Is there an utility to parse an URL without checked exception in java?

Question

EDIT: Seems that I sounded too annoyed in the first, here is a rework.

I'd like to create an URL constant, like so

public static final URL REMOTE_URL = new URL("http://example.com/");

But I can't since the constructor throw a checked exception. Right now I use

public static final URL REMOTE_URL = createUrl("http://example.com/");

private static URL createUrl(String url) {
    try {
        return new URL(url);
    } catch (MalformedURLException error) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException(error.getMessage(), error);
    }
}

But it feel like reinventing the wheel. I can't possibly be the only one who want to use a URL constant no? So I was wondering if there is third-party toolbox library (like guava or apache-commons, or something else, anything) or even better, something in standard Java that include this facilities? That would help me when we start a new project by reducing the size of our util package :) .

Answer 1

This complaint must have been a common one, because Java has (since 1.7) introduced the URI class. This class has two ways of constructing it:

1. Using URI.new, which throws a checked exception
2. Using URI.create, which throws an unchecked exception

For URIs/URLs like yours that are known to come from a safe source, you can use the URI.create() variant and not have to worry about catching the exception as you know it won't be thrown.

Unfortunately, sometimes you can't use a URI and you still need a URL. There's no standard method (that I have found so far) of converting a URI into a URL that doesn't throw a checked exception.