Remove embedded null check with 'Optional' in Java 8

Question

I replaced the following code:

if (status.getPlace() == null) {
    row.set("CountryCode", "Unknown");
    row.set("Country", "Unknown");
} else {
    if (status.getPlace().getCountryCode() == null) {
        row.set("CountryCode", "Unknown");
    } else {
        row.set("CountryCode", status.getPlace().getCountryCode());
    }
    if (status.getPlace().getCountry() == null) {
        row.set("Country", "Unknown");
    } else {
        row.set("Country", status.getPlace().getCountry());
    }
}

With this:

String countryCode = Optional.ofNullable(status.getPlace())
        .filter(p -> p.getCountryCode() != null)
        .map(Place::getCountryCode)
        .orElse("Unknown");
row.set("CountryCode", countryCode);

String country = Optional.ofNullable(status.getPlace())
        .filter(p -> p.getCountry() != null)
        .map(Place::getCountry)
        .orElse("Unknown");
row.set("Country", country);

It's working as expected but somehow I think I can do better. I still have a 'null' check in there.

.filter(p -> p.getCountryCode() != null)

Is there a way to avoid the above null check?

Answer 1

You don't need the null check - .filter(p -> p.getCountry() != null). Remove this and your code should work fine.

Optional.map() returns an Optional instance itself. So no need to apply the null check.