NullPointerException on setting date from Notes document

Question

I am getting the following nullpointer exception in my code:

fieldName = "created";
Date startDate; 
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(this.dtFormatShort);
startDate = df.parse(doc.getCreated().getDateOnly() + " " + doc.getCreated().getTimeOnly()); //here I get the error
customer.setCreated(startDate);

I am using similar code across my app but there I do not nullpointer exceptions.

is the error related that I am not calling the constructor for the Date object first? and why does the exception not occur on other places of my app?

It's not related with not calling the constructor ;) No one will be able to tell why it does fail only in this place. If the NullPointer is thrown in `parse` line, the most probable cause is `doc` or one of its fields being null. — Dominik Wosiński, Nov 01 '19 at 10:00
When I look at the customer object and investigate at the created field via debugtoolbar I see that the field has a correct value e.g. java.util.Date toString: Wed Oct 02 13:48:00 CEST 2019 — Patrick Kwinten, Nov 04 '19 at 08:55

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 01 '19 at 10:02

1

I’m not sure why you’d get an NPE there (maybe the date format isn’t set), but you should be able to do something like doc.getCreated().toJavaDate() directly and save yourself the parsing headache.

answered Nov 01 '19 at 10:02

Jesse Gallagher

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well in the specs customer was not interested in the seconds that is why may formatter is yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm – Patrick Kwinten Nov 01 '19 at 10:48

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 01 '19 at 10:10

0

A Java constructor cannot return null. It either returns a non-null value or throws an exception. Therefore, df is not null.

The only other option is that either doc or doc.getCreated() are null. Either that or you've found a bug in the JVM.

P.s. calling the constructor for Date before reassigning it should do nothing w.r.t. a NPE being thrown in this code. But if you seriously think it's a JVM bug no harm in testing :)

answered Nov 01 '19 at 10:10

cameron1024

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of course I have checked if doc is not null. same code when running in dev environment does not result in error. same version of Domino, FP etc – Patrick Kwinten Nov 01 '19 at 10:42

NullPointerException on setting date from Notes document

2 Answers2