According to the spec ,
XPath.evaluate(java.lang.String expression, InputSource source, QName returnType) should throw NPE if returnType is null

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java -version
java version "1.5.0-beta2"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0-beta2-b37)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0-beta2-b37, mixed mode)

javac Test5.java
java Test5
checkXPath30() - failed , expecting NPE - but XPathExpressionException thrown
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Testcase - Test5.java & widgets.xml attached
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//checkXPath30()
import javax.xml.xpath.XPath;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathConstants;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpression;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactoryConfigurationException;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpressionException;

import org.xml.sax.InputSource;

import java.io.FileInputStream;


public class Test5 {
   
   String xmlPath = "";
   FileInputStream fis30 = null;
   InputSource iSource30 = null;
   Test5 () {
     xmlPath = "./";
   }
    
    // main()
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        Test5 test5 = new Test5();
        test5.checkXPath30();
    
    }// end main()
    

    // test for XPath.evaluate(java.lang.String expression, InputSource source, QName returnType)
    // returnType is null , should throw NPE
    private void checkXPath30() {
     try{
     fis30 = new FileInputStream(xmlPath+"widgets.xml");
          iSource30 = new InputSource(fis30);
     XPathFactory xpathFactory = XPathFactory.newInstance();
     if( xpathFactory instanceof XPathFactory ){
     XPath xpath = xpathFactory.newXPath();
if ( xpath instanceof XPath ){
String expression = "/widgets/widget[@name='a']/@quantity";
String quantity = (String) xpath.evaluate(expression, iSource30, null);
System.out.println("checkXPath30() : failed - expected NPE not thrown ");
}
     else{
     System.out.println("checkXPath30() failed - xpath not instance of XPath");
     }
     }else{
     System.out.println(" checkXPath30() failed - creating instance of XPathFactory ");
     }
     }catch(XPathFactoryConfigurationException xpfce ){
     System.out.println(" checkXPath30() - failed , Default object model not available ");
     }catch(XPathExpressionException xpee ){
     System.out.println(" checkXPath30() - failed , expecting NPE - but XPathExpressionException thrown ");
     }catch(Exception e){
     System.out.println(" Exception thrown - checkXPath30() failed ");
     }
    }
    


}
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