XStream

DateConvertor not able to handle empty/null strings from XML

Details

  • Type: Bug Bug
  • Status: Closed Closed
  • Priority: Critical Critical
  • Resolution: Won't Fix
  • Affects Version/s: 1.3.1
  • Fix Version/s: None
  • Component/s: Converters
  • Labels:
    None

Description

For following XML mapped to User class with fields email (string) and dob (Date)

<User><email></email><dob></dob></User>

DateConvertor throws error because, it is trying to parse empty string.

DateConvertor should be able to handle this by simply returning null (instead of throwing exception)

Activity

Ascending order - Click to sort in descending order
Hide
Permalink
Joerg Schaible added a comment -

Sorry, null is not represented by an empty tag. If a field is null it is not part of the XML structure. An empty string is not a proper date format and you are feeding the converter with undefined data. You argue that you will have a null value returned instead, the next would like to have 1st January 1970 and another one prefers an exception. Therefore you have to handle this case with a customized verison of the DateConverter yourself.

Show
Joerg Schaible added a comment - Sorry, null is not represented by an empty tag. If a field is null it is not part of the XML structure. An empty string is not a proper date format and you are feeding the converter with undefined data. You argue that you will have a null value returned instead, the next would like to have 1st January 1970 and another one prefers an exception. Therefore you have to handle this case with a customized verison of the DateConverter yourself.
Hide
Permalink
deepak added a comment -

Hi,

Probably I wasn't clear to explain it before. Lets take three use cases

1. For below xml it works great no issues.

<User><email>test@test.com</email><dob>2010-09-01</dob></User>

2. For below xml ALSO it works great no issues.

<User><email></email><dob>2010-09-01</dob></User>

3. But not for this - exception is thrown.

<User><email>test@test.com</email><dob></dob></User>

Why is when email field is empty its handled correctly, but not Date field

Hope this helps.

Feel free to mark it invalid/resolve if above cases look incorrect. I have found way around my problem so no more stuck because of this.

Show
deepak added a comment - Hi, Probably I wasn't clear to explain it before. Lets take three use cases 1. For below xml it works great no issues. <User><email>test@test.com</email><dob>2010-09-01</dob></User> 2. For below xml ALSO it works great no issues. <User><email></email><dob>2010-09-01</dob></User> 3. But not for this - exception is thrown. <User><email>test@test.com</email><dob></dob></User> Why is when email field is empty its handled correctly, but not Date field Hope this helps. Feel free to mark it invalid/resolve if above cases look incorrect. I have found way around my problem so no more stuck because of this.
Hide
Permalink
Joerg Schaible added a comment -

If "email" is a String, an empty value is a perfect valid value from the technical side. This does not apply to a date.

Show
Joerg Schaible added a comment - If "email" is a String, an empty value is a perfect valid value from the technical side. This does not apply to a date.

People

Vote (0)
Watch (0)

Dates

  • Created:
    Updated:
    Resolved:
Atlassian JIRA (v4.4.3#663-r165197) | Report a problem
Powered by a free Atlassian JIRA open source license for Codehaus. Try JIRA - bug tracking software for your team.