Conditional return from method in scala - scala

Question

I am a java developer and an trying to conditionally return from a method in scala.
def parseDates: Boolean = {
var date = aoc4Xml \\ "FinancialStmtFromDate" text
if (StringUtils.isEmpty(date)) {
addErrorStringFromString("Please enter the financial year start date")
return false
}
aoc4Dto.finYearStartDate = DateUtils.getDateFromFormatOfString(date)
date = aoc4Xml \\ "FinancialStmtToDate" text
if (StringUtils.isEmpty(date)) {
addErrorStringFromString("Please enter the financial year end date")
return false
}
aoc4Dto.finYearEndDate = DateUtils.getDateFromFormatOfString(date)
true
}
This does not compile, at the first if block saying illegal start of expression. How do I implement the above where returning early from a method was considered the best way to handle things.
Just to clarify things:
The above problem technically reduces to
def test(testString:String) = {
if(testString == "Chennai"){
println("correct")
return true
}
println("outside if")
false
}
test("Chennai")
The above will not compile at line return true. There is no problem with the first xml xpath and text.. please ignore all of it and check the conditional return from the method.

Answer 1

Next time please submit codes without the need to stubb a lot of functionality. The stabbed snipeet, that compiles:
object StringUtils{
def isEmpty(s: String) = true
}
object aoc4Xml{
def \\(s: String) = {
new {def text = "test"}
}
}
object DateUtils{
def getDateFromFormatOfString(s: String) = 0
}
object Main {
val date = "date"
def addErrorStringFromString(s: String) = println(s)
object aoc4Dto{
var finYearStartDate = 0
var finYearEndDate = 0
}
def parseDates: Boolean = {
var date = (aoc4Xml \\ "FinancialStmtFromDate" text)
if (StringUtils.isEmpty(date)) {
addErrorStringFromString("Please enter the financial year start date")
return false
}
aoc4Dto.finYearStartDate = DateUtils.getDateFromFormatOfString(date)
date = (aoc4Xml \\ "FinancialStmtToDate" text)
if (StringUtils.isEmpty(date)) {
addErrorStringFromString("Please enter the financial year end date")
return false
}
aoc4Dto.finYearEndDate = DateUtils.getDateFromFormatOfString(date)
true
}
}
The difference(just enclose with bracers):
var date = (aoc4Xml \\ "FinancialStmtFromDate" text)
date = (aoc4Xml \\ "FinancialStmtToDate" text)
And your second snippet has another error:
def test(testString:String): Boolean = {
if(testString == "Chennai"){
println("correct")
return true
}
println("outside if")
false
}
just provide returning type:
def test(testString:String): Boolean = {