getting java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetExceptio

Question

I am totally new in javafx!! I tried a very very simple code and I got stuck. when I tried to add a button to the layout It does not work. I know this question may be too simple but I really do not know how to fix it. I would appreciated if you could help me. This is my code:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.StackPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;


public class Test extends Application{

    Button button;

    public static void main(String[] args){
        launch(args);
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
        stage.setTitle("Title");
        StackPane layout = new StackPane();

        button = new Button();
        layout.getChildren().add(button);
        Scene scene = new Scene(layout);
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }
}

and I got the error:

Exception in Application start method
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.LauncherImpl.launchApplicationWithArgs(LauncherImpl.java:464)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.LauncherImpl.launchApplication(LauncherImpl.java:363)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
    at java.base/sun.launcher.LauncherHelper$FXHelper.main(LauncherHelper.java:1051)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Exception in Application start method
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.LauncherImpl.launchApplication1(LauncherImpl.java:900)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.LauncherImpl.lambda$launchApplication$2(LauncherImpl.java:195)
    at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:834)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalAccessError: superclass access check failed: class com.sun.javafx.scene.control.ControlHelper (in unnamed module @0x46b3f4cf) cannot access class com.sun.javafx.scene.layout.RegionHelper (in module javafx.graphics) because module javafx.graphics does not export com.sun.javafx.scene.layout to unnamed module @0x46b3f4cf
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:1016)
    at java.base/java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:174)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.defineClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:802)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.findClassOnClassPathOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:700)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClassOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:623)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:581)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:178)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:521)
    at javafx.scene.control.Control.<clinit>(Control.java:86)
    at Test.start(Test.java:21)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.LauncherImpl.lambda$launchApplication1$9(LauncherImpl.java:846)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runAndWait$12(PlatformImpl.java:455)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runLater$10(PlatformImpl.java:428)
    at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runLater$11(PlatformImpl.java:427)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.glass.ui.InvokeLaterDispatcher$Future.run(InvokeLaterDispatcher.java:96)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$runLoop$3(WinApplication.java:174)
    ... 1 more
Exception running application Test

Answer 1

From the error I'm assuming you're using JavaFX 11 (or at least JavaFX 9+). Note that the ultimate problem is not the InvocationTargetException but the IllegalAccessError:

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalAccessError: superclass access check failed: class com.sun.javafx.scene.control.ControlHelper (in unnamed module @0x46b3f4cf) cannot access class com.sun.javafx.scene.layout.RegionHelper (in module javafx.graphics) because module javafx.graphics does not export com.sun.javafx.scene.layout to unnamed module @0x46b3f4cf

This is telling you code in the "unnamed module" is trying to access internals of the javafx.graphics module. As this is not allowed the error is thrown. But the real problem here is that ControlHelper is in the unnamed module but it's supposed to be in the javafx.controls module, if the package name is anything to go by. This problem is caused by having javafx.graphics on the modulepath but javafx.controls on the classpath.

Make sure you have both modules (and javafx.base) on the --module-path. As your code is not modular (no module-info file) you will also have to tell the module system to resolve it by using:

--add-modules javafx.controls

You don't have to include javafx.graphics in the --add-modules command because javafx.controls requires javafx.graphics (and javafx.graphics requires javafx.base). As all modules are on the modulepath they will be resolved.

How you set these commands is dependent on how you launch your application (e.g. command-line, IDE, Maven, Gradle, etc...).

If you ever make your code modular you won't need to use the --add-modules command, just put the appropriate requires directives in your module-info file. For example:

module app {
    requires javafx.controls;
}