Question

I attempted to create my ImageButton using a the initializeBtn() function but __animateBtn is null when I checked it running the function. Any thoughts?

When I don’t attempt to catch the null __animateBtn, LogCat throw a null pointer exception.

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnTouchListener {

public static ImageButton __animateBtn;

public static myLayout __myLayout;  

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

    if (__animateBtn == null) {
        initializeBtn (__animateBtn, R.drawable.wrapped_leavemenu_0, false);

    }

    if(__myLayout == null) {

        __myLayout = (myLayout) findViewById(R.id.relative_layout);

        if (__animateBtn == null) {
            Log.d("__animateBtn", "null");
            finish();
        }
        if (__animateBtn2 == null) {
            Log.d("__animateBtn2", "null");
            finish();
        }
        else {
        Log.d ("__myLayout.addView", "are" + __myLayout.getChildCount());               
        __myLayout.addView(__animateBtn, new AbsoluteLayout.LayoutParams(100,140,midX,midY-100));
        __myLayout.addView(__animateBtn2, new AbsoluteLayout.LayoutParams(200,100,midX-100,midY));
        }

    }   

public void initializeBtn (ImageButton btn, int resid, boolean visible) {

    btn = new ImageButton (getApplicationContext());
    btn.setBackgroundResource(resid);

    if (visible) btn.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    else btn.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
}
}

Answer 1

use :

public ImageButton initializeBtn (int resid, boolean visible) {

    ImageButton btn = new ImageButton (this);// use this instead of getApplicationContext()
    btn.setBackgroundResource(resid);

    if (visible) btn.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    else btn.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
    return btn;
}

and then in your onCreate() method :

__animateBtn = initializeBtn(R.drawable.wrapped_leavemenu_0, false);