Application Crashes When Using a VideoView

Question

I have been trying to create an app that shows a VideoView and under it there are three buttons, as shown here in video.xml, which is part of a Relative Layout.

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button1"
    style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:text="Choice 1"
    android:onClick="choice1" />

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button2"
    style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignBaseline="@+id/button1"
    android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/button1"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:text="Choice 2" 
    android:onClick="choice2"/>

<Button
    android:id="@+id/button3"
    style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:text="Choice 3" />

<VideoView
    android:id="@+id/videoView1"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_above="@+id/button1"
    android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
    android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:onClick="choice3" />

Then, I have the following source code in VideoActivity.java, which is set under the onCreate Method.

View video = (VideoView) findViewById(R.id.videoView1);
    MediaController mediaController = new MediaController(this);
    mediaController.setAnchorView(video);
    ((VideoView) video).setMediaController(mediaController);
    video.setKeepScreenOn(true);
     Uri video1 = Uri.parse("android.resource://" + getPackageName() + "/"
                + R.raw.start);
              VideoView videoHolder = null;
            videoHolder.setVideoURI(video1);
            ((VideoView) video).start();
            video.requestFocus();

Here is the LogCat Report

I/ActivityManager( 149): Starting: Intent {cmp=com.apw.games.rpg.medieval.silver/.VideoActivity } from pid 2408
I/WindowManager( 149): Setting rotation to 1,
animFlags=1
I/ActivityManager( 149): Config changed: {scale=1.0 imsi 310/4 loc=en US touch=3 keys=2/1/1 nav=2/1 orien=2 layout-18 uiMode=17 seq=37}
DQuickSettings( 239): setGPSButton()
W/dalvikvm( 2408): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40018560_
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): FATAL_EXCEPTION: main
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): java.lang.RuntimeException:
Unable to start activity      ComponentInfo{com.apw.games.rpg.medieval.silver/com.apw.games.rpg.medieval.silver.VideoActivity}: java.lang.NullPointerException
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at Android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1658)
E/ANdroidRuntime( 2408): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1674)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:117)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handle.Message(ActivityThread.java931)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3694)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java.507)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:904)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:662)
E/AndroudRuntime( 2408): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): Caused by java.lang.NullPointerException
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at com.apw.games.rpg.medieval.silver.VideoActivity.onCreate(VideoActivity.java)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.app.Intrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java.1047)
E/AndroidRuntime( 2408): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1611)

post the logcat. exactly same means as Pragnani is saying right. — Ajay S, Mar 23 '13 at 21:48
When you say crash you should show crash report i.e logcat trace — Pragnani, Mar 23 '13 at 21:48
How do I see LogCat? I'm told by a ton of my friends that I should know what LogCat is but they will never tell me! — Alex Potter, Mar 23 '13 at 21:49

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

To be a little bit more precise... The following code could work but it's totally untested. If it does not work you should take a look into this thread: How to play videos in android from assets folder or raw folder?

VideoView video = (VideoView) findViewById(R.id.videoView1);
MediaController mediaController = new MediaController(this);
mediaController.setAnchorView(video);
video.setMediaController(mediaController);
video.setKeepScreenOn(true);
Uri videoUri = Uri.parse("android.resource://" + getPackageName() + "/" + R.raw.start);
video.setVideoURI(videoUri);
video.start();

Also...

VideoView videoHolder = null;
            videoHolder.setVideoURI(video1);`

Reason for your crash should be these two lines, because you are using videoHolder which must be null a this point - so you get a NullPointerException.

In general you should change the type of the video field to VideoView, so you do not need to cast to VideoView anywhere you use it.

Thanks Fish it works. Really helped me out. On April 25th, if you would like to see the app, go to Google Play and type in com.apw.games.rpg.medieval.silver, or, if you want the pre-release, email me at alex364981@gmail.com — Alex Potter, Mar 23 '13 at 23:51

Application Crashes When Using a VideoView

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