Google Maps Fragment returning null inside a fragment

So I have an empty fragment that contains a map fragment. Whenever I try to activate the fragment containing the map, my app crashes and returns a null pointer error on this line:

map = ((MapFragment) getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.map))
                .getMap();

Full Error message:

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap com.google.android.gms.maps.MapFragment.getMap()' on a null object reference
            at com.collusion.serviceassistant.ReturnVisitDetails.onViewCreated(ReturnVisitDetails.java:39)
            at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:904)
            at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1062)
            at android.app.BackStackRecord.run(BackStackRecord.java:684)
            at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execPendingActions(FragmentManager.java:1447)
            at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl$1.run(FragmentManager.java:443)
            at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:733)
            at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
            at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5001)
            at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
            at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:785)
            at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:601)

Here is my fragment code:

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.Dialog;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Fragment;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

import com.google.android.gms.common.ConnectionResult;
import com.google.android.gms.common.GooglePlayServicesUtil;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.CameraUpdateFactory;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.MapFragment;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.MapView;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.BitmapDescriptorFactory;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.LatLng;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.Marker;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.MarkerOptions;


public class ReturnVisitDetails extends Fragment {

    static final LatLng HAMBURG = new LatLng(53.558, 9.927);
    static final LatLng KIEL = new LatLng(53.551, 9.993);
    private GoogleMap map;
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                             Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_return_visit_add, container, false);
        return rootView;
    }

    public void onViewCreated(View view, Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        // Get a handle to the Map Fragment
        map = ((MapFragment) getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.map))
                .getMap();
        Marker hamburg = map.addMarker(new MarkerOptions().position(HAMBURG)
                .title("Hamburg"));
        Marker kiel = map.addMarker(new MarkerOptions()
                .position(KIEL)
                .title("Kiel")
                .snippet("Kiel is cool")
                .icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory
                        .fromResource(R.drawable.ic_launcher)));

        // Move the camera instantly to hamburg with a zoom of 15.
        map.moveCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.newLatLngZoom(HAMBURG, 15));

        // Zoom in, animating the camera.
        map.animateCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.zoomTo(10), 2000, null);
    }
}

And my parent fragment XML layout:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context="com.collusion.serviceassistant.ReturnVisitDetails"
    android:background="#009688">


    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/map"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        class="com.google.android.gms.maps.MapFragment" />

</RelativeLayout>

Anyone have an idea why the map fragment is returning null?

EDIT: So now I have this code to initialize the map:

MapFragment mapFragment = new MapFragment();
        FragmentTransaction transaction = getChildFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
        transaction.add(R.id.rl_map_container, mapFragment).commit();
        map = mapFragment.getMap();
        Marker hamburg = map.addMarker(new MarkerOptions().position(HAMBURG)
                .title("Hamburg"));
        Marker kiel = map.addMarker(new MarkerOptions()
                .position(KIEL)
                .title("Kiel")
                .snippet("Kiel is cool")
                .icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory
                        .fromResource(R.drawable.ic_launcher)));

        // Move the camera instantly to hamburg with a zoom of 15.
        map.moveCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.newLatLngZoom(HAMBURG, 15));

        // Zoom in, animating the camera.
        map.animateCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.zoomTo(10), 2000, null);

And it still returns a null pointer value


I have solved the issue. this line when I have a viewpager:

mMap = ((SupportMapFragment) MainActivity.fragmentManager
                .findFragmentById(R.id.mapView)).getMap();

you have to change to this:

  mMap = ((SupportMapFragment) getChildFragmentManager()
            .findFragmentById(R.id.mapView)).getMap();

Your class extends from Fragment, and you are using a Fragment declared in the layout, but nested fragment only work when they are added dynamically.

So, you have two options:

1) Extending from FragmentAcivity instead of Fragment and applying the proper methods.

2) Add the Fragment dynamically, as follow:

//ReturnVisitDetails

MapFragment mapFragment = new MapFragment();
FragmentTransaction transaction = getChildFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
transaction.add(R.id.rl_map_container, mapFragment).commit();

//Layout

<FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/rl_map_container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

--UPDATED--

A complete example to use Google Maps inside a Fragment:

//TestFragmentActivity

public class TestFragmentActivity extends android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.test_fragment_activity);
    }

}

//TestFragment

public class TestFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.test_fragment, container, false);

        CustomMapFragment mapFragment = new CustomMapFragment();
        FragmentTransaction transaction = getChildFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
        transaction.add(R.id.map_container, mapFragment).commit();
        return rootView;
    }

}

//CustomMapFragment

public class CustomMapFragment extends com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment {

    private final LatLng HAMBURG = new LatLng(53.558, 9.927);

    @Override
    public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);

        GoogleMap googleMap = getMap();
        googleMap.addMarker(new MarkerOptions().position(HAMBURG).title("Hamburg"));
        googleMap.moveCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.newLatLngZoom(HAMBURG, 15));
        googleMap.animateCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.zoomTo(10), 2000, null);
    }

}

//test_fragment_activity.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/map"
        class="your_package.TestFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

</RelativeLayout>

//test_fragment.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/map_container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"/>

</RelativeLayout>

This issue happened to me when I tried to port my Eclipse project to Android Studio project.

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment.getMap()' on a null object reference

I used it with a Fragment Activity like this:

((SupportMapFragment) getActivity().getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.mapToday)).getMap();

However, the problem was, earlier I was using a specific version of Google Play Services (4.3.23).

But the Gradle build select the most recent version (compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:+')

I tried some other specific version like (6.1.71). But still gave null point exception.

I used the same old version as I used before and it worked.

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.3.23'

This works for me as a temporary solution. However, this will be a problem when I need to update to a new play services library.

It seems that there is no specific map library with this version available for Gradle build when I try like this:

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:4.3.23'