Null pointer error with hideSoftInputFromWindow

Question

I get a null pointer exception at this row:

public void hideKeyboard(){ 
InputMethodManager inputManager = (InputMethodManager)            
            this.         


        

Answer 1

As CommonsWare mentioned, the getCurrentFocus() is null, since there is no View component inside the current Activity holding the focus.

If you already have a view in your Activity, use it to get the window token. For example, if I have a Button component:

inputManager.hideSoftInputFromWindow(myButton.getWindowToken(), InputMethodManager.HIDE_NOT_ALWAYS);

Or even worse, if I do not have any view already in my Activity, I could do this:

inputManager.hideSoftInputFromWindow(new View(this).getWindowToken(), InputMethodManager.HIDE_NOT_ALWAYS);

This would solve your problem of NPE, but I hope you find the description useful.

One more thing about keyboards is that when user presses the back button while the keyboard is visible, the keyboard receives and consumes the back key press to hide itself. Or at least most keyboards behave that way.