Question

I have the following method

private ArrayList<User> allUsers = new ArrayList<User>();

public User getUser(int index) {
    try {
        return allUsers.get(index);
    }
    catch(IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
        // What should I return here?? Say that you want index 0 and no User
        // exists in the ArrayList allUsers, what should I then return? The
        // method needs a User to be returned 
    }
}

And I’m not sure how to do here, I’m sure thats its an easy fix, but what should I return in the catch block? Eclipse is complaining that a User must be returned.

Answer 1

I would throw an exception if no user is found. This exception is caught when the method is called. You could modify the code here to use a custom exception if you want. Something like:

public User getUser(int index) throws IndexOutOfBoundsException {
    if(index >= allUsers.size()){
        throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException("User doesn't exist");
    }
    return allUsers.get(index);
}