Question on Files and Exceptions

Question

Hi everyone.
I have a program that is supposed to let you use a JFileSearcher to find a text file, enter some search terms into a JTextArea and when you click a button it opens a new frame. The new frame is it's own class and its constructor requires a file object and an array of Strings. The problem I have is that it isn't reading the file right. I put my readFile() method inside a try clause as well as my Scanner object definition. But, for some reason an exception keeps getting thrown when it tries to execute the readFile() method, which obviously makes the rest of my program not work. Here's my code:
FileSearcher.java
* FileSearcher.java
* Darren Gordon
* @version 1.00 2008/10/18
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
public class FileSearcher extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
     private JButton find, results, clear;
     private JLabel lblTitle, lblFilePath, lblSearchTerms;
     private JTextField filePath;
     private JTextArea searchTerms;
     private JFileChooser finder;
     private File file;
     private boolean pickedFile = false;
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          new FileSearcher();
    public FileSearcher() {
         JFrame f = new JFrame("D-Train's String File-Searcher, preferred Edition");
         f.setSize(350, 300);
         f.setResizable(false);
         f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
         makePanel();     
         f.add(this);
         f.setVisible(true);
    public void makePanel() {
         try {
              UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
         } catch(Exception e) {
         JPanel top = new JPanel();
         lblTitle = new JLabel("String File-Searcher");
         lblFilePath = new JLabel("Chosen File:");
         filePath = new JTextField(30);
         find = new JButton("Find File");
         JPanel center = new JPanel();
         results = new JButton("Get Results");
         clear = new JButton("Clear Fields");
         lblSearchTerms = new JLabel("Search Terms - seperate with a semi-colon(;)");
         searchTerms = new JTextArea(5, 35);
         finder = new JFileChooser();
         find.addActionListener(this);
         results.addActionListener(this);
         clear.addActionListener(this);
         top.add(lblTitle);
         top.add(lblFilePath);
         top.add(filePath);
         top.add(find);
         top.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 50));
         center.add(lblSearchTerms);
         center.add(searchTerms);
         center.add(results);
         center.add(clear);
         setLayout(new BorderLayout(5, 5));
         add(BorderLayout.NORTH, top);
         add(BorderLayout.CENTER, center);
    public String[] getSearchTerms() {
         String[] temp = searchTerms.getText().split(";");
         return temp;
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
         if(e.getSource() == find) {
              int temp = finder.showOpenDialog(this);
              if(temp == finder.APPROVE_OPTION) {
                   file = finder.getSelectedFile();
                   pickedFile = true;
                   filePath.setText(file.getAbsolutePath());     
         } else if(e.getSource() == clear) {
              searchTerms.setText("");
         } else if(e.getSource() == results && pickedFile) {
              new Results(file, getSearchTerms());
}Results.java
* @(#)Results.java
* Darren Gordon
* @version 1.00 2008/10/18
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Results extends JPanel {
     private Scanner scan;
     private File file;
     private String[] document, searchTerms;
     private int[] wordsCount;
     private int counter = 0;
     private JLabel lblTitle;
     private JTextArea resultsBox;
     private JScrollPane scroll;
    public Results(File a, String[] s) {
         JFrame f = new JFrame("Search Results");
         f.setResizable(false);
         f.setSize(350, 200);
         searchTerms = s;
         wordsCount = new int[searchTerms.length];
         Arrays.fill(wordsCount, 0);
         file = a;
         try {
              readFile();
         } catch(Exception e) {
              System.out.println("File cannot be read.");
         makePanel();
         findResults();
         giveResults();
         f.add(this);
         f.setVisible(true);
    private void readFile() {
         try {
              scan = new Scanner(file);
         } catch(Exception e) {
              System.out.println("Unable to scan file.");
         while(scan.hasNextLine()) {
              document[counter] = scan.nextLine();
              counter++;
    private void findResults() {
         for(int i = 0; i < searchTerms.length; i++) {
              for(int j = 0; j < counter; j++) {
                    wordsCount[i] = countOccurances(document[j], searchTerms);
private int countOccurances(String line, String search) {
     boolean searching = true;
     int count = 0;
     int index = 0;
     while(searching) {
          index = line.indexOf(search);
          if(index == -1) {
               searching = false;
          } else {
               count++;
               line = line.substring(index + search.length());
     return count;
private void giveResults() {
     for(int i = 0; i < searchTerms.length; i++) {
          if(wordsCount[i] > 0) {
               resultsBox.append("Search term " + searchTerms[i] + " appeared " + Integer.toString(wordsCount[i]) + " time(s).\n");
     resultsBox.append("\nThe rest of the search terms turned up no results.");
private void makePanel() {
     try {     
          UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
     } catch(Exception e) {
     lblTitle = new JLabel("Search Results");
     resultsBox = new JTextArea(5, 30);
     resultsBox.setLineWrap(true);
     scroll = new JScrollPane(resultsBox, JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS, JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
     add(lblTitle);
     add(scroll);
}Any ideas why it won't run readFile()?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Answer 1

Ok, basic Exception handling:
Never throw away useful information.
You've got some empty catch blocks: Very, very bad!
You've got some catch blocks that only print a generic message: Bad.
Add at least "e.printStackTrace()" to every catch block.
Then you will see exactly which error occurs and where it happend. That information helps a lot (hint: post it!).