Custom exception type

Question

Can I define custom types for user-defined exceptions in JavaScript? If so, how would I do it?

Answer 1

From WebReference:

throw { 
  name:        "System Error", 
  level:       "Show Stopper", 
  message:     "Error detected. Please contact the system administrator.", 
  htmlMessage: "Error detected. Please contact the <a href=\"mailto:sysadmin@acme-widgets.com\">system administrator</a>.",
  toString:    function(){return this.name + ": " + this.message;} 
}; 

Answer 2

You should create a custom exception that extends Error:

class InvalidArgumentException extends Error {
  constructor(message) {
    super(message);
    this.name = this.constructor.name;
  }
}

Note: Setting this.name is required for .toString() and .stack to print InvalidArgumentException instead of Error.

For older Javascript environments, you can do prototypical inheritance:

function InvalidArgumentException(message) {
    this.message = message;
    // Use V8's native method if available, otherwise fallback
    if ("captureStackTrace" in Error)
        Error.captureStackTrace(this, InvalidArgumentException);
    else
        this.stack = (new Error()).stack;
}

InvalidArgumentException.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);
InvalidArgumentException.prototype.name = "InvalidArgumentException";
InvalidArgumentException.prototype.constructor = InvalidArgumentException;

This is basically a simplified version of what disfated posted with the enhancement that stack traces work on Firefox and other browsers.

Both satisfy all of these tests:

Usage:

throw new InvalidArgumentException();
var err = new InvalidArgumentException("Not yet...");

And it will behave is expected:

err instanceof InvalidArgumentException          // -> true
err instanceof Error                             // -> true
InvalidArgumentException.prototype.isPrototypeOf(err) // -> true
Error.prototype.isPrototypeOf(err)               // -> true
err.constructor.name                             // -> InvalidArgumentException
err.name                                         // -> InvalidArgumentException
err.message                                      // -> Not yet...
err.toString()                                   // -> InvalidArgumentException: Not yet...
err.stack                                        // -> works fine!

Answer 3

You could implement your own exceptions and their handling for example like here:

// define exceptions "classes" 
function NotNumberException() {}
function NotPositiveNumberException() {}

// try some code
try {
    // some function/code that can throw
    if (isNaN(value))
        throw new NotNumberException();
    else
    if (value < 0)
        throw new NotPositiveNumberException();
}
catch (e) {
    if (e instanceof NotNumberException) {
        alert("not a number");
    }
    else
    if (e instanceof NotPositiveNumberException) {
        alert("not a positive number");
    }
}

There is another syntax for catching a typed exception, although this won't work in every browser (for example not in IE):

// define exceptions "classes" 
function NotNumberException() {}
function NotPositiveNumberException() {}

// try some code
try {
    // some function/code that can throw
    if (isNaN(value))
        throw new NotNumberException();
    else
    if (value < 0)
        throw new NotPositiveNumberException();
}
catch (e if e instanceof NotNumberException) {
    alert("not a number");
}
catch (e if e instanceof NotPositiveNumberException) {
    alert("not a positive number");
}

Answer 4

Yes. You can throw anything you want: integers, strings, objects, whatever. If you want to throw an object, then simply create a new object, just as you would create one under other circumstances, and then throw it. Mozilla's Javascript reference has several examples.

Answer 5

function MyError(message) {
 this.message = message;
}

MyError.prototype = new Error;

This allows for usage like..

try {
  something();
 } catch(e) {
  if(e instanceof MyError)
   doSomethingElse();
  else if(e instanceof Error)
   andNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent();
}

Answer 6

In short:

• If you are using ES6 without transpilers:

  class CustomError extends Error { /* ... */}
  

  See Extending Error in Javascript with ES6 syntax for what's the current best practice

• If you are using Babel transpiler:

