I have started learning how to code in Android Studio have run into a problem. I've searched for about 9 hours and tried everything I could think of with my limited understanding of android studio.
Details: After learning from this tutorial, I tried integrating banner ads just to learn how to do it. I used this tutorial to create the ad. I think the problem is because I have the setContentView function use my custom GamePanel class because if I use R.layout.activity_game (main layout) it doesn't give me an error, but I couldn't find a way to fix this. I tried to start another activity when the player dies, but that didn't seem to work. After, I tried to change the contentView from inside GamePanel update method, but all that did was stop the game and make it not respond to input.
Error:
06-09 12:48:22.584 6187-6187/coldwarcore.aliens E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: coldwarcore.aliens, PID: 6187
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{coldwarcore.aliens/coldwarcore.aliens.Game}: java.lang.NullPointerException
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2429)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2493)
at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:166)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1283)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5584)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1268)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1084)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at coldwarcore.aliens.Game.onCreate(Game.java:25)
at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5447)
at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1094)
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2393)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2493)
at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:166)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1283)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5584)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1268)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1084)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Source code: Main Activity:
public class Game extends Activity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN,WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN);
setContentView(new GamePanel(this));
//if I put the ad code here, I get the error mentioned above
}
activity_game.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="coldwarcore.aliens.Game">
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello World!" />
<com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView
android:id="@+id/adView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
ads:adSize="BANNER"
ads:adUnitId="@string/banner_ad_unit_id">
</com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView>
</RelativeLayout>
GamePanel:
public class GamePanel extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback
{
public GamePanel(Context context)
{
super(context);
//add the callback to the surfaceholder to intercept events
getHolder().addCallback(this);
thread = new MainThread(getHolder(), this);
//make gamePanel focusable so it can handle events
setFocusable(true);
}
EDIT: I used this code to create an ad inside GamePanel.
mInterstitialAd = new InterstitialAd(getContext());
mInterstitialAd.setAdUnitId("ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/1033173712");
AdRequest adRequest = new AdRequest.Builder()
.addTestDevice(((Game)getContext()).getHASHID()) //gets device HASH ID
.build();
mInterstitialAd.loadAd(adRequest);
Then used: if (mInterstitialAd.isLoaded()) { System.out.println("ad is showing"); mInterstitialAd.show(); } else System.out.println("ad not loaded"); to check if it is loaded, but the if statement didn't write anything, so there must be a problem with the isLoaded() function. When this didn't work, I tried to force the show() method outside the if, because I know the ad must be already loaded by the time it has to show it, but that didn't work either. Is there any other way to make this work? Or is there any way to switch to another activity from GamePanel and then back again?
