Content Resolver throws Null Pointer Exception while inserting into DATA.CONTENT_URI

Question

I am using below code to add custom Mimetype in Android Contacts . This code is throwing an error on the below line

getContentResolver().insert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI, values);

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'long java.lang.Long.longValue()' on a null object reference

public static final String MIMETYPE_FORMALITY = "vnd.android.cursor.item/ABCAPPLICATION";
    public MainActivity saveFormality() {

            ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
            values.put(ContactsContract.Data.DATA1, this.getFormality() ? "1" : "0");
            int mod = getContentResolver().update(
                    ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI,
                    values,
                    ContactsContract.Data.CONTACT_ID + "=" + "2231" + " AND "
                            + ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE + "= '"
                            + MIMETYPE_FORMALITY + "'", null);

            if (mod == 0) {
                values.put(ContactsContract.Data.CONTACT_ID, Long.valueOf("2231"));
                values.put(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, MIMETYPE_FORMALITY);
                **getContentResolver().insert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI, values);** // This line was throwing null pointer exception. 

                Log.v("mimeType", "Inserted");
            }
        return this;
    }

I have copied this code from Stackoverflow post But it is not working. Can someone explain me the reason why it is throwing this error.

Answer 1

Don't have guarantee that this will solve your issue because you haven't posted your full stack trace, but in general, you can't insert rows into Data.CONTENT_URI by CONTACT_ID, the ContactsContract DB works like this:

1. Contacts - each entry represents one contact, and groups together one or more RawContacts
2. RawContacts - each entry represents data about a contact that was synced in by some SyncAdapter (e.g. Whatsapp, Google, Facebook, Viber), this groups multiple Data entries
3. Data - The actual data about a contact, emails, phones, etc. each line is a single piece of data that belongs to a single RawContact

So when adding a Data row, you must specify the exact RawContact._ID it'll go into, via Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID = ..., no need to specify the CONTACT_ID since the RawContact already belongs to some Contact

This is the same way to do updates to existing data as well.

As a side note:

• When reporting crashes, always post your full stack trace
• Reduce your code to the minimum code displaying the crash, so other stuff like returning an Activity from your methods won't confuse