Disclaimer: I'm having a bad brain day, so if my logic is flawed let me know.

I have the following snippet of code:


        if (!collection && value == null) {
            // NULL in, NULL out.
            out = null;
        } else if (collection && value == null) {
            // If a Collection is expected but the value is NULL, just create an
            // empty Collection.
            out = new LinkedList<Object>();
        } else if (collection && String.class.equals(valueType)) {
            // If a Collection is expected but the value is a String, then the
            // Collection values must be parsed from the String.
            Collection<Object> collectionValues = new LinkedList<Object>();
*           for (String s : ((String)value).split("\\|")) {
                ...
            }
            out = collectionValues;
        }

In the line marked with an asterisk, the "split" method is underlined with the hint, "Dereferencing possible null pointer". I think you can always use the below logic to infer that "value" cannot be NULL there, which should be easy to implement (I assume so but I haven't looked at how the code works):

If you're evaluating an "else if" block, and if all but one of the conditions in a previous "if"/"else if" block in the chain are shared by the block being evaluated, then you can infer that the opposite of the remaining condition in the previous block must be true for the block being evaluated.

To make the logic simpler, all conditions should be rewritten to use only ANDs.

Ow, my brain hurts...