How do I catch the constraint violation exception from EclipseLink?

Question

I am using EclipseLink in my web application, and I am having a hard time gracefully catching and handling Exceptions it generates. I see from this thread what seems to be a similar problem, but I don't see how to work around or fix it.

My code looks like this:

public void persist(Category category) {
    try {
        utx.begin();
        em.persist(category);
        utx.commit();
    } catch (RollbackException ex) {
           // Log something
    } catch (HeuristicMixedException ex) {
           // Log something
    } catch (HeuristicRollbackException ex) {
           // Log something
    } catch (SecurityException ex) {
           // Log something
    } catch (IllegalStateException ex) {
           // Log something
    } catch (NotSupportedException ex) {
           // Log something
    } catch (SystemException ex) {
           // Log something
    }
}

When persist() is called with an entity that violates a uniqueness constraint, I get an explosion of exceptions that are caught and logged by the container.

Exception [EclipseLink-4002] (Eclipse Persistence Services - 2.3.0.v20110604-r9504):
  org.eclipse.persistence.exceptions.DatabaseException
Internal Exception: java.sql.SQLIntegrityConstraintViolationException: The statement
  was aborted because it would have caused a duplicate key value in a unique or 
  primary key constraint or unique index identified by 'SQL110911125638570' 
   defined on 'CATEGORY'.
 Error Code: -1
 (etc)

I have tried the following:

    try {
        cc.persist(newCategory);        
    } catch (PersistenceException eee) {
        // Never gets here
        System.out.println("MaintCategory.doNewCateogry(): caught: " + eee);
    } catch (DatabaseException dbe) {
        // Never gets here neither
        System.out.println("MaintCategory.doNewCateogry(): caught: " + dbe);            
    }

I realize that using DataBaseException is not portable, but I need to start somewhere. The exceptions never get caught. Any suggestions?

what does it mean by "DataBaseException is not portable"? Thanks! — Weishi Z, Feb 18 '16 at 00:56
@WeishiZeng The DataBaseException class is defined by org.eclipse, not the JPA specification. So this likely would not work (or even compile) with another JPA provider. — AlanObject, Feb 18 '16 at 02:10

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 14 '11 at 04:30

It looks like I won't get any more activity on this question, so I will post my work-around and leave it at that. A number of web searches haven't found much of anything that is helpful. I would have thought this is a textbook case but none of the tutorials I have found covers it.

As it turns out in this condition with EclipseLink, the Exception you can catch when the SQL constraint is violated is the RollBackException that is the result of the em.commit() call. So I have modified my persist method like this:

public void persist(Category category) throws EntityExistsException {
    try {
        utx.begin();
        em.persist(category);
        utx.commit();
    } catch (RollbackException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        throw new EntityExistsException(ex);
    } catch (HeuristicMixedException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    } catch (HeuristicRollbackException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    } catch (SecurityException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    } catch (IllegalStateException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    } catch (NotSupportedException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    } catch (SystemException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(CategoryControl.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
}

So the caller catches the EntityExistsException and takes the appropriate action. The log still fills up with the internal exceptions but that can be shut off later.

I realize that this is a bit of an abuse of the intent of the EntityExistsException that is normally only used when an entity ID field is re-used, but for the purposes of the user application it doesn't matter.

If anyone has a better approach please post a new answer or comment.

I'm facing this issue too. I want to surface out the sql constraint exceptions (e.g. name too long, id exist, etc). instead of checking the constraint in my code. (which would be expensive to check unique id.) — Weishi Z, Feb 18 '16 at 01:00

Flávio Cruz · Answer 2 · 2017-04-14T22:32:21.460

4

Edit your persistence.xml adding the following property:

property name="eclipselink.exception-handler" value="your.own.package.path.YourOwnExceptionHandler"

Now create the class YourOwnExceptionHandler (on the correct package). It requires to implement org.eclipse.persistence.exceptions.ExceptionHandler.

Create a non argument constructor and the required method handleException(...).

Inside this method, you can catch the exceptions!

edited Apr 14 '17 at 22:32

answered Apr 13 '17 at 18:32

Flávio Cruz

41
2

wow that is a pretty amazing answer to a 6 year old problem. This doesn't seem like common knowledge. I will give that a try when I open that project up again. – AlanObject Apr 14 '17 at 00:43
Alan, i was able to catch the database exceptions and error codes. However, I am still trying to send a customized message to my jsf page. – Flávio Cruz Apr 14 '17 at 22:36

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 12 '11 at 12:24

3

EclipseLink should only be throwing either a PersitenceException or a RollbackException depending on the environment and the order of operations you are calling on the EntityManager. What is your logging level? It is likely that you are seeing these exceptions logged by EclipseLink but only thrown as causes of the RollbackException.

