allow optional fields in JSON object

The author field for postings is optional and we were logging
exceptions when it failed. This allows us to work around that.

2 files changed, 21 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONItem.java b/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONItem.java
index e260d55..536a514 100644
--- a/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONItem.java
+++ b/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONItem.java
@@ -16,14 +16,27 @@ public class JSONItem {
 		mLabel = labelField;
 	}
 
-	static protected String getField(JSONObject jso, String name) {
+	/**
+	 * retrieves a field. if def != null, it will be returned in the event the
+	 * field does not exist
+	 */
+	static protected String getField(JSONObject jso, String name, String def) {
 		try {
-			return jso.getString(name);
+			def = jso.getString(name);
 		}
 		catch(Throwable t) {
-			Log.e(LinaroConnect.TAG, "error getting '"+name+"'", t);
+			if (def == null)
+				Log.e(LinaroConnect.TAG, "error getting '"+name+"'", t);
 		}
-		return null;
+		return def;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * gets a "required" field. this will log an exception if the field does
+	 * not exist
+	 */
+	static protected String getField(JSONObject jso, String name) {
+		return getField(jso, name, null);
 	}
 
 	static protected String getFieldDecoded(JSONObject jso, String name) {
diff --git a/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONPostingItem.java b/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONPostingItem.java
index c79089b..46c607a 100644
--- a/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONPostingItem.java
+++ b/src/org/linaro/connect/JSONPostingItem.java
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ class JSONPostingItem extends JSONItem {
 	}
 
 	public String getAuthor() {
-		return getField(mJSO, "author");
+		String val = getField(mJSO, "author", "");
+		if ("".equals(val))
+			val = null;
+		return val;
 	}
 
 	public String getPubDate() {