Getting NullPointerException with AndroidAnnotations & ORMLite - android-sqlite

Question

I am using AndroidAnnotations and SQLite with ORMLite and am trying to get the database up and running. I was able to create the table and make a test-insert of a Contact object a few days ago.
However, I did some changes and then it stopped working - unfortunately I was not able to revert my changes and now I'm stuck and can't get it working anymore.
Whenever I start the app I get this error:
02-12 23:09:39.931 11766-11766/net.gazeapp E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: net.gazeapp, PID: 11766
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{net.gazeapp/net.gazeapp.MainActivity_}: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'int net.gazeapp.data.ContactDao.create(java.lang.Object)' on a null object reference
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2416)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2476)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap11(ActivityThread.java)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1344)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5417)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'int net.gazeapp.data.ContactDao.create(java.lang.Object)' on a null object reference
at net.gazeapp.service.ContactService.addContact(ContactService.java:55)
at net.gazeapp.MainActivity.testNewORM(MainActivity.java:171)
at net.gazeapp.MainActivity.createView(MainActivity.java:148)
at net.gazeapp.MainActivity_.onViewChanged(MainActivity_.java:111)
at org.androidannotations.api.view.OnViewChangedNotifier.notifyViewChanged(OnViewChangedNotifier.java:41)
at net.gazeapp.MainActivity_.setContentView(MainActivity_.java:57)
at net.gazeapp.MainActivity_.onCreate(MainActivity_.java:45)
at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:6251)
at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1107)
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2369)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2476) 
at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap11(ActivityThread.java) 
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1344) 
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102) 
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148) 
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5417) 
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726) 
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616) 
So here is my MainActivity in which I do the ORM-testing (in the testNewORM() method):
#EActivity(R.layout.activity_main_viewpagertab)
#OptionsMenu(R.menu.menu_main)
public class MainActivity extends BaseActivity implements ObservableScrollViewCallbacks {
private final String TAG = getClass().getSimpleName();
private int mBaseTranslationY;
private NavigationAdapter mPagerAdapter;
private Contact mContact;
private static String[] tabTitles = null;
#App
GazeApplication application;
#ViewById(R.id.header)
View mHeaderView;
#ViewById(R.id.toolbar)
View mToolbarView;
#ViewById(R.id.pager)
ViewPager mPager;
#ViewById(R.id.fab)
FloatingActionButton fab;
#ViewById(R.id.adview)
MoPubView mAdView;
#Bean
ContactService contactService;
#AfterViews
void createView() {
setSupportActionBar((Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar));
Tools.readJsonFile(this, "fetishes.json");
// TAB TITLES: RECENT, ALL, MY MEDIA
tabTitles = new String[]{getString(R.string.recent), getString(R.string.all), getString(R.string.my_media)};
ViewCompat.setElevation(mHeaderView, getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.toolbar_elevation));
mPagerAdapter = new NavigationAdapter(getSupportFragmentManager());
mPager.setAdapter(mPagerAdapter);
SlidingTabLayout slidingTabLayout = (SlidingTabLayout) findViewById(R.id.sliding_tabs);
slidingTabLayout.setCustomTabView(R.layout.tab_indicator, android.R.id.text1);
slidingTabLayout.setSelectedIndicatorColors(getResources().getColor(R.color.colorAccent));
slidingTabLayout.setDistributeEvenly(true);
slidingTabLayout.setViewPager(mPager);
// When the page is selected, other fragments' scrollY should be adjusted
// according to the toolbar status(shown/hidden)
slidingTabLayout.setOnPageChangeListener(new ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener() {
#Override
public void onPageScrolled(int i, float v, int i2) {
}
#Override
public void onPageSelected(int i) {
propagateToolbarState(toolbarIsShown());
}
#Override
public void onPageScrollStateChanged(int i) {
}
});
propagateToolbarState(toolbarIsShown());
displayAdBanner();
// TESTING ORMAPPER
// TESTING ORMAPPER
testNewORM();
}
void testNewORM() {
java.util.Date date = new java.util.Date();
Timestamp timeNow = new Timestamp(date.getTime());
Timestamp birthdateTimestamp = new Timestamp(date.getTime());
Date birthdate = new Date();
try {
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
birthdate = dateFormat.parse("04/07/1980");
long time = birthdate.getTime();
birthdateTimestamp = new Timestamp(time);
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Contact contact = new Contact("Dominik Erbsland");
contact.setBirthdate(birthdate);
try {
mContact = contactService.addContact(contact);
} catch (ItemNotFoundException | SQLException e) {
Log.e(TAG, e.getLocalizedMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
...
}
And here the other used classes:
#EBean(scope = EBean.Scope.Singleton)
public class ContactService {
private static final String TAG = ContactService.class.getSimpleName();
#RootContext
Context ctx;
#OrmLiteDao(helper = DatabaseHelper.class)
ContactDao mContactDao;
public Contact getContact(int contactId) throws ItemNotFoundException, SQLException {
Contact contact = mContactDao.queryForId(contactId);
if (contact == null) {
Log.e(TAG, "Contact not found in database");
throw new ItemNotFoundException();
}
return contact;
}
public List<Contact> getContacts() throws ItemNotFoundException, SQLException {
