[jira] [Created] (CAMEL-24103) camel-bean: bean method returning null CompletionStage causes opaque NullPointerException

["Federico Mariani (Jira)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Federico Mariani created CAMEL-24103:
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             Summary: camel-bean: bean method returning null CompletionStage causes opaque NullPointerException
                 Key: CAMEL-24103
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CAMEL-24103
             Project: Camel
          Issue Type: Bug
          Components: camel-bean
    Affects Versions: 4.21.0
            Reporter: Federico Mariani


If a bean method is declared to return {{CompletionStage}} / {{CompletableFuture}} but returns {{null}}, {{MethodInfo}} fails with an opaque NPE:

{code:java}
if (CompletionStage.class.isAssignableFrom(method.getReturnType())) {
    CompletionStage<?> completionStage = (CompletionStage<?>) result;   // result may be null
    completionStage.whenComplete(...)                                   // NPE here
{code}

The exchange ends up with {{java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.util.concurrent.CompletionStage.whenComplete(java.util.function.BiConsumer)" because "completionStage" is null}} — no hint about which bean/method caused it.

Returning a null future is bad practice, but the error should identify the bean method (e.g. a {{RuntimeCamelException}} naming the method), consistent with how other invalid results are reported.

*Reproducer*

Attached test {{BeanNullCompletionStageTest}} fails on main (4.22.0-SNAPSHOT) demonstrating the raw NPE as the exchange exception.

_This issue was found by an AI-assisted code review. Reported by Claude Code on behalf of [~fmariani] (GitHub: Croway)._



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