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Java Java Objects Delivering the MVP Forum

Patrick Hebert
Patrick Hebert
2,205 Points

I keep getting a null pointer exception & don't know why...

Any help appreciated...

Forum.java
public class Forum {
  private String topic;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts a topic and sets the private field topic
  public Forum(String topic) {
    topic = this.topic;
  }

  public String getTopic() {
    return topic;
  }


 // /* Uncomment this when you are prompted to do so
  public void addPost(ForumPost post) {
    System.out.printf("A new post in %s topic from %s %s about %s is available",
            topic,
            post.getAuthor().getFirstName(),
            post.getAuthor().getLastName(),
            post.getTitle()
    );
  }
//  */

}
User.java
public class User {
  // TODO: add private fields for firstName and lastName
  private String firstName;
  private String lastName;

  public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
    // TODO: set and add the private fields
    firstName = this.firstName;
    lastName = this.lastName;

  }

  // TODO: add getters for firstName and lastName
  public String getFirstName() {
    return firstName;
  }

  public String getLastName() {
    return lastName;
  }


}
ForumPost.java
public class ForumPost {
  private User author;
  private String title;
  private String description;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts the author, title and description
  public ForumPost(User author, String title, String description) {
    author = this.author;
    title = this.title;
    description = this.description;
  }

  public User getAuthor() {
    return author;
  }

  public String getTitle() {
    return title;
  }

  public String getDescription() {
    return description;
  }
}
Main.java
public class Main {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Beginning forum example");
    if (args.length < 2) {
      System.out.println("Usage: java Main <first name> <last name>");
      System.err.println("<first name> and <last name> are required");
      System.exit(1);
    }
    ///* Uncomment this when prompted
    Forum forum = new Forum("Java");
    // TODO: pass in the first name and last name that are in the args parameter

    User author = new User(args[0], args[1]);
    // TODO: initialize the forum post with the user created above and a title and description of your choice
    ForumPost post = new ForumPost(author, "My new java", "Description of my post");
    forum.addPost(post);

// */
  }

}

1 Answer

Raphaël Seguin
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Raphaël Seguin
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 29,228 Points

This is what you wrote :

public Forum(String topic) {
    topic = this.topic;
  }

but it should be like this :

public Forum(String topic) {
    this.topic = topic;
  }

so you assign the String argument topic to the private field topic (and not the other way around, which yields a null pointer exception because you try to assign a field that is not initialized yet to the argument of the function).