datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to `null`'s for `String` class #1617

gkalnytskyi · 2019-04-24T05:11:26Z

Summary

The empty cell is not converted to (Double)null in Cucumber 4.3.0, as it happened in Cucumber 1.2.5

In Cucumber 1.2.5 empty cell was converted to null of type Double, when performing asMap(String,Double) table conversion. This no longer happens in Cucumber 4.3.0. I also couldn't find the way to override this behavior because just adding new DataTableType definition results in io.cucumber.datatable.DublicateTypeException.

typeRegistry.defineDataTableType(
    new DataTableType(
        Double.class,
        (TableCellTransformer<Double>) value ->
            (!value.isEmpty()) ? (Double.parseDouble(value)) : (null)));

Expected Behavior

Empty cell is converted to null by default for nullable number types (Double, Float, Int etc.). So that the table in the following step

Then the marker values are
  | M1   | 1.7988 |
  | M2   |        |
  | M3   | 1.5312 |
  | M4   | 1.7720 |
  | M5   | 1.6840 |
  | M6   | 0.0000 |
  | M9   |        |
  | M12 | 1.7002 |

is transformed to

{
    "M1": 1.7988,
    "M2": null,
    "M3": 1.5312,
    "M4": 1.7720,
    "M5": 1.6840,
    "M6": 0.0,
    "M9": null,
    "M12": 1.7002,
}

Current Behavior

Exception is thrown:
io.cucumber.datatable.CucumberDataTableException: 'java.util.List<java.util.List<java.lang.Double>>' could not transform

Possible Solution

Convert empty cells to null values, or allow to override default build-in type transformations.

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

The table in the following step:

Then the marker values are

| M1 | 1.7988 |
| M2 | |
| M3 | 1.5312 |
| M4 | 1.7720 |
| M5 | 1.6840 |
| M6 | 0.0000 |
| M9 | |
| M12 | 1.7002 |
Is trasformed to a Map

@then("Then the marker values are")
public void theMarkerValuesAre(DataTable expectedValues) {
Map<String, Double> expected = expectedValues.asMap(String.class, Double.class);
}
CucumberDataTableException is thrown with message: 'java.util.List<java.util.List<java.lang.Double>>' could not transform

Context & Motivation

It could be useful to represent the clearing of the input value in the form where user can enter/update several similar values in one go.

Your Environment

Version used: 4.3.0
Operating System and version: Windows 10
Link to your project: N/A

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

mpkorstanje · 2019-04-29T08:55:43Z

This should be fixed with a PR against cucumber/datatable.

To remain consistent the empty string should always be converted to null (so also for strings) and doing this would be a breaking change. Meaning this would have to be picked up with v5.

mpkorstanje · 2019-04-29T15:31:29Z

For the the time being fixing this for all types but String would be good too.

gkalnytskyi · 2019-05-01T12:27:50Z

@mpkorstanje , sorry for asking, but where I can find some information about how to build datatable project in monorepo?
At the moment when I try to build the datatable-parent project I receive several errors of the following type: package io.cucumber.datatable.dependency.com.fasterxml.jackson.databind does not exist

mpkorstanje · 2019-05-01T12:36:22Z

Try running mvn clean install first. The dependency module is shading in some jars. IDEA doesn't pick that up automatically.

gkalnytskyi · 2019-05-01T12:44:21Z

Thanks! That was easy.

mpkorstanje · 2019-06-07T12:03:24Z

Data table version still needs to be updated.

mpkorstanje · 2019-06-07T12:04:16Z

And then we have to wait for 5.0.0 to make the empty String convert to null.

Fixes: #1617

hsynkrtl · 2019-11-04T12:48:35Z

how can i now pass an empty string to a datatable.

  | street | houseNumber | city         | zip | country | state | type            |
  |      |           | Trololotown2 |     | AZ           | WY    | ADDRESS |

with the last update of datatable street and housNumber get [null] instead of an empty string "" which is valid for a string value to be empty.

mpkorstanje · 2020-01-09T18:58:28Z

@hsynkrtl you're replying to a closed issue which means that chances of anybody reading this are absolutely terrible. I happened to see this by sheer chance.

I would suggest that you make empty strings explicit by using the text [empty] and then prior to converting the entry to an object replace the "[empty]" strings with "".

