"AWT-EventQueue-0" NullpointerException inconsistent error message

Question

I'm getting this error message when im starting my Java application:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
at engine.Display.GamePanel.paintComponent(GamePanel.java:102)
at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.paintToOffscreen(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager$PaintManager.paintDoubleBuffered(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager$PaintManager.paint(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paint(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.GraphicsCallback$PaintCallback.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runOneComponent(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runComponents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.paint(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Window.paint(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager$3.run(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager.prePaintDirtyRegions(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager.access$1100(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.RepaintManager$ProcessingRunnable.run(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.access$400(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

The application doesn't close and it lets me run it normally and there is no visual buggs etc etc but i still get this error message SOMETIMES when i start the application.

The only peice of my own code it points me to is line 102 in my GamePanel class which is my paintComponent method here:

    @Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
    super.paintComponent(g);
    //g.drawImage(test, picX, picY, picSizeX, picSizeY, null);
    mao.Draw(picX, picY, g);
}

And inside the mao.Draw we have this:

    public void Draw(int x, int y, Graphics g){
    Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
        g2d.drawImage(characterImage, x, y, null);
        g2d.drawRect(x, y, getWidth(), getHeight());
}

I have tinkered around with this problem but i cannot seem to find the error.

Answer 1

The error is being caused in line 102 of GamePanel.java which I believe is

  mao.Draw(picX, picY, g);

because mao is not yet initialized, that is, has the value null when the method is called. Probably your application is not fully initialized but the GamePanel is already being displayed.

You can do the following to check if that is the case:

if (mao != null) {
    mao.Draw(picX, picY, g);
}