Android Xml Parsing Null Pointer exception

Question

I am trying to parse this xml feeds

http://www.billboard.com/rss/charts/hot-100

But whenever I try to read description Tag, it throws NullPointerException. Theres a tag at start of the document is this tag causing problem ?

I am able to pull all other fields successfully.

Here is my code:

Element element = result.getDocumentElement();
NodeList list = element.getElementsByTagName("item");
 try{           
  if(list != null && list.getLength()>0){
    for(int i=0;i<list.getLength();i++){
        Element entry = (Element)list.item(i);
        Element title = (Element)entry.getElementsByTagName("title").item(0);    
        String strTitle = title.getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
        Log.i("Zealdeveloper", "Title");
        Element link = (Element)entry.getElementsByTagName("link").item(0);
        String strLink = link.getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
        Log.i("Zealdeveloper", "Link");
        Element pubdate = (Element)entry.getElementsByTagName("pubDate").item(0);              
        String strPubdate = pubdate.getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
        Log.i("Zealdeveloper", "pubdate");
        Element description = (Element)entry.getElementsByTagName("description").item(0);              
        String strDescription = description.getFirstChild().getNodeValue();
        Log.i("Zealdeveloper", "Description"); } }

Exception that I am getting:

12-06 13:44:09.202: I/Zealdeveloper(824): Title
12-06 13:44:09.202: I/Zealdeveloper(824): Link
12-06 13:44:09.202: I/Zealdeveloper(824): pubdate
12-06 13:44:09.202: W/System.err(824): java.lang.NullPointerException
12-06 13:44:09.202: W/System.err(824):  at com.zealdeveloper.musicfreak.MusicFreakActivity$ParseXmlFeeds.onPostExecute(MusicFreakActivity.java:152)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at com.zealdeveloper.musicfreak.MusicFreakActivity$ParseXmlFeeds.onPostExecute(MusicFreakActivity.java:1)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at android.os.AsyncTask.finish(AsyncTask.java:417)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at android.os.AsyncTask.access$300(AsyncTask.java:127)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at android.os.AsyncTask$InternalHandler.handleMessage(AsyncTask.java:429)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
12-06 13:44:09.212: W/System.err(824):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868)
12-06 13:44:09.222: W/System.err(824):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626)
12-06 13:44:09.222: W/System.err(824):  at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Thanks!

I'm not answering this question. But in my experience I've faced null pointer exception in DOM parser very often. Then I moved to SAX Parser and that works very smooth for me. — Walid Hossain
– Walid Hossain, Commented Dec 6, 2011 at 8:35
thnx for the tip buddy, If u have any good source or tutorials for adding to list view using saxparser then it will be very helpfull.. — ZealDeveloper
– ZealDeveloper, Commented Dec 6, 2011 at 9:35

KK_07k11A0585 · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-06 08:53:06Z

1

You can use RSS FEED LIBRARY DOWNLOAD RSS FEED JAR FILE HERE ----> http://code.google.com/p/superpodder/source/browse/trunk/lib/rsslib4j-0.2.jar?r=3

This way you can parse the data

TextView textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textview);

            String feedUrl = "http://www.billboard.com/rss/charts/hot-100"; // RSS means Real Simply Syndication
            URL url = new URL(feedUrl);

            RSSHandler rsshandler = new RSSHandler();

            RSSParser.parseXmlFile(url, rsshandler, false);

            RSSChannel rssChannel = rsshandler.getRSSChannel();

            String data = rssChannel.getAboutAttribute();
            textView.append("\n\n");
            textView.append("Attributes: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getCopyright();
            textView.append("Copyright: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getDescription();
            textView.append("Description: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getDocs();
            textView.append("Docs: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getGenerator();
            textView.append("Generator: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getLanguage();
            textView.append("Language: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getLastBuildDate();
            textView.append("LastBuildDate: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getLink();
            textView.append("Link: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getPubDate();
            textView.append("PubDate: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getTitle();
            textView.append("Title: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getTTL();
            textView.append("TTL: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssChannel.getWebMaster();
            textView.append("WebMaster: "+data+"\n");


            RSSImage rssImage = rssChannel.getRSSImage();
            data = rssImage.getTitle();
            textView.append("ImageTitle: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssImage.getWidth();
            textView.append("ImageWidth: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssImage.getHeight();
            textView.append("ImageHeight: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssImage.getLink();
            textView.append("ImageLink: "+data+"\n");

            data = rssImage.getUrl();
            textView.append("ImageUrl: "+data+"\n");

            textView.append("\n");
            LinkedList linkedList = rssChannel.getItems();
            int size = linkedList.size();

            textView.append("Total Items: "+size+"\n");

Note: This is for only rssfeed Urls do not parse any other url using this library

answered Dec 6, 2011 at 8:53

KK_07k11A0585

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4 Comments

ZealDeveloper Over a year ago

Hey thanx for the reply, I tried making new project and using this jar file.. But nothing seems to happen ?? i have copied your spinet and removed unwanted tags. The text view seems to be intact no changes ?? I have given internet permission aswell. Am i missing somthing ?

ZealDeveloper Over a year ago

URL url = new URL("billboard.com/rss/charts/hot-100"); RSSHandler rsshandler = new RSSHandler(); RSSParser.parseXmlFile(url, rsshandler, true); RSSChannel rssChannel = rsshandler.getRSSChannel(); String data = rssChannel.getAboutAttribute(); data = rssChannel.getDescription();

ZealDeveloper Over a year ago

Sorry , i changed it to true before pasting, it was false and not before and was not working... I m using the string value directly in side url and the url is also working fine. M not getting any output i have printed it on log too..

KK_07k11A0585 Over a year ago

Come to chat room we will discuss there (Android For Life)

Mahdi Giveie · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-03 04:03:58Z

0

Is there any character like "&" or "--" in your XML file?! i figure it out that parser can not parse those! just try to change it if you have one

answered Dec 3, 2012 at 4:03

Mahdi Giveie

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