Spring Data JPA repository throws null pointer [duplicate]

Question

I've been working with Spring Data with Spring Boot. With the JavaConfig documentation I have set up a Spring JPA configuration, but when calling the save method in my repository a null pointer is thrown.

My repository:

import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;

public interface HouseRepository extends JpaRepository<House, Long> {
}

My POJO's:

AbstractHouse

@MappedSuperclass
@Table(name="houses")
@Inheritance(strategy=InheritanceType.SINGLE_TABLE)
public abstract class AbstractHouse implements Serializable {

@NotEmpty
private String houseName;

@NotEmpty
private String houseNumber;

House

@Entity
public class SmallHouse extends AbstractHouse {

@Id
@GeneratedValue
private Long id;

private Date created;

private Date updated;

I've then got a service object that takes an Autowired repository and attempts to save using methods obtained through JPA:

@Service
public class HouseService {

@Autowired
protected HouseRepository houseRepository;

public void save(House house) {
    houseRepository.save(house);
} 

My application class contains:

@SpringBootApplication
@EnableScheduling
@EnableJpaRepositories
public class Application {

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
}
}

I am fairly new to Spring Data, so I do think its something within the configuration that I am missing, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

--Update--

Stack Trace:

java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.jm.service.HouseService.save(HouseService.java:15)
    at com.jm.service.HouseClass.gatherHouses(HouseClass.java:43)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.doInvoke(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:221)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:137)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:110)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:775)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:705)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:85)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:959)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:893)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:967)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:858)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:622)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:843)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:729)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:291)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:239)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.HiddenHttpMethodFilter.doFilterInternal(HiddenHttpMethodFilter.java:77)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:239)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:85)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:239)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:217)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:106)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:502)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:142)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:88)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:518)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1091)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:673)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1500)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(NioEndpoint.java:1456)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

And I call the method as such:

public class HouseMain {

    @Autowired
    public HouseService houseService;

    public void gatherHouse() {
    houseService = new HouseService();
    House h = new House();
    h.setHouseName("House1");
    h.setHouseNumber("12");
    try {

        HouseService.save(vmComp);          
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}
}

Then in my controller I am calling house.gatherHouse

Answer 1

You currently instantiate HouseService by hand, not through Spring. In the houseService object that you created you have field HouseRepository houseRepository which is null, because you don't initialize it in any way. If you use Spring and its Autowired functionality, then you should get the instance of HouseService from Spring context. E.g. you can @Autowired it into your controller class.