Question

I’m using websphere and Java EE and get this error message:

Exception reading propertiesfile in init java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at java.io.Reader.<init>(Reader.java(Inlined Compiled Code))
    at java.io.InputStreamReader.<init>(InputStreamReader.java(Inlined Compiled Code))
    at java.util.Properties.load(Properties.java(Compiled Code))
    at se.prv.register.admin.util.MessageHandler.loadDictionary(MessageHandler.java:90)
    at se.prv.register.admin.util.MessageHandler.<clinit>(MessageHandler.java:15)

This is my code

package se.prv.pandora.arendeprocess.util;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.Properties;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

public class MessageHandler extends AbstractTextHandler{
    private static Properties dictionary;
    private final static String dictionaryFileName="messages.properties";
    private final static String className="se.prv.pandora.arendeprocess.util.MessageHandler";
    private static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(MessageHandler.class);

    static {
        loadDictionary();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String str = getParameterizedMessageTest("TEST",new String[]{"PETER","GÖRAN"});
        System.out.println(str);
    }
    public static String getMessage(String key){
        return getMessage(key,true);
    }
    public static String getMessage(String key,boolean useReference){
        logger.debug("!!!! getMessage "+ key);
        if (key==null || key.length()==0){
            throw new RuntimeException("GetMessage without key");
        }
        if (dictionary==null){
            loadDictionary();
        }
        if (useReference){
            return getFullMessage(getMessage(dictionary,key));
        }
        else {
            //String str = getMessage(dictionary,key);
            //logger.debug(str);
            String str2 = getCoreMessage(getMessage(dictionary,key));
            //logger.debug(str2);
            return str2;
        }
    }
    public static String getFirstPartOfMessage(String key){
        if (key==null || key.length()==0){
            throw new RuntimeException("GetMessage without key");
        }
        if (dictionary==null){
            loadDictionary();
        }
        String msg = getMessage(dictionary,key);
        int pos = msg.indexOf('$');
        if (pos==-1){
            return msg;
        }
        else {
            return msg.substring(0,pos);
        }
    }
    public static String getLastPartOfMessage(String key){
        if (key==null || key.length()==0){
            throw new RuntimeException("GetMessage without key");
        }
        if (dictionary==null){
            loadDictionary();
        }
        String msg = getMessage(dictionary,key);
        int pos = msg.lastIndexOf('$');
        if (pos==-1){
            return msg;
        }
        else {
            return msg.substring(pos+1);
        }
    }
    public static String getParameterizedMessage(String key, String [] params){
        if (dictionary==null){
            loadDictionary();
        }
        return getParameterizedMessage(dictionary,key,params);
    }
    private static void loadDictionary(){       
        String fileName = getPropertiesPath()+dictionaryFileName;
        //String fileName = "se/prv/register/admin/dao/sql-map-config.xml";

        try {
            dictionary=new Properties();
            //InputStream fileInput =  Class.forName("se.prv.register.admin.util.MessageHandler").getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(fileName);
            InputStream fileInput =  Class.forName(className).getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(fileName);
            dictionary.load(fileInput);
            fileInput.close();
        }
        catch(Exception e) {
            System.err.println("Exception reading propertiesfile in init "+e);
            e.printStackTrace();
            dictionary=null;
        }
    }
    private static String getCoreMessage(String str){
        StringBuffer buff = new StringBuffer();
        boolean doCopy=true;
        for (int i=0;i<str.length();i++){
            if (str.charAt(i)=='$'){
                doCopy=!doCopy;
                continue;
            }
            if (doCopy){
                buff.append(str.charAt(i));
            }
        }
        return buff.toString();
    }
    private static String getFullMessage(String str){
        int pos = str.indexOf('$');
        if (pos==-1){
            return str;
        }
        StringBuffer buff = new StringBuffer(str);

