Spring MVC @ExceptionHandler Example
In this tutorial, we show you how to do exception handling in Spring MVC frameworks. Normally, we use @ExceptionHandler to decide which “view” should be returned back if certain exception is raised.
P.S This @ExceptionHandler class is available since Spring 3.0
1. Project Structure
Review the project directory structure, a standard Maven project.
2. Custom Exception
A custom exception, with custom error code and error description.
CustomGenericException.java
package com.mkyong.web.exception;
public class CustomGenericException extends RuntimeException {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private String errCode;
private String errMsg;
public String getErrCode() {
return errCode;
public void setErrCode(String errCode) {
this.errCode = errCode;
public String getErrMsg() {
return errMsg;
public void setErrMsg(String errMsg) {
this.errMsg = errMsg;
public CustomGenericException(String errCode, String errMsg) {
this.errCode = errCode;
this.errMsg = errMsg;3. Spring Controller
A Spring controller, review the execution-flows below :
If user provide a /error request, it throws “CustomGenericException”, and the handleCustomException() method will be fired.
If user provide a /io-error request, it throws “IOException”, and the handleAllException() method will be fired.
MainController.java
package com.mkyong.web.controller;
import java.io.IOException;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ExceptionHandler;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;
import com.mkyong.web.exception.CustomGenericException;
@Controller
public class MainController {
@RequestMapping(value = "/{type:.+}", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ModelAndView getPages(@PathVariable("type") String type)
throws Exception {
if ("error".equals(type)) {
// go handleCustomException
throw new CustomGenericException("E888", "This is custom message");
} else if ("io-error".equals(type)) {
// go handleAllException
throw new IOException();
} else {
return new ModelAndView("index").addObject("msg", type);
@ExceptionHandler(CustomGenericException.class)
public ModelAndView handleCustomException(CustomGenericException ex) {
ModelAndView model = new ModelAndView("error/generic_error");
model.addObject("errCode", ex.getErrCode());
model.addObject("errMsg", ex.getErrMsg());
return model;
@ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
public ModelAndView handleAllException(Exception ex) {
ModelAndView model = new ModelAndView("error/generic_error");
model.addObject("errMsg", "this is Exception.class");
return model;4. JSP Pages
pages/index.jsp
<%@taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%>
<html>
<body>
<h2>Spring MVC @ExceptionHandler Example</h2>
<c:if test="${not empty msg}">
<h2>${msg}</h2>
</c:if>
</body>
</html>pages/error/generic_error.jsp
<%@taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%>
<html>
<body>
<c:if test="${not empty errCode}">
<h1>${errCode} : System Errors</h1>
</c:if>
<c:if test="${empty errCode}">
<h1>System Errors</h1>
</c:if>
<c:if test="${not empty errMsg}">
<h2>${errMsg}</h2>
</c:if>
</body>
</html>5. Testing
Review following 3 test cases :
1. http://localhost:8080/SpringMvcExample/anything
2. http://localhost:8080/SpringMvcExample/error
3. http://localhost:8080/SpringMvcExample/io-error
6. @ControllerAdvice Example
The above @ExceptionHandler example is only apply to a single controller, to apply it globally (all controllers), annotate a class with @ControllerAdvice.
GlobalExceptionController.java
package com.mkyong.web.controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ControllerAdvice;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ExceptionHandler;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;
import com.mkyong.web.exception.CustomGenericException;
@ControllerAdvice
public class GlobalExceptionController {
@ExceptionHandler(CustomGenericException.class)
public ModelAndView handleCustomException(CustomGenericException ex) {
ModelAndView model = new ModelAndView("error/generic_error");
model.addObject("errCode", ex.getErrCode());
model.addObject("errMsg", ex.getErrMsg());
return model;
@ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
public ModelAndView handleAllException(Exception ex) {
ModelAndView model = new ModelAndView("error/generic_error");
model.addObject("errMsg", "this is Exception.class");
return model;7. Download Source Code
Download – SpringMvc-ExceptionHandler-Example.zip (15 KB)
References