List<Contact> contact = mContactDao.queryForAll();
if (contact == null) {
Log.e(TAG, "Contacts not found in database");
throw new ItemNotFoundException();
}
return contact;
}
public Contact addContact(Contact contact) throws SQLException {
int rowsAffected = 0;
try {
rowsAffected = mContactDao.create(contact);
} catch (SQLException e) {
Log.e(TAG, e.getLocalizedMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
}
Log.d(TAG, "New Contact ID: " + contact.getId());
return contact;
}
public void testOutput() {
Log.d(TAG, "THIS IS A TEST OUTPUT");
}
}
here my database helper:
public class DatabaseHelper extends OrmLiteSqliteOpenHelper {
private static final String DATABASE_NAME = "Gaze.db";
private static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;
private final Context context;
// the DAO object we use to access the Person table
private Dao<Contact, Integer> contactDao = null;
private Dao<MyPreferences, Integer> preferencesDao = null;
private Dao<SecurityQuestion, Integer> securityQuestionDao = null;
public DatabaseHelper(Context context) {
super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);
this.context = context;
}
/**
* This is called when the database is first created. Usually you should call createTable statements here to create
* the tables that will store your data.
*/
#Override
public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db, ConnectionSource connectionSource) {
try {
Log.i(DatabaseHelper.class.getName(), "onCreate");
TableUtils.createTable(connectionSource, Contact.class);
} catch (SQLException e) {
Log.e(DatabaseHelper.class.getName(), "Can't create database", e);
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
}
/**
* This is called when your application is upgraded and it has a higher version number. This allows you to adjust
* the various data to match the new version number.
*/
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, ConnectionSource connectionSource, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
try {
Log.i(DatabaseHelper.class.getName(), "onUpgrade");
TableUtils.dropTable(connectionSource, Contact.class, true);
// after we drop the old databases, we create the new ones
onCreate(db, connectionSource);
} catch (SQLException e) {
Log.e(DatabaseHelper.class.getName(), "Can't drop databases", e);
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
}
/**
* Returns the Database Access Object (DAO) for our Person class. It will create it or just give the cached
* value.
*/
public Dao<Contact, Integer> getContactDao() throws SQLException {
if (contactDao == null) {
contactDao = getDao(Contact.class);
}
return contactDao;
}
public Dao<MyPreferences, Integer> getPreferencesDao() throws SQLException {
if (preferencesDao == null) {
preferencesDao = getDao(MyPreferences.class);
}
return preferencesDao;
}
public Dao<SecurityQuestion, Integer> getSecurityQuestionDao() throws SQLException {
if (securityQuestionDao == null) {
securityQuestionDao = getDao(SecurityQuestion.class);
}
return securityQuestionDao;
}
/**
* Close the database connections and clear any cached DAOs.
*/
#Override
public void close() {
super.close();
contactDao = null;
preferencesDao = null;
securityQuestionDao = null;
}
}
and the data class:
#DatabaseTable(tableName = "Contact", daoClass = ContactDao.class)
public class Contact implements Serializable {
#DatabaseField(generatedId = true, columnName = PersistentObject.ID)
int id;
#DatabaseField(index = true)
String contactName;
#DatabaseField
String mainPic;
#DatabaseField(dataType = DataType.DATE_STRING, format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S")
Date birthdate;
#DatabaseField
boolean knowPersonally;
#DatabaseField(dataType = DataType.DATE_STRING, format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S")
Timestamp created;
#DatabaseField(dataType = DataType.DATE_STRING, format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S")
Timestamp lastMod;
public Contact() {
// needed by ormlite
}
...
}
and the ContactDao:
public class ContactDao extends BaseDaoImpl<Contact, Integer> {
public ContactDao(Class<Contact> dataClass) throws SQLException {
super(dataClass);
}
public ContactDao(ConnectionSource connectionSource, Class<Contact> dataClass) throws SQLException {
super(connectionSource, dataClass);
}
public ContactDao(ConnectionSource connectionSource, DatabaseTableConfig<Contact> tableConfig) throws SQLException {
super(connectionSource, tableConfig);
}
public List<Contact> getContacts() throws SQLException {
return queryForAll();
}
}
So in the ContactService class at "mContactDao.create(contact);" it crashed with the Exception. This is the part I don't understand because ContactService is annotated with #EBean and is being accessed in MainActivity with "#Bean
ContactService contactService;" and shouldn't be null there...
Thanks for any help or hints in advance.

Answer 1

The problem is the following:
The code is trying to access the mContactDao field, but it is indeed null, altough it should be injected by AndroidAnnotations. But the field cannot be injected, because the dao creation fails with an exception. This is logged by AndroidAnnotations, you can check it in LogCat.
The cause of the problem lies in the Contact class. You are using List<Something> fields, but ORMLite does not know how to persist the java.util.List object. You can either use a custom persister, or you can use foreign fields:
Contact.java:
#ForeignCollectionField
private ForeignCollection<Address> adresses;
Update:
Applying the ForestCollectionField changes and debugging again showed another problem. The DataType.DATE_STRING persister cannot be used with the java.sql.Timestamp class. But you can use DataType.TIME_STAMP instead:
#DatabaseField(dataType = DataType.TIME_STAMP, format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S")
Timestamp created;
#DatabaseField(dataType = DataType.TIME_STAMP, format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S")
Timestamp lastMod;