NullPointerException on button's OnClickListener

Question

I'm writing an Android game app for an Artificial Intelligence semester project. I'm getting a NullPointerException on Line 38 of the main class, which is the setOnClickListener for the new game button from the launch screen.

Relevant sections Class WW3Activity:

public class WW3Activity extends Activity
{
public boolean DebugMode = false;
private String buildMenuEmplacement = ""; 

//[Initialization] Called when the app is first launched
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{           
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.startscreen);

    //[Initialization] Makes the button resources available to the class
    final Button newGame = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonNewGame);
    final Button loadGame = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonLoadGame);
    final Button exitGame = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonExit);
    final Button about = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonAbout);
    final Button troll = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonTroll);
    final Button debug = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonDebug);

    //[Action] When user pushes the New Game button
    newGame.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
    {
        public void onClick(View v)
        {
            // Perform action on click
            setContentView(R.layout.main);
            buttonInitialize();
        }
    });
    //[Action] When user pushes the Exit Game button
    exitGame.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
    {
        public void onClick(View v)
        {
            // Perform action on click
            finish();
        }
    });
    //[Action] When user pushes the Debug Mode button
    exitGame.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
    {
        public void onClick(View v)
        {
            // Perform action on click
            DebugMode = true;
        }


      });
    }

    //[Initialization] Gets the emplacements ready to be pushed
   public void buttonInitialize()
   {
        final ImageView pe1 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.playerEmplacement1);
        final ImageView pe2 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.playerEmplacement2);
        final ImageView pe3 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.playerEmplacement3);
        final ImageView pc = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.playerCity);
        final ImageView ee1 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.enemyEmplacement1);
        final ImageView ee2 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.enemyEmplacement2);
        final ImageView ee3 = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.enemyEmplacement3);
        final ImageView ec = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.enemyCity);

        registerForContextMenu(findViewById(R.id.playerEmplacement1));
        registerForContextMenu(findViewById(R.id.playerEmplacement2));
        registerForContextMenu(findViewById(R.id.playerEmplacement3));
        registerForContextMenu(findViewById(R.id.enemyEmplacement1));
        registerForContextMenu(findViewById(R.id.enemyEmplacement2));
        registerForContextMenu(findViewById(R.id.enemyEmplacement3));

        /*empAction(pe1);
        empAction(pe2);
        empAction(pe3);
        empAction(ee1);
        empAction(ee2);
        empAction(ee3);
        empAction(ec);
        empAction(pc);*/
    }

And the LogCat:

10-24 13:29:12.297: D/dalvikvm(440): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 40K, 4% free 6356K/6595K, paused 177ms
10-24 13:29:12.303: I/dalvikvm-heap(440): Grow heap (frag case) to 6.653MB for 409616-byte allocation
10-24 13:29:12.503: D/dalvikvm(440): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed <1K, 5% free 6755K/7047K, paused 128ms
10-24 13:29:12.614: D/dalvikvm(440): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 400K, 8% free 6762K/7303K, paused 57ms
10-24 13:29:12.663: D/AndroidRuntime(440): Shutting down VM
10-24 13:29:12.663: W/dalvikvm(440): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40014760)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{edu.mbijou.cosc473.ww3/edu.mbijou.cosc473.ww3.WW3Activity}: java.lang.NullPointerException
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1815)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1831)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.ActivityThread.access$500(ActivityThread.java:122)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1024)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:132)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4123)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:491)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:841)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:599)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at edu.mbijou.cosc473.ww3.WW3Activity.onCreate(WW3Activity.java:38)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:4397)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1048)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1779)
10-24 13:29:12.683: E/AndroidRuntime(440):  ... 11 more

startscreen.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >
    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/logo"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="493dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="217dp"
        android:src="@drawable/logo" >
    </ImageView>
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonNewGame"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_below="@+id/logo"
        android:layout_marginLeft="200dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="133dp"
        android:clickable="true"
        android:text="@string/bNewGame" >
    </Button>
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonLoadGame"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/buttonNewGame"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/buttonTroll"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/buttonTroll"
        android:clickable="true"
        android:text="@string/bLoadGame" >
    </Button>    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonExit"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignBaseline="@+id/buttonLoadGame"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/buttonLoadGame"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/buttonDebug"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/buttonDebug"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/buttonLoadGame"
        android:clickable="true"
        android:text="@string/bExit" >
    </Button>
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonAbout"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/buttonNewGame"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/buttonNewGame"
        android:layout_below="@+id/buttonNewGame"
        android:layout_marginTop="50dp"
        android:text="@string/bAbout" />
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonTroll"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignBaseline="@+id/buttonAbout"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/buttonAbout"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:text="@string/bTrollface" />
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonDebug"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/buttonTroll"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/buttonTroll"
        android:layout_marginLeft="200dp"
        android:text="@string/bDebug" />
</RelativeLayout>

I originally had a NullPointerException because I declared the set of buttons before I changed the layout view to startscreen, but I fixed that, and then this happened. Technically this IS homework, but I don't think that it warrants the homework tag because this isn't a homework-y type of problem, because the problem has nothing to do with the actual assignment itself.

Please add your startscreen.xml layout file. IMO the buttonNewGame is not in this layout. This is why findViewById returns null thus throwing a NullPointerException when trying to call a method of this button. — Ben Weiss, Oct 24 '11 at 13:52

score 31 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 21 '12 at 20:49

31

The only reason why findViewById() would return null is because the View you are looking for does not belong to the current View. (The View you set with setContentView()). If R.id.buttonNewGame is in R.layout.startscreen, try to clean and rebuild your project.

edited Sep 21 '12 at 20:49

Sam

86,580
20
181
179

answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:50

Blackbelt

156,034
29
297
305

I'll try a clean and rebuild. – Mike Oct 24 '11 at 13:52
1

what to do if we want to use the button of any other layout – user49557 Dec 03 '15 at 13:51

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:50

2

It would seem that newGame is null. Do you have multiple layouts named startscreen.xml? A common cause of this exception would be creating buttonNewGame in one version but not the other; this would cause the code to build correctly but fail at runtime, exactly as you're describing, when the active layout failed to specify the button.

answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:50

mah

39,056
9
76
93

Thank you for this answer, I was starting to go crazy because the button was not part of another view or anything like that. My problem was that I was in the process of supporting for multiple screen sizes and I added a button that was not in all the layouts. – ClassA Oct 03 '17 at 05:50

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:52

0

I see this error periodically, the trouble in my case is that android inpropertly maintaining same id's in different layouts. Make sure that your id's are unique not inside only one layout, but in entire application.

answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:52

Raiv

5,731
1
33
51

and where are your R.id.playerEmplacement1 and so on declared? – Raiv Oct 24 '11 at 13:55
well, but in your activity you use startscreen, all elements from main.xml are unavailable here... move your buttonInitialize function to activity corresponding your main.xml – Raiv Oct 24 '11 at 13:59
Clicking new game sets the contentview to main, and that's where the emplacements and cities are declared and used. – Mike Oct 24 '11 at 14:00
i mean create different activity instead of calling setContentView(main.xml) – Raiv Oct 24 '11 at 14:00
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4018772/calling-setcontentview-multiple-times - it isn't that easy to change context view once created. – Raiv Oct 24 '11 at 14:04

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:53

0

Set a break point on line 38 and launch the debugger. You're most likely trying to reference a button outside of the xml file R.layout.startscreen which would throw a NullPointerException.

answered Oct 24 '11 at 13:53

Ljdawson

12,091
11
45
60

NullPointerException on button's OnClickListener

4 Answers4

Linked