Develop Reference

NavHostFragment initialization results in NullPointerException

I am attempting to set a navHostFragment in my MainActivity.kt file, but the code below results in the error:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.lunchtray/com.example.lunchtray.MainActivity}: java.lang.NullPointerException: null cannot be cast to non-null type androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
private lateinit var navController: NavController
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager // NULL CANNOT BE CAST TO NON NULL TYPE
.findFragmentById(R.id.nav_host_fragment) as NavHostFragment
navController = navHostFragment.navController
setupActionBarWithNavController(navController)
}
override fun onSupportNavigateUp(): Boolean {
return navController.navigateUp() || super.onSupportNavigateUp()
}
}
activity_main.xml layout file:
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="#+id/container"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView
android:id="#+id/nav_host_fragment"
android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:defaultNavHost="true"
app:navGraph="#navigation/mobile_navigation"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>
What am I doing wrong? Similar questions exist on SO but they involve using menu IDs or initializing the navHostFragment from within a fragment, this is a much more straightforward situation and I do not understand why any value should be null.

You forgot to call setContentView(R.layout.activity_main), which means you have no FragmentContainerView and no fragment within it, hence why findFragmentById(R.id.nav_host_fragment) returns null.
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager
.findFragmentById(R.id.nav_host_fragment) as NavHostFragment
navController = navHostFragment.navController
As an alternative, you can also call the AppCompatActivity construct that takes a LayoutRes, which will automatically call setContentView for you as part of super.onCreate():
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(R.ayout.activity_main) {

View does not have a navController set at [duplicate]

I am using Navigation Component for navigating in my app. It works fine inside fragments but it fails to find the nav host in the activity that holds the actual navigation host.
I am trying to open a new fragment when the user clicks on FAB, which I included in Main activity's XML. When I call findNavController() it fails to find the controller. The nav host controller is in the XML layout. I can't understand why it fails to find it.
MainActivity
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), OnActivityComponentRequest {
override fun getTabLayout(): TabLayout {
return this.tabLayout
}
override fun getFap(): FloatingActionButton {
return this.floatingActionButton
}
private lateinit var tabLayout: TabLayout
private lateinit var floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
setSupportActionBar(toolbar)
this.tabLayout = tabs
this.floatingActionButton = fab
fab.setOnClickListener {
it.findNavController().navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
}
}
Activity main XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:context=".domain.MainActivity"
android:animateLayoutChanges="true">
<com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">
<androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
app:popupTheme="#style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay"/>
<com.google.android.material.tabs.TabLayout
android:id="#+id/tabs"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<com.google.android.material.tabs.TabItem
android:text="Test 1"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent"/>
<com.google.android.material.tabs.TabItem
android:text="Test 2"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent"/>
</com.google.android.material.tabs.TabLayout>
</com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>
<fragment
android:id="#+id/nav_host_fragment"
android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:defaultNavHost="true"
app:navGraph="#navigation/main_navigation" />
<com.google.android.material.bottomappbar.BottomAppBar
android:id="#+id/bar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="bottom"/>
<com.google.android.material.floatingactionbutton.FloatingActionButton
android:id="#+id/fab"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_anchorGravity="right|top"
app:layout_anchor="#+id/bar"
android:src="#drawable/ic_add_black_24dp"/>
</androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

I was getting the same exeception until I managed to get the navController this way:
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.my_fragment_container_view_id) as NavHostFragment
val navController = navHostFragment.navController
Obtained from this answer:
Before finding the nav controller, you need to set the view, if you are using binding:
binding = BaseLayoutBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
val view = binding.root
setContentView(view)
If not:
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
Use the corresponding binding for fragments.

Try setting up onClickListener of Fab button in onStart of the Activity as in onCreate Activity is just inflating the View and haven't set the NavHostController. So if you setup onClickListener in onStart of activity is will work as expected.
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
setSupportActionBar(toolbar)
this.tabLayout = tabs
this.floatingActionButton = fab
}
override fun onStart() {
super.onStart()
floatingActionButton.setOnClickListener {
it.findNavController().navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
}

In Java you can find NavController inside activity this way:
Navigation.findNavController(this,R.id.nav_host).navigate(R.id.YourFragment);

The problem might be that FAB was added to the activity or a fragment different from the one used by NavHost fragment. In this case, when you call it.findNavController() it cannot find the navigation controller.
You can either check that your FAB belongs to the fragment pulled by NavHost or call an Activity's findNavController(<id>) and pass it id of the fragment you're looking up
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
...
fab.setOnClickListener {
findNavController(R.id.nav_host_fragment)
.navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
}

