[java] How do you implement a re-try-catch?

Try-catch is meant to help in the exception handling. This means somehow that it will help our system to be more robust: try to recover from an unexpected event.

We suspect something might happen when executing and instruction (sending a message), so it gets enclosed in the try. If that something nearly unexpected happens, we can do something: we write the catch. I don't think we called to just log the exception. I thing the catch block is meant to give us the opportunity of recovering from the error.

Now, let's say we recover from the error because we could fix what was wrong. It could be super nice to do a re-try:

try{ some_instruction(); }
catch (NearlyUnexpectedException e){
   fix_the_problem();
   retry;
}

This would quickly fall in the eternal loop, but let's say that the fix_the_problem returns true, then we retry. Given that there is no such thing in Java, how would YOU solve this problem? What would be your best design code for solving this?

This is like a philosophical question, given that I already know what I'm asking for is not directly supported by Java.

Im not sure if this is the "Professional" way to do it and i'm not entirely sure if it works for everything.

boolean gotError = false;

do {
    try {
        // Code You're Trying
    } catch ( FileNotFoundException ex ) {
        // Exception
        gotError = true;
    }
} while ( gotError = true );

Simplifying @ach's previous solution into one file and using functional interfaces.

public class OperationHelper {

    public static void doWithRetry(int maxAttempts, Runnable operation, Consumer<Exception> handle) {
        for (int count = 0; count < maxAttempts; count++) {
            try {
                operation.run();
                count = maxAttempts; //don't retry
            } catch (Exception e) {
                handle.accept(e);
            }
        }
    }
}

Use a do-while to design re-try block.

boolean successful = false;
int maxTries = 3;
do{
  try {
    something();
    success = true;
  } catch(Me ifUCan) {
    maxTries--;
  }
} while (!successful || maxTries > 0)

A simple way to solve the issue would be to wrap the try/catch in a while loop and maintain a count. This way you could prevent an infinite loop by checking a count against some other variable while maintaining a log of your failures. It isn't the most exquisite solution, but it would work.

Here a reusable and more generic approach for Java 8+ that does not require external libraries:

public interface IUnreliable<T extends Exception>
{
    void tryRun ( ) throws T;
}

public static <T extends Exception> void retry (int retryCount, IUnreliable<T> runnable) throws T {
    for (int retries = 0;; retries++) {
        try {
            runnable.tryRun();
            return;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            if (retries < retryCount) {
                continue;
            } else {
                throw e;
            }
        }
    }
}

Usage:

@Test
public void demo() throws IOException {
    retry(3, () -> {
        new File("/tmp/test.txt").createNewFile();
    });
}

If not all exceptions warrant a retry, only some. And if at least one try has to be made, Here is an alternative utility method:

void runWithRetry(Runnable runnable, Class<Exception> exClass, int maxRetries) {
        Exception err = null;
        do {
            maxRetries--;
            try {
                runnable.run();
                err = null;
            } catch (Exception e) {
                if(exClass.isAssignableFrom(e.getClass())){
                    err = e;
                }else {
                    throw e;
                }
            }
        } while (err != null && maxRetries > 0);

        if (err != null) {
            throw err;
        }
    }

Usage:

    runWithRetry(() -> {
       // do something
    }, TimeoutException.class, 5)

The issue with the remaining solutions is that, the correspondent function tries continuously without a time interval in-between, thus over flooding the stack.

Why not just trying only every second and ad eternum?

Here a solution using setTimeout and a recursive function:

(function(){_x000D_
  try{_x000D_
    Run(); //tries for the 1st time, but Run() as function is not yet defined_x000D_
  }_x000D_
  catch(e){_x000D_
    (function retry(){_x000D_
      setTimeout(function(){_x000D_
        try{_x000D_
          console.log("trying...");_x000D_
          Run();_x000D_
          console.log("success!");_x000D_
        }_x000D_
        catch(e){_x000D_
          retry(); //calls recursively_x000D_
        }_x000D_
      }, 1000); //tries every second_x000D_
    }());_x000D_
  }_x000D_
})();_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_
//after 5 seconds, defines Run as a global function_x000D_
var Run;_x000D_
setTimeout(function(){_x000D_
  Run = function(){};_x000D_
}, 5000);

Replace the function Run() by the function or code that you'd like to retry every second.

