JASPER problem!!

[Jordan Smith]

hi!
i am trying to export to PDF with JASPER and get a null pointer exception.
i have a simple JASPER file:

 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jasperReport xmlns="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/xsd/jasperreport.xsd" name="report name" pageWidth="595" pageHeight="842" columnWidth="535" leftMargin="20" rightMargin="20" topMargin="20" bottomMargin="20">
	<queryString>
		<![CDATA[]]>
	</queryString>
	<field name="orderDate" class="java.util.Date">
		<fieldDescription><![CDATA[orderDate]]></fieldDescription>
	</field>
	<field name="orderId" class="java.lang.Integer">
		<fieldDescription><![CDATA[orderId]]></fieldDescription>
	</field>
	<field name="payingType" class="java.lang.String">
		<fieldDescription><![CDATA[payingType]]></fieldDescription>
	</field>
	<background>
		<band splitType="Stretch"/>
	</background>
	<title>
		<band height="79" splitType="Stretch"/>
	</title>
	<pageHeader>
		<band height="35" splitType="Stretch"/>
	</pageHeader>
	<columnHeader>
		<band height="61" splitType="Stretch"/>
	</columnHeader>
	<detail>
		<band height="125" splitType="Stretch">
			<textField>
				<reportElement x="150" y="12" width="100" height="20"/>
				<textElement/>
				<textFieldExpression class="java.util.Date"><![CDATA[$F{orderDate}]]></textFieldExpression>
			</textField>
			<textField>
				<reportElement x="267" y="12" width="100" height="20"/>
				<textElement/>
				<textFieldExpression class="java.lang.Integer"><![CDATA[$F{orderId}]]></textFieldExpression>
			</textField>
			<textField>
				<reportElement x="36" y="12" width="100" height="20"/>
				<textElement/>
				<textFieldExpression class="java.lang.String"><![CDATA[$F{payingType}]]></textFieldExpression>
			</textField>
		</band>
	</detail>
	<columnFooter>
		<band height="45" splitType="Stretch"/>
	</columnFooter>
	<pageFooter>
		<band height="54" splitType="Stretch"/>
	</pageFooter>
	<summary>
		<band height="42" splitType="Stretch"/>
	</summary>
</jasperReport>

and i get a list of orders from the following sql:

select * from orders

my code is:

File reportFile = new File(path + "WEB-INF" + File.separator + "report1.jasper");
if (!reportFile.exists())
throw new JRRuntimeException(".jasper file not found. The report design must be compiled first.");
JasperReport jasperReport = (JasperReport) JRLoader.loadObject(reportFile.getPath());
JRBeanCollectionDataSource ds = new JRBeanCollectionDataSource(orders);
JasperPrint jasperPrint = null;
try{
 jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(jasperReport, new HashMap(), ds);
}catch (NullPointerException e) {
	logger.error(e.getMessage());
}

i always get NullPointerExcpetion in the try and catch.
i have no idea why.
i tried to debug it, and i see that it's falling here:

DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - Returned connection 12045714 to pool.
java.lang.NullPointerException
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRPropertiesMap.getPropertyNames(JRPropertiesMap.java:90)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.util.JRProperties.getProperties(JRProperties.java:502)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.fill.JRBaseFiller.<init>(JRBaseFiller.java:405)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.fill.JRVerticalFiller.<init>(JRVerticalFiller.java:77)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.fill.JRVerticalFiller.<init>(JRVerticalFiller.java:59)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.fill.JRFiller.createFiller(JRFiller.java:147)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.fill.JRFiller.fillReport(JRFiller.java:83)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JasperFillManager.fillReport(JasperFillManager.java:601)

what is the problem?? i don't know where to start to investigate