public static String blankAsNull(final String str) {
        if (str != null && (str.isEmpty() || isBlank(str))) {
            return null;
        } else {
            return str;
        }
    }
@return str as is, unless it is empty or blank, in which case return null.
stroom-util-shared/src/main/java/stroom/util/shared/StringUtil.java