better error handling

src/gui/BoardFrame.java

@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ import board.TestLevel;
 import board.BoardObservers;
 
 import designformats.specctra.DsnFile;
+import logger.FRLogger;
+
+import javax.swing.*;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -365,6 +368,9 @@ public class BoardFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame
      */
     public void set_context_sensitive_help(java.awt.Component p_component, String p_help_id)
     {
+        if (p_component == null)
+            throw new NullPointerException("p_component");
+
         if (this.help_system_used)
         {
             java.awt.Component curr_component;
@@ -378,10 +384,11 @@ public class BoardFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame
             }
             String help_id = "html_files." + p_help_id;
             javax.help.CSH.setHelpIDString(curr_component, help_id);
-            if (!this.is_web_start)
-            {
-                help_broker.enableHelpKey(curr_component, help_id, help_set);
+            if (help_broker==null) {
+                FRLogger.warning("help_broker is null");
+                return;
             }
+            help_broker.enableHelpKey(curr_component, help_id, help_set);
         }
     }
     

src/gui/BoardMenuHelp.java

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 
 package gui;
 
+import logger.FRLogger;
+
 import javax.help.CSH;
 import javax.help.HelpSet;
 import javax.help.HelpSetException;
@@ -77,7 +79,7 @@ public class BoardMenuHelp extends BoardMenuHelpReduced
                 URL hsURL = HelpSet.findHelpSet(this.getClass().getClassLoader(), helpset_name);
                 if (hsURL == null)
                 {
-                    System.out.println("HelpSet " + helpset_name + " not found.");
+                    FRLogger.warning("HelpSet " + helpset_name + " not found.");
                 }
                 else
                 {

src/gui/DefaultExceptionHandler.java

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package gui;
+
+import logger.FRLogger;
+
+import javax.swing.*;
+import java.awt.*;
+
+import static javax.swing.JOptionPane.OK_OPTION;
+
+/**
+ * Andrey Belomutskiy
+ * 6/28/2014
+ */
+public class DefaultExceptionHandler implements Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler {
+    public void uncaughtException(Thread t, Throwable e) {
+        handleException(e);
+    }
+
+    public static void handleException(Throwable e) {
+        // Here you should have a more robust, permanent record of problems
+        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(findActiveFrame(), e.toString(), "Exception Occurred", OK_OPTION);
+        FRLogger.error(e);
+    }
+
+    private static Frame findActiveFrame() {
+        Frame[] frames = JFrame.getFrames();
+        for (Frame frame : frames) {
+            if (frame.isVisible())
+                return frame;
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+}

src/gui/MainApplication.java

@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ public class MainApplication extends javax.swing.JFrame
      */
     public static void main(String p_args[])
     {
+        Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler(new DefaultExceptionHandler());
         StartupOptions startupOptions = StartupOptions.parse(p_args);
 
         if (!(OFFLINE_ALLOWED || startupOptions.webstart_option))

src/logger/FRLogger.java

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package logger;
+
+/**
+ * Andrey Belomutskiy
+ * 6/28/2014
+ */
+public class FRLogger {
+    public static void warning(String message) {
+        /**
+         * there is a problem that errors are currently being written to standard console and thus not visible to the
+         * user
+         */
+        System.out.println(message);
+    }
+
+    public static void error(Throwable e) {
+        e.printStackTrace();
+    }
+}