Recyclerview, I can't get item view with getChildAt(position). Null object reference

Question

I am using a recyclerView inside my navigation drawer and I am using this library Twoway-view to get click and selection support.

It works perfectly and I can change the color of the text and the icons without problems inside OnClick method for each position:

itemClickSupport.setOnItemClickListener(new ItemClickSupport.OnItemClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onItemClick(RecyclerView parent, View view, int position, long id) {
            TypedValue typedValue = new TypedValue();
            MainActivity.this.getTheme().resolveAttribute(R.attr.colorAccent, typedValue, true);
            final int color = typedValue.data;

            //TODO Icon and text colors

            for (int i = 0; i < drawerTitles.length; i++){
                if (i == position){
                    ImageView imageViewDrawerIcon = (ImageView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.imageViewDrawerIcon);
                    TextView textViewDrawerTitle = (TextView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.textViewDrawerItemTitle);
                    imageViewDrawerIcon.setColorFilter(color);
                    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 15){
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setImageAlpha(255);
                    }else{
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setAlpha(255);
                    }
                    textViewDrawerTitle.setTextColor(color);
                    RelativeLayout relativeLayoutDrawerItem = (RelativeLayout) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.relativeLayoutDrawerItem);
                    relativeLayoutDrawerItem.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
                }else{
                    ImageView imageViewDrawerIcon = (ImageView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.imageViewDrawerIcon);
                    TextView textViewDrawerTitle = (TextView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.textViewDrawerItemTitle);
                    imageViewDrawerIcon.setColorFilter(getResources().getColor(R.color.md_text));
                    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 15){
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setImageAlpha(138);
                    }else{
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setAlpha(138);
                    }
                    textViewDrawerTitle.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.md_text));
                    RelativeLayout relativeLayoutDrawerItem = (RelativeLayout) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.relativeLayoutDrawerItem);
                    relativeLayoutDrawerItem.setFocusableInTouchMode(false);
                }
            }

            //TODO Fragments (closedrawers before setfragment)
            final Handler handler = new Handler();
            handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    // Do something after some time

                }
            }, 250);
            mDrawerLayout.closeDrawers();
        }
    });

The problem is that I want to access to the first item like in that method, but before it (to set the first item selected, with different color, etc).

But I get a crash (null reference) when I try to get the first item outside OnClick method:

ImageView imageViewDrawerIcon = (ImageView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(0).findViewById(R.id.imageViewDrawerIcon);

All code:

// Setup RecyclerView inside drawer
    recyclerViewDrawer = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.recyclerViewDrawer);
    recyclerViewDrawer.setHasFixedSize(true);
    recyclerViewDrawer.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(MainActivity.this));

    ArrayList<DrawerItem> drawerItems = new ArrayList<>();
    final String[] drawerTitles = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.drawer);
    final TypedArray drawerIcons = getResources().obtainTypedArray(R.array.drawerIcons);
    for (int i = 0; i < drawerTitles.length; i++) {
        drawerItems.add(new DrawerItem(drawerTitles[i], drawerIcons.getDrawable(i)));
    }
    drawerIcons.recycle();
    adapterDrawer = new DrawerAdapter(drawerItems);
    recyclerViewDrawer.setAdapter(adapterDrawer);

    // Here is the problem
    ImageView imageViewDrawerIcon2 = (ImageView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(0).findViewById(R.id.imageViewDrawerIcon);

    // RecyclerView item listener.
    ItemClickSupport itemClickSupport = ItemClickSupport.addTo(recyclerViewDrawer);
    itemClickSupport.setOnItemClickListener(new ItemClickSupport.OnItemClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onItemClick(RecyclerView parent, View view, int position, long id) {
            TypedValue typedValue = new TypedValue();
            MainActivity.this.getTheme().resolveAttribute(R.attr.colorAccent, typedValue, true);
            final int color = typedValue.data;

            //TODO Icon and text colors

            for (int i = 0; i < drawerTitles.length; i++){
                if (i == position){
                    ImageView imageViewDrawerIcon = (ImageView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.imageViewDrawerIcon);
                    TextView textViewDrawerTitle = (TextView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.textViewDrawerItemTitle);
                    imageViewDrawerIcon.setColorFilter(color);
                    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 15){
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setImageAlpha(255);
                    }else{
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setAlpha(255);
                    }
                    textViewDrawerTitle.setTextColor(color);
                    RelativeLayout relativeLayoutDrawerItem = (RelativeLayout) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.relativeLayoutDrawerItem);
                    relativeLayoutDrawerItem.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
                }else{
                    ImageView imageViewDrawerIcon = (ImageView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.imageViewDrawerIcon);
                    TextView textViewDrawerTitle = (TextView) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.textViewDrawerItemTitle);
                    imageViewDrawerIcon.setColorFilter(getResources().getColor(R.color.md_text));
                    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 15){
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setImageAlpha(138);
                    }else{
                        imageViewDrawerIcon.setAlpha(138);
                    }
                    textViewDrawerTitle.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.md_text));
                    RelativeLayout relativeLayoutDrawerItem = (RelativeLayout) recyclerViewDrawer.getChildAt(i).findViewById(R.id.relativeLayoutDrawerItem);
                    relativeLayoutDrawerItem.setFocusableInTouchMode(false);
                }
            }

            //TODO Fragments (closedrawers before setfragment)
            final Handler handler = new Handler();
            handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    // Do something after some time

                }
            }, 250);
            mDrawerLayout.closeDrawers();
        }
    });

Answer 1

In my case it,is work like a charm

View viewItem = recycleView.getLayoutManager().findViewByPosition(position);
    View icon = viewItem.findViewById(R.id.view);