title: Java - ignore exception and continue
body: <p>For my Java application, I am creating an instance of a user information object and populating it with a service that I don't control the source for. </p>
  
  <p>The code looks like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>// username given as parameter
  UserInfo ui = new UserInfo();
  try {
      DirectoryUser du = LDAPService.findUser(username);
      if (du!=null) {
         ui.setUserInfo(du.getUserInfo());
      }
  } catch (Exception e) {
      // Whatever
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If <code>LDAPService.findUser()</code> can't locate a user, it will throw a <code>NullPointerException</code> and grind the rest of my application to a stop. It's okay if the user information isn't populated, so I want to be able to continue without causing everything else to start throwing exceptions.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to do this?</p>