Merge pull request #114 from NASA-PDS/reg-mgr-111

NASA-PDS/registry-mgr#111: Update exception to message handling

src/main/java/gov/nasa/pds/registry/common/util/ExceptionUtils.java

@@ -6,24 +6,23 @@
  * 
  * @author karpenko
  */
-public class ExceptionUtils
-{
-    /**
-     * Extract original exception message from a stack trace. 
-     * @param ex Exception object
-     * @return Original error message
-     */
-    public static String getMessage(Exception ex)
-    {
-        if(ex == null) return "";
-
-        Throwable tw = ex;
-        while(tw.getCause() != null)
-        {
-            tw = tw.getCause();
-        }
-
-        return tw.getMessage();
+public class ExceptionUtils {
+  /**
+   * Extract original exception message from a stack trace.
+   * 
+   * @param ex Exception object
+   * @return Original error message
+   */
+  public static String getMessage(Exception ex) {
+    Throwable tw = ex;
+    while (tw.getCause() != null) {
+      tw = tw.getCause();
     }
-
+    // if the user is going to see "null" do a stack trace to see 
+    // where/why it became null and fix it there by adding/keeping
+    // a good message.
+    if (tw.getMessage() == null)
+      ex.printStackTrace();
+    return tw.getMessage();
+  }
 }