FileProvider crash - npe attempting to invoke XmlResourceParser on a null String
The problem was that in Manifest I had this line:
android:authorities="com.example.asd.fileprovider"
and when calling getUriForFile I was passing:
Uri contentUri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(getApplicationContext(), "com.example.asd", newFile);
So changed from "com.example.asd"
to "com.example.asd.fileprovider"
and it worked
FileProvider crash XmlResourceParser and ProviderInfo.loadXmlMetaData on a null object reference
This line looks suspicious:
Uri contentUri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(MainActivity.this, "com.your.package.fileProvider", pdfFile);
Which probably should be:
BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID
FileProvider.getUriForFile returns NullPointerException
First, this:
android:authorities="${applicationId}.fileprovider"
does not match this:
private static final String AUTHORITY = "org.broadinstitute.jsnap.provider";
Use the same algorithm in both places. So, replace the second line with:
private static final String AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID+".fileprovider";
That will get you past the NullPointerException
.
Second, this:
File photo = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES), FILENAME);
does not match this:
<external-path name="jsnap_images" path="Android/data/org.broadinstitute.jsnap/files/Pictures" />
Since I don't know which of those is what you really want, I cannot suggest a fix.
NullPointerException on taking a picture and save as URI
Are you sure your package name is com.example.cameraapplicationfiles
?
I think it should be Android/data/com.example.cameraapplication/files/Pictures
if not try something like this.
for the authorities use full string nameandroid:authorities="com.myCameraDemo.app".
ans for the file_paths.xml <external-path name="site_images" path="Android/data/com.myCameraDemo.app/files/Pictures" />
if it works then you know where the problem is.
What is a NullPointerException, and how do I fix it?
There are two overarching types of variables in Java:
Primitives: variables that contain data. If you want to manipulate the data in a primitive variable you can manipulate that variable directly. By convention primitive types start with a lowercase letter. For example variables of type
int
orchar
are primitives.References: variables that contain the memory address of an
Object
i.e. variables that refer to anObject
. If you want to manipulate theObject
that a reference variable refers to you must dereference it. Dereferencing usually entails using.
to access a method or field, or using[
to index an array. By convention reference types are usually denoted with a type that starts in uppercase. For example variables of typeObject
are references.
Consider the following code where you declare a variable of primitive type int
and don't initialize it:
int x;
int y = x + x;
These two lines will crash the program because no value is specified for x
and we are trying to use x
's value to specify y
. All primitives have to be initialized to a usable value before they are manipulated.
Now here is where things get interesting. Reference variables can be set to null
which means "I am referencing nothing". You can get a null
value in a reference variable if you explicitly set it that way, or a reference variable is uninitialized and the compiler does not catch it (Java will automatically set the variable to null
).
If a reference variable is set to null either explicitly by you or through Java automatically, and you attempt to dereference it you get a NullPointerException
.
The NullPointerException
(NPE) typically occurs when you declare a variable but did not create an object and assign it to the variable before trying to use the contents of the variable. So you have a reference to something that does not actually exist.
Take the following code:
Integer num;
num = new Integer(10);
The first line declares a variable named num
, but it does not actually contain a reference value yet. Since you have not yet said what to point to, Java sets it to null
.
In the second line, the new
keyword is used to instantiate (or create) an object of type Integer
, and the reference variable num
is assigned to that Integer
object.
If you attempt to dereference num
before creating the object you get a NullPointerException
. In the most trivial cases, the compiler will catch the problem and let you know that "num may not have been initialized
," but sometimes you may write code that does not directly create the object.
For instance, you may have a method as follows:
public void doSomething(SomeObject obj) {
// Do something to obj, assumes obj is not null
obj.myMethod();
}
In which case, you are not creating the object obj
, but rather assuming that it was created before the doSomething()
method was called. Note, it is possible to call the method like this:
doSomething(null);
In which case, obj
is null
, and the statement obj.myMethod()
will throw a NullPointerException
.
