VisualAge for Java - generated error handling code

Question

The code that VAJ generates to handle errors is getting on my nerves, and I'd like to know if someone else is experiencing this difficulty.
It's not possible to specify which exception you're handling. The generated catch code produced is of the form below:
catch (java.lang.Throwable ivjExc) {
// user code begin {3}
// user code end
handleException(ivjExc);
This rules out any attempt to handle specific exceptions in a try catch block such as:
try {
} catch (java.sql.SQLException e) {
} catch(java.io.IOException e2) {
It also prevents the very useful compiler errors you get when you ignore certain exceptions, because they all end up caught in the Throwable section.
I know I can partially go around this with RTTI, or even worse, by cleverly coding the user code sections, such as in:
try {
// user code begin {1}
// user code end
[...] myCode(); [...]
// user code begin {2}
} catch (SQLException e) {
[...] myCatchCode(); [...]
// TRICKY BIT - NOTICE THE user code end
// This actually does nothing, but rids me of the
// default catch block
try {
// user code end
} catch (java.lang.Throwable ivjExc) {
// user code begin {3}
// user code end
handleException(ivjExc);
Anyone with this trouble? How do you go around it?

Answer 1

Actually, from what I could tell, you can actually program almot entirely by resorting to the visual programming tool. Better said than done, of course, because a good deal of coding would end up being less practical than actually typing. And the tangling of connections would be ridiculous. But with some more fine tuning of these features, IBM might end up with a very, very effective visual tool, especially if you do your own programming with this in mind.
Specifically, I'm doing some database programming and I'd like to handle SQLExceptions differently than all the other "Throwable" ones. In particular, I'm getting a bunch of records when a JFrame is windowOpened, and if there's an error I'm showing a window that details the list of database errors that occurred (each SQLException allows access to the next in the list through getNextException(), so I'm adding all of these to a JList). This window is a DetailSQLExceptionDialog which extends DetailThrowableDialog (a class of mine which adds a Throwable's message to a list).
The actual code where I get the records is below. Don't bother with the details, but as you can see I had to use "instanceof" to figure out what class I'm getting as an exception.
* connEtoM2: (MasterFrame.window.windowOpened(java.awt.event.WindowEvent) --> fctMasterTableModel.setListOfRecords(Ljava.util.ArrayList;)V)
* @param arg1 java.awt.event.WindowEvent
/* WARNING: THIS METHOD WILL BE REGENERATED. */
private void connMasterFrame_WindowOpened(java.awt.event.WindowEvent arg1) {
try {
// user code begin {1}
// user code end
getumMasterTableModel().setListOfRecords(Master.getAllRecords(conn));
// user code begin {2}
// user code end
} catch (java.lang.Throwable ivjExc) {
// user code begin {3}
if (ivjExc instanceof SQLException) {
MessageWithDetail.show(
"Error getting the records.",
new DetailSQLExceptionDialog((SQLException) ivjExc, this, getTitle(), true),
this,
getTitle());
dispose();
} else {
MessageWithDetail.show(
"Error getting the records.",
new DetailThrowableDialog(ivjExc, this, getTitle(), true),
this,
getTitle());
dispose();
return;
// user code end
handleException(ivjExc);
It's still not a good solution because since the actual "catch" part has a "throwable" in it, which catches EVERY exception, since Throwable is The Mother Of all Exceptions, I wouldn't get the compiler error for not handling the SQLException. In fact, I'm not aware of what kind of errors can be raised by the class/methods I'm using, unless I delve into all the docs and that can be a daunting task. Basically, the help that the compiler would give me pointing those exceptions as not caught, which is so nice in Java, is gone with the wind.
:-P