Retrieve it later, in onPostCreate. like this:
#Override
public void onPostCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState ) {
super.onPostCreate(savedInstanceState);
navController = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.fragment_container_view);
}

Turns out that activity that holds navigation controller... doesn't have navigation component.
The solution is to manually set the NavController to each view contained in the activity.
val navController = findNavController(R.id.nav_host_fragment)
Navigation.setViewNavController(fab, navController)
Now this would work:
fab.setOnClickListener {
it.findNavController().navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
I still don't understand why this works the way it works so any explanation would be more than welcome :)
As of now, Android API simply doesn't make much sense.
Source: Navigate to fragment on FAB click (Navigation Architecture Components)

Kotlin Only
Android Navigation KTX provides an extension function for Activity
All I had to do was
findNavController(R.id.myNavHostFragment).navigate(R.id.to_someFragment)
I do have the following dependencies in my app/gradle.build.kts file (
implementation ("androidx.navigation:navigation-fragment-ktx:2.3.5")
implementation ("androidx.navigation:navigation-runtime-ktx:2.3.5")
implementation ("androidx.navigation:navigation-ui-ktx:2.3.5")
Using Directions
Alternatively you could also use generated Directions class. Since this is a global action the Directions class is found in the NavigationDirections.to_someFragment()
//very useful if you're passing args then you could do something like
//NavigationDirections.to_someFragment(myArg)
NavigationDirections.to_someFragment()findNavController(R.id.myNavHostFragment).navigate(NavigationDirections.to_someFragment())
Side-note the specific extension function is being contributed from the runtime-ktx aar

you can still get access in your oncreate by doing
//the id would be the id of the Fragment Element In Your Activity XML File
val navGraph = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.activity_main)
binding.mainFab.setOnClickListener {
navGraph.navigate(R.id.destinationFragment)
}

I found this answer helpful. In your activity paste this code
Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.nav_host_fragment).navigate(R.id.yourDestination)

This is Extension version for Kotlin:
fun AppCompatActivity.findNavController(
#IdRes navHostViewId: Int
): NavController {
val navHostFragment =
supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(navHostViewId) as NavHostFragment
return navHostFragment.navController
}
The navHostViewId is id of your androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView.

The best way to access navController in OnCreate of Activity is to access it after inflating the layout
that can achieved by kotlin extention function doOnPreDraw()
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding
private val navController: NavController
get() = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.nav_host_fragment)
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
setContentView(binding.root)
binding.root.doOnPreDraw {
// here you can safely use navController
binding.toolbar.setupWithNavController(navController)
}
}
}

You can use binding.root.findNavController().navigate(id)

How to use navigation component in fragment Android

I want to use Navigation component in my fragment.
My XML code like this
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
...
<androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView
android:id="#+id/fragment_nav_host_home"
android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="0dp"
app:defaultNavHost="true"
app:navGraph="#navigation/home_navigation"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/app_bar" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>
And Initializing navigation code like this.
class HomeFragment : Fragment() {
//...initialie view
override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)
val navController = Navigation.findNavController(binding.fragmentNavHostHome)
navController.setGraph(R.navigation.home_navigation)
val appBarConfiguration = AppBarConfiguration(navController.graph)
NavigationUI.setupActionBarWithNavController(requireActivity() as AppCompatActivity, navController, appBarConfiguration)
}
}
And after I launched my app, I got an error message like this.
View androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView{... app:id/fragment_nav_host_home} does not have a NavController set
Also, findNavController() does not work.
How can I use navigation component in my fragment

Kotlin Answer
Key point is that try to use childFragmentManager in onViewCreated() function.
override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
// Define container.
val loginDialogContainer = childFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.container) as NavHostFragment
// Set nav controller.
val loginNavController: NavController = loginDialogContainer.navController
}

