Possible bug in Patient.addIdentifier allowing null identifiers

Development
1

Hi everyone,

While reviewing Patient.java in openmrs-core, I noticed that the method addIdentifier(PatientIdentifier) may add a null value to the identifiers set when a null parameter is passed.

This could lead to unexpected null entries and potential NullPointerExceptions later in the code.

I wanted to confirm if this behavior is unintended and whether I should create a JIRA ticket and submit a PR to fix this.

Thanks, Siddhi

2

null patient identifiers are rejected on validation, so before they hit the database. We generally don’t perform validation in the setters on data classes themselves.

3

Thanks for the clarification! I understand now that validation is handled earlier in the flow and that setters in domain objects are intentionally kept free of validation logic.

4

If there are any starter or intro-level issues in openmrs-core or related modules that need help, I’d be happy to pick one up.