In fragment class - Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void com.google.android.gms.common.api.GoogleApiClient.connect()' on a null object reference

Question

I'm trying to add a AutoCompleteTextView that will pull the location via GoogleApiClient. I tried many different options to make that work and I get the following error:

Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void com.google.android.gms.common.api.GoogleApiClient.connect()' on a null object reference

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong, or suggest how to improve that.

Here is the XML code:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="fill_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="com.freightos.priceestimator.MainActivity$ContainerFragment"
android:id="@+id/tabContainer">

<LinearLayout
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">
    <LinearLayout
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="50dp"
        android:gravity="center">

        <AutoCompleteTextView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/autocomplete"
            android:drawableLeft="@drawable/location_icon_s"
            android:drawablePadding="5dp"
            android:hint="Type in your Location" />

    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

And here is the ContainerFragment class:

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.AutoCompleteTextView;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.ToggleButton;
import com.google.android.gms.common.api.PendingResult;

import com.google.android.gms.common.api.GoogleApiClient;
import com.google.android.gms.common.api.ResultCallback;
import com.google.android.gms.location.places.Place;
import com.google.android.gms.location.places.PlaceBuffer;
import com.google.android.gms.location.places.Places;
import com.google.android.gms.location.places.ui.PlacePicker;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.LatLng;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.LatLngBounds;

import org.w3c.dom.Text;

/**
 * Created by Leonid on 6/30/2016.
 */
public class ContainerFragment extends Fragment {

    /**
     * The fragment argument representing the section number for this
     * fragment.
     */
//    public Button btnCallAPI2;

    public ContainerFragment() {
    }

    /**
     * Returns a new instance of this fragment for the given section
     * number.
     */
    private static final String ARG_SECTION_NUMBER = "section_number";

    /*** Start Location Parameters   *****/
    private AutoCompleteTextView autocomplete;
    private PlacePicker.IntentBuilder builder;
    private PlacesAutoCompleteAdapter mPlacesAdapter;
    private static final int PLACE_PICKER_FLAG = 1;

    private static final LatLngBounds BOUNDS_GREATER_SYDNEY = new LatLngBounds(
            new LatLng(-34.041458, 150.790100), new LatLng(-33.682247, 151.383362));
    protected GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient;

    /*** End Location Parameters   *****/

    public static ContainerFragment newInstance(int sectionNumber) {
        ContainerFragment fragment = new ContainerFragment();
        Bundle args = new Bundle();
        args.putInt(ARG_SECTION_NUMBER, sectionNumber);
        fragment.setArguments(args);
        return fragment;
    }

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                             Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.container_main, container, false);

        /***** Start of Location Finder  ****/
        autocomplete = (AutoCompleteTextView) rootView.findViewById(R.id.autocomplete);
        mPlacesAdapter = new PlacesAutoCompleteAdapter(this.getActivity(), android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,mGoogleApiClient, BOUNDS_GREATER_SYDNEY, null);
        autocomplete.setOnItemClickListener(mAutocompleteClickListener);
        autocomplete.setAdapter(mPlacesAdapter);
        /***** End of Location Finder  ****/


        return rootView;
    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
        if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
            switch (requestCode) {
                case PLACE_PICKER_FLAG:
                    Place place = PlacePicker.getPlace(data, this.getActivity());
                    autocomplete.setText(place.getName() + ", " + place.getAddress());
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        mGoogleApiClient.connect();
    }

    @Override
    public void onStop() {
        mGoogleApiClient.disconnect();
        super.onStop();
    }

    private AdapterView.OnItemClickListener mAutocompleteClickListener
            = new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
            final PlacesAutoCompleteAdapter.PlaceAutocomplete item = mPlacesAdapter.getItem(position);
            final String placeId = String.valueOf(item.placeId);
            PendingResult<PlaceBuffer> placeResult = Places.GeoDataApi
                    .getPlaceById(mGoogleApiClient, placeId);
            placeResult.setResultCallback(mUpdatePlaceDetailsCallback);
        }
    };
    private ResultCallback<PlaceBuffer> mUpdatePlaceDetailsCallback
            = new ResultCallback<PlaceBuffer>() {
        @Override
        public void onResult(PlaceBuffer places) {
            if (!places.getStatus().isSuccess()) {
                Log.e("place", "Place query did not complete. Error: " +
                        places.getStatus().toString());
                return;
            }
            // Selecting the first object buffer.
            final Place place = places.get(0);
        }
    };
}

Answer 1

You haven't initialised mGoogleApiClient object. Please do the following:

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
    .....

    // First we need to check availability of play services
    if (checkPlayServices()) {

        // Building the GoogleApi client
        buildGoogleApiClient();
    }

    ....
}

checkPlayServices method:

private boolean checkPlayServices() {
    int resultCode = GooglePlayServicesUtil
            .isGooglePlayServicesAvailable(this);
    if (resultCode != ConnectionResult.SUCCESS) {
        if (GooglePlayServicesUtil.isUserRecoverableError(resultCode)) {
            GooglePlayServicesUtil.getErrorDialog(resultCode, this,
                    PLAY_SERVICES_RESOLUTION_REQUEST).show();
        } else {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
                    "This device is not supported.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG)
                    .show();
            finish();
        }
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}

buildGoogleApiClient method:

protected synchronized void buildGoogleApiClient() {
    mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
            .addConnectionCallbacks(this)
            .addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
            .addApi(LocationServices.API).build();
}

please check out the following link for complete code: source