Exceptions - Beginning Java 2 SDK - page 301

The primary purpose for the try block is to identify code that may result in an
exception being thrown. However, you can use it to contain code that doesn't throw
exceptions for the convenience of using a finally block. This can be useful when the
code in the try block has several possible exit points - break or return statements
for example, but you always want to have a specific set of statements executed after
the try block has been executed to make sure things are tidied up - such as closing
any open files. You can put these in a finally block. Note: if a value is returned
within a finally block, this return overrides any return executed in the try block.
Structuring a Method
We've looked at the blocks you can include in the body of a method, but it may not always be obvious
how they are combined. The first thing to get straight is that a try block, plus any corresponding
catch blocks, and the finally block all bunch together in that order:
try {
// Code that may throw exceptions...
} catch(ExceptionType1 e) {
// Code to handle exceptions of type ExceptionType1 or subclass
} catch(ExceptionType2 e) {
// Code to handle exceptions of type ExceptionType2 or subclass
... // more catch blocks if necessary
} finally {
// Code always to be executed after try block code
}
You can't have just a try block by itself. Each try block must always be followed by at least one block
that is either a catch block or a finally block.
You must not include other code between a try block and its catch blocks, or between the catch
blocks and the finally block. You can have other code that doesn't throw exceptions after the
finally block, and you can have multiple try blocks in a method. In this case, your method might be
structured as shown in the following diagram.