Binary file content check fails!

Question

Hello,
I am finding it hard to capture the content of a binary file.
Here is my code:
  if(!(null == myInstance.getBin_File().toString()) 
                          && !(myInstance.getBin_File().toString().equals(""))){ 
     //    Do something 
    }else{ 
    // Do something else. 
    }  When the binary file is blank, control still goes into "if" instead of "else"!!!!
How should I change the "if" condition so that, whenever the binary file is blank, I wanna execute "else"
Thanks
Srinivas

Answer 1

The purpose of toString() is (supposed to be) to return a string identification of the object. That doesn't necessarily mean the contents of the object; in fact, it normally wouldn't. For example, suppose an object holds a 100,000-word dictionary. It's toString() response could appropriately be "[100,000-word widget dictionary]", and not every word in the dictionary.
So, if you're checking to see if the "xstring", whatever that is, is empty, then using toString() is almost certainly not the way to go, and only would be if "xstring" is really poorly designed and you shouldn't use it anyway.