NullPointerException when trying to create RTU or ASCII Slave

[rstoeck]

We are trying to see if Modbus4J will work in our upcoming product. We are making a slave (server) application.

I can get the TCP slave to work just fine, but when I try to create an RTU or ASCII slave, I get a NullPointerException immediately after calling ModbusSlaveSet start() method.

Here's the code:

public static void main(final String[] args)
    throws Exception
{
    ModbusSlaveSet listener;

    boolean tcp = false;  // TCP works, but RTU and ASCII do not

    final ModbusFactory modbusFactory = new ModbusFactory();
    if (tcp)
    {
        listener = modbusFactory.createTcpSlave(false);
    }
    else
    {
        final SerialParameters serialParams = new SerialParameters();
        serialParams.setCommPortId("/dev/ttyUSB0");
        serialParams.setBaudRate(9600);
        serialParams.setDataBits(8);
        serialParams.setStopBits(1);
        serialParams.setParity(2);
        listener = modbusFactory.createRtuSlave(serialParams);
    }

    final BasicProcessImage processImage = new BasicProcessImage(1);
    processImage.setAllowInvalidAddress(true);
    processImage.setInvalidAddressValue((short)0);

    listener.addProcessImage(processImage);

    new Thread(new Runnable()
    {
        public void run()
        {
            try
            {
                listener.start();
            }
            catch (ModbusInitException e)
            {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }).start();
}

Here's the output:

Stable Library
=========================================
Native lib Version = RXTX-2.1-7
Java lib Version   = RXTX-2.1-7
RXTX Warning:  Removing stale lock file. /var/lock/LCK..ttyUSB0
com.serotonin.modbus4j.exception.ModbusInitException: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.serotonin.modbus4j.serial.SerialSlave.start(SerialSlave.java:31)
	at com.serotonin.modbus4j.serial.rtu.RtuSlave.start(RtuSlave.java:23)
	at com.prozesstech.spectron.sandbox.Modbus4JTest$1.run(Modbus4JTest.java:103)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:744)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.serotonin.messaging.StreamTransport.start(StreamTransport.java:32)
	at com.serotonin.modbus4j.serial.SerialSlave.start(SerialSlave.java:28)
	... 3 more

Any idea what might be going on?

Thanks,
-Rob

[rstoeck]

Adding to this discussion: the listener.start() calls into RtuSlave.start(), which immediately calls SerialSlave.start():

in SerialSlave:

    @Override
    public void start() throws ModbusInitException {
        try {
            serialPort = SerialUtils.openSerialPort(serialParameters);
            transport = new StreamTransport(serialPort.getInputStream(), serialPort.getOutputStream());
            transport.start("Modbus4J SerialSlave");  // <--- This line throws the exception
        }
        catch (Exception e) {
            throw new ModbusInitException(e);
        }
    }

The line that throws the NullPointerException is the third line, the transport.start("Modbus4J SerialSlave").

This calls into the StreamTransport class of seroUtils.jar, which we do not have the source code for.

Would it be possible for me to get this source code so that I can debug this problem?