Question

I have web application written in Java. Im using BeanUtils.copyProperties method. If a date field is null, it throws an error. I solved it by using ConvertUtils.register method.

ConvertUtils.register(new DateConverter(null), Date.class);

It works now, but what is the correct way of using ConvertUtils.register. Where should it be placed?

Answer 1

What you have done is CORRECT for only one class(Date) type. This is achieved for all the supported types including Date by calling register method on ConvertUtilsBean as below:

    ConvertUtilsBean convertUtilsBean = BeanUtilsBean.getInstance().getConvertUtils();
    convertUtilsBean.register(false, true, -1);

Here, first argument false means don’t throw conversion exception. Second argument true represents, if there is exception, use null as default value. Third argument -1 represent that array types will be defaulted to null. If you want to default arrays with specific size, mention the size as third parameter.

Refer more details here (ConvertUtilsBean Javadoc).