NullPointerException accessing views in onCreate()

by

The tutorial is probably outdated, attempting to create an activity-based UI instead of the fragment-based UI preferred by wizard-generated code.

The view is in the fragment layout (fragment_main.xml) and not in the activity layout (activity_main.xml). onCreate() is too early in the lifecycle to find it in the activity view hierarchy, and a null is returned. Invoking a method on null causes the NPE.

The preferred solution is to move the code to the fragment onCreateView(), calling findViewById() on the inflated fragment layout rootView:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
    Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_main, container,
      false);

  View something = rootView.findViewById(R.id.something); // not activity findViewById()
  something.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { ... });

  return rootView;
}

As a side note, the fragment layout will eventually be a part of the activity view hierarchy and discoverable with activity findViewById() but only after the fragment transaction has been run. Pending fragment transactions get executed in super.onStart() after onCreate().

Leave a Comment