Re: Java and cleanup from exception

Hi Dennis,

For the same years, I have found that when Java errors occur when
testing those functions ...the interactive job is virtually useless
to Java. Cannot start a new Java session, and cannot recover the old
one.

Hmmm.... that's not entirely true. If you get an error from Java in RPG, you can typically run more Java without a problem.

However, if you do something like pass a *NULL object reference to a Java function, you will cause the whole JVM to crash -- and _then_ you'll be in the state that you describe, where Java is useless until you sign off or RRTJOB.

What do others do to clean up from this so they don't have to sign off and
back on every time the sun has a mild hiccup?

After running RRTJOB you can restart the JVM. This is mildly less bothersome than signing off and on again. (However, this RRTJOB trick doesn't seem to be documented anywhere -- so I wouldn't use it in a program.)

But the best thing to do is write your RPG so that when you get an error from Java, the program immediately aborts, and doesn't try to use the bad object reference that might've just been created. I realize that it's easy to have bugs that don't follow this recommendation -- but if you make an effort to catch all of the *NULL object references before they get used, the "must restart the JVM" situation doesn't come up as often.