Arduino 1.5.x IDE Throws nullPointer Exceptions for Detectable Errors due to Preferences::get

[thisdroneeatspeople]

All of the calls to prefs.get() will throw exceptions if the key does not exist. For example, if you leave out bootloader.tool, and attempt to burn a bootloader, you will get the following error:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at processing.app.debug.BasicUploader.burnBootloader(BasicUploader.java:276)

Suggestion: modify the get method of Preferences to return a default string instead of a null pointer when a key doesn't exist, or wrap all calls to get() with a try/catch such that the exception is correctly captured and a meaningful message can be returned to the user.

[cmaglie]

Fixed this by throwing an exception and catching it to show a better error message.
8ab419f
C