I have a simple login screen that connects to a MySQL database. It connects just fine, but it throws a null pointer exception when it tries to execute. Here are two snippets of my code as well as the stack trace. I bolded the line where the exception is being thrown.

package GUI;
 
import java.sql.*;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.awt.event.*;
 
public class LogInFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame
{
 
    Connection con;
    Statement st;
    ResultSet rs;
 
    // Login Constructor
    public LogInFrame()
    {
        connect();
        initComponents();
        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    }
 
    public void connect(){
         try
        {
            con = DriverManager.getConnection(
                    "jdbc:mysql://instance44668.db.xeround.com:5719/obliquedb?"
                    + "user=NAME2&password=PASS");
        }
        catch (SQLException ex)
        {
            System.err.println("Cannot connect to database server");
            System.err.println(ex.getMessage());
        }         finally
        {
            try
            {
                con.close();
            } 
            catch (SQLException ex)
            {
                System.out.println("Better luck next time");
            }
        } 
    }

and here is the method that executes the statement

private void acceptButtonActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) 
    { 
        try 
        { 
            String user = userTextField.getText().trim(); 
            char[] password = passwordTextField.getPassword(); 
            String pass = new String(password); 
            String query = "SELECT username,password FROM users WHERE username = '"+user+"'and password = '"+pass+"'"; 
  EXCEPTION THROWN-**rs = st.executeQuery(query);** 
            int count = 0; 
            while(rs.next()) 
            { 
                count++; 
            } 
            if(count == 1) { 
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, 
                        "Login Successful", 
                        "Error Message", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); 
            } 
            else if(count > 1) { 
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, 
                        "Duplicate Records Found!", 
                        "Error Message", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); 
            } 
            else { 
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, 
                        "User Not Found", 
                        "Error Message", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); 
            } 
        } 
        catch (Exception e) { 
            System.out.println("Error Retrieving Records" + e); 
    } 
    }

and stack trace

Error Retrieving Recordsjava.lang.NullPointerException

java.lang.NullPointerException 
    at GUI.LogInFrame.acceptButtonActionPerformed(LogInFrame.java:178) 
    at GUI.LogInFrame.access$000(LogInFrame.java:7) 
    at GUI.LogInFrame$1.actionPerformed(LogInFrame.java:94) 
    at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2018) 
    at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2341) 
    at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:402) 
    at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:259) 
    at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:252)

    at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6505)

    at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3321)

    at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6270)

    at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2229)

    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4861)

    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2287)

    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4687)

    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4832)

    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4492)

    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4422)

    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2273)

    at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2713)

    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4687)

    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:707)

    at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(EventQueue.java:101)

    at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:666)

    at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:664)

    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)

    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)

    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)

    at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:680)

    at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:678)

    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)

    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)

    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:677)

    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:211)

    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:128)

    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:117)

    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:113)

    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:105)

    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:90)