[🚀 Feature]: JSpecify Nullness annotations for Java

[mk868]

Feature and motivation

I suggest adding JSpecify Nullness annotations to the Selenium framework code. These annotations allow you to specify which parameters and return values can be null. I'm aware that information about potential null values are already placed in the JavaDoc, but using annotations will be transparent to IDEs and static code analyzers. This will give developers better exposure of potential problems with their code in order to avoid NullPointerExceptions.

Using annotations will also improve interoperability with Kotlin.

Links:

• https://jspecify.dev/
• https://github.com/jspecify/jspecify

Usage example

The annotated method would look like this:

// ...

import org.jspecify.annotations.Nullable;

public interface WebElement extends SearchContext, TakesScreenshot {
// ...

@Nullable String getAttribute(String name);

// ...
}

Then the IDE/static code analyzer will display a warning about unsafe code:

var element = webDriver.findElement(By.tagName("img"));
var cssClasses = element.getAttribute("class").split(" "); // warning here, possible NullPointerException

[github-actions[bot]]

@mk868, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

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[mk868]

I can contribute to add these annotations. Can I just create a Pull Request with changes? Or Is additional analysis/confirmation needed for this feature by the Selenium team?

[diemol]

@mk868, yes, please. Focus on small PRs so they can be quickly reviewed and merged. It does not matter if you send many PRs. A PR with 2-3 files changed will be merged rather quickly, but a PR with 20 files changed will take several days.