In my scala code:
QueueManager.add(getObject)
where getObject
is a method that returns an object of type QueueObject
.
def getObject : QueuObject = {
val response = //some response
return response
}
Is there a way I can check for the response being null, while adding the QueueObject? I know I can do this:
if (getObject != null)
QueueManager.add(getObject)
But I do not wish to add a level of indentation. Is there an operator that does that inline?
Thanks.
Try to avoid using null
in Scala. It's really there only for interoperability with Java. In Scala, use Option
for things that might be empty. If you're calling a Java API method that might return null
, wrap it in an Option
immediately.
def getObject : Option[QueueObject] = {
// Wrap the Java result in an Option (this will become a Some or a None)
Option(someJavaObject.getResponse)
}
Note: You don't need to put it in a val
or use an explicit
return
statement in Scala; the result will be the value of
the last expression in the block (in fact, since there's only one statement, you don't even need a block).
def getObject : Option[QueueObject] = Option(someJavaObject.getResponse)
Besides what the others have already shown (for example calling foreach
on the Option
, which might be slightly confusing), you could also call map
on it (and ignore the result of the map operation if you don't need it):
getObject map QueueManager.add
This will do nothing if the Option
is a None
, and call QueueManager.add
if it is a Some
.
I find using a regular if
however clearer and simpler than using any of these "tricks" just to avoid an indentation level. You could also just write it on one line:
if (getObject.isDefined) QueueManager.add(getObject.get)
or, if you want to deal with null
instead of using Option
:
if (getObject != null) QueueManager.add(getObject)
edit - Ben is right, be careful to not call getObject
more than once if it has side-effects; better write it like this:
val result = getObject
if (result.isDefined) QueueManager.add(result.get)
or:
val result = getObject
if (result != null) QueueManager.add(result)
If it instead returned Option[QueueObject]
you could use a construct like getObject.foreach { QueueManager.add }
. You can wrap it right inline with Option(getObject).foreach ...
because Option[QueueObject](null)
is None
.
Option(getObject) foreach (QueueManager add)
Although I'm sure @Ben Jackson's asnwer with Option(getObject).foreach
is the preferred way of doing it, I like to use an AnyRef
pimp that allows me to write:
getObject ifNotNull ( QueueManager.add(_) )
I find it reads better.
And, in a more general way, I sometimes write
val returnVal = getObject ifNotNull { obj =>
returnSomethingFrom(obj)
} otherwise {
returnSomethingElse
}
... replacing ifNotNull with ifSome if I'm dealing with an Option
. I find it clearer than first wrapping in an option and then pattern-matching it.
(For the implementation, see Implementing ifTrue, ifFalse, ifSome, ifNone, etc. in Scala to avoid if(...) and simple pattern matching and the Otherwise0
/Otherwise1
classes.)