Java.lang.NullPointerException what?

Question

how could i fix the error java.lang.NullPointerException associated with this code?
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Visual extends JApplet {
JButton[] theCase;
public Visual() {
               theCase = new JButton[26];
               ImageIcon[] casePic;
               casePic = new ImageIcon[26];
for(int caseImgLoop=0; caseImgLoop<26; caseImgLoop++)
                    casePic[caseImgLoop] = new ImageIcon("H:/Images/caseF" + (caseImgLoop + 1) + ".jpg");
for(int caseLoop=0; caseLoop<26; caseLoop++)
                    //error on the next line
                    theCase[caseLoop].setIcon(casePic[caseLoop]);
                    theCase[caseLoop].setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder());
public void init() {
               Visual go = new Visual();
               setSize(400,300);
}

Answer 1

casePic[caseImgLoop] = new ImageIcon("H:/Images/caseF" + (caseImgLoop + 1) + ".jpg");You knew you needed to actually create the ImageIcon objects in this array, so why did you not do likewise for the theCase array of JButton objects? You never created the JButton objects, so when you got to this line:
theCase[caseLoop].setIcon(casePic[caseLoop]);theCase[caseLoop] == null at this point.