JavaFX - How to add stylesheet in Controller Class which does not extends Application?

Question

i have a Application where the User needs to Login first. Everything works fine, except when i use .getStylesheets().add(...), i allways get the following Error:

    Exception in thread "JavaFX Application Thread" java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
    at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$MethodHandler.invoke(FXMLLoader.java:1774)
    at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$ControllerMethodEventHandler.handle(FXMLLoader.java:1657)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:86)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:49)
    at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198)
    at javafx.scene.Node.fireEvent(Node.java:8411)
    at javafx.scene.control.Hyperlink.fire(Hyperlink.java:153)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.behavior.ButtonBehavior.mouseReleased(ButtonBehavior.java:182)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase$1.handle(BehaviorSkinBase.java:96)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase$1.handle(BehaviorSkinBase.java:89)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler$NormalEventHandlerRecord.handleBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:218)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:80)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:54)
    at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198)
    at javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.process(Scene.java:3757)
    at javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.access$1500(Scene.java:3485)
    at javafx.scene.Scene.impl_processMouseEvent(Scene.java:1762)
    at javafx.scene.Scene$ScenePeerListener.mouseEvent(Scene.java:2494)
    at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(GlassViewEventHandler.java:380)
    at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(GlassViewEventHandler.java:294)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.lambda$handleMouseEvent$354(GlassViewEventHandler.java:416)
    at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.QuantumToolkit.runWithoutRenderLock(QuantumToolkit.java:389)
    at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.handleMouseEvent(GlassViewEventHandler.java:415)
    at com.sun.glass.ui.View.handleMouseEvent(View.java:555)
    at com.sun.glass.ui.View.notifyMouse(View.java:937)
    at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method)
    at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$null$148(WinApplication.java:191)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor1.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$MethodHandler.invoke(FXMLLoader.java:1769)
    ... 48 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at controller.LoginController.goBackToLoginView(LoginController.java:50)
    ... 58 more

I dont know why i get this NullPointerException, it only happens when a User press a Button to go Back to the Login Page where the Button triggers the following Action:

    @FXML
private void goBackToLoginView(ActionEvent event) throws IOException {
    Parent loginView = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("/view/LoginView.fxml"));
    Scene loginScene = new Scene(loginView, 330, 350);
    loginScene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("application.css").toExternalForm());

    Stage app = (Stage) ((Node) event.getSource()).getScene().getWindow();
    app.setScene(loginScene);
    app.show();
}

If i comment out the following code:

loginScene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("application.css").toExternalForm());

I dot get any Exceptions. Please can someone explain me way this happens? Thank you.

Answer 1

It is obvious that in your case getClass().getResource("application.css") returns null such that you get an NPE when trying to call toExternalForm() . You need to understand that getClass().getResource("application.css") will return a non null value if and only if application.css

1. Is in the classpath
2. Is in the same package as the calling class (which is LoginController in your case)

So the path must be relative to a directory /controller accessible from the classpath otherwise you will get a NPE.

Assuming that your file is in the root of your classpath, it should rather be getClass().getResource("/application.css") .

Answer 2

Please refer the stylesheet in fxml file. If the css file and fxml file are in same directory you can add the style sheet as in the example, otherwise properly specify the url. The css in the example is applicable to the entire tab pane.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
...
<TabPane ...>
   <tabs>
   ...
   ...
   </tabs>
<stylesheets>
   <URL value="@application.css" />
</stylesheets>
</TabPane>