Option 1: use babel-plugin-transform-builtin-extend

Option 2: do it yourself (inspired from that same library)

    function CustomError(...args) {
      const instance = Reflect.construct(Error, args);
      Reflect.setPrototypeOf(instance, Reflect.getPrototypeOf(this));
      return instance;
    }
    CustomError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype, {
      constructor: {
        value: Error,
        enumerable: false,
        writable: true,
        configurable: true
      }
    });
    Reflect.setPrototypeOf(CustomError, Error);

• If you are using pure ES5:

  function CustomError(message, fileName, lineNumber) {
    const instance = new Error(message, fileName, lineNumber);
    Object.setPrototypeOf(instance, Object.getPrototypeOf(this));
    return instance;
  }
  CustomError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype, {
    constructor: {
      value: Error,
      enumerable: false,
      writable: true,
      configurable: true
    }
  });
  if (Object.setPrototypeOf){
      Object.setPrototypeOf(CustomError, Error);
  } else {
      CustomError.__proto__ = Error;
  }
  

• Alternative: use Classtrophobic framework

Explanation:

Why extending the Error class using ES6 and Babel is a problem?

Because an instance of CustomError is not anymore recognized as such.

class CustomError extends Error {}
console.log(new CustomError('test') instanceof Error);// true
console.log(new CustomError('test') instanceof CustomError);// false

In fact, from the official documentation of Babel, you cannot extend any built-in JavaScript classes such as Date, Array, DOM or Error.

The issue is described here:

• Native extends breaks HTMLELement, Array, and others
• an object of The class which is extends by base type like Array,Number,Object,String or Error is not instanceof this class

What about the other SO answers?

All the given answers fix the instanceof issue but you lose the regular error console.log:

console.log(new CustomError('test'));
// output:
// CustomError {name: "MyError", message: "test", stack: "Error↵    at CustomError (<anonymous>:4:19)↵    at <anonymous>:1:5"}

Whereas using the method mentioned above, not only you fix the instanceof issue but you also keep the regular error console.log:

console.log(new CustomError('test'));
// output:
// Error: test
//     at CustomError (<anonymous>:2:32)
//     at <anonymous>:1:5

Answer 7

ES6

With the new class and extend keywords it’s now much easier:

class CustomError extends Error {
  constructor(message) {
    super(message);
    //something
  }
}

Answer 8

I often use an approach with prototypal inheritance. Overriding toString() gives you the advantage that tools like Firebug will log the actual information instead of [object Object] to the console for uncaught exceptions.

Use instanceof to determine the type of exception.

main.js

// just an exemplary namespace
var ns = ns || {};

// include JavaScript of the following
// source files here (e.g. by concatenation)

var someId = 42;
throw new ns.DuplicateIdException('Another item with ID ' +
    someId + ' has been created');
// Firebug console:
// uncaught exception: [Duplicate ID] Another item with ID 42 has been created

Exception.js

ns.Exception = function() {
}

/**
 * Form a string of relevant information.
 *
 * When providing this method, tools like Firebug show the returned 
 * string instead of [object Object] for uncaught exceptions.
 *
 * @return {String} information about the exception
 */
ns.Exception.prototype.toString = function() {
    var name = this.name || 'unknown';
    var message = this.message || 'no description';
    return '[' + name + '] ' + message;
};

DuplicateIdException.js

ns.DuplicateIdException = function(message) {
    this.name = 'Duplicate ID';
    this.message = message;
};

ns.DuplicateIdException.prototype = new ns.Exception();

Answer 9

Here is how you can create custom errors with completely identical to native Error's behaviour. This technique works only in Chrome and node.js for now. I also wouldn't recommend to use it if you don't understand what it does.

