# BitmapData not working
**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/bitmapdata-not-working/262955
**Category:** flash
**Created:** [June 11, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/bitmapdata-not-working/262955 "2008-06-11T12:38:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gregmax](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/gregmax)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/bitmapdata-not-working/262955/1 "2008-06-11T12:38:02Z")
I have a Bullet class that I call every time my shoots a bullet, but I am getting this error: “TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference”.
This is a small snippet of code of where I am having trouble with my class:
[AS]
import flash.display.BitmapData;
import flash.geom.Rectangle;
import flash.geom.Point;
```
public class Bullet {
public var x:Number;
public var y:Number;
public var speed:uint = 5;
public var texture:BitmapData;
public var rec:Rectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, texture.width, texture.height);
public var point:Point = new Point(0, 0);
public function Bullet(x1:Number, y1:Number, c:uint) {
x = x1;
y = y1;
texture = new BitmapData(5, 5, false, c);
} // end function
}
```
[/AS]
The problem occurs when I try to pass the BitmapData fillColor value. If I were to create the BitmapData where I first declare the variable “texture” and give it a color, it will work like a charm. However, I want to set the fillColor dynamically because of who is shooting the bullet. ie, heroes bullets are green, enemies are red.
Why am I getting this error and how do I fix it?
---
### Author:  [@senocular](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/senocular)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/bitmapdata-not-working/262955/2 "2008-06-11T13:01:19Z")
you declared texture as a BitmapData object but gave it no value, so its default is null. Directly after that you try to set the rec based off of the width and height of texture - texture which is null. That doesn’t work so you get the error.
You need to either define texture first, or use some other width/height values
---
### Author:  [@gregmax](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/gregmax)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/bitmapdata-not-working/262955/3 "2008-06-11T13:52:04Z")
o yes, thank you Senocular… I knew it was something dumb and stupid of me (which is very often). This is my fix:
[AS]
public var texture:BitmapData;
public var rec:Rectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, 0, 0);
public var point:Point = new Point(0, 0);
```
public function Bullet(x1:Number, y1:Number, c:uint) {
x = x1;
y = y1;
texture = new BitmapData(5, 5, false, c);
rec.width = texture.width;
rec.height = texture.height;
} // end function
```
[/AS]
---
### Author:  [@substance](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/substance)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/bitmapdata-not-working/262955/4 "2008-06-11T17:55:36Z")
FYI the BitmapData class has a ‘rect’ property which returns it’s rectangle.