Plowing straight ahead through our JavaScript Error Handling series, today we'll be exploring the fun world of the Invalid Code Point error.
Below we'll examine what causes an Invalid Code Point error, followed by how to capture and handle this error. Off we go!
The Technical Rundown
- All JavaScript error objects are descendants of the Error object, or an inherited object therein.
- The RangeError object is inherited from the Error object.
- The Invalid Code Point error is a specific type of RangeError object.
When Should You Use It?
Generally speaking, the core RangeError object manifests anytime a designated value does not fall within the range or set of allowed values. The type of value and circumstance this can appear in varies, hence why RangeError has a number of unique objects under its umbrella, intended to report on whichever error is most appropriate.
For this post, we're examining the Invalid Code Point error, so first we must discuss what a code point actually is. Typically, a code point refers to the number and position of characters within a character encoding scheme, such as ASCII or Unicode. In the case of JavaScript and the Invalid Code Point error, the code point always refers to an integer value that represents the Unicode character scheme, within the range of 1,114,112 characters that Unicode is comprised of.
One method of utilizing code points in JavaScript is through the String.fromCodePoint() method, which returns a Unicodestring from the specified sequence of code point parameters.
For example, we can output the Black Chess Queen character, which is Unicode number U+265B, with the following code:
console.log(String.fromCodePoint(0x265B));
Which outputs a nice little Queen character: ♛
While we accessed this character above using hexadecimal, we can also do so via the numeric integer value instead, which in this case is 9819:
console.log(String.fromCodePoint(9819));
Now, to actually produce an Invalid Code Point error, we simply provide an invalid code point value to the String.fromCodePoint() method. For example, we'll try giving it a negative number:
var printError = function(error, explicit) {
console.log(`[${explicit ? 'EXPLICIT' : 'INEXPLICIT'}] ${error.name}: ${error.message}`);
}
try {
console.log(String.fromCodePoint(-10));
} catch (e) {
if (e instanceof RangeError) {
printError(e, true);
} else {
printError(e, false);
}
}
We've thrown in a basic printError() function to format and output our error message, but sure enough, we see that trying to return the code point Unicode character of the number -10 fails and gives us an Invalid Code Point error:
[EXPLICIT] RangeError: -10 is not a valid code point
With a basic understanding of what causes Invalid Code Point errors to occur, it's also worth considering that our above example of simply grabbing the first instanceof a RangeError object won't always be our Invalid Code Point error. The RangeError object represents some half-dozen different errors which inherit from the RangeError type. In order to verify that we're only responding to the specific Invalid Code Point error, we need to add additional logic by parsing the .messageproperty of the error object:
var printError = function(error, explicit) {
console.log(`[${explicit ? 'EXPLICIT' : 'INEXPLICIT'}] ${error.name}: ${error.message}`);
}
try {
console.log(String.fromCodePoint(-10));
} catch (e) {
if (e instanceof RangeError) {
if (e.message.toLowerCase().indexOf('code point') !== -1) {
printError(e, true);
} else {
printError(e, false);
}
} else {
printError(e, false);
}
}
We've now thrown in a simple check within the error .message property to ensure it contains the phrase 'code point' somewhere in the message text. If so, that is our expected Invalid Code Point error. This means that when a differentRangeError is produced, such as Invalid Array Length, we don't need to worry.
To help you along the way in your journey towards JavaScript error handling perfection, be sure to check out Airbrake's JavaScript Error Handling Software!
