NullPointer Exception while using Apache POI

[Paras Ahuja]

InputStream inp=new FileInputStream("Template.xlsx");
		Workbook wb=WorkbookFactory.create(inp);
		XSSFSheet sheet=(XSSFSheet)wb.getSheetAt(0);
		Row[] row8 =new Row[9];
		for(int j=0;j<9;j++)
			row8[j]=sheet.getRow(j+41);
		Cell[] cell8=new Cell[9];
		for(int j=0;j<9;j++)
		{
			fabs[j]=new String();
			cell8[j]=row8[j].getCell(3);
			if(cell8[j].getCellType()==Cell.CELL_TYPE_BLANK)
				fabs[j]=null;
			else if(cell8[j].getCellType()==Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC)
				fabs[j]=Double.toString(cell8[j].getNumericCellValue());
			else if(cell8[j].getCellType()==Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING)
				fabs[j]=cell8[j].getStringCellValue();
			else
				fabs[j]="N.A.";
		}

if(cell8[j].getCellType()==Cell.CELL_TYPE_BLANK) throws a NullPointerException. Dont know why...
Please help.....

[Wendy Gibbons]

You are creating an array with 8 elements in it, but you are not actually putting anything into the array, so you currently have 8 null array elements.

missed the lines ahead where you fill the array in.

but you are still getting a null pointer exception because there is nothing in the element.

[Campbell Ritchie]

And fabs[j] = new String(); should be deleted. It does nothing. You might do well to get rid of the assignment to null in line 13; that is another problem waiting to happen later on.

[Paras Ahuja]

But you see this is these rows are 8th in list in the template i'm reading. I have same code for row1,row2,......,row7 before this one. But when i try to upload data from this excel sheet into my GUI, the error occurs at row8 (as i specified before). I am filling only row1 cells to be read and leaving all the remaining cells blank.
Why the error is not generated for row2,row3,.....row7?

[Wendy Gibbons]

could you post a sceen shot, as I am not following that link, sorry

[Rob Spoor]

row8[j].getCell(3) will return null if the cell is not defined (whatever that means). There are two quick fixes:
1) Check if row8[j] != null before using it.
2) Replace row8[j].getCell(3) with row8[j].getCell(3, Row.CREATE_NULL_AS_BLANK).

[James Boswell]

It has occurred because cell8[j] is null. You will need to debug to find out why.

On a side note, get into the habit of using braces for single line if conditions. The no braces style is horrible and prone to creating bugs.