NullPointerException Error when loading a JPG file...

Question

I started a new job recently and have enherited some new JAVA code. I understand most of what is going on here (with the help of several good books). I can compile the code (with this code snippit) with no errors, but I get a NullPointerException during runtime. The error comes when I try to load "images/plasticslogo.jpg". The filename and path all appear to be correct. There is a Java Package created (called images) with the image in there. I have come to the end of my resources to resolve this problem. Can anyone help???
ERROR MESSAGE:
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at javax.swing.ImageIcon.<init>(ImageIcon.java:138)
        at lhp.LHPSplashScreen.initComponents(LHPSplashScreen.java:64)
        at lhp.LHPSplashScreen.<init>(LHPSplashScreen.java:11)
        at lhp.LHPEventViewer.main(LHPEventViewer.java:71)
END ERROR MESSAGE
private void initComponents() {
        pnlMain = new JPanel();
        lblTitle = new JLabel();
        lblVerLabel = new JLabel();
        lblVersion = new JLabel();
        lblAuthor = new JLabel();
        lblImage = new JLabel();
        getContentPane().setLayout(null);
        setBackground(java.awt.Color.white);
        addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
            public void windowClosing(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
                exitForm(evt);
        pnlMain.setLayout(null);
        pnlMain.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(255, 255, 255));
        pnlMain.setBorder(new javax.swing.border.LineBorder(new java.awt.Color(0, 0, 0), 2));
        lblTitle.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 1, 18));
        lblTitle.setHorizontalAlignment(javax.swing.SwingConstants.CENTER);
        lblTitle.setText("Line Hour Productivity");
        pnlMain.add(lblTitle);
        lblTitle.setBounds(0, 70, 200, 22);
        lblVerLabel.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 12));
        lblVerLabel.setText("Version:");
        pnlMain.add(lblVerLabel);
        lblVerLabel.setBounds(3, 87, 50, 20);
        lblVersion.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 12));
        pnlMain.add(lblVersion);
        lblVersion.setBounds(50, 87, 50, 20);
        lblAuthor.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Tahoma", 0, 10));
        lblAuthor.setText("Written By: Granite Services, Inc.");
        pnlMain.add(lblAuthor);
        lblAuthor.setBounds(100, 87, 156, 20);
lblImage.setIcon(new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("images/plasticslogo.jpg")));       
        pnlMain.add(lblImage);
        lblImage.setBounds(2, 10, 198, 64);
        getContentPane().add(pnlMain);
        pnlMain.setBounds(0, 0, 256, 107);
    }

Answer 1

Hiwa,
Please note that the code usesClass.getResource().
This 'small change' is not necessary for a simple
resource stored in a subdirectory.Actually, if you dont add the '/' prefix, then the package name will the
prepended. i.e it would search for the image file under abc.xyz. images
package, where abc.xyz is the package name for the current class.
Javadoc for Class.getStream..
public URL getResource(String name)
Finds a resource with a given name. This method returns null if no resource with this name is found. The rules for searching resources associated with a given class are implemented by the * defining class loader of the class.
This method delegates the call to its class loader, after making these changes to the resource name: if the resource name starts with "/", it is unchanged; otherwise, the package name is prepended to the resource name after converting "." to "/". If this object was loaded by the bootstrap loader, the call is delegated to ClassLoader.getSystemResource.