Use a while loop with local status flag. Initialize the flag as false and set it to true when operation is successful e.g. below:

  boolean success  = false;
  while(!success){
     try{ 
         some_instruction(); 
         success = true;
     } catch (NearlyUnexpectedException e){
       fix_the_problem();
     }
  }

This will keep retrying until its successful.

If you want to retry only certain number of times then use a counter as well:

  boolean success  = false;
  int count = 0, MAX_TRIES = 10;
  while(!success && count++ < MAX_TRIES){
     try{ 
         some_instruction(); 
         success = true;
     } catch (NearlyUnexpectedException e){
       fix_the_problem();
     }
  }
  if(!success){
    //It wasn't successful after 10 retries
  }

This will try max 10 times if not successful until then an will exit if its successful before hand.

I know there are already many similar answers here, and mine is not much different, but I will post it anyway because it deals with a specific case/issue.

When dealing with the facebook Graph API in PHP you sometimes get an error, but immediately re-trying the same thing will give a positive result (for various magical Internet reasons that are beyond the scope of this question). In this case there is no need to fix any error, but to simply try again because there was some kind of "facebook error".

This code is used immediately after creating a facebook session:

//try more than once because sometimes "facebook error"
$attempt = 3;
while($attempt-- > 0)
{
    // To validate the session:
    try 
    {
        $facebook_session->validate();
        $attempt = 0;
    } 
    catch (Facebook\FacebookRequestException $ex)
    {
        // Session not valid, Graph API returned an exception with the reason.
        if($attempt <= 0){ echo $ex->getMessage(); }
    } 
    catch (\Exception $ex) 
    {
        // Graph API returned info, but it may mismatch the current app or have expired.
        if($attempt <= 0){ echo $ex->getMessage(); }
    }
}

Also, by having the for loop count down to zero ($attempt--) it makes it pretty easy to change the number of attempts in the future.

Spring AOP and annotation based solution:

Usage (@RetryOperation is our custom annotation for the job):

@RetryOperation(retryCount = 1, waitSeconds = 10)
boolean someMethod() throws Exception {
}

We'll need two things to accomplish this: 1. an annotation interface, and 2. a spring aspect. Here's one way to implement these:

The Annotation Interface:

import java.lang.annotation.*;

@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface RetryOperation {
    int retryCount();
    int waitSeconds();
}

The Spring Aspect:

import org.aspectj.lang.ProceedingJoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Around;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.reflect.MethodSignature;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;

@Aspect @Component 
public class RetryAspect {

    private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(RetryAspect.class);

    @Around(value = "@annotation(RetryOperation)")
    public Object retryOperation(ProceedingJoinPoint joinPoint) throws Throwable {

        Object response = null;
        Method method = ((MethodSignature) joinPoint.getSignature()).getMethod();
        RetryOperation annotation = method.getAnnotation(RetryOperation.class);
        int retryCount = annotation.retryCount();
        int waitSeconds = annotation.waitSeconds();
        boolean successful = false;

        do {
            try {
                response = joinPoint.proceed();
                successful = true;
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                LOGGER.info("Operation failed, retries remaining: {}", retryCount);
                retryCount--;
                if (retryCount < 0) {
                    throw ex;
                }
                if (waitSeconds > 0) {
                    LOGGER.info("Waiting for {} second(s) before next retry", waitSeconds);
                    Thread.sleep(waitSeconds * 1000l);
                }
            }
        } while (!successful);

        return response;
    }
}

following is my solution with very simple approach!

               while (true) {
                    try {
                        /// Statement what may cause an error;
                        break;
                    } catch (Exception e) {

                    }
                }

All a Try-Catch does is allow your program to fail gracefully. In a catch statement, you generally try to log the error, and maybe roll back changes if you need to.

