Null pointer exception showing in action bar sherlock library

Question

I want to implement the search view widget of Sherlock action bar. My problem is `OnOptionItemSelected` of search view item. I am getting a null pointer exception in library activity. The menu xml: ``` <item android:id="@+id/menu_search" android:actionViewClass="com.actionbarsherlock.widget.SearchView" android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_search" /> ``` Code snippet for option menu: ``` public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { MenuInflater inflater = getSupportMenuInflater(); inflater.inflate(R.menu.tvguide_menu, menu); MenuItem mSearch = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_search); searchView = new SearchView(getSupportActionBar().getThemedContext()); searchView.setQueryHint("Search for countriesâ€¦"); searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(this); mSearch.setActionView(searchView); mSearch.setShowAsAction(MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM | MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_COLLAPSE_ACTION_VIEW); } ``` I am getting a forced close on clicking over search android. I have shared my log below ``` 04-17 15:…

Accepted Answer

The problem is that your `Menu` item does not specify an title, and in the line :

```
@Override
public final boolean onMenuItemSelected(int featureId, android.view.MenuItem item) {
    if (BuildConfig.DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "[onMenuItemSelected] featureId: " 
           + featureId + ", item: " + item);
    ...
}
```

`item` will inkove the `toString()` method which :

```
@Override
public String toString() {
    return mTitle.toString();
}
```

will throw a `NullPointerException`. A easy workaround for this, until it will be fixed is to use :

```
android:title=""
```

for your `MenuItem`.

Also, this will not happen on a release of your application.

Null pointer exception showing in action bar sherlock library

Solution

Problem