[Java-gnome-developer] Question about DataColumn.getType()

[Clint A. <ca...@au...>]

The getType() method in DataColumn has a line that confuses me, maybe
someone can explain:

public Type getType(){
        if (type != null){
                Type t = type;
                type = null;    //  <-- here's the confusing line --
                return t;
        }else
      throw new RuntimeException("The type either hasn't been set, or has
already been requested and destroyed");
}

Why is type being set to null here?
The reason I'm worrying about this is that I'm trying to construct a
ListStore that is created with an array of DataColumnStrings.  When the
array gets passed to the ListStore constructor, the DataColumn.getType()
method is called, and now all my DataColumnStrings have a type of null!
:-/