One does not have to use lambdas in Java 8 long before running into the obstacle of checked Exceptions. Because the PrinterException is checked, the compiler forces us to deal with it, even within a lambda:
private void demonstrate() {
IntStream ones = IntStream.generate(() -> 1);
ones.map(i -> {
try {
return riskyTask(i);
} catch (PrinterException e) {
System.out.println(
"Your printer is out of ink or laser beams!"
);
}
return i;
});
}
private int riskyTask(int a) throws PrinterException {
return 2;
}But we don’t like to do this. We use lambdas to express intent in a concise and elegant fashion. The try/catch-brackets feels like noise.
For this reason, FINN.no’s open source lambda-companion project introduces a useful structure for using lambdas in a world with checked Exceptions : Try.
A Try represents a computation which might fail, and is always represented as a Success or a Failure (but never both). The concept borrows from Scala’s Try, and shares several properties to other monadic functional structures :
- Future (completable success or failure)
- Optional (present or empty value)
- Either (one of two values)
FINN.no’s Try is right-biased, meaning that one can map and flatMap on a Try without having to add specific logic to handle a Try being a Failure; the computation will simply only take place if it is a Success.
Using a Try we could refactor our riskyTask-example:
private void demonstrate() {
IntStream ones = IntStream.generate(() -> 1);
Stream<Try<Integer>> tryStream = ones.mapToObj(this::riskyTask);
tryStream.forEach(this::print);
}
private Try<Integer> riskyTask(int a) {
return new Success<>(2);
}
private void print(Try<Integer> t) {
Integer defaultNumber = 0;
Integer i = t.recover(success -> success, failure -> defaultNumber);
System.out.print(i);
}This is contrived of course. And one should rarely accept a Try as a method argument. (And one should rarely generate an infinite stream of 2s and print them out.)
Lets look at a slightly more realistic example. Here we want to validate an order using different services that can throw a checked Exception:
public class OrderProcessor {
CustomerLookupService customerLookupService =
new CustomerLookupService();
ProductLookupService productLookupService =
new ProductLookupService();
PaymentService paymentService =
new PaymentService();
public static void main(String[] args) {
new OrderProcessor().validateOrder(14L, 21L);
}
private Boolean validateOrder(Long customerId, Long productId) {
return Try.of(customerLookupService::lookup, customerId)
.flatMap(customerFound ->
Try.of(productLookupService::lookup, productId))
.flatMap(price ->
Try.of(paymentService::pay, customerId, price))
.recover(Function.identity(), this::handleFailure);
}
private Boolean handleFailure(Throwable throwable) {
System.out.println(
"Could not process order because of " +
throwable.getCause());
return Boolean.FALSE;
}
}
class CustomerLookupService {
Boolean lookup(Long customerId) throws Exception {
return Boolean.TRUE;
}
}
class ProductLookupService {
Long lookup(Long productId) throws Exception {
return 50L;
}
}
class PaymentService {
Boolean pay(Long customerId, Long price) throws Exception {
return Boolean.TRUE;
}
}In this example we combine services to determine if a Order is valid or not. We use Try.flatMap() because this guarantees that the provided lambda will only be run if the proceeding Try is a Success. If any of the 3 service calls result in a Failure, the flatMapping call-chain will simply roll the Failure forward. The recover-method takes two lambdas: One to be executed in the case of Success, and one to be executed in the case of Failure.
You can read more about Try, Either, StreamableOptional and more in FINN.no’s open sourced lambda-companion project available at github and for use in your project through the central maven repository.
Happy flatMapping, and may all your Tries be Successes!
Tags: java java8 functional lambda exceptions monad try success failure