rs.next() check for empty recordset gives nullpointer

[Mike McMahon]

Hey Folks,
I'm trying to handle cases where a query results in no results. Instead of an error page, I'd like a friendly message.

Here's what I have:

String queryTextStnName = "SELECT DISTINCT TABLE.FIELD FROM TABLE";
//actual code uses a real SQL statement
Statement stmtStnName = con.createStatement();
rsStns = stmtStnName.executeQuery(queryTextStnName); 

if (rsStns.next()) {
do {
// print results
} while(rsStns.next());
//here I will do stuff with resulting records
}
else {
out.println("Record not found, query was:<br><br>"+queryTextStnName);
}

I found this snippet out on the net, and it looks simple, but I'm getting a nullpointerexception on the line with if (rsStns.next()) {

Am I missing something obvious?

Cheers,
Mike

[rogel garcia]

Can you post the stack trace?

[Mike McMahon]

Alas - My sql was botched. I ran it directly (through iSQLPlus) and found an error. I guess Java was right, and i was pointing at null!

[Jonas Isberg]

It looks like rsStns is null, which means executeQuery returns null...

I would have hoped that executeQuery either returned some
results (even if empty) or threw an exception though.

The stack trace would be great as rogel suggests.

Have you tried using a simpler sql question?

[Campbell Ritchie]

NullPointerExceptions are usually a beginning topic, but if there is an error in the SQL it might be better to describe the SQL in our databases forum, where I am moving this thread.