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Java 11 - Unexpected NullPointerException When Using Optional in Spring Boot Service Layer

๐Ÿ‘€ Views: 96 ๐Ÿ’ฌ Answers: 1 ๐Ÿ“… Created: 2025-06-06
spring-boot optional nullpointerexception jpa Java

I'm working with a `NullPointerException` in my Spring Boot application while trying to handle an `Optional` value from a repository call. My service method is supposed to return a user by ID, but occasionally it throws an exception when I try to access the `User` object. Hereโ€™s the code snippet of the service method: ```java @Service public class UserService { @Autowired private UserRepository userRepository; public User getUserById(Long id) { return userRepository.findById(id) .orElseThrow(() -> new NoSuchElementException("User not found")); } } ``` The `findById` method is defined in my repository as follows: ```java public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> { Optional<User> findById(Long id); } ``` When I call `getUserById` with a valid ID, it works as expected, but sometimes when the ID does not exist, I get a `NullPointerException` instead of the `NoSuchElementException`. I've double-checked that the repository is correctly autowired, and I also enabled JPA logging. The logs show that the SQL query is executed as expected, returning no results. Iโ€™m unsure why it behaves this way. Could it be that thereโ€™s some concurrency scenario with my repository, or am I missing something in the way I'm handling the `Optional`? Iโ€™ve been trying to debug this by adding breakpoints and logging, but the scenario seems intermittent. Any insights would be greatly appreciated! This is part of a larger application I'm building. I'd really appreciate any guidance on this.