SONARJAVA-6406 Create rule S8714 - Use assertThrows/assertDoesNotThrow instead of try-catch with fail()

[rombirli]

---

Summary by Gitar

• Integration and Quality Gate:
  • Added java-S8714.json to the ruling test resources, documenting test case coverage and expectations for the new rule.

_{This will update automatically on new commits.}

[hashicorp-vault-sonar-prod]

SONARJAVA-6406

[sonarqubecloud]

Agentic Analysis: Early Results

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17 issue(s) found across 1 file(s):

Rule	File	Line	Message
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	10	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	10	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	20	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	20	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	25	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	25	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S1192	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	28	Define a constant instead of duplicating this literal "expected exception" 5 times.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	33	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	33	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	41	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	41	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	49	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	49	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	57	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	57	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.
java:S125	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	65	This block of commented-out lines of code should be removed.
java:S139	java-checks-test-sources/default/src/main/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckSample.java	65	Move this trailing comment on the previous empty line.

_{Analyzed by SonarQube Agentic Analysis in 10.4 s}

✅ Code review updated (blocking issues remain unresolved).

_{Configure merge blocking}

[sonarqube-next]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Fixed issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0 Dependency risks
100.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube

[gitar-bot]

Code Review ✅ Approved 4 resolved / 4 findings

Implements rule S8714 to replace try-catch blocks with JUnit assertions, resolving compilation errors in the test suite and refining the suggestion logic.

✅ 4 resolved

✅ Bug: Test uses no-op check so verifyIssues() will always fail

📄 java-checks/src/test/java/org/sonar/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheckTest.java:28-34
The test passes a no-op lambda context -> { // do nothing } as the check. Since the check never reports any issues, verifyIssues() will fail because the sample file contains two // Noncompliant annotations that expect issues to be raised. The test should instantiate the actual rule check class (e.g., new AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheck()) once it exists, or at minimum use verifyNoIssues() if this is a placeholder. As written, this test will not pass.

✅ Bug: Method doesBlockFail does not exist; code won't compile

📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheck.java:43 📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/tests/AbstractOneExpectedExceptionRule.java:38 📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/tests/AbstractOneExpectedExceptionRule.java:123
The check calls UnitTestUtils.doesBlockFail(block) (line 43) and AbstractOneExpectedExceptionRule imports UnitTestUtils.doesBlockFail, but the actual method in UnitTestUtils.java is still named isTryCatchFail (line 257). The rename was never applied to the utility class, so both the new check and the existing AbstractOneExpectedExceptionRule will fail to compile.

✅ Bug: Wrong suggestion: try-block fail() should recommend assertThrows

📄 java-checks/src/main/java/org/sonar/java/checks/AssertThrowsInsteadOfTryCatchFailCheck.java:38
When fail() is the last statement in the try block (e.g. try { raise(); fail(); } catch (...) {}), it means the test expects an exception to be thrown — reaching fail() means no exception occurred, which is the failure case. The correct replacement is assertThrows(), not assertDoesNotThrow(). The current message on line 38 incorrectly suggests assertDoesNotThrow() for both cases.

assertDoesNotThrow() is only correct when fail() is in the catch block (the test expects no exception).

✅ Bug: Autoscan shows rule S8714 finds zero true positives (33 false negatives)

📄 its/autoscan/src/test/resources/autoscan/diffs/diff_S8714.json:3-4
The autoscan expectations changed from hasTruePositives: true / falseNegatives: 0 to hasTruePositives: false / falseNegatives: 33. This means the rule no longer detects any issues in the real-world autoscan corpus — a complete regression in detection capability.

The commit message "Fix ruling/autoscan?" (with a question mark) suggests uncertainty. This likely indicates a bug in the rule implementation that prevents it from matching patterns found in real projects. Consider investigating which of the 33 expected matches are no longer triggered and why, rather than adjusting the expectations file to pass CI.

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