Why would a ListIterator.add throw a NullPointerException?

[moriarty]

I'm feeding it a string, but it always returns a null pointer.

 BufferedReader buffin = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName));
 list.add(buffin.readLine());

is calling

 public void add(E elem) {
 iter.add(elem);}

iter is a ListIterator object.

It seems a very simple process, but I've been hung up on it for over an hour now. I don't understand why it would be seeing a null object. I've checked the variable it's feeding, it's a single character.

Edit, I just tried the add method asking for a string instead, and then typecasting to an object, no bueno.

[Fubarable]

Are you sure that the list itself isn't null? Or perhaps the BufferedReader? It's simple to check via some

System.out.println("is list null: " + (list == null));

or similar for the BufferedReader object.

[moriarty]

Returns false. The list is empty, but shouldn't be null.

edit: ' is buffin null' returns false as well.

[Fubarable]

Returns false. The list is empty, but shouldn't be null.

edit: ' is buffin null' returns false as well.

Some variable must be holding a null object that you are trying to dereference, and this is causing a NPE. Your job is to find out which object it is. Is it the iterator? My advice is to keep testing til you find out what is null. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

You might want to show us more code, and wait to see if someone smart comes around here. Regardless, if you find the solution, please let us know.

Much luck.

[moriarty]

:D I'll keep looking over it, I'm trying to post as little code as needed to get over the hump so I'm not getting TOO MUCH help.

[moriarty]

Ok, so I'm losing my mind. This should work, and it's been a complete brick wall for over 12 hours for me. It's got to be something implicitly stupid on my part.

 public class Josephus {

	public static Scanner keyboard;
	
	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
			
		CircularLinkedList<String> list = new CircularLinkedList<String>();
		keyboard= new Scanner(System.in);
		
		System.out.print("Enter file name: ");
		String fileName = keyboard.nextLine();
		
		BufferedReader buffin = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName));
			list.add(buffin.readLine());

	}

}

and the circular linked list is shown as follows

public class CircularLinkedList<E> {
	
	private LinkedList<E> theList;
	private ListIterator<E> iter;

	public CircularLinkedList() {
		LinkedList<E> theList = new LinkedList<E>();
		ListIterator<E> iter = theList.listIterator(); 
	}
	

	public void add(E elem) {
		iter.add(elem);
	}

What am I doing wrong? I've written this over and over, changed everything I can think of. I thought I had a good understanding of iterators. I'm simply trying to add at that iteration. The circular linked list is empty, but not null, and in the class description of list iterator, it states that if there is nothing in the list, it will add that as the first element.

[Fubarable]

Ok, so I'm losing my mind. This should work, and it's been a complete brick wall for over 12 hours for me. It's got to be something implicitly stupid on my part.

It looks to be something that trips all of us one time or another. You're shadowing a class field in the constructor.


Look here:

 
public class CircularLinkedList<E> {
	
	private LinkedList<E> theList; // declared here
	private ListIterator<E> iter; // declared here.

	public CircularLinkedList() {
		LinkedList<E> theList = new LinkedList<E>(); // redeclared and discarded
		@SuppressWarnings("unused")
		ListIterator<E> iter = theList.listIterator();   // iterator redeclared and discarded
	}

So both the iterator and the list will be null.

Solution: Initialize but don't re-declare the LinkedList inside the constructor.

[moriarty]

Ahhh, I was just going over that and was thinking the same thing, it was pre-defined code given to us, so I was doing my best to keep that unedited. I'll try it out, thanks.

[moriarty]

Ahhh, thank the heavens. I think that did it, I can finally continue. Thank you so much.

For anyone wanting to learn from my mistake, the correct code is now:

 	private LinkedList<E> theList;
	private ListIterator<E> iter;
	
	public CircularLinkedList() {
		theList = new LinkedList<E>();
		iter = theList.listIterator(); 
	}

[Fubarable]

You're welcome. Good luck with the project.