Question

User submits a CSV file which is consumed by a program. Values which are used throughout the program come from the CSV, natually if values are missed it is a problem. Below is my solution.

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private List<String> currentFieldName = new ArrayList<String>();

As part of the method:

try {
  setCurrentFieldName("Trim Space");
  p.setTrimSpace(currentLineArray[dc.getTRIM_POSITION()].equals("yes") ? true : false);

  setCurrentFieldName("Ignore Case");
  p.setIgnoreCase(currentLineArray[dc.getIGNORE_CASE_POSITION()].equals("yes") ? true : false);

} catch (NullPointerException e) {
    throw new InputSpreadsheetValueUnassignedException("\"Type\" field not set: " + currentFieldName);
}

And the method which keeps track of a current field being looked at:

private void setCurrentFieldName(String fieldName) {
 currentFieldName.clear();
 currentFieldName.add(fieldName);
}

The idea there is that if user fails to submit value and i will end up getting null, before throwing an exception, i will know what value was not assigned.

So, this being said, specific questions:

1. Is what i have shown below an acceptable solution?
2. Can you suggest something more elegant?

Answer 1

First thing that comes to my mind is that using an ArrayList to represent the name of a single field is superfluous.

Why not just define a private String currentFieldName; and inside your try { } do currentFieldName = "Trim Space" etc?

Also,

p.setTrimSpace(currentLineArray[index].equals("yes") ? true : false);

can just as well be expressed as

p.setTrimSpace(currentLineArray[index].equals("yes"));

If your code goes through many columns, you could definitely make it more elegant. If not, your time might be better spent on other parts of your project.

The answer to whether or not your solution is acceptable depends on the requirements, and a test suite would be the ideal party to provide the yes or the no.