java.lang.VerifyError IllformedLocaleException

Question

I have the following parent method, that is used in all cases by various API levels:

public int setVoice (@NonNull final String language, @NonNull final String region){
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
        return setVoice21(language, region);
    } else {
        return setVoiceDeprecated(language, region);
    }
}

and setVoice21 does something like this:

@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
public int setVoice21 ( @NonNull final String language, @NonNull final String region){

    try {
        // try some API 21 stuff
    } catch (final IllformedLocaleException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        return setVoiceDeprecated(language, region);
    }

setVoice21 contains other code that requires API 21+ specifically TextToSpeech.Voice and Locale.Builder

When I run this code on a device < API 21 I'm getting the following error:

W/dalvikvm: VFY: unable to resolve exception class 6232 (Ljava/util/IllformedLocaleException;) W/dalvikvm: VFY: rejecting opcode 0x0d at 0x0168 W/dalvikvm: VFY: rejected Lcom/myapp/android/speech/MyTextToSpeech;.setVoice21 (Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/String;)I W/dalvikvm: Verifier rejected class Lcom/myapp/android/speech/MyTextToSpeech;

E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main java.lang.VerifyError: com/myapp/android/speech/MyTextToSpeech

If I remove the IllformedLocaleException and just replace it with a standard Exception, the app runs fine, despite the many other references to methods > API21 within setVoice21

To confuse me yet further, setVoice21 invokes the following class

@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
private class TTSVoice {

    public void buildVoice() {

        try {
            // Do some API 21 stuff
        } catch (final IllformedLocaleException e) {
        }

    }
}

This class is only referenced from setVoice21, but I do not have to remove the reference to IllformedLocaleException here - I can leave it and the app runs fine.... Baffled.

Can anyone help me out as to why the IllformedLocaleException is causing this failure? Are Exceptions somehow handled differently?

I thank you in advance.

Note - I'm not sure that it is relevant, but I'm subclassing TextToSpeech in a standard way. I fear this may convolute the question, but just in case...

public class MyTextToSpeech extends TextToSpeech {

    public MyTextToSpeech(final Context context, final OnInitListener listener) {
        super(context, listener);
    }
}

EDIT - The workaround provided by razzledazzle below, does allow the app to run without crashing, but I still remain non-the-wiser as to why such a step is necessary. I've never had to take such measures before when dealing with API versioning.

Answer 1

Resolved the issue by removing the IllformedLocaleException class from the catch argument. This will still allow you to check for IllformedLocaleException.

@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
public int setVoice21 (@NonNull final String language, @NonNull final String region) {
    try {
        // try some API 21 stuff
        ...
    } catch (final Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        if (e instanceof IllformedLocaleException) {
            ...
        }
    }

    ...
}