eclipse warning: Finally block doesn't complete normally

Question

I have some code that throws a potential error and I catch these, then jump into a finally block, here it is in 'pseudo' form.

private boolean myMethod(ResultSet rs1, ResultSet rs2){

Vector<String> temp = new Vector<String>();

try{

//add info into temp while condition is true
while(true){temp.add(information);}//potentially throws an SQL error

//test my temo object for some codition
if(false){throw InternalError();}


}catch (SQLException e){
     //send error message
}
catch (InternalError e){
     //send error message
}

finally{
//whatever happens I need to send a result of some sort!

if(temp.size() > 1){
   //create class member variable from this info
}

//send a message explaining that an error has occurred.

//this is the message to say if things have worked or not, so as the
//calling code can handle an re-run this method until this value returns true.
return booleanValue
}//end finally


}//end method

I'm not sure exactly what this error message means in this instance.

I generally handle any exceptions within any method that throws them, should I in this instance throw rather than handle the Exception, and catch both of the errors in a custom Exception?

The first 2 messages that I send out are mainly for development purposes, and because I have to handle them. The message in my finally block will ultimately comprise the message to the user, asking them to confirm the situation, make a modification, abort or change how we got to this situation.

What should I do to 'remove' the compiler message. I don't like to suppress warnings in my code as I don't like the implication that I may suppress something else further down the chain, and also the suppression is for the whole method, I can't add it in for just this small block of code.

Is there any advice for my situation.

Thanks in advance.

edit1: To reflect comments, sorry forgot to put the correct return type (silly mistake) same this the if(test){} closing brace.

PS. To those that have 'downvoted' you could put a comment and give me a chance to edit prior to downvoting. thanks. Also in my code these things aren't giving me problems, its a case of 'a quertyscript malfunction' between brain and fingers during posting.

Put your closing braces of catch, if and finally on next line of comment. They are right now is part of comment and thus you get the error. Also void method doesn't return anything. — Harry Joy, Sep 10 '12 at 08:06
This is "pseudocode", meaning that is probably not the real source of the problems. However, the "pseudo" here is written so incomprehensibly it really hides the relevant details... — eis, Sep 10 '12 at 08:07
`finaly` is unlikely to work in **any** Java environment. Try `finally`... — f_puras, Sep 10 '12 at 08:09
EDIT Explaination : DaveM had closing brace, he did not format it. — Nandkumar Tekale, Sep 10 '12 at 08:12
@Nandkumar why? it is in same syntax as others `if(temp.size > 1){//create class member variable from this info}`. See a `}` at the end !!! — Harry Joy, Sep 10 '12 at 08:16
@HarryJoy : ha ha, I was talking about, this if : `if(false){throw InternalError();`, see he didn't format it well. Well I will edit the one you said. — Nandkumar Tekale, Sep 10 '12 at 08:19

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:08

7

break, continue *return* and throw are abrupt completions of statements. You shoud do the return outside the finally block. Additionally you are returning in void method.

answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:08

Desislav Kamenov

1,193
6
13

see my comment to Nandkumar about return statements. thanks David – DaveM Sep 10 '12 at 08:33

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:06

5

If you had formatted your code, you would have seen the finally clause is inside a catch, and not linked to any try clause.

You should have

try {

} catch {

} finally {

}

and not

try {

} catch {
     finally {

    }
}

answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:06

Denys Séguret

372,613
87
782
758

Nandkumar Tekale · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-10T08:21:45.443

4

Method return type is void and you have return statement return booleanValue in your finally block. I would use finally block to close non-java resource.

If you want to return values then either return it in try block or catch block OR outside of try{} catch{} but not in finally{}.

edited Sep 10 '12 at 08:21

answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:06

Nandkumar Tekale

16,024
8
58
85

if I put a return statement in my catch, then surely I will never get to the finaly as the method has already returned in one or other of my catch statements? – DaveM Sep 10 '12 at 08:31
1

You will **always** get to the `finally`! – f_puras Sep 10 '12 at 08:54
I just searched for 'does finaly always run after return' and found this on SO: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/65035/in-java-does-return-trump-finally whick answers my question. I'm going to mark this as the answer and give +1 to other who had mentioned a similar thing. – DaveM Sep 10 '12 at 09:09

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:09

4

This is because you have return statement in finally block, which is not advisable and considered a bad coding style.

answered Sep 10 '12 at 08:09

Sergey Nikitin

116
3

See my response to nandkumar above. – DaveM Sep 10 '12 at 08:34

eclipse warning: Finally block doesn't complete normally

4 Answers4