eval
{
 open($DBH, $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:ODBC:driver=microsoft access driver (*.mdb);dbq=C:\main.mdb'))
or die MyFileException->new("Unable to open file - $DBH");

};
if ($@) {
    # now $@ contains the exception object of type MyFileException
  # print "raman";
    print $@->getErrorMessage();  
# where getErrorMessage() is a method in MyFileException class
  }