null pointer exception blocked redraw of annotation added to alignment via applet...

diff --git a/src/jalview/appletgui/AnnotationPanel.java b/src/jalview/appletgui/AnnotationPanel.java
index afaf10f..41665b5 100755 (executable)
--- a/src/jalview/appletgui/AnnotationPanel.java
+++ b/src/jalview/appletgui/AnnotationPanel.java
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ public class AnnotationPanel
 
 
         if (av.validCharWidth && validRes &&
-            (row.annotations[column].displayCharacter.length() > 0))
+            (row.annotations[column].displayCharacter!=null && row.annotations[column].displayCharacter.length() > 0))
         {
           int charOffset = (av.charWidth -
                             fm.charWidth(row.annotations[column].