Program crashes: NullPointerException

[d4nce2thisbeat]

I'm making a student database and the program compiles. However, when I'm running it, the program crashes after entering "M" for modify. The line which this error is occuring is:

System.out.println(students[i].getId() + "\t" + students[i].getLastName() + "\t" +
students[i].getFirstName());

Here's the StudentDriver:

import java.util.Scanner;
public class studentDriver
{
    public static void main() {
        
        Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
        scan.useDelimiter ( "\n");
        
        
        int numberStudents;
        String lastName;
        String firstName;
        String street;
        String city;
        String state;
        int zipCode;
        String homePhone;
        String cellPhone;
        double GPA;
        int id;
        int index;
        index = 0;
        id = 0;
        
        System.out.print("How many students to process? ");
        numberStudents = scan.nextInt();
     
        while(true) {

        Student[] students = new Student[numberStudents];
            
        System.out.println("Student Info Menu");
            
        System.out.println("Enter L to (L)oad Student info.");
        System.out.println("Enter M to (M)odify Student info.");
        System.out.println("Enter P to (P)rint Student info.");
        System.out.println("Enter Q to quit.");
        
        System.out.println("Please enter your choice: ");
    
        String str;
        str = scan.next();
        str = str.toUpperCase();
        char ch = str.charAt(0);
        String computeQuit;
    
      
        switch(ch) {
            
            case 'L':
            for(int i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
                students[i] = loadStudent(scan);
            }
            break;
                
            case 'M':
            for(int i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
                System.out.println(students[i].getId() + "\t" + students[i].getLastName() + "\t" + 
                students[i].getFirstName());
                System.out.print("Enter the student ID: ");
                id = scan.nextInt();
            }
            for(int i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
                if(id == students[i].getId())
                    index = i;
                modifyStudent(students, index, scan);
            }
            break;
            
            case 'P':
            for(int i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
                System.out.println(students[i].getId() + "\t" + students[i].getLastName() + "\t" +
                students[i].getFirstName());
                System.out.print("Enter the student ID: ");
                id = scan.nextInt();
            }
                for(int i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
                    if(id == students[i].getId())
                        index = i;
                    printStudent(students[index]);
                }
                    break;
                
            case 'Q':
                computeQuit = ( "Goodbye." );               
                str = computeQuit;
                System.out.println( "Goodbye." );
                System.exit(0);
                break;
      
    
        } 
        //end switcb
      }
      //end while loop
   }
   //end main
 

   
    public static Student loadStudent(Scanner scan) {
       
       String lastName;
       String firstName;
       String street;
       String city;
       String state;
       int zipCode;
       String homePhone;
       String cellPhone;
       double GPA;
      
        System.out.println("Enter last name: ");
                lastName = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter first name: ");
                firstName = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter street name: ");
                street = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter city: ");
                city = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter state: ");
                state = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter zip code: ");
                zipCode = scan.nextInt();
                System.out.println("Enter home phone: ");
                homePhone = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter cell phone: ");
                cellPhone = scan.next();
                System.out.println("Enter GPA: ");
                GPA = scan.nextDouble();
                Student s = new Student(lastName, firstName, street, city, state, zipCode, homePhone, cellPhone, GPA);

            return s;
       
   }
   //end loadStudent method
   
   public static void modifyStudent(Student[]s, int idx, Scanner scan) {
       
       String lastName;
       String firstName;
       String street;
       String city;
       String state;
       int zipCode;
       String zipS;
       String homePhone;
       String cellPhone;
       double GPA;
       String GPAs;
       
       System.out.println("Current last name: " + s[idx].getLastName() + "\t" + "New last name: ");
       lastName = scan.next();
       s[idx].setLastName(lastName);
       
       System.out.println("Current first name: " + s[idx].getFirstName() + "\t" + "New first name: ");
       firstName = scan.next();
       s[idx].setFirstName(firstName);
       
       System.out.println("Current street name: " + s[idx].getStreet() + "\t" + "New street name: ");
       street = scan.next();
       s[idx].setStreet(street);
       
       System.out.println("Current city: " + s[idx].getCity() + "\t" + "New city: ");
       city = scan.next();
       s[idx].setCity(city);
       
       System.out.println("Current state: " + s[idx].getState() + "\t" + "New state: ");
       state = scan.next();
       s[idx].setState(state);
       
       System.out.println("Current zip code: " + s[idx].getZipCode() + "\t" + "New zip code: ");
       zipS = scan.next();
       zipCode = Integer.parseInt(zipS.trim());
       s[idx].setZipCode(zipCode);
       
