Error in Ternary Operator

Question

This is my code snippet ,

string.isBlank(distributorId) ? gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID):gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId);

why it is throwing me error Expression cannot be a statement

Thanks & Regards, Ravi

What is the return type of writeNullField() and writeStringField()? — TSmith, Apr 3 '20 at 9:15
WriteNullField() function writes null value to json and writeStringField() writes the string to json if the distributor id is not null thats why i am using ternary operator to check it is null or not — Ravi Teja, Apr 3 '20 at 9:16
this can help salesforce.stackexchange.com/questions/155008/… — User6670, Apr 3 '20 at 9:30

Keith C · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-03 10:50:04Z

This is an expression:

string.isBlank(distributorId) ? gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID):gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId)

whereas this is a statement:

Boolean b = string.isBlank(distributorId) ? gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID):gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId);

If you don't need the result of string.isBlank(distributorId) in later code, write this as a normal if statement:

if (string.isBlank(distributorId)) gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID);
else gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId);

or if you prefer:

if (string.isBlank(distributorId)) {
    gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID);
} else {
    gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId);
}

One should always prefer the latter, IMO. The former gets very tricky to read when you've got a bunch of them in a row. — sfdcfox, Apr 3 '20 at 12:17

Abhijith E · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-03 11:59:54Z

0

The below code is an expression

string.isBlank(distributorId) ? gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID):gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId);

to assign gen implementation can be

if(string.isBlank(distributorId)) gen.writeNullField(DISTRIBUTORID)
else gen.writeStringField(DISTRIBUTORID,distributorId)

answered Apr 3 '20 at 11:59

Abhijith E

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