //thow any Exception if file Not Exists

answered Mar 11 '15 at 07:00

Neeraj Jain

7,643
6
34
62

this is a good idea to deal with the problem (maybe good for real-time applications), but as I am learning the concepts in Java, I want know how the exception can be handled rather than finding an alternative approach to the problem. – Mukund Jalan Mar 12 '15 at 05:49
This is not an alternative approach , what would be your first attempt after getting `FileNotFound Exception` ? you will either create that file or just Quit , which you can do from here also . – Neeraj Jain Mar 12 '15 at 05:54

How to catch FileNotFoundException for new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext()

2 Answers2