Custom exception type

Question

Can I define custom types for user-defined exceptions in JavaScript? If so, how would I do it?

Answer 1

See this example in the MDN.

If you need to define multiple Errors (test the code here!):

function createErrorType(name, initFunction) {
    function E(message) {
        this.message = message;
        if (Error.captureStackTrace)
            Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor);
        else
            this.stack = (new Error()).stack;
        initFunction && initFunction.apply(this, arguments);
    }
    E.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);
    E.prototype.name = name;
    E.prototype.constructor = E;
    return E;
}
var InvalidStateError = createErrorType(
    'InvalidStateError',
    function (invalidState, acceptedStates) {
        this.message = 'The state ' + invalidState + ' is invalid. Expected ' + acceptedStates + '.';
    });

var error = new InvalidStateError('foo', 'bar or baz');
function assert(condition) { if (!condition) throw new Error(); }
assert(error.message);
assert(error instanceof InvalidStateError);  
assert(error instanceof Error); 
assert(error.name == 'InvalidStateError');
assert(error.stack);
error.message;

Code is mostly copied from: What's a good way to extend Error in JavaScript?

Answer 2

function MyError(message) {
 this.message = message;
}

MyError.prototype = new Error;

This allows for usage like..

try {
  something();
 } catch(e) {
  if(e instanceof MyError)
   doSomethingElse();
  else if(e instanceof Error)
   andNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent();
}

Answer 3

ES6

With the new class and extend keywords it’s now much easier:

class CustomError extends Error {
  constructor(message) {
    super(message);
    //something
  }
}

Answer 4

I often use an approach with prototypal inheritance. Overriding toString() gives you the advantage that tools like Firebug will log the actual information instead of [object Object] to the console for uncaught exceptions.

Use instanceof to determine the type of exception.

main.js

// just an exemplary namespace
var ns = ns || {};

// include JavaScript of the following
// source files here (e.g. by concatenation)

var someId = 42;
throw new ns.DuplicateIdException('Another item with ID ' +
    someId + ' has been created');
// Firebug console:
// uncaught exception: [Duplicate ID] Another item with ID 42 has been created

Exception.js

ns.Exception = function() {
}

/**
 * Form a string of relevant information.
 *
 * When providing this method, tools like Firebug show the returned 
 * string instead of [object Object] for uncaught exceptions.
 *
 * @return {String} information about the exception
 */
ns.Exception.prototype.toString = function() {
    var name = this.name || 'unknown';
    var message = this.message || 'no description';
    return '[' + name + '] ' + message;
};

DuplicateIdException.js

ns.DuplicateIdException = function(message) {
    this.name = 'Duplicate ID';
    this.message = message;
};

ns.DuplicateIdException.prototype = new ns.Exception();

Answer 5

Yes. You can throw anything you want: integers, strings, objects, whatever. If you want to throw an object, then simply create a new object, just as you would create one under other circumstances, and then throw it. Mozilla's Javascript reference has several examples.

Answer 6

From WebReference:

throw { 
  name:        "System Error", 
  level:       "Show Stopper", 
  message:     "Error detected. Please contact the system administrator.", 
  htmlMessage: "Error detected. Please contact the <a href=\"mailto:sysadmin@acme-widgets.com\">system administrator</a>.",
  toString:    function(){return this.name + ": " + this.message;} 
};