48.3. JAX-RS 2.0 Exception Types

JAX-RS 2.0 introduces a number of specific HTTP exception types that you can throw (and catch) in your application code (in addition to the existing WebApplicationException exception type). These exception types can be used to wrap standard HTTP status codes, either for HTTP client errors (HTTP 4xx status codes), or HTTP server errors (HTTP 5xx status codes).

Figure 48.1, “JAX-RS 2.0 Application Exception Hierarchy” shows the hierarchy of application level exceptions supported in JAX-RS 2.0.

The javax.ws.rs.WebApplicationException exception class (which has been available since JAX-RS 1.x) is at the base of the JAX-RS 2.0 exception hierarchy, and is described in detail in Section 48.2, “Using WebApplicationException exceptions to report errors”.

The javax.ws.rs.ClientErrorException exception class is used to encapsulate HTTP client errors (HTTP 4xx status codes). In your application code, you can throw this exception or one of its subclasses.

The javax.ws.rs.ServerErrorException exception class is used to encapsulate HTTP server errors (HTTP 5xx status codes). In your application code, you can throw this exception or one of its subclasses.

The javax.ws.rs.RedirectionException exception class is used to encapsulate HTTP request redirection (HTTP 3xx status codes). The constructors of this class take a URI argument, which specifies the redirect location. The redirect URI is accessible through the getLocation() method. Normally, HTTP redirection is transparent on the client side.

You can raise the following HTTP client exceptions (HTTP 4xx status codes) in a JAX-RS 2.0 application:

You can raise the following HTTP server exceptions (HTTP 5xx status codes) in a JAX-RS 2.0 application: