Cucumber- Selenium Getting null pointer exception while openBrowser method

Question

I am getting null pointer exception when selenium tries to launch the browser.

1. I have already checked step Definition.
2. Selenium OpenBrowser Method.
3. Chrome browser version. ( I have driver 87.04 matches with version of my chrome browser)

I am still facing this issue can you please help.. please find below details:

1. Step Definition:

   package steps;

import cucumber.api.PendingException;
import pagesAction.CarsGuideHomePageActions;
import pagesAction.CarsSearchPageActions;
import cucumber.api.java.en.And;
import cucumber.api.java.en.Given;
import cucumber.api.java.en.Then;
import cucumber.api.java.en.When;

import java.util.List;

import Utilities.SeleniumDriver;
//import cucumber.api.DataTable;

public class SearchCarsSteps {
    
    CarsGuideHomePageActions CarsGuideHomePageActions = new CarsGuideHomePageActions();
    CarsSearchPageActions CarsSearchPageActions = new CarsSearchPageActions();
    
    @Given("^I am on the Home Page \"([^\"]*)\" of CarsGuide Website$")
    public void i_am_on_the_home_page_of_cars_guide(String webSiteURL) throws Throwable {
        
        SeleniumDriver.openPage(webSiteURL);
       
    }

    @When("^I move to Menu menu$")
    public void i_move_to_Menu_menu(List<String> list) throws Throwable {
     
        String menu = list.get(1);
        System.out.println("Menu Selected is: "+menu);
        CarsGuideHomePageActions.moveToBuyPlusSaleMenu();
        
    }

    @And("^I clicked on \"([^\"]*)\" link$")
    public void i_clicked_on_link(String SearchCars) throws Throwable {
        CarsGuideHomePageActions.clickOnSearchCars();  
    }

    @And("^select carbrand as \"([^\"]*)\" from AnyMake Dropdown$")
    public void select_carbrand_as_from_AnyMake_Dropdown(String carBrand) throws Throwable {
        CarsSearchPageActions.selectCarMake(carBrand);
    }

    @And("^select carModel as \"([^\"]*)\" from selectModel dropdown$")
    public void select_carModel_as_from_selectModel_dropdown(String CarModel) throws Throwable {
        CarsSearchPageActions.selectCarModel(CarModel);
    }

    @And("^select location as \"([^\"]*)\" from selectLocation dropdown$")
    public void select_location_as_from_selectLocation_dropdown(String CarLocation) throws Throwable {
        CarsSearchPageActions.selectCarLocation(CarLocation);
    }

    @And("^select price as \"([^\"]*)\" from priceRange Dropdown$")
    public void select_price_as_from_priceRange_Dropdown(String CarPrice) throws Throwable {
        CarsSearchPageActions.selectCarPrice(CarPrice);
    }

    @And("^Click on Find my next car button$")
    public void click_on_Find_my_next_car_button() throws Throwable {
        CarsSearchPageActions.clickOnFindMyNextCarButton();
    }

    @Then("^I should see list of searched cars$")
    public void i_should_see_list_of_searched_cars() throws Throwable {
        // Write code here that turns the phrase above into concrete actions
        throw new PendingException();
    }

    @And("^the page tile should be \"([^\"]*)\"$")
    public void the_page_tile_should_be(String arg1) throws Throwable {
        // Write code here that turns the phrase above into concrete actions
        throw new PendingException();
    }


}

2. Runner:

package runners;

import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import org.testng.annotations.BeforeClass;

import com.cucumber.listener.ExtentCucumberFormatter;

import cucumber.api.CucumberOptions;
import cucumber.api.testng.AbstractTestNGCucumberTests;

//import io.cucumber.testng.AbstractTestNGCucumberTests;
@CucumberOptions(
        plugin = {"json:target/RunCuke/cucumber.json", "pretty", "html:target/RunCuke/cucumber.html","com.cucumber.listener.ExtentCucumberFormatter"},
        features = "src/test/resources/features",
        glue = "steps",
        tags = {"@Search-Cars"}        
        )
public class RunCuke extends AbstractTestNGCucumberTests{
    
    @BeforeClass
    public static void setup() {
        // Initiates the extent report and generates the output in the output/Run_<unique timestamp>/report.html file by default.
        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("ddMMyyyy_hhmmss");
        Date curDate = new Date();
        String strDate = sdf.format(curDate);
        String fileName = System.getProperty("user.dir")+"\\target\\Extent_Reports\\" + strDate+".html";
        File newFile = new File(fileName);
        ExtentCucumberFormatter.initiateExtentCucumberFormatter(newFile,false);
        //static report name
        //ExtentCucumberFormatter.initiateExtentCucumberFormatter(new File("F:\\cucumber-testing-master\\ExtenReports\\extentreports.html"),false);
        // Loads the extent config xml to customize on the report.
        ExtentCucumberFormatter.loadConfig(new File("src/test/resources/extent-config.xml"));

        // User can add the system information as follows
        ExtentCucumberFormatter.addSystemInfo("Browser Name", "Chrome");
        ExtentCucumberFormatter.addSystemInfo("Browser version", "v31.0");
        ExtentCucumberFormatter.addSystemInfo("Selenium version", "v2.53.0");

        // Also you can add system information using a hash map
        Map systemInfo = new HashMap();
        systemInfo.put("Cucumber version", "v1.2.3");
        systemInfo.put("Extent Cucumber Reporter version", "v1.1.0");
        ExtentCucumberFormatter.addSystemInfo(systemInfo);
    }

}

3. SeleniumDriver Utility where at line-32 I am getting null pointer exception.

package Utilities;

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

public class SeleniumDriver {
    
    public static SeleniumDriver seleniumDriver;
    
    //initialize webdriver
    public static WebDriver driver;
    
    private static WebDriverWait waitDriver;
    public final static int TIMEOUT= 30;
    public final static int PAGE_LOAD_TIMEOUT= 50;
    
    private SeleniumDriver() {
        
    System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", System.getProperty("user.dir")+ "\\src\\test\\resources\\executables\\chromedriver.exe");
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
        waitDriver = new WebDriverWait(driver,TIMEOUT);
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
        driver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
        
    }
    
    public static void openPage(String url) {
        driver.get(url);
    }
    
    public static WebDriver getDriver() {
        return driver;
    }
    
    public static void setDriver() {
        if(seleniumDriver== null) {
            seleniumDriver = new SeleniumDriver();
        }
    }
    
    public static void tearDown() {
        if(driver!= null) {
            driver.close();
            driver.quit();
        }
        seleniumDriver= null;
    }
    
    

}

4. Before Action

    package runners;
    
    import Utilities.SeleniumDriver;
    import cucumber.api.java.Before;
    
    public class BeforeActions {
        
        @Before
        public static void setup() {
            SeleniumDriver.setUpDriver();
        }
    
    }

And the exception is below:

[RemoteTestNG] detected TestNG version 6.9.10
[TestNGContentHandler] [WARN] It is strongly recommended to add "<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd" >" at the top of your file, otherwise TestNG may fail or not work as expected.
[TestNG] Running:
  C:\Users\ACER\eclipse-workspace\seleniumCucumber\src\test\resources\runner\testng.xml

@Search-Cars
Feature: 
  acceptance tesing is to validate search car funcationality is working fine
WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred
WARNING: Illegal reflective access by cucumber.deps.com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.util.Fields (file:/C:/Users/ACER/.m2/repository/info/cukes/cucumber-jvm-deps/1.0.5/cucumber-jvm-deps-1.0.5.jar) to field java.util.TreeMap.comparator
WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of cucumber.deps.com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.util.Fields
WARNING: Use --illegal-access=warn to enable warnings of further illegal reflective access operations
WARNING: All illegal access operations will be denied in a future release

  @Search-Cars-Positive
  Scenario: validat the search car page                                                     [90m# searchCar.feature:6[0m
    [31mGiven [0m[31mI am on the Home Page "[0m[31m[1mhttps://www.carsguide.com.au[0m[31m" of CarsGuide Website[0m         [90m# SearchCarsSteps.i_am_on_the_home_page_of_cars_guide(String)[0m
      [31mjava.lang.NullPointerException
        at Utilities.SeleniumDriver.openPage(SeleniumDriver.java:32)
        at steps.SearchCarsSteps.i_am_on_the_home_page_of_cars_guide(SearchCarsSteps.java:24)
        at ?.Given I am on the Home Page "https://www.carsguide.com.au" of CarsGuide Website(searchCar.feature:7)
      [0m
    [36mWhen [0m[36mI move to Menu menu[0m                                                                [90m# SearchCarsSteps.i_move_to_Menu_menu(String>)[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mI clicked on "[0m[36m[1mSearch cars[0m[36m" link[0m                                                     [90m# SearchCarsSteps.i_clicked_on_link(String)[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mselect carbrand as "[0m[36m[1mBMW[0m[36m" from AnyMake Dropdown[0m                                      [90m# SearchCarsSteps.select_carbrand_as_from_AnyMake_Dropdown(String)[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mselect carModel as "[0m[36m[1m1 Series[0m[36m" from selectModel dropdown[0m                             [90m# SearchCarsSteps.select_carModel_as_from_selectModel_dropdown(String)[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mselect location as "[0m[36m[1mAustralia[0m[36m" from selectLocation dropdown[0m                         [90m# SearchCarsSteps.select_location_as_from_selectLocation_dropdown(String)[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mselect price as "[0m[36m[1m$1,000[0m[36m" from priceRange Dropdown[0m                                   [90m# SearchCarsSteps.select_price_as_from_priceRange_Dropdown(String)[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mClick on Find my next car button[0m                                                    [90m# SearchCarsSteps.click_on_Find_my_next_car_button()[0m
    [36mThen [0m[36mI should see list of searched cars[0m                                                 [90m# SearchCarsSteps.i_should_see_list_of_searched_cars()[0m
    [36mAnd [0m[36mthe page tile should be "[0m[36m[1mBmw 1 Series Under 1000 for sale Melbourne VIC| carsguide[0m[36m"[0m [90m# SearchCarsSteps.the_page_tile_should_be(String)[0m

[31mFailed scenarios:[0m
[31msearchCar.feature:6 [0m# Scenario: validat the search car page

1 Scenarios ([31m1 failed[0m)
10 Steps ([31m1 failed[0m, [36m9 skipped[0m)
0m0.293s

java.lang.NullPointerException
    at Utilities.SeleniumDriver.openPage(SeleniumDriver.java:32)
    at steps.SearchCarsSteps.i_am_on_the_home_page_of_cars_guide(SearchCarsSteps.java:24)
    at ?.Given I am on the Home Page "https://www.carsguide.com.au" of CarsGuide Website(searchCar.feature:7)


===============================================
testCucumber
Total tests run: 1, Failures: 1, Skips: 0
===============================================

Answer 1

You don't actually initialize the driver before you call it.

Your SeleniumDriver.openPage() call happens without any of the initialization code for the driver being called.

Your code:

public static SeleniumDriver seleniumDriver;

//initialize webdriver
public static WebDriver driver;

does not actually initialize the driver - it merely declares the variable. Your code should read:

public static WebDriver driver;
public static SeleniumDriver seleniumDriver = new SeleniumDriver();

Alternatively, you could call SeleniumDriver.setDriver(); before you call openPage()

Both methods will initialize the driver.