Can't figure out why I get this NullPointerException on my EditText

Question

I'm using Android's DatePicker to select a certain date from the calendar. The problem is I don't manage to show the date I select from the calendar in my EditText.

This would be my DatePickerFragment :

public class DatePickerFragment extends DialogFragment implements DatePickerDialog.OnDateSetListener {

 private EditText a;
 private String date;

 @Override
 public Dialog onCreateDialog(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  // Use the current date as the default date in the picker
  final Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
  int year = c.get(Calendar.YEAR);
  int month = c.get(Calendar.MONTH);
  int day = c.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH);

  a.findViewById(R.id.in_date);
  date = "";
  date = Integer.toString(day) + "/" + Integer.toString(month) + "/" + Integer.toString(year);
  a.setText(date);

  // Create a new instance of DatePickerDialog and return it
  return new DatePickerDialog(getActivity(), this, year, month, day);
 }
}

and this is the xml of the EditText I'm using:

< EditText
android: id = "@+id/in_date"
android: layout_width = "175dp"
android: layout_height = "wrap_content"
android: hint = "@string/choose_date"
android: importantForAutofill = "no"
android: inputType = "date|text"
android: keyboardNavigationCluster = "false" / >

Every time I get NullPointerException when trying to use .setText(date) on the EditText variable a . Isn't this the way it should be initialized?

Answer 1

You're not initializing the variable a which means it is null . You're getting the NullPointer because in the background, it is doing (null).setText(date);

EditText a = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.in_date);