getView returning null when fragment has been created from an activity

Question

I have a working tablet application which I am now trying to make work on phones too. On a table there is two fragments on the screen a list fragment and a details fragment. When on a phone the list fragment appears and creates a new activity when a list item is pressed. This activity simply creates the fragment in the onCreate() method and commits it to the screen as follows.

// Place an DeallDetailsFragment as our content pane
DealDetailsFragment f = new DealDetailsFragment();
getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().add(android.R.id.content, f).commit();
getFragmentManager().executePendingTransactions();

This is working as expected however from within this activity I need to tell the fragment what details to load and display. In my DealDetailsFragment class I have a updateDeal() method which updates the content as follows.

if (deal==null) { // could be null if user presses the loading deals list item before it loads
    return;
}
this.deal=deal;
if (dealTitle==null) { // get the view objects only once
    holder = new ViewHolder();  
    holder.dealHeat=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_heat_textView);
    holder.dealPrice=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_price_textView);
    holder.dealRetailer=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_retailer_textView);
    holder.dealTitle=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_title_textView);
    holder.dealDesc=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_desc_textView);
    holder.goToButton= (LinearLayout) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_goToDeal);
    holder.dealImage=(ImageView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_imageView);
    holder.postedBy=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_poster_textView);
    holder.datePosted=(TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.dealDetails_date_textView);

getView() is returning null when the application is ran on a phone where there is only a single fragment shown.

Any ideas? Unfortunately, there is not many fragment examples available online.

At what point in the Fragment lifecycle is the updateDeal method called? — Jason Robinson, Feb 28 '12 at 19:48
what method specifically? onCreate? onCreateView? onStart? onResume? — Sam Judd, Feb 28 '12 at 20:26
See the following topic: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14789519/fragment-getview-always-returning-null-for-fragments-created-by-a-fragmentstat — Alex, Jun 24 '13 at 10:27

score 132 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 01 '16 at 13:24

132

Move your method call to be executed during onCreateView, and use the view you are inflating for reference instead of getView(). See the fragment lifecycle for more information: https://developer.android.com/guide/components/fragments.html#Creating

and the documentation of getView() that explains why it returns null before onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) returns:

getView() Get the root view for the fragment's layout (the one returned by onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle)), if provided.

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Fragment.html#getView()

edited Dec 01 '16 at 13:24

et_l

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answered Feb 29 '12 at 19:22

Jason Robinson

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1

Perfect! Fortunately, it only too me 1 hour before finding this answer :). – Blake Mumford May 11 '13 at 03:35
2

finding view this way will provided a new view, but i want the reference of the same view?? – Muhammad Babar May 29 '13 at 10:23
4

Any idea why getView() can return null, even after onCreateView() has been called? – Andrew Orobator Dec 22 '14 at 03:01
5

@AndrewOrobator make sure you're calling it during or after `onViewCreated()` in the lifecycle. Also make sure you're actually returning a non-null View during `onCreateView()`. – Jason Robinson Dec 22 '14 at 16:45
You saved my minute . :D – Adi Mar 29 '17 at 02:51

score 25 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 08 '20 at 19:34

25

Moving the method to onCreateView() did not help me.so... Create a global variable mView

protected View mView;

and in onCreateView()

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, @Nullable ViewGroup container, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  Log.d(TAG, "oncreateView");
  super.onCreateView(inflater, container, savedInstanceState);

  View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_secure_cloud_drive_folder, container, false);
  this.mView = view;
  return view;
}

and the replace all your getView() with mView

edited Apr 08 '20 at 19:34

Jared Burrows

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answered Aug 17 '15 at 08:46

spaceMonkey

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Also, set the mView = null inside onDetach() method to avoid memory leak – Rahul Chaurasia Aug 10 '17 at 10:24
By using this, it becomes mView=null in certain scenario that causes crash in my app due to null point exception in viewbyId. App works fine in my mobile but I'm getting 4% crash because of this. Any idea on how to prevent this ? – Pradeep Behera Oct 08 '19 at 17:27
2

What is the difference to just call `getView()`? – Pedro Rodrigues Jan 05 '20 at 14:13

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 18 '16 at 11:33

8

You can fix that by putting your code inside the onViewCreated()-method, which you should override. Don't forget to call super() on it.

edited Aug 18 '16 at 11:33

HopefullyHelpful

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answered Apr 01 '16 at 18:17

Joaquin Iurchuk

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Somehow this is the best answer and underappreciated. I don't see why you should put your code in onCreateView if it has nothing to do with the inflation. You should just be a bit more serious, replace "doing X-things by" "put your code into the onViewCreated method". – HopefullyHelpful Aug 18 '16 at 10:00
There are situations where you need `getView()` outside of the lifecycle methods. – Jeff Jones Aug 25 '16 at 19:24

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 22 '16 at 21:03

You must check the Android Lifecycle to understand WHY is it null on onAttach(...) function.

The first function called when fragment is created is added is onAttach(), but actually no view has been created. That's why null is returned when you try to access within this call.

Next function is onCreate()... but there is no view created yet!!!!

The third function called is onCreateView(), and it's here where you have to indicate which is the view attached to this fragment.... And it's only from this call where a view object exists and can be accessed.

Read and learn the full lifecycle here.

Greetings

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 18 '17 at 04:55

2

Because onCreate() is called before onCreateView() , whether you inflate a view in onCreateView() or not, you'll get nothing through getView() in onCreate(), because in that time , onCreate() has not been called yet .

Android Lifecycle

edited Oct 18 '17 at 04:55

Ajay

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answered Apr 20 '17 at 06:09

Jack Shen

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I think you should add a source or something like this: http://i.imgur.com/6Jl56FA.jpg – Teocci Apr 20 '17 at 06:18

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 16 '16 at 13:46

it becomes null basically because you call getview() before the view being inflated. Create a View object and fill using inflaterand then find your UI element see code below

  View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_albumslist, container, false);
        TextView t= (TextView)view.findViewById(R.id.txtTest);
        t.setText(strtext);
        return view;

getView returning null when fragment has been created from an activity

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