Question

Quick version:

When trying to compare 2 RadioButtonGroups with an if statement, if one of the groups does not have a RadioButton selected, I get an error;

Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

Long version:

I am creating 2 lists in actionscript that have the same content and have stored them in RadioButtonGroups. The idea is that a user will choose an element from column A and then select an element from column B. This functionality works fine, but when I do validation where the program checks when clicking a button if both columns have been selected, I get:

Cannot access property error (See above).

Here is my code:

import fl.controls.RadioButtonGroup;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.net.URLLoader;
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.events.Event;
import fl.controls.RadioButton;

var focus1:RadioButtonGroup = new RadioButtonGroup("Focus 1");
var focus2:RadioButtonGroup = new RadioButtonGroup("Focus 2");
var myXML:XML;
var myLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var btn1:Array = new Array();
var btn2:Array = new Array();

myLoader.load(new URLRequest("courseLoader.xml"));
myLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, processXML);

function processXML(e:Event):void {
    myXML = new XML(e.target.data);
    
    for (var i = 0; i < myXML.COURSES.length(); i++) {
        var radA:RadioButton = new RadioButton();
        var radB:RadioButton = new RadioButton();
        
            // Create left focus column
        radA.x = 50;
        radA.y = i * 25 + 75;
        radA.width = 300;
        radA.name = "radA" + i;
        radA.label = myXML.COURSES[i].NAME[0];
        addChild(radA);
            btn1.push(radA);
        btn1[i].group = focus1;
        
        // Create right focus column
        radB. x = 450;
        radB.y = i * 25 + 75;
        radB.width = 300;
        radB.name = "radB" + i;
        radB.label = myXML.COURSES[i].NAME[0];
        addChild(radB);
        btn2.push(radB);
        btn2[i].group = focus2;
}

submit_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, checkResult);

function checkResult(e:MouseEvent):void {
    var tempVar 
    
    if (focus1.selection.label == focus2.selection.label) {
        feedback.text = "Nope, they're both the same. Try again";
    } /* THIS IS WHERE IT STOPS WORKING */ else if (focus1.selection == null) {
        feedback.text = "You forgot to choose a focus from the 2nd column!";
    } else if (focus1.selection.label == null) {
        feedback.text = "You forgot to choose a focus from the 1st column!";
    } else if (focus2.selection.label == null) {
        feedback.text = "You forgot to choose a focuse from the 2nd column!";
    }
}

I’ve tried using different kinds of properties and methods for comparing both groups and checking if one of them is not selected but I keep getting the same error.

Answer 1

You first are checking for labels, and only THEN you check if selection is null. This is wrong, you have to do it in reverse order.

if (focus1.selection == null) {
    feedback.text = "You forgot to choose a focus from the 1st column!";
} else if (focus2.selection == null) {
    feedback.text = "You forgot to choose a focus from the 2nd column!";
} else if (focus1.selection.label == focus2.selection.label) {
    feedback.text = "Nope, they're both the same. Try again";
}