TimeZones causing intermittent NPE

[Chad Vincent]

I seem to be getting this today in bursts:

java.lang.NullPointerException at sun.util.calendar.ZoneInfoFile.readZoneInfoFile(ZoneInfoFile.java:1042) at sun.util.calendar.ZoneInfoFile.createZoneInfo(ZoneInfoFile.java:596) at sun.util.calendar.ZoneInfoFile.getZoneInfo(ZoneInfoFile.java:566) at sun.util.calendar.ZoneInfo.getTimeZone(ZoneInfo.java:663) at java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone(TimeZone.java:566) at java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone(TimeZone.java:562)

[.My Code.]

My code:

humanReadableFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone(entity.getTimeZone()));

Something wrong with the ZoneInfo file on AppEngine? Any bogus input on my part should return TimeZone.GMT...

[Nick]

Hey, is there any chance that this has cleared up for you, or is it still happening without any indication as to the cause? 

[Nick]

Hey, actually, upon further poking, this happens when the input is null. I think your entity might not have its timezone property filled :)

On Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 2:52:19 PM UTC-4, Chad Vincent wrote:

[Chad Vincent]

You're right...  Somehow the TimeZone field wasn't getting initialized properly.

This is still counter to the Java spec, though:

the specified TimeZone, or the GMT zone if the given ID cannot be understood.

So getTimeZone(null) should return GMT.