An instance of MonadException is generally made up of monad transformers layered on top of the IO monad.

The controlIO method enables us to "lift" a function that manages IO actions (such as bracket or catch) into a function that wraps arbitrary monadic actions.

Lift a IO operation

wrap :: (a -> IO b) -> IO b

to a more general monadic operation

liftIOOp wrap :: MonadException m => (a -> m b) -> m b

For example:

 liftIOOp (withFile f m) :: MonadException m => (Handle -> m r) -> m r
 liftIOOp alloca :: (MonadException m, Storable a) => (Ptr a -> m b) -> m b
 liftIOOp (withForeignPtr fp) :: MonadException m => (Ptr a -> m b) -> m b

Lift an IO operation

wrap :: IO a -> IO a

to a more general monadic operation

liftIOOp_ wrap :: MonadException m => m a -> m a

A RunIO function takes a monadic action m as input, and outputs an IO action which performs the underlying impure part of m and returns the 'pure' part of m.

Note that (RunIO return) is an incorrect implementation, since it does not separate the pure and impure parts of the monadic action. This module defines implementations for several common monad transformers.

Any type that you wish to throw or catch as an exception must be an instance of the Exception class. The simplest case is a new exception type directly below the root:

data MyException = ThisException | ThatException
    deriving Show

instance Exception MyException

The default method definitions in the Exception class do what we need in this case. You can now throw and catch ThisException and ThatException as exceptions:

*Main> throw ThisException `catch` \e -> putStrLn ("Caught " ++ show (e :: MyException))
Caught ThisException

In more complicated examples, you may wish to define a whole hierarchy of exceptions:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Make the root exception type for all the exceptions in a compiler

data SomeCompilerException = forall e . Exception e => SomeCompilerException e

instance Show SomeCompilerException where
    show (SomeCompilerException e) = show e

instance Exception SomeCompilerException

compilerExceptionToException :: Exception e => e -> SomeException
compilerExceptionToException = toException . SomeCompilerException

compilerExceptionFromException :: Exception e => SomeException -> Maybe e
compilerExceptionFromException x = do
    SomeCompilerException a <- fromException x
    cast a

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Make a subhierarchy for exceptions in the frontend of the compiler

data SomeFrontendException = forall e . Exception e => SomeFrontendException e

instance Show SomeFrontendException where
    show (SomeFrontendException e) = show e

instance Exception SomeFrontendException where
    toException = compilerExceptionToException
    fromException = compilerExceptionFromException

frontendExceptionToException :: Exception e => e -> SomeException
frontendExceptionToException = toException . SomeFrontendException

frontendExceptionFromException :: Exception e => SomeException -> Maybe e
frontendExceptionFromException x = do
    SomeFrontendException a <- fromException x
    cast a

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Make an exception type for a particular frontend compiler exception

data MismatchedParentheses = MismatchedParentheses
    deriving Show

instance Exception MismatchedParentheses where
    toException   = frontendExceptionToException
    fromException = frontendExceptionFromException

We can now catch a MismatchedParentheses exception as MismatchedParentheses, SomeFrontendException or SomeCompilerException, but not other types, e.g. IOException:

*Main> throw MismatchedParentheses `catch` \e -> putStrLn ("Caught " ++ show (e :: MismatchedParentheses))
Caught MismatchedParentheses
*Main> throw MismatchedParentheses `catch` \e -> putStrLn ("Caught " ++ show (e :: SomeFrontendException))
Caught MismatchedParentheses
*Main> throw MismatchedParentheses `catch` \e -> putStrLn ("Caught " ++ show (e :: SomeCompilerException))
Caught MismatchedParentheses
*Main> throw MismatchedParentheses `catch` \e -> putStrLn ("Caught " ++ show (e :: IOException))
*** Exception: MismatchedParentheses

The SomeException type is the root of the exception type hierarchy. When an exception of type e is thrown, behind the scenes it is encapsulated in a SomeException.

Exceptions that occur in the IO monad. An IOException records a more specific error type, a descriptive string and maybe the handle that was used when the error was flagged.