Error.createCustromConstructor = (function() {

    function define(obj, prop, value) {
        Object.defineProperty(obj, prop, {
            value: value,
            configurable: true,
            enumerable: false,
            writable: true
        });
    }

    return function(name, init, proto) {
        var CustomError;
        proto = proto || {};
        function build(message) {
            var self = this instanceof CustomError
                ? this
                : Object.create(CustomError.prototype);
            Error.apply(self, arguments);
            Error.captureStackTrace(self, CustomError);
            if (message != undefined) {
                define(self, 'message', String(message));
            }
            define(self, 'arguments', undefined);
            define(self, 'type', undefined);
            if (typeof init == 'function') {
                init.apply(self, arguments);
            }
            return self;
        }
        eval('CustomError = function ' + name + '() {' +
            'return build.apply(this, arguments); }');
        CustomError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);
        define(CustomError.prototype, 'constructor', CustomError);
        for (var key in proto) {
            define(CustomError.prototype, key, proto[key]);
        }
        Object.defineProperty(CustomError.prototype, 'name', { value: name });
        return CustomError;
    }

})();

As a reasult we get

/**
 * name   The name of the constructor name
 * init   User-defined initialization function
 * proto  It's enumerable members will be added to 
 *        prototype of created constructor
 **/
Error.createCustromConstructor = function(name, init, proto)

Then you can use it like this:

var NotImplementedError = Error.createCustromConstructor('NotImplementedError');

And use NotImplementedError as you would Error:

throw new NotImplementedError();
var err = new NotImplementedError();
var err = NotImplementedError('Not yet...');

And it will behave is expected:

err instanceof NotImplementedError               // -> true
err instanceof Error                             // -> true
NotImplementedError.prototype.isPrototypeOf(err) // -> true
Error.prototype.isPrototypeOf(err)               // -> true
err.constructor.name                             // -> NotImplementedError
err.name                                         // -> NotImplementedError
err.message                                      // -> Not yet...
err.toString()                                   // -> NotImplementedError: Not yet...
err.stack                                        // -> works fine!

Note, that error.stack works absolutle correct and won't include NotImplementedError constructor call (thanks to v8's Error.captureStackTrace()).

Note. There is ugly eval(). The only reason it is used is to get correct err.constructor.name. If you don't need it, you can a bit simplify everything.

Answer 10

Use the throw statement.

JavaScript doesn't care what the exception type is (as Java does). JavaScript just notices, there's an exception and when you catch it, you can "look" what the exception "says".

If you have different exception types you have to throw, I'd suggest to use variables which contain the string/object of the exception i.e. message. Where you need it use "throw myException" and in the catch, compare the caught exception to myException.

Answer 11

//create error object
var error = new Object();
error.reason="some reason!";

//business function
function exception(){
    try{
        throw error;
    }catch(err){
        err.reason;
    }
}

Now we set add the reason or whatever properties we want to the error object and retrieve it. By making the error more reasonable.

Answer 12

See this example in the MDN.

If you need to define multiple Errors (test the code here!):

function createErrorType(name, initFunction) {
    function E(message) {
        this.message = message;
        if (Error.captureStackTrace)
            Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor);
        else
            this.stack = (new Error()).stack;
        initFunction && initFunction.apply(this, arguments);
    }
    E.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);
    E.prototype.name = name;
    E.prototype.constructor = E;
    return E;
}
var InvalidStateError = createErrorType(
    'InvalidStateError',
    function (invalidState, acceptedStates) {
        this.message = 'The state ' + invalidState + ' is invalid. Expected ' + acceptedStates + '.';
    });

var error = new InvalidStateError('foo', 'bar or baz');
function assert(condition) { if (!condition) throw new Error(); }
assert(error.message);
assert(error instanceof InvalidStateError);  
assert(error instanceof Error); 
assert(error.name == 'InvalidStateError');
assert(error.stack);
error.message;

Code is mostly copied from: What's a good way to extend Error in JavaScript?

Answer 13

An alternative to the answer of asselin for use with ES2015 classes

class InvalidArgumentException extends Error {
    constructor(message) {
        super();
        Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor);
        this.name = "InvalidArgumentException";
        this.message = message;
    }
}