Homekit/iOS pairing is not possible: NullPointerException

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
1

I installed OpenHab 2.0.0 (Release Build) on a Debian Jessie board (A20-OLinuXino-Lime2)

I try to pair from an iOS device using Homekit and get a NullPointerException error:

17:47:46.096 [ERROR] [lfe.hap.impl.connections.HttpSession] - Could not handle request
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.beowulfe.hap.characteristics.FloatCharacteristic.getValue(FloatCharacteristic.java:72)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.characteristics.BaseCharacteristic.makeBuilder(BaseCharacteristic.java:71)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.characteristics.FloatCharacteristic.makeBuilder(FloatCharacteristic.java:48)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.characteristics.BaseCharacteristic.toJson(BaseCharacteristic.java:61)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.json.AccessoryController.toJson(AccessoryController.java:73)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.json.AccessoryController.listing(AccessoryController.java:39)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.connections.HttpSession.handleAuthenticatedRequest(HttpSession.java:70)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.connections.ConnectionImpl.doHandleRequest(ConnectionImpl.java:51)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.connections.ConnectionImpl.handleRequest(ConnectionImpl.java:46)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.http.impl.AccessoryHandler.channelRead0(AccessoryHandler.java:47)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at com.beowulfe.hap.impl.http.impl.AccessoryHandler.channelRead0(AccessoryHandler.java:15)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler.channelRead(SimpleChannelInboundHandler.java:105)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.invokeChannelRead(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:308)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.access$600(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:32)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext$7.run(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:299)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.util.concurrent.DefaultEventExecutor.run(DefaultEventExecutor.java:36)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.util.concurrent.SingleThreadEventExecutor$2.run(SingleThreadEventExecutor.java:112)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at io.netty.util.concurrent.DefaultThreadFactory$DefaultRunnableDecorator.run(DefaultThreadFactory.java:137)[211:org.openhab.io.homekit:2.0.0]
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)[:1.8.0_121]

The same configuration was working with openhab2 Beta4. I test with Beta5 and I got the same error.

Re-installing the beta4 after beta5 solved the problem.

Should I rollback from “Release Build” to beta4 to get something that works ?

What could I try else ?

2

Check if all of the Homekit items are not NULL.
If any Homekit item is NULL, the Homekit addon fails to work (at least on my setup).

3

Thank you for your reply, it actually worked

I commented out the following items and the pairing succeeded.

I think this is a bug: a comprehensive error message should be raised instead of that NullPointerException. I will file a bug on the project’s GitHub page

/* HUE HOMEBRIDGE */
Color Hue_Spot1      "Hue 1"       [ "Lighting" ]
Color Hue_Spot2      "Hue 2"       [ "Lighting" ]
Color Hue_Spot3      "Hue 3"       [ "Lighting" ]

The problem is that I don’t know how to make these 1st generation Philips Hue work without binding in openhab2 (as openhab2 integrates Hue support). I will investigate

4

I have worked this issue around by making a rule: «when System started then sendCommand(itemName,“0,0,0”) but I don’t know if hue items work the same way.

5

Thanks a lot for this information :slight_smile:

I wrote a rule to do this and it is effectively working.

Here is the rule as I wrote it for one of the items:

rule "Initialize Philips Hue"
when 
        System started 
then 
        logInfo( "Initializer", "Started Timer ...")
        createTimer(now.plusSeconds(45)) [|     
                logInfo( "Initializer", "Initializing...")
                
                sendCommand("Hue_Spot1","0,0,0")
                logInfo( "Initializer", "")
        ]
        
end

I did not automate the sendCommand for each Hue_SpotX. A copy/paste is enough for me but I believe it can be automated, based e.g. on the itemName