       System.out.println("Current home phone: " + s[idx].getHomePhone() + "\t" + "New home phone: ");
       homePhone = scan.next();
       s[idx].setHomePhone(homePhone);
       
       System.out.println("Current cell phone: " + s[idx].getCellPhone() + "\t" + "New cell phone: ");
       cellPhone = scan.next();
       s[idx].setCellPhone(cellPhone);
       
       System.out.println("Current GPA: " + s[idx].getGPA() + "\t" + "New GPA: ");
       GPAs = scan.next();
       GPA = Double.parseDouble(GPAs.trim());
       s[idx].setGPA(GPA);
       
   }
   //end modifyStudent method
   
   public static void printStudent(Student s) {
       
       System.out.println(s.toString());
       
} 
} 
   //end class

And here's the Student class:

import java.util.Scanner;
public class Student
{
   Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
   
   private static int lastId;
   private int id;
   private String lastName;
   private String firstName;
   private String street;
   private String city;
   private String state;
   private int zipCode;
   private String homePhone;
   private String cellPhone;
   private double GPA;
   
   /***********************default constructor*****************************************************/
   
   public Student() {
       
       id = 0;
       lastName = "";
       firstName = "";
       street = "";
       city = "";
       state = "";
       zipCode = 0;
       homePhone = "";
       cellPhone = "";
       GPA = 0;
       
    }
   
   /***********************constructor with arguments**********************************************/ 
    
   public Student(String lastName, String firstName, String street, String city, String state, 
   int zipCode, String homePhone, String cellPhone, double GPA) {
       
       id = ++lastId;
       this.lastName = lastName;
       this.firstName = firstName;
       this.street = street;
       this.city = city;
       this.state = state;
       this.zipCode = zipCode;
       this.homePhone = homePhone;
       this.cellPhone = cellPhone;
       this.GPA = GPA;
       
    }
   //end constructors
    
   /************************************getters*****************************************************/ 
   public int getId() {
       
       return this.id;
       
    }
   public String getLastName() {
       
       return this.lastName;
       
    }
   
   public String getFirstName() {
       
       return this.firstName;
       
    } 
   
   public String getStreet() {
       
       return this.street;
       
    } 
    
   public String getCity() {
        
       return this.city;
        
    } 
    
   public String getState() {
        
        return this.state;
        
    } 
    
   public int getZipCode() {
        
        return this.zipCode;
        
    } 
    
   public String getHomePhone() {
        
        return this.homePhone;
        
    } 

   public String getCellPhone() {
        
        return this.cellPhone;
        
    } 
    
   public double getGPA() {
        
        return this.GPA;
        
    } 
   //end getters
    
   /***********************************setters******************************************************/ 
    
   public void setLastName(String lastName) {
       
       this.lastName = lastName;
       
    }
   
   public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
       
       this.firstName = firstName;
       
    }
   
   public void setStreet(String street) {
       
       this.street = street;
       
    }
    
   public void setCity(String city) {
        
        this.city = city;
        
    }
    
   public void setState(String state) {
        
        this.state = state;
        
    }
  
   public void setZipCode(int zipCode) {
        
        this.zipCode = zipCode;
        
    }
    
   public void setHomePhone(String homePhone) {
        
        this.homePhone = homePhone;
        
    }
    
   public void setCellPhone(String cellPhone) {
        
        this.cellPhone = cellPhone;
        
    }
    
   public void setGPA(double GPA) {
        
        this.GPA = GPA;
        
    }
   //end setters
}
//end class

If someone could explain how to fix this error, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[al_Marshy_1981]

Post your error message

[Zack]

When testing your program, did you enter L first?

If you don't enter L first, M cannot process as students[] has no data.

[d4nce2thisbeat]

When testing your program, did you enter L first?

If you don't enter L first, M cannot process as students[] has no data.

I enter L to fill in all of the data (first name, last name, etc). The menu comes back up after all of the data is filled in and I enter M and then it crashes (java.lang.NullPointerException).

[Fubarable]

   while(true) {
        Student[] students = new Student[numberStudents];

You appear to be re-declaring your Student each time the while loop iterates. So even if you fill the array on the first iteration, it will be empty (nothing but nulls) on the next. You shouldn't do this, and should instead declare and construct the array before the while loop. Also, please fix your indentation as this error and others would be much easier to pick out if your code were more readable.

[pbrockway2]

declare and construct the array before the while loop

I agree.

If you still have problems after doing that, post back with the runtime exception and the ammended driver class.