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=null)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

@given

Empty data table cells can either be considered null or empty strings. For example table below can converted to a map as `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=}` or `{name=Aspiring Author, first publication=null}`. ```gherkin | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | ``` And as demonstrated #1617 there are good reasons to default the empty table cell to null. However this does not cover all cases. There are however good use cases to use the empty string. By declaring a table transformer with a replacement string it becomes possible to explicitly disambiguate between the two scenarios. For example: ```gherkin Given some authors | name | first publication | | Aspiring Author | | | Ancient Author | [blank] | ``` ```java @DataTableType(replaceWithEmptyString = "[blank]") public Author convert(Map<String, String> entry){ return new Author( entry.get("name"), entry.get("first publication") ); } @given("some authors") public void given_some_authors(List<Author> authors){ // authors = [Author(name="Aspiring Author", firstPublication=null), Author(name="Ancient Author", firstPublication=)] } ```

mpkorstanje transferred this issue from cucumber/common Apr 29, 2019

mpkorstanje added this to the 5.0.0 milestone Apr 29, 2019

mpkorstanje added Bug good first issue Good for newcomers 🙏 help wanted Help wanted - not prioritized by core team labels May 18, 2019

glibas pushed a commit to glibas/cucumber that referenced this issue Jun 7, 2019

Fixes cucumber/cucumber-jvm#1617 (cucumber-jwm) empty cells conversion

364f766

glibas self-assigned this Jun 7, 2019

mpkorstanje closed this as completed in cucumber/common@8d3601d Jun 7, 2019

mpkorstanje reopened this Jun 7, 2019

mpkorstanje modified the milestones: 5.0.0, 4.x.x Jun 7, 2019

cukebot closed this as completed in cucumber-attic/datatable-java@a1e8f03 Jun 7, 2019

mpkorstanje reopened this Jun 7, 2019

SabotageAndi closed this as completed in SpecFlowOSS/cucumber@0a2a3fb Jun 14, 2019

mpkorstanje reopened this Jun 14, 2019

mpkorstanje modified the milestones: 4.x.x, 5.0.0 Jun 15, 2019

mpkorstanje removed good first issue Good for newcomers 🙏 help wanted Help wanted - not prioritized by core team labels Jun 15, 2019

mpkorstanje changed the title ~~datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to null's for Double class~~ datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to null's for String class Jun 15, 2019

mpkorstanje mentioned this issue Jul 18, 2019

Empty DataTable with Enum not converted to empty list #1701

Closed

mpkorstanje added the Data Tables label Jul 31, 2019

mpkorstanje added a commit that referenced this issue Aug 1, 2019

[Core] Convert empty pickle table cells to null

d1ab701

Fixes: #1617

mpkorstanje added a commit that referenced this issue Aug 2, 2019

[Core] Convert empty pickle table cells to null

fd4ffdb

Fixes: #1617

mpkorstanje added a commit that referenced this issue Aug 2, 2019

[Core] Convert empty pickle table cells to null

cf64eff

Fixes: #1617

mpkorstanje mentioned this issue Aug 2, 2019

Upgrade dependencies #1722

Merged

11 tasks

mpkorstanje added a commit that referenced this issue Aug 11, 2019

[Core] Convert empty pickle table cells to null

64ce7ed

Fixes: #1617

mpkorstanje closed this as completed in #1722 Aug 11, 2019

mpkorstanje added a commit that referenced this issue Aug 11, 2019

[Core] Convert empty pickle table cells to null

13d88b1

Fixes: #1617

mpkorstanje mentioned this issue Jan 9, 2020

[Java] Support empty strings and null values in data tables #1857

Merged

7 tasks

Unequity mentioned this issue Feb 4, 2020

Unable to configure a DataTableType for a List<List<String>> type #1884

Closed

mpkorstanje pushed a commit that referenced this issue Sep 9, 2021

Fixes #1617 (cucumber-jwm) empty cells conversion

9bb0c15

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datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to `null`'s for `String` class #1617

datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to `null`'s for `String` class #1617

gkalnytskyi commented Apr 24, 2019

mpkorstanje commented Apr 29, 2019 •

edited

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mpkorstanje commented Apr 29, 2019

gkalnytskyi commented May 1, 2019

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mpkorstanje commented Jun 7, 2019

mpkorstanje commented Jun 7, 2019

hsynkrtl commented Nov 4, 2019 •

edited

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mpkorstanje commented Jan 9, 2020

datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to null's for String class #1617

datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to null's for String class #1617

Comments

gkalnytskyi commented Apr 24, 2019

Summary

Expected Behavior

Current Behavior

Possible Solution

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

Context & Motivation

Your Environment

mpkorstanje commented Apr 29, 2019 • edited Loading

mpkorstanje commented Apr 29, 2019

gkalnytskyi commented May 1, 2019

mpkorstanje commented May 1, 2019

gkalnytskyi commented May 1, 2019

mpkorstanje commented Jun 7, 2019

mpkorstanje commented Jun 7, 2019

hsynkrtl commented Nov 4, 2019 • edited Loading

mpkorstanje commented Jan 9, 2020

datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to `null`'s for `String` class #1617

datatable-java: Empty cell are not converted to `null`'s for `String` class #1617

mpkorstanje commented Apr 29, 2019 •

edited

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hsynkrtl commented Nov 4, 2019 •

edited

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