NullPointerException accessing views in onCreate()

Question

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I'm following a tutorial. I've created a new activity using a wizard. I get NullPointerException when attempting to call a method on Views obtained with findViewById() in my activity onCreate().

Activity onCreate():

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    View something = findViewById(R.id.something);
    something.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { ... }); // NPE HERE

    if (savedInstanceState == null) {
        getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                .add(R.id.container, new PlaceholderFragment()).commit();
    }
}

Layout XML (fragment_main.xml):

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context="packagename.MainActivity$PlaceholderFragment" >

    <View
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"
        android:id="@+id/something" />

</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

in the posted code above in the question there is a problem : you are using R.layout.activity_main in oncreate method, but the xml files name is "fragment_main.xml" , means you are trying to get the view of fragment_main.xml file which is not being shown so it gives null pointer exception. change the code like :

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.fragment_main);// your xml layout ,where the views are

    View something = findViewById(R.id.something);
    something.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { ... }); // NPE HERE

    if (savedInstanceState == null) {
        getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                .add(R.id.container, new PlaceholderFragment()).commit();
    }
}