Cannot invoke "javafx.scene.control.ComboBox.setPromptText(String)" because "this.ComboBox" is null [duplicate]

Solution 1:

The FXMLLoader creates an instance of the class specified in the fx:controller attribute of the FXML root element. It then injects the elements defined in the FXML file into the controller instance it created when the fx:id attributes match the field names. Then it calls the initialize() method on that instance.

You create an instance of the controller "by hand" with new SearchController(). This is not the same object that is created by the FXMLLoader. So now when you have loaded the fxml file you have two different instances of SearchController. So if you call what.setText(...) from the display() method, you are not calling it on the controller instance created by the FXMLLoader. Consequently, what has not been initialized in the instance on which you are calling what.setText(...), and you get a null pointer exception.

Since initialize() is invoked by the FXMLLoader on the instance it created, when you call what.setText(...) from the initialize() method, you are calling it on the instance created by the FXMLLoader, and so the FXML-injected fields for that instance have been initialized.