Array of Buttons in Android

Question

I want to map the buttons to an array of buttons and the code has no errors while compiling but there is force close when i run it:

Button buttons[];

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.game_board_view);

    // Set OnClick listeners
    Button buttons[] = null; 
    buttons[0] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonOne);
    buttons[1] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonTwo);
    buttons[2] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonThree);
    buttons[3] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonFour);
    buttons[4] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonFive);
    buttons[5] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonSix);
    buttons[6] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonSeven);
    buttons[7] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonEight);
    buttons[8] = (Button)findViewById(R.id.buttonMid);
}

LogCat:

03-26 21:42:51.455: D/dalvikvm(1156): GC_EXTERNAL_ALLOC freed 55K, 53% free 2566K/5379K, external 1625K/2137K, paused 98ms
03-26 21:42:54.323: D/AndroidRuntime(1156): Shutting down VM
03-26 21:42:54.323: W/dalvikvm(1156): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40015560)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{edu.project.superwordwheel/edu.project.superwordwheel.GameView}: java.lang.NullPointerException
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1647)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1663)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:117)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:931)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at edu.project.superwordwheel.GameView.onCreate(GameView.java:43)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1611)
03-26 21:42:54.343: E/AndroidRuntime(1156):     ... 11 more

Answer 1

It's usually better if you don't have to hardcode constants like a 9 into your code. And you usually don't need to.

You can for example put the ids into an array and build a dynamically sized List based on them

private List<Button> buttons;
private static final int[] BUTTON_IDS = {
    R.id.buttonOne,
    R.id.buttonTwo, 
    R.id.buttonThree,
    R.id.buttonFour,
    R.id.buttonFive,
    R.id.buttonSix, 
    R.id.buttonSeven,
    R.id.buttonEight,
    R.id.buttonMid,
};

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.game_board_view);

    buttons = new ArrayList<Button>();
    // or slightly better
    // buttons = new ArrayList<Button>(BUTTON_IDS.length);
    for(int id : BUTTON_IDS) {
        Button button = (Button)findViewById(id);
        button.setOnClickListener(this); // maybe
        buttons.add(button);
    }
}

Answer 2

Your array is null and you're trying to get an index into it. That is what's causing the NullPointerException. Your array must be initialized before you can use it to store your buttons.

If you want an array of nine buttons then change this line:

Button buttons[] = null; 

To this:

Button buttons[] = new Button[9];

Also, you have a class member Button buttons[] and a local function variable that is also named Button buttons[]. If this is intentional then by all means carry on. Otherwise, you'll want to further change your line to this:

buttons[] = new Button[9];