Index: filler-1.02/src/friendless/awt/HCodeLayout.java
===================================================================
--- filler-1.02.orig/src/friendless/awt/HCodeLayout.java
+++ filler-1.02/src/friendless/awt/HCodeLayout.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ public final class HCodeLayout implement
     }
 
     public void addLayoutComponent(String code, Component comp) {
+        if (null == code) code = new String();
         codes.put(comp,code);
     }
 
Index: filler-1.02/src/friendless/awt/VCodeLayout.java
===================================================================
--- filler-1.02.orig/src/friendless/awt/VCodeLayout.java
+++ filler-1.02/src/friendless/awt/VCodeLayout.java
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ public final class VCodeLayout implement
     }
 
     public void addLayoutComponent(String code, Component comp) {
+        if (null == code) code = new String();
         codes.put(comp,code);
     }