variable?? is not checking for null ... please help

Hi all;

A little bit of a newbie with Freemarker, but according to the documentation
the following should work:

<#assign result = mypackage.function()!>
   <#if result??>
        result.function()
        .... do stuff, when result is NOT NULL


where mypackage.function has been passed into the Freemarker template before
processing. 

I know the mypackage,function works, and passes back valid objects. However,
when the Java function returns a null, the <#if result??> allows the null to
pass - causing a problem when I try to access result.function()


Can somebody please, explain why the above <#if> doesn't catch a null (and I
know a null is being passed in, due to logging).

Many thanks for any feedback,
Marc




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