Banned user support

[bodand]

Whenever a user is banned or doesn't exist it just returns null. A banned user should be created with an isSuspended or something field, to be able to check it. Because Reddit returns this for banned users:

{"kind": "t2", "data": {"is_suspended": true, "name": "TheFlintASteel"}}

And just a 404 for not existent ones:

{"message": "Not Found", "error": 404}

EDIT:
I was being stupid, non-existent ones generate a different error, but this feature still wouldn't be bad for easier management of suspended users.

[mattbdean]

it just returns null

What is "it"? I don't understand what you're asking here. Can you provide the code you're using and a sample use case?

[bodand]

I got a NullPointerException so I assumed that reddit.user("") returned null, but it did not(the .about() call threw the exception) however, there don't seem to be a direct distinction between non-existent and banned users only with the exceptions they throw(NullPointer for banned and ApiException for not existing ones).
Here is the code in Scala(it's a Discord bot, but I mainly removed the parts that are not connected to JRAW)

val user = reddit.user(name)
if (user.isSelf) {
  BotUtils.sendMsg(event.getChannel, "Oh, that is me! Hello!")
} else try {
  val about = user.about() //this throws the exceptions
  /*...*/
} catch {
  case _: ApiException =>
    /*...If the user doesn't exist and reddit returns 404...*/
  case _: NullPointerException =>
    /*...If the user is banned...*/
  case e: Exception =>
    logger.error(s"Unknown error occurred: ${e.getClass.toString}: ${e.getMessage}")
}

I suggested that instead of throwing a NullPointerException the .about() call could still create a user and it should have a suspended field that can be checked
Like this

val user = reddit.user(name)
val about = user.about()
if (about.isSuspended) {
  /*The user is suspended*/
} else (about.isNotExistent) { //needs a better naming
  /*User doesn't exist and reddit returned 404*/
} else {
  /* The user is normal a user and about can be used safely */
}

[mattbdean]

Can you post the stacktrace of the NPE?

[bodand]

Sorry for late response, here it is.

java.lang.NullPointerException: Null created
	at net.dean.jraw.models.$AutoValue_Account.<init>($AutoValue_Account.java:36)
	at net.dean.jraw.models.AutoValue_Account.<init>(AutoValue_Account.java:26)
	at net.dean.jraw.models.AutoValue_Account$MoshiJsonAdapter.fromJson(AutoValue_Account.java:110)
	at net.dean.jraw.models.AutoValue_Account$MoshiJsonAdapter.fromJson(AutoValue_Account.java:29)
	at net.dean.jraw.models.internal.AutoValue_RedditModelEnvelope$MoshiJsonAdapter.fromJson(AutoValue_RedditModelEnvelope.java:38)
	at net.dean.jraw.models.internal.AutoValue_RedditModelEnvelope$MoshiJsonAdapter.fromJson(AutoValue_RedditModelEnvelope.java:17)
	at com.squareup.moshi.JsonAdapter$2.fromJson(JsonAdapter.java:128)
	at net.dean.jraw.databind.RedditModelAdapterFactory$StaticAdapter.fromJson(RedditModelAdapterFactory.kt:112)
	at com.squareup.moshi.JsonAdapter.fromJson(JsonAdapter.java:35)
	at com.squareup.moshi.JsonAdapter.fromJson(JsonAdapter.java:39)
	at net.dean.jraw.references.UserReference.about(UserReferences.kt:36)
	at com.infosoftcorp.wordpress.redditbot.eventhandle.events.UserMentionedEvent$.handleEvent(UserMentionedEvent.scala:18)
	at com.infosoftcorp.wordpress.redditbot.eventhandle.RedditEvents.onMessageRecieved(RedditEvents.scala:64)
	at sx.blah.discord.api.events.EventDispatcher$MethodEventHandler.handle(EventDispatcher.java:680)
	at sx.blah.discord.api.events.EventDispatcher.lambda$null$17(EventDispatcher.java:610)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

[mattbdean]

Can you given an example of a user that's banned? That NPE is definitely a bug

[bodand]

I always use u/TheFlintASteel if that is what you are asking for.
Reddit calls it "suspended".

[mattbdean]

Fixed with commit 54dda0e.

Use UserReference.query() instead of UserReference.about():

AccountQuery query = redditClient.user("TheFlintASteel").query();
if (query.getStatus() == AccountStatus.SUSPENDED) {
    // do something
} else if (query.getStatus() == AccountStatus.NON_EXISTENT) {
    // do something
} else {
    Account account = query.getAccount();
    // do something
}