        int originalLength = buff.length();
        for (int i=pos+1;i<buff.length();i++){
            if (buff.charAt(i)== '$'){
                String key = buff.substring(pos+1,i).trim();
                String msg = getMessage(dictionary,key);
                buff.replace(pos,i+1,msg);
                if (buff.length()!=originalLength){
                    i += (buff.length()-originalLength);
                    originalLength=buff.length();
                }
                pos = buff.indexOf("$",i+1);
                if (pos==-1){
                    break;
                }
                else {
                    i = pos+1;
                }
            }
        }
        return buff.toString();
    }
//  private static void loadDictionary(){       
//      loadDictionary(dictionary,dictionaryFileName,className);
//  }
}

package se.prv.register.admin.util;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.Properties;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

import se.prv.framework.general.PRVWebSphere;
import se.prv.framework.util.Strings;

public abstract class AbstractTextHandler {

        private static final String propertiesPath="//se//prv//register//properties//";
        protected static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(AbstractTextHandler.class);

//      static {
//          loadProperties();
//      }
        protected static String getPropertiesPath(){
            return propertiesPath;
        }
        protected static String getMessage(Properties dictionary,String key){
            if (dictionary==null){
                return "ERROR";
            }
            String msg = dictionary.getProperty(key);
            //System.out.println("KEY="+key);
            if (msg==null){
                return "?!Meddelande " +key + " saknas!?";
            }
            return msg;
        }
        protected static String getParameterizedMessage(Properties dictionary,String key,String []params){
            if (dictionary==null){
                return "ERROR";
            }
            String msg = dictionary.getProperty(key);
            if (msg==null){
                return "?!Meddelande " +key + " saknas!?";
            }
            if (params==null){
                return msg;
            }
            StringBuffer buff = new StringBuffer(msg);
            for (int i=0;i<params.length;i++){
                String placeHolder = "<<"+(i+1)+">>";
                if (buff.indexOf(placeHolder)!=-1){
                    replace(buff,placeHolder,params[i]);
                }
                else {
                    remove(buff,placeHolder);
                }
            }
            return buff.toString();
        }
        public static String getParameterizedMessageTest(String key,String []params){
            String msg = "HEJ <<1>>!HUR MÅR DU? HEJ DÅ FRÅN <<2>>";
            if (msg==null){
                return "?!Meddelande saknas!?";
            }
            if (params==null){
                return msg;
            }
            StringBuffer buff = new StringBuffer(msg);
            for (int i=0;i<params.length;i++){
                String placeHolder = "<<"+(i+1)+">>";
                if (buff.indexOf(placeHolder)!=-1){
                    replace(buff,placeHolder,params[i]);
                }
                else {
                    remove(buff,placeHolder);
                }
            }
            return buff.toString();
        }
        private static void replace(StringBuffer buff,String placeHolder,String param){
            int pos = buff.indexOf(placeHolder);
            if (pos==-1){
                return;
            }
            buff.replace(pos,pos+placeHolder.length(),param);
        }
        private static void remove(StringBuffer buff,String placeHolder){
            int pos = buff.indexOf(placeHolder);
            if (pos==-1){
                return;
            }
            buff.replace(pos,pos+placeHolder.length(),placeHolder);
        }
        protected static void loadDictionary(Properties dictionary,String fileName,String className){       
            //String fileName = "se/prv/register/admin/dao/sql-map-config.xml";

            try {
                dictionary=new Properties();
                InputStream fileInput =  Class.forName("se.prv.register.admin.util.AbstractTextHandler").getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(fileName);
                dictionary.load(fileInput);
                fileInput.close();
            }
            catch(Exception e) {
                logger.error("Exception reading propertiesfile in init "+e);
                e.printStackTrace();
                dictionary=null;
            }
        }
    }

I’ve put my messages file messages.properties in the same directory as the log4j.properties file so I think it should get picked up. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you

Answer 1

The exception you are seeing is a null pointer exception thrown from the depth of Properties.load(). The reason is that the passed parameter (fileInput) is null. Most likely because the path specified in fileName is incorrect.

Try prepending the path with /.

Also, make sure the file exists. The getResourceAsStream() method will look for the file in the resources associated with the class (e.g. it has to be part of the .jar if you run your program from one).