#

| Chapter 13 AWT Exceptions and Errors |

## 13.2 IllegalComponentStateException

`IllegalComponentStateException` is a subclass of `IllegalStateException`; both are new to Java 1.1. This exception is used when you try to do something with a `Component` that is not yet appropriate. With the standard AWT components, this can happen only in three instances:

- If you call `setCaretPosition()` to set the cursor position of a text component before the component's peer exists.

- If you call `getLocale()` to get the locale of a component that does not have one and is not in a container that has one.

- If you call `getLocationOnScreen()` for a component that is not showing.

In these cases, the operation isn't fundamentally illegal; you are just trying to perform it before the component is ready. When you create your own components, you should consider using this exception for similar cases.

Since `IllegalComponentStateException` is a subclass of `Run-TimeException`, you do not have to enclose method calls that might throw this exception within `try/catch` blocks. However, catching this exception isn't a bad idea, since it should be fairly easy to correct the problem and retry the operation.

### IllegalComponentStateException Method

Constructor

public IllegalComponentStateException ()

  The first constructor creates an `IllegalComponentStateException` instance with no detail message.

public IllegalComponentStateException (String message)

  This constructor creates an `IllegalComponentStateException` with a detail message of `message`. This message can be retrieved using `getMessage()`, which it inherits from `Exception` (and is required by the `Throwable` interface).

### IllegalComponentStateException Example

The following code throws an `IllegalComponentStateException`. The `Exception` occurs because the `TextField` peer does not exist when `setCaretPosition()` is called. `setCaretPosition()` throws an `IllegalComponentStateException`, and the next statement never executes.

    import java.awt.TextField;
    public class illegal {
        public static void main (String[] args) {
            new TextField().setCaretPosition (24);
            System.out.println ("Never gets here");
        }
    }

AWTException |  | AWTError