JavaFX Table searching with optional column - javafx-8

Question

I have a tableview that i populate using an observablelist, ObservableList<Member>. The some attributes in Member object are optional, so the table cell for that row will be empty.
I have implemented FilteredList<Member> and SortedList<Member> although when i search, because of those null values in some cells, a java.lang.NullPointerException is thrown. I have no idea on how to solve this problem.
The following is SSCCE, that demonstrate my problem
package com.yunusfx.javafxcustomcontrols.yunusreproduceproblem;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.ListProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleListProperty;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.collections.transformation.FilteredList;
import javafx.collections.transformation.SortedList;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class TableSearch extends Application{
private TableView<Member> tv = new TableView();
private TextField tfSearch = new TextField();
ObservableList<Member> memberList = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
ListProperty<Member> memberListProperty = new SimpleListProperty<>();
public static void main(String[] args) { launch(args); }
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception {
TableColumn<Member, String> name = createNameColumn();
TableColumn<Member, Integer> age = createAgeColumn();
TableColumn<Member, String> account = createAccountColumn();
TableColumn<Member, String> location = createLocationColumn();
tfSearch.setPromptText("Search here");
tv.getColumns().addAll(name, age, account, location);
memberListProperty.set(memberList);
tv.itemsProperty().bindBidirectional(memberListProperty);
tv.setItems(memberListProperty);
setData();
FilteredList<Member> filteredData = new FilteredList<>(memberList, p -> true);
tfSearch.textProperty().addListener((observable, oldValue, newValue) -> {
filteredData.setPredicate(Member -> {
if (newValue == null || newValue.isEmpty()) {
return true;
}
String lowerCaseFilter = newValue.toLowerCase();
if (Member.getName().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)) {
return true;
// } else if(Member.getAge().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)){
// No idea how to search if is integer
// return true;
}else if(Member.getLocation().toString().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)){
return true;
}else if(Member.getAccount().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)){
return true;
}
return false;
});
});
SortedList<Member> sortedData = new SortedList<>(filteredData);
sortedData.comparatorProperty().bind(tv.comparatorProperty());
tv.setItems(sortedData);
BorderPane borderPane = new BorderPane();
borderPane.setTop(tfSearch);
borderPane.setCenter(tv);
Scene scene = new Scene(borderPane, 600, 400);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private TableColumn createNameColumn() {
TableColumn<Member, String> colName = new TableColumn("Name");
colName.setMinWidth(25);
colName.setId("colName");
colName.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("name"));
return colName;
}
private TableColumn createAgeColumn() {
TableColumn<Member, Integer> colAge = new TableColumn("Age");
colAge.setMinWidth(25);
colAge.setId("colAge");
colAge.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("age"));
return colAge;
}
private TableColumn createAccountColumn() {
TableColumn<Member, String> colAccount = new TableColumn("Account");
colAccount.setMinWidth(25);
colAccount.setId("colAccount");
colAccount.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("account"));
return colAccount;
}
private TableColumn createLocationColumn() {
TableColumn<Member, String> colAccount = new TableColumn("Location");
colAccount.setMinWidth(25);
colAccount.setId("colLocation");
colAccount.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("location"));
return colAccount;
}
private void setData(){
Member m = new Member();
m.setAccount("we123");
m.setAge(456);
m.setLocation("Nairobi");
m.setName("Member 1");
memberList.add(m);
Member m1 = new Member();
m1.setAccount("OP5623");
m1.setAge(321);
m1.setLocation("Mombasa");
m1.setName("Doe");
memberList.add(m1);
Member m2 = new Member();
m2.setAge(569);
m2.setLocation("Meru");
m2.setName("John");
memberList.add(m2);
Member m3 = new Member();
m3.setAccount("YGTR665");
m3.setAge(666);
m3.setLocation("Eldoret");
m3.setName("Arif");
memberList.add(m3);
Member m4 = new Member();
m4.setAccount("BHJI58966");
m4.setAge(397);
m4.setName("Yunus");
memberList.add(m4);
}
public class Member {
private int id;
private String name;
private Integer age;
private String account;
private String location;
public Member(){}
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public Integer getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(Integer age) {
this.age = age;
}
public String getAccount() {
return account;
}
public void setAccount(String account) {
this.account = account;
}
public String getLocation() {
return location;
}
public void setLocation(String location) {
this.location = location;
}
}
}
Clarification
By optional i mean some attributes in Member object might not have been set hence its table cell will be empty
I wasn't able to add age column to be searchable

Answer 1

Based on James_D's comment i was able to make search work but first check if value is null for optional attributes. For integer, convert it to string then use the string value. The important point is, the code is only dealing with actual data.
Following is what i updated:
FilteredList<Member> filteredData = new FilteredList<>(memberList, p -> true);
tfSearch.textProperty().addListener((observable, oldValue, newValue) -> {
filteredData.setPredicate(Member -> {
if (newValue == null || newValue.isEmpty()) {
return true;
}
String lowerCaseFilter = newValue.toLowerCase();
if (Member.getName().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)) {
return true;
} else if(Integer.toString(Member.getAge()).contains(lowerCaseFilter)){
return true;
}else if(Member.getLocation() != null && Member.getLocation().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)){
return true;
}else if(Member.getAccount() != null && Member.getAccount().toLowerCase().contains(lowerCaseFilter)){
return true;
}
return false;
});
});