bool finished = false;

while(finished == false)
{
    try
    {
        //your code here
        finished = true
    }
    catch(exception ex)
    {
        log.error("there was an error, ex");
    }
}

https://github.com/tusharmndr/retry-function-wrapper/tree/master/src/main/java/io

int MAX_RETRY = 3; 
RetryUtil.<Boolean>retry(MAX_RETRY,() -> {
    //Function to retry
    return true;
});

Below snippet execute some code snippet. If you got any error while executing the code snippet, sleep for M milliseconds and retry. Reference link.

public void retryAndExecuteErrorProneCode(int noOfTimesToRetry, CodeSnippet codeSnippet, int sleepTimeInMillis)
  throws InterruptedException {

 int currentExecutionCount = 0;
 boolean codeExecuted = false;

 while (currentExecutionCount < noOfTimesToRetry) {
  try {
   codeSnippet.errorProneCode();
   System.out.println("Code executed successfully!!!!");
   codeExecuted = true;
   break;
  } catch (Exception e) {
   // Retry after 100 milliseconds
   TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.sleep(sleepTimeInMillis);
   System.out.println(e.getMessage());
  } finally {
   currentExecutionCount++;
  }
 }

 if (!codeExecuted)
  throw new RuntimeException("Can't execute the code within given retries : " + noOfTimesToRetry);
}

You can use AOP and Java annotations from jcabi-aspects (I'm a developer):

@RetryOnFailure(attempts = 3, delay = 5)
public String load(URL url) {
  return url.openConnection().getContent();
}

You could also use @Loggable and @LogException annotations.

Give it a try using springs @Retryable annotation , the below method will retry for 3 attempts when RuntimeException occurs

@Retryable(maxAttempts=3,value= {RuntimeException.class},backoff = @Backoff(delay = 500))
public void checkSpringRetry(String str) {
    if(StringUtils.equalsIgnoreCase(str, "R")) {
        LOGGER.info("Inside retry.....!!");
        throw new RuntimeException();
    }
}

Although try/catch into while is well-known and good strategy I want to suggest you recursive call:

void retry(int i, int limit) {
    try {

    } catch (SomeException e) {
        // handle exception
        if (i >= limit) {
            throw e;  // variant: wrap the exception, e.g. throw new RuntimeException(e);
        }
        retry(i++, limit);
    }
}

simple

int MAX = 3;

int count = 0;
while (true) {
    try {
        ...

        break;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        if (count++ < MAX) {
            continue;
        }

        ...
        
        break;
    }
}

Most of these answers are essentially the same. Mine is also, but this is the form I like

boolean completed = false;
Throwable lastException = null;
for (int tryCount=0; tryCount < config.MAX_SOME_OPERATION_RETRIES; tryCount++)
{
    try {
        completed = some_operation();
        break;
    }
    catch (UnlikelyException e) {
        lastException = e;
        fix_the_problem();
    }
}
if (!completed) {
    reportError(lastException);
}

Your exact scenario handled via Failsafe:

RetryPolicy retryPolicy = new RetryPolicy()
  .retryOn(NearlyUnexpectedException.class);

Failsafe.with(retryPolicy)
  .onRetry((r, f) -> fix_the_problem())
  .run(() -> some_instruction());

Pretty simple.

As usual, the best design depends on the particular circumstances. Usually though, I write something like:

for (int retries = 0;; retries++) {
    try {
        return doSomething();
    } catch (SomeException e) {
        if (retries < 6) {
            continue;
        } else {
            throw e;
        }
    }
}

In case it's useful, a couple more options to consider, all thrown together (stopfile instead of retries, sleep, continue larger loop) all possibly helpful.

 bigLoop:
 while(!stopFileExists()) {
    try {
      // do work
      break;
    }
    catch (ExpectedExceptionType e) {

       // could sleep in here, too.

