Spring webflow: handling NoSuchFlowDefinitionException with a flow

Question

I'm trying to implement exception handling for my Spring 3.2.0, Spring webflow, JSF 2.1.12 application.

So far I can catch most of the exceptions using an Exception handler flow:

<persistence-context/>

<decision-state id="handleException" >
    <if test="deviceManager.isMobileDevice()" then="mobileException" else="generalException"/>
</decision-state>

<view-state id="generalException" view="../views/exception/generalException.xhtml">
    <on-entry>
        <evaluate expression="exceptionManager.extractMessages(flowExecutionException, rootCauseException)" result="viewScope.exc"/>
    </on-entry>
</view-state>

<view-state id="mobileException" view="../views/exception/mobileException.xhtml">
    <on-entry>
        <evaluate expression="exceptionManager.extractMessages(flowExecutionException, rootCauseException)" result="viewScope.exc"/>
    </on-entry>
</view-state>

<global-transitions>
    <transition on-exception="java.lang.Exception" to="handleException"/>
</global-transitions>

But this can't handle NoSuchFlowDefinitionException and similar as, if I understood well, they happens outside the flow execution.

Anyone know how to handle these exceptions?

Also I would need to map the exception to a flow and not to a static view like, for example, error.html. This because my system requires to do some extra work in the background to load the page information.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, have a good day,

Mattia

<<<<< EDIT >>>>>

I added a SimpleMappingExceptionResolver to catch the NoSuchFlowDefinitionException:

<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.handler.SimpleMappingExceptionResolver">
    <property name="exceptionMappings">
          <props>
             <prop key="org.springframework.webflow.definition.registry.NoSuchFlowDefinitionException">
                exceptionFlow
             </prop>
          </props>
       </property>
</bean>

The Exception is catched but the resolver translate the target flow to a view, looking for a view: WEB-INF/exceptionFlow.xhtml This view does not exist as I would need to handle the exception with the flow exceptionFlow.xml

com.sun.faces.context.FacesFileNotFoundException: /WEB-INF/exceptionView.xhtml Not Found in ExternalContext as a Resource

How could I redirect that to a flow instead of a view? I tried adding a controller that maps on the view:

@Controller
@RequestMapping("/WEB-INF/exceptionFlow.xhtml")
public class ExceptionController {

    @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public String redirectToPublicFlowGet(ModelMap model) {
        return "spring/flows/public";   
    }

    @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST)
    public String redirectToPublicFlowPost(ModelMap model) {
        return "spring/flows/public";   
    }
}

But whatever I put on the request mapping (I tried "/WEB-INF/exceptionFlow.xhtml", "/exceptionFlow.xhtml", "exceptionFlow.xhtml". "exceptionFlow" The code never acces the methods (I put some debug breakpoint).

Anyone knows what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks have a good day

tomastrajan tomastrajan · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-10T12:21:53

You can do it by changing

<prop key="org.springframework.webflow.definition.registry.NoSuchFlowDefinitionException">
      exceptionFlow
</prop>

to

      redirect:/exceptionFlow

this will create new flow execution for given flow but you will lose information about the exception...

Spring webflow: handling NoSuchFlowDefinitionException with a flow

1 Answers