Oracle 8i's EJB

Question

There's probably a bug in the Oracle's RMI over IIOP
implementation. In java it is absolutely legal to return null
where array of something is expected. Not in the Oracle 8i EJBs.
My guess is, since array in java is not an object itself, Oracle
doesn't check it for null during transport and tries to obtain
the array size to populate an internal storage.
In short, Oracle throws NullPointerException when methods with
array return type return null. We can, of course, always
interpret NullPointerException as "nothing returned", but it well
might confuse EJB client into thinking that certain EJB method is
not working properly (when it is).
As a workaround, I replace all null returns with the array
returns, where arrays contain 1 element that is null, but in the
perfect world this should be fixed.
Thanks.
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Answer 1

... and what the object type of the array?
Anyway, create an EJB with just one method that returns, say,
String[]. Put just one command in the method's body: return
null;.
Next deploy this EJB into Oracle 8i. Next write the sample client
calling on this method.
You will get RemoteException with NullPointerException nested.
Thanks.
Frank Zhang (guest) wrote:
: Alex:
: Java arrays are objects based on The Java Language
Specification.
: Can you be more specific about the problem?
: Frank
: alex (guest) wrote:
: : There's probably a bug in the Oracle's RMI over IIOP
: : implementation. In java it is absolutely legal to return null
: : where array of something is expected. Not in the Oracle 8i
: EJBs.
: : My guess is, since array in java is not an object itself,
: Oracle
: : doesn't check it for null during transport and tries to
obtain
: : the array size to populate an internal storage.
: : In short, Oracle throws NullPointerException when methods
with
: : array return type return null. We can, of course, always
: : interpret NullPointerException as "nothing returned", but it
: well
: : might confuse EJB client into thinking that certain EJB
method
: is
: : not working properly (when it is).
: : As a workaround, I replace all null returns with the array
: : returns, where arrays contain 1 element that is null, but in
: the
: : perfect world this should be fixed.
: : Thanks.
null