Question
OOTB function pxDoesHandleExist fails if parameter passed is not a valid handle
The built-in pega function 'pxDoesHandleExist' returns 'true' if the handle exists, as expected.
However, if the parameter passed is 'garbage,' for example - the function fails rather than returning 'false' - with the message "
Class GARBAGE does not exist |
This does not fit with the use case given in the help file - where this function is meant to be used as a precondition for obj-open-by-handle so we can avoid trying to open a nonexistent instance of a rule.
Screenshot attached, please advise.
Hi Susan,
Thanks for the response.
The behavior for doesInstanceExist seems to match the documentation - since it states that it returns 'true' on success and that it throws an exception on failure.
But pxDoesHandleExist demonstrates incorrect behavior.
It is meant to be used, as per the documentation, as a precondition for objbrowsebyhandle -but it can't work for that use case since the failure is not trappable as an exception.
"The pxDoesHandleExist function accepts as a single parameter, a text value containing the candidate handle, and returns true or false."
Hi,
If you open Function "pxDoesHandleExist", under History tab, Usage: "Returns true if an object with the given handle exists, false otherwise. If an error is encountered checking for the object, a runtime exception is thrown."
If this Function never returns a false for an un-valid handle, please go ahead to raise a SR. We will do further research on this and decide if online help for this needs to be modified.
Thanks,
Susan
Accepted Solution
Thanks, Susan!
I finally got around to opening a ticket with Pega Support - SR-C37427. - and they gave me a fix that worked well.
Basically we return false when the database exception is thrown by the call to doesInstanceExist() - rather than propagate the exception up.
Note that because a hotfix was not provided, I had to change the name of the function and save it in our custom library.
Hi,
I would think that this is an expected behavior.
The funciton returns true if an object with the given handle exists, false otherwise. If an error is encountered checking for the object, a runtime exception is thrown.
Below is the documentation for "doesInstanceExist" (you can view it from the Pega developer portal with > engine api > Database class). Based on this, if an error is encountered, you will get an exception instead of a boolean "false" return.
boolean doesInstanceExist(java.lang.String aInstanceHandle) throws DatabaseExceptionThis method does not perform any security checking.
aInstanceHandle- the handle (pzInsKey) of the instanceBadClassDefinitionException- if the instance has an invalidpxObjClass. The processing status is set to error if this is the case.ConfigurationException- if the database table configuration is badDatabaseException- if something else goes wrong