NULL being returned for a Boolean object

[scuniff]

bioformats/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/tiff/TiffParser.java

Lines 199 to 220 in 678fd01

	public Boolean checkHeader() throws IOException {
	if (in.length() < 4) return null;
	// byte order must be II or MM
	in.seek(0);
	int endianOne = in.read();
	int endianTwo = in.read();
	boolean littleEndian = endianOne == TiffConstants.LITTLE &&
	endianTwo == TiffConstants.LITTLE; // II
	boolean bigEndian = endianOne == TiffConstants.BIG &&
	endianTwo == TiffConstants.BIG; // MM
	if (!littleEndian && !bigEndian) return null;
	// check magic number (42)
	in.order(littleEndian);
	short magic = in.readShort();
	bigTiff = magic == TiffConstants.BIG_TIFF_MAGIC_NUMBER;
	if (magic != TiffConstants.MAGIC_NUMBER &&
	magic != TiffConstants.BIG_TIFF_MAGIC_NUMBER)
	{
	return null;
	}

Referring to above, there are 3 places in method checkHeader() a null is returned. This will cause a Null Pointer Exception for those callers that are returned the result to a boolean data type and not the Boolean object.

Here are 2 examples of callers expecting boolean data type and not Boolean object:

bioformats/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/out/PyramidOMETiffWriter.java

Line 129 in e4ffbe8

littleEndian = parser.checkHeader();

bioformats/components/formats-gpl/src/loci/formats/in/LeicaReader.java

Line 775 in 0a895ae

in.order(tp.checkHeader().booleanValue());

Here’s an example of code checking for NULL and taking appropriate action:

bioformats/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/in/MinimalTiffReader.java

Lines 448 to 452 in 678fd01

	Boolean littleEndian = tiffParser.checkHeader();
	if (littleEndian == null) {
	throw new FormatException("Invalid TIFF file: " + id);
	}
	boolean little = littleEndian.booleanValue();

If it’s thought that this is an issue, my Eclipse seems to indicate there are about 10 other callers with this NPE situation.