Add back arrow to fragment with Navigation Component

I implemented a basic Navigation component on an app that consist of a MainActivity that holds a Toolbar (that I have added to have the back arrow functionality) and a fragment container which starts with Fragment A. In this fragment I have a button which redirects to a blank Fragment B.
I can return to fragment A (from fragment B) from the bottom Android navigation using Navigation component, but I want to do the same using the back arrow from the toolbar that I have added.
I implemented the arrow putting setSupportActionBar(findViewById(R.id.toolbar)) in Main Activity and (activity as AppCompatActivity).supportActionBar?.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true) on Fragment B, but when I tap it it doesn't redirect to Fragment A because (I suppose) that the back stack is empty.
MainActivity
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
setSupportActionBar(findViewById(R.id.toolbar))
}
MainActivity xml
<androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:theme="?attr/actionBarTheme"
app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
<androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView
android:id="#+id/nav_host_fragment"
android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
app:defaultNavHost="true"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="#+id/toolbar"
app:navGraph="#navigation/nav_graph" />
FragmentB
override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)
(activity as AppCompatActivity).supportActionBar?.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true)
}
Added this to remove the default toolbar in styles.xml
<item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
In FragmentB up button not working
fragmentB with back not working
I want to do that using Navigation Component, any ideas?
Thanks.

Thanks to #MustafaKhaled I could find the correct documentation that is in this link
I deleted setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled of fragmentB (you don't need to add anything in this fragment).
I leave as it is the code of styles.xml.
My new MainActivity is like this:
private lateinit var toolbar: Toolbar
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar)
setupNavigation()
}
private fun setupNavigation() {
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.nav_host_fragment) as NavHostFragment
val navController = navHostFragment.navController
val appBarConfiguration = AppBarConfiguration.Builder(navController.graph).build()
toolbar.setupWithNavController(navController, appBarConfiguration)
}
Following this way you manage the toolbar behavior through the Navigation-UI feature.
UPDATE 28/04/20
There is an approach simpler than this that doesn't need a toolbar because uses the default one.
MainActivity
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
private lateinit var appBarConfiguration: AppBarConfiguration
private lateinit var navController: NavController
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
setupNavigation()
}
private fun setupNavigation() {
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.nav_host_fragment) as NavHostFragment
navController = navHostFragment.navController
appBarConfiguration = AppBarConfiguration.Builder(navController.graph).build()
setupActionBarWithNavController(navController, appBarConfiguration)
}
override fun onSupportNavigateUp(): Boolean {
return navController.navigateUp(appBarConfiguration)
|| super.onSupportNavigateUp()
}
}
activity_main.xml
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="#+id/fragment_container"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<fragment
android:id="#+id/nav_host_fragment"
android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="0dp"
app:defaultNavHost="true"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
app:navGraph="#navigation/nav_graph" />
And my styles.xml file is like the default one:
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
</style>
The updated repo link

In your MainActivity
setup your navigation:
private fun setupNavigation() {
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.nav_host_fragment) as NavHostFragment?
navController = navHostFragment!!.navController
appBarConfiguration = AppBarConfiguration.Builder(setOf(R.id.checklocation,R.id.questions,R.id.news,R.id.profile_tab)).build()
NavigationUI.setupWithNavController(bottomNavigation,navController)
NavigationUI.setupActionBarWithNavController(this,navController)
}
to enable back arrow be shown and shows the previous destination override this function
override fun onSupportNavigateUp(): Boolean {
return navController.navigateUp()
}
By the way, using navigation component with bottom navigation, we don't have to configure your toolbar, this will be handled by adding above dunctions in your MainActivity.

Navigation Component: Cannot find NavController

I am using Navigation Component for navigating in my app. It works fine inside fragments but it fails to find the nav host in the activity that holds the actual navigation host.
I am trying to open a new fragment when the user clicks on FAB, which I included in Main activity's XML. When I call findNavController() it fails to find the controller. The nav host controller is in the XML layout. I can't understand why it fails to find it.
MainActivity
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), OnActivityComponentRequest {
override fun getTabLayout(): TabLayout {
return this.tabLayout
}
override fun getFap(): FloatingActionButton {
return this.floatingActionButton
}
private lateinit var tabLayout: TabLayout
private lateinit var floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
setSupportActionBar(toolbar)
this.tabLayout = tabs
this.floatingActionButton = fab
fab.setOnClickListener {
it.findNavController().navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
}
}
Activity main XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:context=".domain.MainActivity"
android:animateLayoutChanges="true">
<com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">
<androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
app:popupTheme="#style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay"/>
<com.google.android.material.tabs.TabLayout
android:id="#+id/tabs"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<com.google.android.material.tabs.TabItem
android:text="Test 1"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent"/>
<com.google.android.material.tabs.TabItem
android:text="Test 2"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_width="match_parent"/>
</com.google.android.material.tabs.TabLayout>
</com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>
<fragment
android:id="#+id/nav_host_fragment"
android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:defaultNavHost="true"
app:navGraph="#navigation/main_navigation" />
<com.google.android.material.bottomappbar.BottomAppBar
android:id="#+id/bar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="bottom"/>
<com.google.android.material.floatingactionbutton.FloatingActionButton
android:id="#+id/fab"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:layout_anchorGravity="right|top"
app:layout_anchor="#+id/bar"
android:src="#drawable/ic_add_black_24dp"/>
</androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

