JRE6 compatibility issue with the BufferedReader

Question

My code works with jre7 and not jre6. Is there a possibility to make it compatible with jre6:

try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName))) {

} catch(IOException e) {

}

Eclipse prompts an error stating:

The resource type BufferedReader does not implement java.lang.AutoCloseable

Could you explain the problem here? What is the solution? Thanks

Answer 1

Replace the new try construct with the classic finally clause:

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName));
try {

} catch(IOException e) {

} finally {
   br.close();
}

This will close the reader in any case, also if an exception has been thrown from the inside try block. Only AutoCloseable classes can be used in try-with-resources construct, and java 6 BufferedReader is not (java 7 BufferedReader is).

Answer 2

You as using the try-with-resources statement. All objects implementing java.lang.AutoCloseable can be used as a resource. BufferedReader is not extending from AutoCloseble in Java 6. That's why you are seeing this error.

There is a good tutorial explaining the difference here .

Answer 3

the below code uses try with resource of type AutoClosable

try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName))) {

} catch(IOException e) {

}

which is the feature added in Java7, so it works well in Java7.

but same will not work in Java 6 or below.

Java 6 or below support simple try without autoclose type resource.

so your code should be like below in java 6

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName));
try{
//do whatever you want

} catch(IOException e) {

}