Java EOFException issue ObjectInputStream

Question

I am trying to implement a load/save for a List of 'Accounts' with a similar approach to one that I've had success with for a HashMap.

Background:

private List<Account> accounts;

public AccountManager() {
    try {
        accounts = LoadSave.loadAccounts();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Here I want to set my accounts list to include saved accounts.

Load/Save Implementation:

public static void saveAccounts(List<Account> accounts) throws IOException {
    try {
        FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("accounts.ser");
        ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
        oos.writeObject(accounts);
        oos.close();
        fos.close();
        System.out.printf("Saved account.");
    }
    catch(IOException ioe) {
        ioe.printStackTrace();
    }
}

public static List<Account> loadAccounts() throws IOException {
    List<Account> accounts = null;
    try {
        FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("accounts.ser");
        ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(fis);
        accounts = (List<Account>) ois.readObject();
        ois.close();
        fis.close();
    }
    catch(IOException ioe) {
        ioe.printStackTrace();
    }
    catch(ClassNotFoundException c) {
        System.out.println("Class not found");
        c.printStackTrace();
    }

    return accounts;
}

The problem is that when I initialize the AccountManager the first time, the accounts.ser file has no saved accounts because that functionality is implemented in a later method, thus I am given this exception:

java.io.EOFException at java.io.ObjectInputStream$PeekInputStream.readFully(ObjectInputStream.java:2681) at java.io.ObjectInputStream$BlockDataInputStream.readShort(ObjectInputStream.java:3156) at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readStreamHeader(ObjectInputStream.java:862) at java.io.ObjectInputStream.(ObjectInputStream.java:358) at implementatons.inventory_model.LoadSave.loadAccounts(LoadSave.java:69) at billing.AccountManager.(AccountManager.java:81) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45) at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423) at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:442) at sun.reflect.misc.ReflectUtil.newInstance(ReflectUtil.java:51) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$ValueElement.processAttribute(FXMLLoader.java:927) at javafx.fxml.FXMLL oader$InstanceDeclarationElement.processAttribute(FXMLLoader.java:971) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$Element.processStartElement(FXMLLoader.java:220) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$ValueElement.processStartElement(FXMLLoader.java:744) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader.processStartElement(FXMLLoader.java:2707) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader.loadImpl(FXMLLoader.java:2527) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader.loadImpl(FXMLLoader.java:2441) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader.load(FXMLLoader.java:2409) at implementatons.inventory_model.InventoryCatalogue.seeAccounts(InventoryCatalogue.java:187) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:71) at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor3.invoke(Unknown Source) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessor Impl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:275) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$MethodHandler.invoke(FXMLLoader.java:1771) at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$ControllerMethodEventHandler.handle(FXMLLoader.java:1657) at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:86) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191) at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx. event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:49) at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198) at javafx.scene.Node.fireEvent(Node.java:8411) at javafx.scene.control.Button.fire(Button.java:185) at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.behavior.ButtonBehavior.mouseReleased(ButtonBehavior.java:182) at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase$1.handle(BehaviorSkinBase.java:96) at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase$1.handle(BehaviorSkinBase.java:89) at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler$NormalEventHandlerRecord.handleBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:218) at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:80) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191) at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDisp atchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74) at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:54) at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198) at javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.process(Scene.java:3757) at javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.access$1500(Scene.java:3485) at javafx.scene.Scene.impl_processMouseEvent(Scene.java:1762) at javafx.scene.Scene$Scen ePeerListener.mouseEvent(Scene.java:2494) at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(GlassViewEventHandler.java:394) at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(GlassViewEventHandler.java:295) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.lambda$handleMouseEvent$353(GlassViewEventHandler.java:432) at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.QuantumToolkit.runWithoutRenderLock(QuantumToolkit.java:389) at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.handleMouseEvent(GlassViewEventHandler.java:431) at com.sun.glass.ui.View.handleMouseEvent(View.java:555) at com.sun.glass.ui.View.notifyMouse(View.java:937) at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method) at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$null$147(WinApplication.java:177) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

I've tried setting account to a new ArrayList on EOFExceptions being caught but it still throws an EOFException. I want to be able to load accounts whenever I open up the accounts manager window and so I need to be able to load accounts in the constructor.

Answer 1

Able to load accounts when the file is populated or set accounts to an empty ArrayList using the following code:

public static List<Account> loadAccounts() throws IOException {
    List<Account> accounts = null;
    try {
        File file = new File("accounts.ser");
        if (file.length() == 0) {
            accounts = new ArrayList<>();
        } else {
            FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("accounts.ser");
            ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(fis);
            accounts = (List<Account>) ois.readObject();
            ois.close();
            fis.close();
        }
    }
    catch(IOException ioe) {
        ioe.printStackTrace();
    }
    catch(ClassNotFoundException c) {
        System.out.println("Class not found");
        c.printStackTrace();
    }
    return accounts;
}

I just had to simply check the length of the file and return objects if it was non-zero and an empty ArrayList if it was zero.