throw JedisDataException when sending NULL values to redis as it is not a valid value in the protocol

src/main/java/redis/clients/util/SafeEncoder.java

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package redis.clients.util;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 
 import redis.clients.jedis.Protocol;
+import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisDataException;
 import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisException;
 
 /**
@@ -12,6 +13,10 @@ import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisException;
 public class SafeEncoder {
     public static byte[] encode(final String str) {
         try {
+            if (str == null) {
+                throw new JedisDataException(
+                        "value sent to redis cannot be null");
+            }
             return str.getBytes(Protocol.CHARSET);
         } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
             throw new JedisException(e);