Help with Card Game

Hi guys,

this is my first time posting here so please go easy on me. So I'm trying to assign a suit, number, and value for the cards for a Black Jack game for my Computer Programming class but I'm running into a problem. I have variables in my "Card.class" for all value, number, and suit but it just doesn't seem to work. It compiles fine but when I run the applet, I get an error saying something along the lines of: NullPointerException at line 64. Which is the line, "Cards[i].suit = "Spade";" . I'll appreciate any help.

Code :

---

// Import section
// Use this section to add additional libaries for use in your program.
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.lang.Math;
 
 
 
// This begins the class definition.
// Notice that this is a "world".  You can tell since it extends Applet.
public class BlackJack extends Applet implements Runnable, /*KeyListener,*/ MouseMotionListener, MouseListener
 
{
	//variable declaration section
	// public  datatype  variablename
 
	public int xTitle;
	public int yTitle;
	public Card[] Cards;
	public int sizeC;
	public int randomXpos, randomYpos, randomCard;
	public Image cardDeck;
 
 
 
 
 
	Graphics bufferGraphics;
	Image offscreen;
 
 
	//Sets up a Thread called thread
	Thread thread;
 
	// Method definition section
 
	// init() is the first method an Applet runs when started
	public void init()
	{
		//Initialize variables
		xTitle=250;
		yTitle=50;
		sizeC = 52;
 
		Cards = new Card[sizeC];
		/*for(int j = 0; j<13; j++)
		{
			for(int i = j; i<52; i = i+13)
			{
				Cards[i].value = j+1;
				Cards[i].number = j+1;
			}
		}*/
 
		for(int i = 0; i < 13; i++)
		{
			Cards[i].suit = "Spade";
		}
		for(int i = 13; i < 26; i++)
		{
			Cards[i].suit = "Club";
		}
		for(int i = 26; i < 39; i++)
		{
			Cards[i].suit = "Diamond";
		}
		for(int i = 39; i < 52; i++)
		{
			Cards[i].suit = "Heart";
		}
 
		cardDeck = getImage(getDocumentBase(), "CardDeck.gif");
 
 
 
		//double buffering
		offscreen = createImage(800,600); //create a new image that's the size of the applet
		bufferGraphics = offscreen.getGraphics(); //set bufferGraphics to the graphics of the offscreen image.
 
		setSize(800, 600);
 
		addMouseListener(this);
		addMouseMotionListener(this);
		//Set up the thread
		thread = new Thread(this);  //constructs a new thread
		thread.start();				//starts the thread
	}//init()

---

Here's an idea, though I don't have the Card.java code.

Code java:

---

for(int i = 0; i < 13; i++)
		{
                         try{
 
			Cards[i].suit = "Spade";
}
 
 
catch(NullPointerException npe)
{
System.out.println("Card " + i  + " is null!");
}
		}

---

That would detect where it's going Null. However, I think I see the problem.

However, it would seem to me that the problem is that you define a Card array but never initialize it with something like

Code java:

---

for (int i =0; i < Cards.length; i++)
{
Cards[i]= new Card();
}

---

If it's not initalized, then the entire Card there is null, hence you can't go referring to .value and stuff of a null Card.

Wow thank you so much. I can't believe I overlooked that so easily. I feel pretty stupid now. But thank you again!