You can turn off exception logging with the PU property but for diagnostic purposes it is generally better to allow EclipseLink to log the exceptions.

answered Sep 12 '11 at 12:24

Gordon Yorke

1,996
11
7

As you say I want to keep the logging on during development mode so I can catch systemic errors if they occur. But the real problem is that when I call the **commit()** method I can't seem to catch the exception so I can throw a message up on the screen. – AlanObject Sep 12 '11 at 15:33

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 18 '19 at 19:39

2019-12-18

As its a very well viewed question and I just had a very similar issue with EclipseLink, in a Maven multi module web application running on Weblogic 12c server and using JTA, I am going to post my solution here, hoping to save a couple hours for someone.

In the persistence.xml we are having:

< property name="eclipselink.persistence-context.flush-mode"
    value="commit" />

The REST resource class was marked with @Transactional, meaning that the transaction starts at the point when the request has been received by the related method of the resource class, and it ends when this method returns.
JTA used for managing the transactions.

Now, JTA commit time happens to occur AFTER the resource class's method returns (with a response to the REST client).

Which subsequently means that:

Even though you had a very proper setup to catch the Exception, you cannot, as exceptions like SQLIntegrityConstraintViolationException occur only AFTER your INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE query
--that has been sitting all this time in your JPA provider cache--,
now finally sent to the database.

Which happens just after the resource class's method returns, and at that point, all the exceptions has been skipped already.

Since no query sent == no exception occured at the time when the execution ran through the try{...}catch(Exception e){...} lines, you were not able to catch it,
but at the end, you will see the exception in the server's log.

Solution:
I had to manually call flush() on EntityManager to force flush and the exception to occur at the proper time and line (basically in the try block) to be able to catch it, handle it, and allow my REST method to return with my intended response.

The final caught exception in the log (I have masked some not related info):

javax.persistence.PersistenceException: Exception [EclipseLink-4002] (Eclipse Persistence Services - x.x.x.v00000000-0000000): org.eclipse.persistence.exceptions.DatabaseException
Internal Exception: java.sql.SQLIntegrityConstraintViolationException: ORA-00001: unique constraint (XXXXX.UNIQUE_KEY_NAME) violated

Related pseudo code:

    try {
            repository.update(entity);
            repository.getEntityManager().flush();
        } catch (Exception e ) {
            log.info(e.toString());  
            ...
        }

Adam · Answer 5 · 2014-11-22T15:08:08.253

I'm using Spring Boot 1.1.9 + EclipseLink 2.5.2. This is the only way I can catch ConstraintViolationException. Note that my handleError(ConstraintViolationException) is a very simple implementation which just returns the first violation it finds.

Note that this code was also required when I switched to Hibernate 4.3.7 and Hibernate Validator 5.1.3.

It seems that adding PersistenceExceptionTranslationPostProcessor exceptionTranslation() to my persistence JavaConfig class also has no effect.

import javax.persistence.RollbackException;
import javax.validation.ConstraintViolation;
import javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException;

import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.transaction.TransactionSystemException;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ControllerAdvice;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ExceptionHandler;

@ControllerAdvice
class GlobalExceptionHandler
{
    @ExceptionHandler(TransactionSystemException.class)
    public ResponseEntity<Object> handleError(final TransactionSystemException tse)
    {
        if(tse.getCause() != null && tse.getCause() instanceof RollbackException)
        {
            final RollbackException re = (RollbackException) tse.getCause();

            if(re.getCause() != null && re.getCause() instanceof ConstraintViolationException)
            {
                return handleError((ConstraintViolationException) re.getCause());
            }
        }

        throw tse;
    }


    @ExceptionHandler(ConstraintViolationException.class)
    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
    public ResponseEntity<Object> handleError(final ConstraintViolationException cve)
    {
        for(final ConstraintViolation<?> v : cve.getConstraintViolations())
        {
            return new ResponseEntity<Object>(new Object()
            {
                public String getErrorCode()
                {
                    return "VALIDATION_ERROR";
                }


                public String getMessage()
                {
                    return v.getMessage();
                }
            }, HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
        }

        throw cve;
    }
}

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 03 '15 at 22:55

I use this.

if (!ejbGuardia.findByPkCompuestaSiExiste(bean.getSipreTmpGuardiaPK())) {
    ejbGuardia.persist(bean);
    showMessage(ConstantesUtil.MENSAJE_RESPUESTA_CORRECTA, SEVERITY_INFO);
} else {
    showMessage("Excel : El registro ya existe. (" + bean.toString() + ")  ", SEVERITY_ERROR);
}

and my function from above:

public boolean findByPkCompuestaSiExiste(Object clasePkHija) throws ClassNotFoundException {
    if (null != em.find(this.clazz, clasePkHija)) {
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

With that I dont need to program a validation for each Persist, its common in the my DAO Classes.

whatever you are doing, don't code in spanish man :-D (always english..) — eav, Jun 07 '17 at 05:50

How do I catch the constraint violation exception from EclipseLink?

6 Answers6

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