#1150 "EmptyExpression" for valid statements!

[Jimmy Profit]

Hello,

Here a simple ECMAScript function:

function f(a){
    a.case.flag = 1;
    return;
}

PMD Rule designer analyzes this assignment as an "EmptyExpression".
Obviouly the problem is the keyword 'case'. The problem is the same if I use 'return' 'for' ... in place of 'case'.

A PMD rule see this "EmptyExpression" in place of an assignment. And this is a big problem because this is a valid assignment.

Here un interactive session with the Rhino shell:

Rhino 1.7 release 3 2011 07 19
js> var a = { };
js> a.case = { };
[object Object]
js> a.case.flag = 1;
1
js> a["case"].flag
1
js>

As expected "a.case.flag = 1" is valid assignment.

Regards