Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException with arrays?

Question

I've been coding for about an hour and a half now, and for some reason I am getting this error. The full error is:

"Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
    at HauntedHouse.livingRoomPath(HauntedHouse.java:98)
    at TestHauntedHouse.main(TestHauntedHouse.java:8)
Java Result: 1"

After I run the the methods from my main class in my test class.

I am creating a Haunted House maze sort of game, and you select which room to go to, and which objects to interact with, if you interact with an object the game ends. The code is below, my guess is that I make an error somewhere in the if statement that involves the Chest, because every other path works, including the Bathroom path, and selecting objects in there. It's just the living room path that doesn't seem to work when you select the chest object, but I am not sure what the error is, I am not getting any error red marks in my main class.

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;

public class HauntedHouse {

   final ImageIcon map1 = new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Damian\\Pictures\\Designs\\Halloween Contest Card.jpg");
   private String playerName, option1, option2, option3, option4, option5;
   private int result1;

   public void askName()
   {
      playerName = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "Welcome to Damian's Spooky Haunted House of      Harrowing. Please enter your name below to enter if you dare...",
                   "Welcoe to the Haunted House", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
   }

   public void showMap()
   {
      JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Are you ready to enter " + playerName + "? If not too bad, because here's where you start.",
                                   "Your Map", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
      JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "The red dot is you.",
                                   "Your Map", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE, map1);
   }

   public void livingRoomPath()
   {
      if (result1 == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)
      {
         String [] options1 = {"Living Room", "Dinning Room", "Upstairs"};

         int choice1 = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(
                       null,
                       "Where would you like to move to next?",
                       "Option",
                       JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
                       JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
                       null,
                       options1,
                       options1[2]);

           option1 = options1[choice1];
       }   

       if(option1.equals("Living Room"))
       {
          String [] options2 = {"Interact with an object", "Continue to Another Room"};

          int choice2 = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(
                        null,
                        "Welcome to the Living Room. The Master lives here. What would you like to do next?",
                        "Option",
                        JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
                        JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
                        null,
                        options2,
                        options2[1]);

           option2 = options2[choice2];

           if(option2.equals("Interact with an object"))
           {
              String [] options3 = {"Chest"};

              int choice3 = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(
                            null,
                            "Which object would you like to interact with?",
                            "Option",
                            JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
                            JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
                            null,
                            options3,
                            options3[0]);

                            option3 = options3[choice3];

               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Ghost escapes and scares you to death.",
                                            "Game Over", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "You've been scared. Thanks for playing!",
                                            "Game Over", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
            }

            else if(option2.equals("Continue to Another Room"))
            {
               String [] options4 = { "Bathroom",};

               int choice4 = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(
                             null,
                             "Where would you like to move to next?",
                             "Option",
                             JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
                             JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
                             null,
                             options4,
                             options4[0]);

               option4 = options4[choice4];
            }

            if(option4.equals("Bathroom"))
            {
               String [] options5 = { "Shower", "Mirror"};

               int choice5 = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(
                             null,
                             "Which object would you like to interact with?",
                             "Option",
                             JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
                             JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
                             null,
                             options5,
                             options5[1]);

                option5 = options5[choice5];
             }

             if(option5.equals("Shower"))
             {
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Room suddenly steams up and you feel fingers touching the back of your neck",
                                             "Game Over", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
             }
             else
             {
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "See a bloody face looking back at you.",
                                             "Game Over", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
             }
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "You've been scared. Thanks for playing!",
                                             "Game Over", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);

       }
   }
}

possible duplicate of [What is a Null Pointer Exception, and how do I fix it?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/218384/what-is-a-null-pointer-exception-and-how-do-i-fix-it) — Ajay S, Nov 01 '14 at 20:16
Not sure if it's a duplicate, I looked through some of the other questions involving this, but it's strange because I have several things in my code that repeat, and they all work, and then just one part of the code doesn't work. — beginnercoder010812, Nov 01 '14 at 20:19
Is this OK - `String [] options4 = { "Bathroom",};` the additional comma? — Leron, Nov 01 '14 at 20:25
I alreday fixed that, but yes it is ok, awkward, but ok it is. — beginnercoder010812, Nov 01 '14 at 20:28
I also noticed in the variable option3 I create a grey line is under it, but everything else is formatted the same way x.x — beginnercoder010812, Nov 01 '14 at 20:28
You have a line number and you know basically what's wrong. So, debug it to find out precisely what's wrong. — Hot Licks, Nov 01 '14 at 21:22

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 01 '14 at 20:33

0

It seems like it has to do with the fact that you didn't actually initialize the String option4, you declared it and then if the user clicked bathroom or something you initialized it with option4= options4[choice4]. And then in the else you ask if option4.equals(something) but (I'm guessing) since you initialized it inside the if block, when you call the method "equals" you're referencing a null variable. A possible solution would be to initialize each optionx variable with "", so that they're not null whenever you call a method from them

answered Nov 01 '14 at 20:33

sbacarob

2,092
1
14
19

Thank you. That seemed to fix it when I set them equal to "" in the start of the code. I did have to change the code at the end though, and turn the else statement into an if statement because when I had chosen the chest path, not only did the message "ghost scares you" come up, but also the "bloody face" mirror text as well. But it works fine now. – beginnercoder010812 Nov 01 '14 at 20:41

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException with arrays?

1 Answers1