How can I throw CHECKED exceptions from inside Jav

Question

How can I throw CHECKED exceptions from inside Java 8 streams/lambdas?

In other words, I want to make code like this compile:

public List<Class> getClasses() throws ClassNotFoundException {     

    List<Class> classes = 
        Stream.of("java.lang.Object", "java.lang.Integer", "java.lang.String")
              .map(className -> Class.forName(className))
              .collect(Collectors.toList());                  
    return classes;
    }

This code does not compile, since the Class.forName() method above throws ClassNotFoundException, which is checked.

Please note I do NOT want to wrap the checked exception inside a runtime exception and throw the wrapped unchecked exception instead. I want to throw the checked exception itself, and without adding ugly try/catches to the stream.

Answer 1

You can!

Extending @marcg 's UtilException and adding throw E where necessary: this way, the compiler will ask you to add throw clauses and everything's as if you could throw checked exceptions natively on java 8's streams.

Instructions: just copy/paste LambdaExceptionUtil in your IDE and then use it as shown in the below LambdaExceptionUtilTest.

public final class LambdaExceptionUtil {

    @FunctionalInterface
    public interface Consumer_WithExceptions<T, E extends Exception> {
        void accept(T t) throws E;
    }

    @FunctionalInterface
    public interface Function_WithExceptions<T, R, E extends Exception> {
        R apply(T t) throws E;
    }

    /**
     * .forEach(rethrowConsumer(name -> System.out.println(Class.forName(name))));
     */
    public static <T, E extends Exception> Consumer<T> rethrowConsumer(Consumer_WithExceptions<T, E> consumer) throws E {
        return t -> {
            try {
                consumer.accept(t);
            } catch (Exception exception) {
                throwActualException(exception);
            }
        };
    }

    /**
     * .map(rethrowFunction(name -> Class.forName(name))) or .map(rethrowFunction(Class::forName))
     */
    public static <T, R, E extends Exception> Function<T, R> rethrowFunction(Function_WithExceptions<T, R, E> function) throws E  {
        return t -> {
            try {
                return function.apply(t);
            } catch (Exception exception) {
                throwActualException(exception);
                return null;
            }
        };
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    private static <E extends Exception> void throwActualException(Exception exception) throws E {
        throw (E) exception;
    }

}

Some test to show usage and behaviour:

public class LambdaExceptionUtilTest {

    @Test(expected = MyTestException.class)
    public void testConsumer() throws MyTestException {
        Stream.of((String)null).forEach(rethrowConsumer(s -> checkValue(s)));
    }

    private void checkValue(String value) throws MyTestException {
        if(value==null) {
            throw new MyTestException();
        }
    }

    private class MyTestException extends Exception { }

    @Test
    public void testConsumerRaisingExceptionInTheMiddle() {
        MyLongAccumulator accumulator = new MyLongAccumulator();
        try {
            Stream.of(2L, 3L, 4L, null, 5L).forEach(rethrowConsumer(s -> accumulator.add(s)));
            fail();
        } catch (MyTestException e) {
            assertEquals(9L, accumulator.acc);
        }
    }

    private class MyLongAccumulator {
        private long acc = 0;
        public void add(Long value) throws MyTestException {
            if(value==null) {
                throw new MyTestException();
            }
            acc += value;
        }
    }

    @Test
    public void testFunction() throws MyTestException {
        List<Integer> sizes = Stream.of("ciao", "hello").<Integer>map(rethrowFunction(s -> transform(s))).collect(toList());
        assertEquals(2, sizes.size());
        assertEquals(4, sizes.get(0).intValue());
        assertEquals(5, sizes.get(1).intValue());
    }

    private Integer transform(String value) throws MyTestException {
        if(value==null) {
            throw new MyTestException();
        }
        return value.length();
    }

    @Test(expected = MyTestException.class)
    public void testFunctionRaisingException() throws MyTestException {
        Stream.of("ciao", null, "hello").<Integer>map(rethrowFunction(s -> transform(s))).collect(toList());
    }

}

Answer 2

I wrote a library that extends the Stream API to allow you to throw checked exceptions. It uses Brian Goetz's trick.

Your code would become

public List<Class> getClasses() throws ClassNotFoundException {     
    Stream<String> classNames = 
        Stream.of("java.lang.Object", "java.lang.Integer", "java.lang.String");

    return ThrowingStream.of(classNames, ClassNotFoundException.class)
               .map(Class::forName)
               .collect(Collectors.toList());
}

Answer 3

I agree with the comments above, in using Stream.map you are limited to implementing Function which doesn't throw Exceptions.

You could however create your own FunctionalInterface that throws as below..

@FunctionalInterface
public interface UseInstance<T, X extends Throwable> {
  void accept(T instance) throws X;
}

then implement it using Lambdas or references as shown below.

import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;

//lambda expressions and the execute around method (EAM) pattern to
//manage resources

public class FileWriterEAM  {
  private final FileWriter writer;

  private FileWriterEAM(final String fileName) throws IOException {
    writer = new FileWriter(fileName);
  }
  private void close() throws IOException {
    System.out.println("close called automatically...");
    writer.close();
  }
  public void writeStuff(final String message) throws IOException {
    writer.write(message);
  }
  //...

  public static void use(final String fileName, final UseInstance<FileWriterEAM, IOException> block) throws IOException {

    final FileWriterEAM writerEAM = new FileWriterEAM(fileName);    
    try {
      block.accept(writerEAM);
    } finally {
      writerEAM.close();
    }
  }

  public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException {

    FileWriterEAM.use("eam.txt", writerEAM -> writerEAM.writeStuff("sweet"));

    FileWriterEAM.use("eam2.txt", writerEAM -> {
        writerEAM.writeStuff("how");
        writerEAM.writeStuff("sweet");      
      });

    FileWriterEAM.use("eam3.txt", FileWriterEAM::writeIt);     

  }


 void writeIt() throws IOException{
     this.writeStuff("How ");
     this.writeStuff("sweet ");
     this.writeStuff("it is");

 }

}