SmartException

Utilities to handle throwable objects and format stack trace elements in JVM based languages (Java, Scala, Kotlin, Groovy, etc.)

1. Features

• Build shorter stack traces
  • Start exception chain from a root package
  • Group stack trace elements from the same package
  • Ignore stack trace elements
  • Ignore causes
  • Define how many stack trace elements will be printed
• Use SmartExceptionConverter in logback to generate shorter stack traces without a code change
  • Create conversion rules to use within pattern layout
  • Define a throwableConverter to format stack traces in logstash-logback-encoder
• Do not include module name while printing a stack trace element
• Do not print suppressed exceptions
• Customise how a stack trace element will be printed
• Define how native methods and closed source stack trace elements will be printed
• Search for a cause in an exception chain
• Get the cause of a throwable
• Print package information (jar file and version)

2. Using

Binaries are available at Github and Maven Central.

2.1. Java API

Use Java API to access all features of the library. See Java API wiki page for the complete list of API methods.

Install smart-exception by adding one of the following dependencies to your build.gradle.

• Java 9 or later

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.arthenica:smart-exception-java9:0.2.1'
}

• Java 7/8 or Android

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.arthenica:smart-exception-java:0.2.1'
}

2.1.1 Import Exceptions class

Import Exceptions class, which contains all utility methods, from the correct package.

• Java 9 or later

import com.arthenica.smartexception.java9.Exceptions;

• Java 7/8 or Android

import com.arthenica.smartexception.java.Exceptions;

2.1.2 Create shorter stack traces

Use getStackTraceString method to create a shorter stack trace. By default, getStackTraceString will generate the same long stack trace as a string for you. You need to define some rules for getStackTraceString to use. Those rules define how the exception stack trace is processed and shortened.

Exceptions.getStackTraceString(e);

2.1.3 Use root packages.

root package is the entry point in an exception chain. If you define a root package, then all stack trace elements before that root package will be discarded, and you will get a cleaner, compact stack trace. A root package can be defined in two different ways.

• By registering a global root package.

Exceptions.registerRootPackage("com.arthenica");
Exceptions.getStackTraceString(e);

• By providing a root package while getting the stack trace.

Exceptions.getStackTraceString(e, "com.arthenica");

• You will have the following stack trace string.

org.springframework.web.util.NestedServletException: Method not found.
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:1014)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:909)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:883)
    at org.springframework.mock.web.MockFilterChain.doFilter(MockFilterChain.java:134)
    at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.MockMvc.perform(MockMvc.java:183)
    at com.arthenica.smartexception.java.SpringTest.putUserTest(SpringTest.java:100)

• Instead of this one.

org.springframework.web.util.NestedServletException: Method not found.
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:1014)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:909)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:883)
    at org.springframework.mock.web.MockFilterChain.doFilter(MockFilterChain.java:134)
    at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.MockMvc.perform(MockMvc.java:183)
    at com.arthenica.smartexception.java.SpringTest.putUserTest(SpringTest.java:100)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564)
    at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:59)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
    at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:56)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
    ... 35 more

2.2. Logback converters

Install smart-exception-logback by adding the following dependency to your build.gradle.

Note that smart-exception-logback requires Java 9 or later

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.arthenica:smart-exception-logback:0.2.1'
}

• Create a conversion rule to use SmartExceptionConverter in pattern layout

<conversionRule conversionWord="smartEx" converterClass="com.arthenica.smartexception.logback.SmartExceptionConverter"/>

<appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
    <encoder>
        <pattern>%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} %-5level %logger - %msg %smartEx{'rootPackage=com.arthenica','printModuleName=false','ignorePackage=jdk.internal','printPackageInformation=true'}%n</pattern>
    </encoder>
</appender>

• Define a throwableConverter to format stack traces in logstash-logback-encoder

    <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
        <encoder class="net.logstash.logback.encoder.LogstashEncoder">
            <throwableConverter class="com.arthenica.smartexception.logback.SmartExceptionConverter">
                <printModuleName>false</printModuleName>
                <printPackageInformation>true</printPackageInformation>
                <rootPackage>com.arthenica</rootPackage>
                <groupPackage>org.springframework</groupPackage>
                <ignorePackage>jdk.internal</ignorePackage>
            </throwableConverter>
        </encoder>
    </appender>

3. Versions

SmartException Version	Release Date
0.2.1	May 30, 2022
0.2.0	Mar 13, 2022
0.1.1	Nov 28, 2021
0.1.0	Apr 12, 2020

4. Building

• Install Java 9 or later

• Run

./gradlew clean build

See the build status from the table below.

branch	status
main
development

5. Wiki

A more detailed documentation is available at Wiki.

6. Modules

SmartException source code is organised into five modules.

• common includes shared classes and interfaces
• java has Java 7/8 and Android specific implementation
• java9 has the implementation for Java 9 or later
• logback includes logback converter implementation
• test includes test classes that use library jars published in mavenCentral()

7. License

This project is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.

8. Contributing

Feel free to submit issues or pull requests.