I was getting the same exeception until I managed to get the navController this way:
val navHostFragment = supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.my_fragment_container_view_id) as NavHostFragment
val navController = navHostFragment.navController
Obtained from this answer:
Before finding the nav controller, you need to set the view, if you are using binding:
binding = BaseLayoutBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
val view = binding.root
setContentView(view)
If not:
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
Use the corresponding binding for fragments.

Try setting up onClickListener of Fab button in onStart of the Activity as in onCreate Activity is just inflating the View and haven't set the NavHostController. So if you setup onClickListener in onStart of activity is will work as expected.
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
setSupportActionBar(toolbar)
this.tabLayout = tabs
this.floatingActionButton = fab
}
override fun onStart() {
super.onStart()
floatingActionButton.setOnClickListener {
it.findNavController().navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
}

In Java you can find NavController inside activity this way:
Navigation.findNavController(this,R.id.nav_host).navigate(R.id.YourFragment);

The problem might be that FAB was added to the activity or a fragment different from the one used by NavHost fragment. In this case, when you call it.findNavController() it cannot find the navigation controller.
You can either check that your FAB belongs to the fragment pulled by NavHost or call an Activity's findNavController(<id>) and pass it id of the fragment you're looking up
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
...
fab.setOnClickListener {
findNavController(R.id.nav_host_fragment)
.navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
}

Retrieve it later, in onPostCreate. like this:
#Override
public void onPostCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState ) {
super.onPostCreate(savedInstanceState);
navController = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.fragment_container_view);
}

Turns out that activity that holds navigation controller... doesn't have navigation component.
The solution is to manually set the NavController to each view contained in the activity.
val navController = findNavController(R.id.nav_host_fragment)
Navigation.setViewNavController(fab, navController)
Now this would work:
fab.setOnClickListener {
it.findNavController().navigate(R.id.addNewWorkoutFragment)
}
I still don't understand why this works the way it works so any explanation would be more than welcome :)
As of now, Android API simply doesn't make much sense.
Source: Navigate to fragment on FAB click (Navigation Architecture Components)

Kotlin Only
Android Navigation KTX provides an extension function for Activity
All I had to do was
findNavController(R.id.myNavHostFragment).navigate(R.id.to_someFragment)
I do have the following dependencies in my app/gradle.build.kts file (
implementation ("androidx.navigation:navigation-fragment-ktx:2.3.5")
implementation ("androidx.navigation:navigation-runtime-ktx:2.3.5")
implementation ("androidx.navigation:navigation-ui-ktx:2.3.5")
Using Directions
Alternatively you could also use generated Directions class. Since this is a global action the Directions class is found in the NavigationDirections.to_someFragment()
//very useful if you're passing args then you could do something like
//NavigationDirections.to_someFragment(myArg)
NavigationDirections.to_someFragment()findNavController(R.id.myNavHostFragment).navigate(NavigationDirections.to_someFragment())
Side-note the specific extension function is being contributed from the runtime-ktx aar

you can still get access in your oncreate by doing
//the id would be the id of the Fragment Element In Your Activity XML File
val navGraph = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.activity_main)
binding.mainFab.setOnClickListener {
navGraph.navigate(R.id.destinationFragment)
}

I found this answer helpful. In your activity paste this code
Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.nav_host_fragment).navigate(R.id.yourDestination)

This is Extension version for Kotlin:
fun AppCompatActivity.findNavController(
#IdRes navHostViewId: Int
): NavController {
val navHostFragment =
supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(navHostViewId) as NavHostFragment
return navHostFragment.navController
}
The navHostViewId is id of your androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView.

The best way to access navController in OnCreate of Activity is to access it after inflating the layout
that can achieved by kotlin extention function doOnPreDraw()
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding
private val navController: NavController
get() = Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.nav_host_fragment)
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
setContentView(binding.root)
binding.root.doOnPreDraw {
// here you can safely use navController
binding.toolbar.setupWithNavController(navController)
}
}
}

You can use binding.root.findNavController().navigate(id)