NullPointerException while changing hint of PlaceAutoCompleteFragment

Question

In one of my fragments, I have implemented a PlaceAutocompleteFragment as follows:

@Override
public void onViewCreated(@NonNull View view, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState);
    placeAutocompleteFragment = new SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment();
    getChildFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
            .replace(R.id.place_autocomplete_fragment_container, placeAutocompleteFragment)
            .addToBackStack(SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment.class.getName())
            .commit();

    EditText etPlace = (EditText) placeAutocompleteFragment.getView().findViewById(R.id.place_autocomplete_search_input);
    etPlace.setHint("Type your address");
}

The last two lines are my attempt to change the hint text in the search bar. However, when I add them, I get the exception

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.view.View android.view.View.findViewById(int)' on a null object reference

I have also tried placeAutocompleteFragment.setHint(). How should I go about calling setHint() instead? Thanks in advance.

Edit: Crash log shows the following

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.widget.EditText.setHint(java.lang.CharSequence)' on a null object reference
    at me.user.appname.ExploreFragment.onCreateView(ExploreFragment.java:99)
    at android.support.v4.app.Fragment.performCreateView(Fragment.java:2425)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1460)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveFragmentToExpectedState(FragmentManager.java:1784)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1852)
    at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.executeOps(BackStackRecord.java:802)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.executeOps(FragmentManager.java:2623)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.executeOpsTogether(FragmentManager.java:2410)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.removeRedundantOperationsAndExecute(FragmentManager.java:2365)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execSingleAction(FragmentManager.java:2242)
    at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.commitNowAllowingStateLoss(BackStackRecord.java:654)
    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentStatePagerAdapter.finishUpdate(FragmentStatePagerAdapter.java:168)
    at android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.populate(ViewPager.java:1244)
    at android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.populate(ViewPager.java:1092)
    at android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.onMeasure(ViewPager.java:1622)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.widget.RelativeLayout.measureChildHorizontal(RelativeLayout.java:715)
    at android.widget.RelativeLayout.onMeasure(RelativeLayout.java:461)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6928)
    at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:185)
    at android.support.v7.widget.ContentFrameLayout.onMeasure(ContentFrameLayout.java:143)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6928)
    at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureChildBeforeLayout(LinearLayout.java:1514)
    at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:806)
    at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:685)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6928)
    at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:185)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6928)
    at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureChildBeforeLayout(LinearLayout.java:1514)
    at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:806)
    at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:685)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:6928)
    at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:185)
    at com.android.internal.policy.DecorView.onMeasure(DecorView.java:898)
    at android.view.View.measure(View.java:23265)
    at android.view.ViewRootImpl.performMeasure(ViewRootImpl.java:2832)
    at android.view.ViewRootImpl.measureHierarchy(ViewRootImpl.java:1869)
    at android.view.ViewRootImpl.performTraversals(ViewRootImpl.java:2124)
    at android.view.ViewRootImpl.doTraversal(ViewRootImpl.java:1738)
    at android.view.ViewRootImpl$TraversalRunnable.run(ViewRootImpl.java:7745)
    at android.view.Choreographer$CallbackRecord.run(Choreographer.java:911)
    at android.view.Choreographer.doCallbacks(Choreographer.java:723)
    at android.view.Choreographer.doFrame(Choreographer.java:658)
    at android.view.Choreographer$FrameDisplayEventReceiver.run(Choreographer.java:897)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:789)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:98)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:164)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6938) 08-05 01:26:32.231 28683-28683/me.user.appname E/AndroidRuntime:     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
    at com.android.internal.os.Zygote$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(Zygote.java:327)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1374)

Edit #2: The essentials of my ExploreFragment

public class ExploreFragment extends Fragment {
GeoDataClient mGeoDataClient;
SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment placeAutocompleteFragment;
private OnFragmentInteractionListener mListener;

public ExploreFragment() {
    // Required empty public constructor
}

public static ExploreFragment newInstance(String param1, String param2) 
{
    ExploreFragment fragment = new ExploreFragment();
    return fragment;
}

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
}



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

    // Inflate the layout for this fragment
    final View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_explore,
            container, false);

    mGeoDataClient = Places.getGeoDataClient(getActivity());

    placeAutocompleteFragment = new SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment();
    getChildFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
            .replace(R.id.place_autocomplete_fragment_container, placeAutocompleteFragment)
            .addToBackStack(SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment.class.getName())
            .commit();
    EditText etPlace = (EditText) rootView.findViewById(R.id.place_autocomplete_search_input);
    etPlace.setHint("Type your address");
    return rootView;
}

@Override
public void onViewCreated(@NonNull View view, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState);
}


@Override
public void onAttach(Context context) {
    super.onAttach(context);
    if (context instanceof OnFragmentInteractionListener) {
        mListener = (OnFragmentInteractionListener) context;
    } else {
        throw new RuntimeException(context.toString()
                + " must implement OnFragmentInteractionListener");
    }
}

@Override
public void onAttachFragment(Fragment childFragment) {
    super.onAttachFragment(childFragment);
    ((SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment) childFragment).setOnPlaceSelectedListener(
            new PlaceSelectionListener() {
                @Override
                public void onPlaceSelected(Place place) {
                    // set place variables here
                }

                @Override
                public void onError(Status status) {
                    Log.i("OnPlaceSelected", "An error occurred: " + status);
                }
            }
    );
}


@Override
public void onDetach() {
    super.onDetach();
    mListener = null;
}


public interface OnFragmentInteractionListener {
    // methods here
}

}

All I have is a FrameLayout called place_autocomplete_fragment_container in my fragment xml. Everything was working until I tried to call setHint(). — V. Doe, Aug 05 '18 at 08:15
You are getting an error inside `ExploreFragment` but you are you are replacing `SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment` — prashant17, Aug 05 '18 at 08:37

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 05 '18 at 08:14

0

Move your following code to your placeAutocompleteFragment inside onCreateview

I have replaced placeAutocompleteFragment.getView() with view

EditText etPlace = (EditText) view.findViewById(R.id.place_autocomplete_search_input);
etPlace.setHint("Type your address");

answered Aug 05 '18 at 08:14

prashant17

1,520
3
14
23

I moved all the code to onCreateView, but am still getting the same error (etPlace is null). – V. Doe Aug 05 '18 at 08:23

Ehsan Mashhadi · Answer 2 · 2018-08-05T09:11:54.167

In your first code snippet, you used:

EditText etPlace = (EditText) placeAutocompleteFragment.getView().findViewById(R.id.place_autocomplete_search_input);

But in the second snippet, you used

EditText etPlace = (EditText) rootView.findViewById(R.id.place_autocomplete_search_input);

Can you debug and make sure your etPlace edit text is not null?

When you are using SupportPlaceAutocompleteFragment your activity should be implemented AppCompatActivity (or FragmentActivity and use getSupportFragmentManager()) to reach your fragments.

For second option you can create a PlaceAutoCompleteFragment instead of SupportPlaceAutoCompleteFragment.

Should I place this code in the PlaceAutocompleteFragment? Not sure b/c that file is read-only. — V. Doe, Aug 05 '18 at 08:50

NullPointerException while changing hint of PlaceAutoCompleteFragment

2 Answers2