Nullpointer exception?

[Jyoti Vaskar]

Can anybody solve this problem???

I am trying to store the data from database(table jyoti) in a bean
& then adding the bean into an arraylist.

here is my code:

package web;

import java.sql.*;
import java.util.*;

public class DAO 
{
	ArrayList al;
	Connection con;
	ResultSet rs;
	Statement st;

	public Connection getConnection()
	{
		try
		{
			Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");
			con=DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:odbc:MyData");
		}
		catch(ClassNotFoundException cnfe)
		{}
		catch(SQLException se)
		{}
		return con;
	}

	public ArrayList getData()
	{
		
		try
		{
			con=getConnection();
			st=con.createStatement();
			rs=st.executeQuery("select * from jyoti");
			
			while (rs.next())
			{
				EntityBean eb=new EntityBean();

				String name=rs.getString(1);
				eb.setName(name);
				int age=rs.getInt(2);
				eb.setAge(age);
				String sex=rs.getString(3);
				eb.setSex(sex);
				System.out.println(eb);
				System.out.println(al);
				al.add(eb);
				System.out.println(al);	  				
			}
			
			rs.close();
			st.close();
			con.close();
		}
		catch (SQLException sql)
		{}
		
		return al;
		
	}
}

what's wrong with the above code?
I am getting Nullpointer exception?
it's stucking up after

System.out.println(al);

(above line prints null) for al.add(eb) it stucks? ?

[Sean Clark]

Hey,

You haven't initialised the ArrayList anywhere.

Sean

[Jyoti Vaskar]

where it matters ?
doesn't it take the default value null?? As its instance variable??

[Paul Sturrock]

Yes, but you can't call methods on a variable that is null.

[Scott Selikoff]

Objects start as null until they are initialized. Since an ArrayList is an object, you must initialize it else its just a null pointer.

[Jyoti Vaskar]

thank you guys .

I got my problem & I'm sort with it.

thank you!