[STR-2437] Standardize exception rethrows to contain root cause

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 1.1.1, 1.2.9, 1.3.8
• Fix Version/s: 1.4.0
• Component/s: Core, Extras, Scripting, Tag Libraries, Tiles 1 Plugin
• Environment: Operating System: All; Platform: All
• Bugzilla Id: 34604
• Assignee: Paul Benedict
• Reporter: Lukas Bradley
• Created: 26/Apr/05 01:31
• Updated: 02/May/13 02:28
• Resolved: 21/Jul/07 06:27

Description

It would be exceptionally helpful if the Struts project were to standardize
throughout development that all caught exceptions that are to be re-thrown
should contain the root cause unless a clearly stated, specific reason exists to
not do so.

For example, in org.apache.struts.taglib.tiles.InsertTag on any Exception within
doEngTag(), the following occurs:

catch (ServletException e) {
Throwable cause = e;
if (e.getRootCause() != null)

{ cause = e.getRootCause(); }

String msg = "ServletException in '" + page + "': " + cause.getMessage();
log.error(msg, e);
throw new JspException(msg);
}

It would be rather simple to do the following for the last line:

throw new JspException(msg, e);

While the root exception message is logged, this information is not available to
an upper-level application layer. For example, if a custom SecurityException is
thrown on a JSP or Tag, important information may be lost in the propogation of
this exception.

I have looked within the 1.2.6 beta codebase (as of today, 25 April 2005) and
the approach remains the same.

Note: I did not choose the "Tiles Framework" for this report's Component
purposefully. In my opinion, it should be a standard coding procedure across
Struts, and possibly other Jakarta projects.

Issue Links

• incorporates: STR-2173 Better error message for "Exception thrown by getter for property"
• incorporates: STR-2896 Exception thrown by InsertTag.doEndTag() does not provide useful message
• incorporates: STR-3119 Standardize exception rethrows to contain root cause (initCause)
• is depended upon by: STR-786 Make error messages more specific (omnibus issue)
• is duplicated by: STR-2495 Tile exceptions should be properly chained