Question

I am trying to validate some input from a Swing form by checking for null values. However the checkFirstName method is always returning true. So for example if i leave the firstname blank on the form it will return true even though the field is null.

Here is my two methods, the first one is fired when the user clicks the save button.

public void saveNewCustomer() throws SQLException, ClassNotFoundException {

        boolean dbOK = false;//boolean to check if data input is not null

        System.out.println(dbOK);
        String firstName = txtNCustomerFirstName.getText();
        String lastName = txtNCustomerLastName.getText();

        if (checkFirstName(firstName)) {
            dbOK = true;
        } else {
            lblNCustFirstNameError.setText("First Name Must be Entered");
            dbOK = false;
        }
        System.out.println(dbOK);

        if (dbOK) {
            dbConnector.insertSignup(firstName, lastName);
            System.out.println("Success");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Error");
        }
    }

    public boolean checkFirstName(String firstName) {
        boolean allOK = false;
        System.out.println(allOK);

        if (firstName != null) {
            allOK = true;
        } else {
            allOK = false;
        }
        return allOK;
    }

Have i done something wrong cause this to me should be return false cause the firstname field is null.

Answer 1

So for example if i leave the firstname blank on the form

You are just checking for null, you need to do empty ("") String check also.

It should be something like:

if (firstName != null && !"".equals(firstName.trim()) {