B.7 Hooks using the exception predicate

This section describes the predicate exception/3, which can be defined by the user in the module user as a multifile predicate. Unlike the name suggests, this is actually a hook predicate that has no relation to Prolog exceptions as defined by the ISO predicates catch/3 and throw/1.

The predicate exception/3 is called by the kernel on a couple of events, allowing the user to‘fix' errors just-in-time. The mechanism allows for lazy creation of objects such as predicates.

exception(+Exception, +Context, -Action)

Dynamic predicate, normally not defined. Called by the Prolog system on run-time exceptions that can be repaired‘just-in-time'. The values for Exception are described below. See also catch/3 and throw/1.

If this hook predicate succeeds it must instantiate the Action argument to the atom fail to make the operation fail silently, retry to tell Prolog to retry the operation or error to make the system generate an exception. The action retry only makes sense if this hook modified the environment such that the operation can now succeed without error.

undefined_predicate

Context is instantiated to a predicate indicator ([module]:<name>/<arity>). If the predicate fails, Prolog will generate an existence_error exception. The hook is intended to implement alternatives to the built-in autoloader, such as autoloading code from a database. Do not use this hook to suppress existence errors on predicates. See also unknown and section 2.14.

undefined_global_variable

Context is instantiated to the name of the missing global variable. The hook must call nb_setval/2 or b_setval/2 before returning with the action retry. See also nb_current/2.