Java LoginServlet NullPointerException

[rushhour]

Hi all,

I am having a little problem with my LoginServlet, where it seems to always come back as a NullPointerException. The error I get is:

java.lang.NullPointerException
	LoginServlet.doPost(LoginServlet.java:57)
	javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:637)
	javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)

What happens is I submit the login form to the server, the LoginServlet extracts the information entered in the login form, checks in another Java class if the information provided was valid, looks up the login information in another Java class, and returns the results back, then the LoginServlet forwards onto student.jsp if successful, or back to login page with the error if no information found.

Here is my code, with the line in question commented next to it:

// LoginServlet
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.*;

import beans.*;
import model.*;

public class LoginServlet extends HttpServlet
{
	private String strError = null;
	private boolean dbOK = false;
	
	//Instance of beans
	private UserBean userBean;
	private DataManager dataManager;
	private Validation val = new Validation();
	
	public void init() throws ServletException
	{
		try
		{
			Class.forName( "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" ).newInstance( ) ;
		}
		catch (Exception ex)
		{
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
	
	public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException
	{		
		/* 
		 * Get user data fro submited form
		 */		
		String userName = request.getParameter("userName");
		String password = request.getParameter("password");
		
		if(val.validate(userName, password))
		{
			userBean = new UserBean();
			userBean = dataManager.getUserData(userName, password);    [COLOR="Red"]// This is the NullPointerException line[/COLOR]
			
			try
			{
				if( userBean.getUid() != null )
				{
					dbOK = true;
				}
			}
			catch(NullPointerException npe)
			{
				System.out.println("Error on DB return");
				npe.printStackTrace();
				strError = "No username or password in database match one provided by you.";
				dbOK = false;				
			}
			
		}
		else
		{
			strError = "Invalid username or password.";
			dbOK = false;
		}
				
		HttpSession session = request.getSession(true);
		
		if(dbOK)
		{
				session.setAttribute( "userBean", userBean);
				RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher("/student.jsp");
				dispatcher.forward( request, response);				
		}
		else
		{
			//Error after DB login checkout, redirect back to index.jsp
			session.setAttribute( "error", strError);
			RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher("/index.jsp");
			dispatcher.forward( request, response);	
		}		
	}		
}

// DataManager.java
package model;

import java.sql.*;
import beans.*;

public class DataManager 
{
	Connection conn ;
	Statement stmt ;
	UserBean userBean = new UserBean();
	
	public DataManager()
	{
		try
		{
			Class.forName( "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" ).newInstance( ) ;
		}
		catch ( Exception ex )
		{
			System.out.println( "Exception is: " + ex.toString( ) ) ;
		}
	}
	
	public UserBean getUserData(String userName, String password)
	{	
		try
		{
			conn = DriverManager.getConnection( "jdbc:mysql://localhost/" + "done?user=myUser&password=myPassword" ) ;
			
			stmt = conn.createStatement( ) ;
		}
		catch ( SQLException ex )
		{
			System.out.println( "SQLException: " + ex.getMessage( ) ) ;
		}
		
		try
		{
			int count = 0 ;
			String strQuery = "select * from member where username = '" + userName
				               + "' and password = '" + password + "'" ;
			ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery( strQuery ) ;
				
			while ( rs.next( ) )
			{
				count++ ;
				userBean.setUid( rs.getString( "username" ) ) ;
				userBean.setFirstName( rs.getString( "firstname" ) ) ;
				userBean.setLastName( rs.getString( "surname" ) ) ;
			}
			
			if ( stmt != null )
			{
				stmt.close( ) ;
			}
			if ( conn != null )
			{
				conn.close( ) ;
			}
		}
		catch ( SQLException ex )
		{
			System.out.println( "SQLException: " + ex.getMessage( ) ) ;
		}
		
		return userBean ;
	}
}

// Validation.java
package model;

public class Validation {

    public Validation() {}
    
    public boolean validate(String userName, String password)
	{
		if(userName.length() != 10 || (password.length() != 8))
		{
			return false;
		}
		return true;
	}    
}

// UseBean.java

package beans;

public class UserBean
{
    private String uid;         //Username
    private String password;    //Password    
    private String firstName;   //First Name
    private String lastName;    //Last Name

    public UserBean() {}

    public void setUid(String str) {uid = str;}
    public String getUid() { return uid;}

    public void setPassword(String str) {password = str;}
    public String getPassword() {return password;}    

    public void setFirstName(String str) {firstName = str;}
    public String getFirstName() { return firstName;}

    public void setLastName(String str) {lastName = str;}
    public String getLastName() { return lastName;}


}

Hope you can help me with this NullPointerException error I am getting.

[travishein]

userBean = dataManager.getUserData(userName, password);    // This is the NullPointerException line
			
			try
			{
				if([B][COLOR="Red"]userBean != null && [/COLOR][/B] userBean.getUid() != null )
				{

[rushhour]

Hi,

Thank you for helping me, however, I still get the same NullPointerException on the same line, even with the additional code you added for me.

This is quite annoying this problem. Hope you can help again.

[Tolls]

You never create a dataManager.
You declare it but never instantiate it.

However, as a general rule, do not give a Servlet state. You will get into synchronisation issues if you do. It is possible that all connections to your servlet will go through a single instance, so that state can be overwritten.