Java Problem - Listview

I'm trying to create an Android app and I've only limited experience with Java so this is my first real-world app.

What I'm trying to do is create a listview and the end result I am looking for is similar to:

+========+
|SCROLLVIEW |
+========+
|Listview line 1|
|Listview line 2|
|Listview line 1|
|Listview line 2|
|Listview line 1|
|Listview line 2|
+========+

I'm struggling even getting the listview working though with a nullpointer exception. I've noted it down as

I'm a little clueless as to where to go from here so if anyone could help I'd be grateful.

package info.androidhive.slidingmenu;

import android.app.Fragment;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
import org.apache.http.StatusLine;
import org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONException;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;


public class PhotosFragment extends Fragment {
    public PhotosFragment(){}
    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_photos, container, false);
        new RequestTask().execute("http://www.myjsonurl.co.uk/app/index.php?Type=8&catid=7&userid=4");

        return rootView;
    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);

        Log.v("created", "onActivityCreated()");
        setHasOptionsMenu(true);

    }
    private static final String TAG = MainActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    private static List<ListViewItem> mItems;        // ListView items list
    JSONObject obj;
    JSONArray stories;

    public class RequestTask extends AsyncTask<String, String, String> {

        @Override
        protected String doInBackground(String... uri) {
            HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
            HttpResponse response;
            String responseString = null;
            try {

                response = httpclient.execute(new HttpGet(uri[0]));
                StatusLine statusLine = response.getStatusLine();
                if (statusLine.getStatusCode() == HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
                    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
                    response.getEntity().writeTo(out);

                    out.close();
                    responseString = out.toString();

                    //Do anything with response..
                    Log.d(TAG, responseString);

                } else {
                    //Closes the connection.
                    response.getEntity().getContent().close();
                    throw new IOException(statusLine.getReasonPhrase());
                }
            } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
                //TODO Handle problems..
                Log.d(TAG, String.valueOf(e));
            } catch (IOException e) {
                //TODO Handle problems..
                Log.d(TAG, String.valueOf(e));
            }
            return responseString;
        }

        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
            super.onPostExecute(result);

            Log.e(TAG, result);
            try {
                obj = new JSONObject(result);
                stories = obj.getJSONArray("stories");

                // initialize the items list
                mItems = new ArrayList<ListViewItem>();

                for (int i = 0; i < stories.length(); i++) {

                    JSONObject storyObj = stories.getJSONObject(i);

                    if (!storyObj.has("Advert")) {

                        newsStories newsStories = new newsStories();

                        newsStories.setTitle(storyObj.getString("subject"));
                        newsStories.setBody(storyObj.getString("body"));

                        mItems.add(new ListViewItem(newsStories.getTitle(), newsStories.getBody(), ""));

                    } else {
                        newsStories newsStories = new newsStories();
                        newsStories.setThumbnailUrl(storyObj.getString("Advert"));
                        mItems.add(new ListViewItem("", "", newsStories.getThumbnailUrl()));

                    }

                    // initialize and set the list adapter
                    //setListAdapter(new ListViewDemoAdapter(getActivity(), mItems));

                }

            } catch (JSONException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }

            //mProgressBar = (ProgressBar) getView().findViewById(R.id.progressBar);
            ListView mListView = (ListView) getView().findViewById(R.id.listView2); //Here is the issue
            //mTvEmpty = (TextView) getView().findViewById(R.id.textView);

            Log.d("mListView: ", String.valueOf(mListView));

            ArrayAdapter<ListViewItem> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<ListViewItem>(getActivity(), android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, mItems);

            Log.d("Adapter: ", String.valueOf(adapter));

            // load your data to your mListView
            mListView.setAdapter(adapter); //NULL POINTER
        }



        public class newsStories {
            private String name, thumbnailUrl, body;

            public String getTitle() {
                return name;
            }

            public void setTitle(String name) {
                this.name = name;
            }

            public String getBody() {
                return body;
            }

            public void setBody(String body) {

                this.body = body.substring(0, 150);

            }


            public String getThumbnailUrl() {
                return thumbnailUrl;
            }

            public void setThumbnailUrl(String thumbnailUrl) {
               
                this.thumbnailUrl = thumbnailUrl;

            }

        }

    }

    public class ListViewItem {
        public final String title;        // the text for the ListView item title
        public final String description;  // the text for the ListView item description
        public final String adUrl;
        //public final Drawable image;

        public ListViewItem(String title, String description, String Advert_Url) {




            if (Advert_Url != null && !Advert_Url.isEmpty()) {

                String Advert = "http://www.myurl.co.uk/images/advert.png?width=700&height=200";


                this.title = "";
                this.description = "";
                this.adUrl = Advert;

            } else {
                this.title = title;
                this.description = description;
                this.adUrl = "";
            }


        }
    }


}

Code (markup):

 

Before using findViewById the element needs to be in Activity (R.id.listView2) in this case. If you google "getView().findViewById" you can find many examples of that. I don't have my Java stack setup so I can't test this out.

 

The problem is that I'm doing it Async so if I put it in the activity it tries to set the listview before the Async task has finished.