Exception Handling and Files - Learning Java Through Games - page 294

System.out.println(i);

}

public static int getNumber () {

try {
Scanner console = new Scanner(System. in) ;
System. out . print ( "Enter a positive integer: " );
return console . nextInt() ;

} catch (InputMismatchException exception) {

return − 1;

}

}

}

The getNumber method asks the user to enter an integer and reads the integer. How-
ever, the nextInt method will raise an exception if the user does not enter an integer. An
exception is an object that is automatically generated by Java. Every exception belongs to
an exception class. For example, InputMismatchException is an exception class. An ex-
ception of type InputMismatchException is generated when Java expects an input of one
type (e.g., an integer), but receives an input of a different type (e.g., a string). All exception
classes inherit from the Exception class. In the above code, the exception object is passed
as a parameter in the catch statement, but not used.

To handle an exception, create a try block. The try block must be followed by
either one or more catch blocks, a finally block, or both. The finally block, when
present, must be the last block in the statement.

An InputMismatchException is generated by the call to the nextInt method when the
user does not enter an integer. This exception is handled in the catch part of the statement.
As a result, the getNumber method returns

1 when the user does not enter an integer.
This signals to the main method that something went wrong and the user is required to
enter the integer again. In order for this approach to work, we assume that the user must
enter a positive integer.
Next, suppose that we require that the user enters an arbitrary integer, not just a
positive integer. In this case, the getNumber method should return two pieces of data: the
integer that is entered (assuming it is an integer) and a Boolean value that tells us if the
user entered an integer. Of course, as we already know, a method cannot return two pieces
of data. The only way to circumvent this restriction is to give the method an address where
to write the result. Here is the new implementation.

−

import java . util . ∗ ;

public class Test {
public static void main(String args [])

{

int a[] = new i n t [1];
int i;
while ( ! getNumber(a) ) ;
i=a[0];
System.out.println(i);

}

public static boolean getNumber( int [] a) {