       // another option would be to "restart" some bigger loop, like
       continue bigLoop;
    }
    // ... more work
}

Obligatory "enterprisy" solution:

public abstract class Operation {
    abstract public void doIt();
    public void handleException(Exception cause) {
        //default impl: do nothing, log the exception, etc.
    }
}

public class OperationHelper {
    public static void doWithRetry(int maxAttempts, Operation operation) {
        for (int count = 0; count < maxAttempts; count++) {
            try {
                operation.doIt();
                count = maxAttempts; //don't retry
            } catch (Exception e) {
                operation.handleException(e);
            }
        }
    }
}

And to call:

OperationHelper.doWithRetry(5, new Operation() {
    @Override public void doIt() {
        //do some stuff
    }
    @Override public void handleException(Exception cause) {
        //recover from the Exception
    }
});

This is an old question but a solution is still relevant. Here is my generic solution in Java 8 without using any third party library:

public interface RetryConsumer<T> {
    T evaluate() throws Throwable;
}
public interface RetryPredicate<T> {
    boolean shouldRetry(T t);
}
public class RetryOperation<T> {
    private RetryConsumer<T> retryConsumer;
    private int noOfRetry;
    private int delayInterval;
    private TimeUnit timeUnit;
    private RetryPredicate<T> retryPredicate;
    private List<Class<? extends Throwable>> exceptionList;

    public static class OperationBuilder<T> {
        private RetryConsumer<T> iRetryConsumer;
        private int iNoOfRetry;
        private int iDelayInterval;
        private TimeUnit iTimeUnit;
        private RetryPredicate<T> iRetryPredicate;
        private Class<? extends Throwable>[] exceptionClasses;

        private OperationBuilder() {
        }

        public OperationBuilder<T> retryConsumer(final RetryConsumer<T> retryConsumer) {
            this.iRetryConsumer = retryConsumer;
            return this;
        }

        public OperationBuilder<T> noOfRetry(final int noOfRetry) {
            this.iNoOfRetry = noOfRetry;
            return this;
        }

        public OperationBuilder<T> delayInterval(final int delayInterval, final TimeUnit timeUnit) {
            this.iDelayInterval = delayInterval;
            this.iTimeUnit = timeUnit;
            return this;
        }

        public OperationBuilder<T> retryPredicate(final RetryPredicate<T> retryPredicate) {
            this.iRetryPredicate = retryPredicate;
            return this;
        }

        @SafeVarargs
        public final OperationBuilder<T> retryOn(final Class<? extends Throwable>... exceptionClasses) {
            this.exceptionClasses = exceptionClasses;
            return this;
        }

        public RetryOperation<T> build() {
            if (Objects.isNull(iRetryConsumer)) {
                throw new RuntimeException("'#retryConsumer:RetryConsumer<T>' not set");
            }

            List<Class<? extends Throwable>> exceptionList = new ArrayList<>();
            if (Objects.nonNull(exceptionClasses) && exceptionClasses.length > 0) {
                exceptionList = Arrays.asList(exceptionClasses);
            }
            iNoOfRetry = iNoOfRetry == 0 ? 1 : 0;
            iTimeUnit = Objects.isNull(iTimeUnit) ? TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS : iTimeUnit;
            return new RetryOperation<>(iRetryConsumer, iNoOfRetry, iDelayInterval, iTimeUnit, iRetryPredicate, exceptionList);
        }
    }

    public static <T> OperationBuilder<T> newBuilder() {
        return new OperationBuilder<>();
    }

    private RetryOperation(RetryConsumer<T> retryConsumer, int noOfRetry, int delayInterval, TimeUnit timeUnit,
                           RetryPredicate<T> retryPredicate, List<Class<? extends Throwable>> exceptionList) {
        this.retryConsumer = retryConsumer;
        this.noOfRetry = noOfRetry;
        this.delayInterval = delayInterval;
        this.timeUnit = timeUnit;
        this.retryPredicate = retryPredicate;
        this.exceptionList = exceptionList;
    }

