Can Findbugs detect catching RuntimeException in java?

Question

Could you let me know taht Findbugs can detect catcing RuntimeException in java?

Effective java recommends that we should not catch RuntimeException.

So I want to know that Findbugs can grab wrong catching.

Additionally, I already checked Klocwork JD.CATCH and checkstyle IllegalCatch is appropriate for this purpose.

Answer 1

Sort of. In findbugs there are several bug detectors dealing with exceptions:

• DE: Method might drop exception
• DE: Method might ignore exception
• Nm: Class is not derived from an Exception, even though it is named as such
• RV: Exception created and dropped rather than thrown
• REC: Exception is caught when Exception is not thrown

and also findbugs-contrib (findbugs plugin) has some:

• BED_BOGUS_EXCEPTION_DECLARATION
• DRE_DECLARED_RUNTIME_EXCEPTION
• EXS_EXCEPTION_SOFTENING_NO_CHECKED
• EXS_EXCEPTION_SOFTENING_HAS_CHECKED
• EXS_EXCEPTION_SOFTENING_NO_CONSTRAINTS

Try those out and check if they match your requirements (especially the last one (REC) of fb). However if you plainly need to detect the following pattern:

catch ( RuntimeException re){
    ....            
}

You may need to implement your own (quite easy) bug pattern for findbugs...