If the method is intended to do something to the passed-in object as the above method does, it is appropriate to throw the NullPointerException
because it's a programmer error and the programmer will need that information for debugging purposes.
In addition to NullPointerException
s thrown as a result of the method's logic, you can also check the method arguments for null
values and throw NPEs explicitly by adding something like the following near the beginning of a method:
// Throws an NPE with a custom error message if obj is null
Objects.requireNonNull(obj, "obj must not be null");
Note that it's helpful to say in your error message clearly which object cannot be null
. The advantage of validating this is that 1) you can return your own clearer error messages and 2) for the rest of the method you know that unless obj
is reassigned, it is not null and can be dereferenced safely.
Alternatively, there may be cases where the purpose of the method is not solely to operate on the passed in object, and therefore a null parameter may be acceptable. In this case, you would need to check for a null parameter and behave differently. You should also explain this in the documentation. For example, doSomething()
could be written as:
/**
* @param obj An optional foo for ____. May be null, in which case
* the result will be ____.
*/
public void doSomething(SomeObject obj) {
if(obj == null) {
// Do something
} else {
// Do something else
}
}
Finally, How to pinpoint the exception & cause using Stack Trace
What methods/tools can be used to determine the cause so that you stop
the exception from causing the program to terminate prematurely?
Sonar with find bugs can detect NPE.
Can sonar catch null pointer exceptions caused by JVM Dynamically
Now Java 14 has added a new language feature to show the root cause of NullPointerException. This language feature has been part of SAP commercial JVM since 2006.
In Java 14, the following is a sample NullPointerException Exception message:
in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.util.List.size()" because "list" is null
List of situations that cause a NullPointerException
to occur
Here are all the situations in which a NullPointerException
occurs, that are directly* mentioned by the Java Language Specification:
- Accessing (i.e. getting or setting) an instance field of a null reference. (static fields don't count!)
- Calling an instance method of a null reference. (static methods don't count!)
throw null;
- Accessing elements of a null array.
- Synchronising on null -
synchronized (someNullReference) { ... }
- Any integer/floating point operator can throw a
NullPointerException
if one of its operands is a boxed null reference - An unboxing conversion throws a
NullPointerException
if the boxed value is null. - Calling
super
on a null reference throws aNullPointerException
. If you are confused, this is talking about qualified superclass constructor invocations:
class Outer {
class Inner {}
}
class ChildOfInner extends Outer.Inner {
ChildOfInner(Outer o) {
o.super(); // if o is null, NPE gets thrown
}
}
Using a
for (element : iterable)
loop to loop through a null collection/array.switch (foo) { ... }
(whether its an expression or statement) can throw aNullPointerException
whenfoo
is null.foo.new SomeInnerClass()
throws aNullPointerException
whenfoo
is null.Method references of the form
name1::name2
orprimaryExpression::name
throws aNullPointerException
when evaluated whenname1
orprimaryExpression
evaluates to null.a note from the JLS here says that,
someInstance.someStaticMethod()
doesn't throw an NPE, becausesomeStaticMethod
is static, butsomeInstance::someStaticMethod
still throw an NPE!
* Note that the JLS probably also says a lot about NPEs indirectly.
Why do I get this NullPointerException: a null object reference error?
This is the code that is causing the problem. It is in the FileProvider
class.
final ProviderInfo info = context.getPackageManager()
.resolveContentProvider(authority, PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);
final XmlResourceParser in = info.loadXmlMetaData(
context.getPackageManager(), META_DATA_FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS);
The stacktrace clearly shows that the NPE is happening for the loadXmlMetaData
call, and it is happening because info
is null
. (There is only one call-site for that method in the FileProvider
class ...)
This evidence points to something being wrong with the way you have defined your FileProvider
.
- Check / recheck the documentation.
- Check for typos or mismatches in the manifest, etcetera.
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