NullPointerException error when retrieving a string from an XML file

Question

My title is not that great given that I'm not entirely too sure on how to word it, but the issue is that I have created the following method:

private static int createItem(Document xml) throws JDOMException, IOException{
    Element element = xml.getRootElement();
    Namespace ns = element.getNamespace();

    String itemName = xml.getRootElement().getChild("itemName", ns).getText();

    Element newItem = new Element("createItem", ns);
    newItem.addContent(new Element("shopKey", ns).addContent(key));
    newItem.addContent(new Element("itemName", ns).addContent(itemName));

    Document itemIDResponse = post("/createItem", new Document(element));
}

With the purpose of creating an item and prepping it to send it to a POST request. I have a feeling my entire method is wrong though, but it has lead me some errors which I have fixed, except now there's finally one last error left which is:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
        at TestPostRequester.createItem(TestPostRequester.java:56)
        at TestPostRequester.main(TestPostRequester.java:38)

Which highlights lines 56:

String itemName = xml.getRootElement().getChild("itemName", ns).getText();

and the method that calls createItem in my main method:

int itemID = createItem(xmlDoc);

My XML file is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items xmlns="website">
<item>
    <itemID>1</itemID>
    <itemName>CupA</itemName>
    <itemURL>none</itemURL>
    <itemPrice>50</itemPrice>
    <itemStock>15</itemStock>
    <itemDescription>
        <document>
            A <italics> beautiful and authentic</italics> cup.Containing the                  following elements:
            <list>
                <item>It's rich in history</item>
                <item>Eccentrically beautiful</item>
                <item>Organic and 100%
                                        <bold>vegan</bold>
                </item>
            </list>
    </document>
</itemDescription>

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 15 '16 at 21:18

You are missing a level in your XML heirarchy. What you have:

String itemName = xml.getRootElement()
         .getChild("itemName", ns)
         .getText();

What you should have:

String itemName = xml.getRootElement()
         .getChild("item", ns)
         .getChild("itemName", ns)
         .getText();

An XPath would work as well.... you should consider that.

NullPointerException error when retrieving a string from an XML file

1 Answers1