ERR54-JG. Use a try-with-resources statement when dealing with closeable resources

JDK 1.7 introduced the "try-with-resources" statement [JLS 2011] §14.20.3, "try-with-resources" that makes it much easier to deal with resources that implement the java.lang.AutoCloseable interface, including those that implement the java.io.Closeable interface.

Using the try-with-resources statement avoids problems that can arise when closing resources with an ordinary try-catch-finally block, such as failing to close a resource because an exception is thrown as a result of closing another resource, or masking an important exception when a resource is closed.

Use of the try-with-resources statement is also illustrated in ERR05-J. Do not let checked exceptions escape from a finally block, FIO03-J. Remove temporary files before termination, and FIO04-J. Release resources when they are no longer needed.

Noncompliant Code Example

This noncompliant code example uses an ordinary try-finally block to try to close a resource.  However, if there is an exception thrown during the processing of the input and another exception thrown when closing the Bufferedreader br, then the exception thrown as a result of processing the input will be lost, and important information about that exceptional circumstance may be missed.

public void processFile(String inPath) throws IOException{
  BufferedReader br = null;
  try {
    br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inPath));
    // process the input and produce the output
    } finally {
      if (br != null) {
        br.close();
      }
    }
  }
}

Compliant Solution (try-with-resources)

This compliant solution uses a try-with-resources statement which will not suppress any exceptions thrown during the processing of the input while still guaranteeing that br is closed. It demonstrates how to access every exception that may be produced from the try-with-resources block.

public void processFile(String inPath) throws IOException{
  try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inPath));) {
    // process the input and produce the output
  } catch (IOException ex) {
    System.err.println("thrown exception: " + ex.toString());
    Throwable[] suppressed = ex.getSuppressed();
    for (int i = 0; i < suppressed.length; i++) {
      System.err.println("suppressed exception: " + suppressed[i].toString());
    }
  }
}

If only one exception is thrown, either during opening, processing, or closing of the file, it will be printed by the "thrown exception: " statement. If an exception is thrown during processing, and another one is thrown while trying to close the file, then the "thrown exception: " statement will print the exception encountered while closing the file, and the "suppressed exception: " statement will print the exception encountered during processing.

Applicability

Failing to use a try-with-resources statement when dealing with closeable resources may result in some resources not being closed, or important exceptions being masked, possibly resulting in a denial of service attack.

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