Q:

Unable to instantiate activity ComponentInfo error (Checked Manifest)

Hey guys I was running my app in an emulator but I ran into an error that caused the application to crash whenever I selected a list item.  The error log I got was:
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624): java.lang. RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate activity ComponentInfo{com.dapps.factpalooza/com.dapps.factpalooza.animal}: java.lang. NullPointerException
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1983)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2084)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:130)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1195)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.os. Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.os. Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4745)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at java.lang.reflect. Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at java.lang.reflect. Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at com.android.internal.os. ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:786)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at com.android.internal.os. ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:553)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at dalvik.system. NativeStart.main(Native Method)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624): Caused by: java.lang. NullPointerException
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. Activity.findViewById(Activity.java:1825)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at com.dapps.factpalooza.animal.<init>(animal.java:29)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at java.lang. Class.newInstanceImpl(Native Method)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at java.lang. Class.newInstance(Class.java:1319)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. Instrumentation.newActivity(Instrumentation.java:1053)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1974)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  ... 11 more

I've looked up this problem and it seemed like it had something to do with my manifest and not declaring activities properly, but I haven't messed with my manifest since it was working properly before.  Even after a double check my manifest looked fine.  I have no idea what's causing this error and what's causing my app to crash.  My manifest:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.dapps.factpalooza"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="17" />

        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission. INTERNET"></uses-permission>
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission. ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" 
        android:debuggable="true">

        <activity 
        android:name="com.google.ads. AdActivity" 
        android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|uiMode|screenSize|smallestScreenSize">

        </activity>

        <activity
            android:name="com.dapps.factpalooza. StartMenu"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action. MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category. LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:name="com.dapps.factpalooza.animal"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:name="com.dapps.factpalooza. Food"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:name="com.dapps.factpalooza. World"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:name="com.dapps.factpalooza. Law"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
        </activity>

        <activity
            android:name="com.dapps.factpalooza. Random_facts"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >

        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

My code for the menu:
package com.dapps.factpalooza;

import android.os. Bundle;
import android.app. ListActivity;
import android.content. Intent;
import android.view. View;
import android.widget. ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget. ListView;

public class StartMenu extends ListActivity {

    String menuItems[] = {"Animal Facts", "Food Facts", "World Facts","Random Facts","Crazy Laws"};
    String classNames[] = {"animal","Food","World","Random_facts","Law"};
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(StartMenu.this, android. R.layout.simple_list_item_1, menuItems));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        super.onListItemClick(l, v, position, id);
        String classSelect = classNames[position];

        try{
            Class select = Class.forName("com.dapps.factpalooza."  + classSelect);
            Intent selection = new Intent(StartMenu.this, select);
            startActivity(selection);
        }catch(ClassNotFoundException e){
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

}

and the code from one of my pages from the list:
package com.dapps.factpalooza;

import java.util. Random;

import com.google.ads. AdRequest;
import com.google.ads. AdView;

import android.app. Activity;
import android.os. Bundle;
import android.view. View;
import android.widget. Button;
import android.widget. TextView;

public class animal extends Activity {
    Button Generate;
    TextView Fact;
    TextView factNum;
    String animal_facts[] = {
            "Fact1",
            "Fact2",
            "Fact3",
            "Fact4",
            "Fact5",
            "Fact6",
            };
    int total_facts = 5;
    Random r = new Random();
    int Choosen;
    AdView ad = (AdView) findViewById(R.id.ad);

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        Generate = (Button) findViewById(R.id.generate);
        Fact = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.fact_display);
        factNum = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.fact_number);

        Generate.setOnClickListener(new View. OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub

                ad.loadAd(new AdRequest());
                Choosen = r.nextInt(total_facts);
                Fact.setText(animal_facts[Choosen]);
                factNum.setText("Fact # "+ Choosen);

            }
        });
    }

}

A:

I've looked up this problem and it seemed like it had something to do with my manifest

No. 
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624): Caused by: java.lang. NullPointerException
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at android.app. Activity.findViewById(Activity.java:1825)
06-07 17:41:50.150: E/AndroidRuntime(624):  at com.dapps.factpalooza.animal.<init>(animal.java:29)

You are trying to call findViewFromId() from an initializer of a data member.  You can only call findViewById() after you have called setContentView() or otherwise established the content view -- otherwise, there are no widgets to be found.