    public T retry() throws Throwable {
        T result = null;
        int retries = 0;
        while (retries < noOfRetry) {
            try {
                result = retryConsumer.evaluate();
                if (Objects.nonNull(retryPredicate)) {
                    boolean shouldItRetry = retryPredicate.shouldRetry(result);
                    if (shouldItRetry) {
                        retries = increaseRetryCountAndSleep(retries);
                    } else {
                        return result;
                    }
                } else {
                    // no retry condition defined, no exception thrown. This is the desired result.
                    return result;
                }
            } catch (Throwable e) {
                retries = handleException(retries, e);
            }
        }
        return result;
    }

    private int handleException(int retries, Throwable e) throws Throwable {
        if (exceptionList.contains(e.getClass()) || (exceptionList.isEmpty())) {
            // exception is excepted, continue retry.
            retries = increaseRetryCountAndSleep(retries);
            if (retries == noOfRetry) {
                // evaluation is throwing exception, no more retry left. Throw it.
                throw e;
            }
        } else {
            // unexpected exception, no retry required. Throw it.
            throw e;
        }
        return retries;
    }

    private int increaseRetryCountAndSleep(int retries) {
        retries++;
        if (retries < noOfRetry && delayInterval > 0) {
            try {
                timeUnit.sleep(delayInterval);
            } catch (InterruptedException ignore) {
                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
            }
        }
        return retries;
    }
}

Let's have a test case like:

@Test
public void withPredicateAndException() {
    AtomicInteger integer = new AtomicInteger();
    try {
        Integer result = RetryOperation.<Integer>newBuilder()
                .retryConsumer(() -> {
                    int i = integer.incrementAndGet();
                    if (i % 2 == 1) {
                        throw new NumberFormatException("Very odd exception");
                    } else {
                        return i;
                    }
                })
                .noOfRetry(10)
                .delayInterval(10, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
                .retryPredicate(value -> value <= 6)
                .retryOn(NumberFormatException.class, EOFException.class)
                .build()
                .retry();
        Assert.assertEquals(8, result.intValue());
    } catch (Throwable throwable) {
        Assert.fail();
    }
}

Here is my solution similar to some others can wrap a function, but allows you to get the functions return value, if it suceeds.

    /**
     * Wraps a function with retry logic allowing exceptions to be caught and retires made.
     *
     * @param function the function to retry
     * @param maxRetries maximum number of retires before failing
     * @param delay time to wait between each retry
     * @param allowedExceptionTypes exception types where if caught a retry will be performed
     * @param <V> return type of the function
     * @return the value returned by the function if successful
     * @throws Exception Either an unexpected exception from the function or a {@link RuntimeException} if maxRetries is exceeded
     */
    @SafeVarargs
    public static <V> V runWithRetriesAndDelay(Callable<V> function, int maxRetries, Duration delay, Class<? extends Exception>... allowedExceptionTypes) throws Exception {
        final Set<Class<? extends Exception>> exceptions = new HashSet<>(Arrays.asList(allowedExceptionTypes));
        for(int i = 1; i <= maxRetries; i++) {
            try {
                return function.call();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                if(exceptions.contains(e.getClass())){
                    // An exception of an expected type
                    System.out.println("Attempt [" + i + "/" + maxRetries + "] Caught exception [" + e.getClass() + "]");
                    // Pause for the delay time
                    Thread.sleep(delay.toMillis());
                }else {
                    // An unexpected exception type
                    throw e;
                }
            }
        }
        throw new RuntimeException(maxRetries + " retries exceeded");
    }

You can use https://github.com/bnsd55/RetryCatch

Example:

RetryCatch retryCatchSyncRunnable = new RetryCatch();
        retryCatchSyncRunnable
                // For infinite retry times, just remove this row
                .retryCount(3)
                // For retrying on all exceptions, just remove this row
                .retryOn(ArithmeticException.class, IndexOutOfBoundsException.class)
                .onSuccess(() -> System.out.println("Success, There is no result because this is a runnable."))
                .onRetry((retryCount, e) -> System.out.println("Retry count: " + retryCount + ", Exception message: " + e.getMessage()))
                .onFailure(e -> System.out.println("Failure: Exception message: " + e.getMessage()))
                .run(new ExampleRunnable());

Instead of new ExampleRunnable() you can pass your own anonymous function.