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This page walks you through a simple example to show how to use a type-checker in the Eclipse plugin. It shows how the Nullness Checker can be used to prevent null pointer exceptions.

Outline

1. Import checker-framework-tutorial

If you have not already, download the Eclipse projects. Begin by importing the checker-framework-tutorial project into your Eclipse workspace. Select from the menu, File->Import->Existing Project, then browse to the eclipse-projects/checker-framework-tutorial directory.

Open NullnessExample.java. It is a simple Java program with an obvious null pointer exception.

public class NullnessExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Object myObject = null;
        System.out.println(myObject.toString());
    }
}

2. Run the Nullness Checker

Run the Nullness Checker to see how it can warn you about this error, before you run the program.

  1. Right-click on NullnessExample.java.
  2. Open the "Checker Framework" sub-menu.
  3. Open the "Run Built-In Checker" sub-menu.
  4. Select "Nullness Checker".

The following error will be produced.

dereference of possibly-null reference myObject
        System.out.println(myObject.toString());

3. Correct the Code

Change myObject to some non-null value.

public class NullnessExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Object myObject = new Object();
        System.out.println(myObject.toString());
    }
}

4. Re-run the checker

Re-run the checker. No errors should be produced.

This was a very simple example to show how to use the Checker Framework in Eclipse. The next example is a little more complex.