Scene.getFocusOwner() returning null inseatd of node from Scene

I have a JavaFX application. The way it works right now is it creates a GridPane and calls a function that takes an Arraylist of an object, where each object consists of a Label, TextField, and Label in that order. Said function adds all these nodes individually to the GridPane after which the GridPane is added to a Scene. Before I set up the Stage, I try to set up event handlers for all the TextField objects in a separate function. In there I try to get the Textfield in which the cursor is currently waiting, to decide what action a Textfield will take. I try to use Scene.getFocusOwner in a separate function to get the TextField currently selected but it always returns Null, when it should return an object that I can cast to TextField (even after the application has started). The relevant code is below:

//How the start function looks
public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception{
        primaryStage.setTitle("Warehouse Form");
        ArrayList<FormRow> entryRows = new ArrayList<>();        
       //each array holds same number of Strings
        String defLabels[] = {"....", "....", ....};
        String defTextEntry[] = {"....", "....", ....};
        String defConfLabels[] = {"....", "....", ....};
       GridPane g = runDefaultForm(entryRows,defLabels, defTextEntry, defConfLabels);
       final Scene sc = new Scene(g,500,600);      
        setEntryEventHandlers(g, sc, primaryStage, entryRows);
        primaryStage.setScene(sc);
        primaryStage.show();
    }

Inside ‘setEventEntryHandlers’ function

public void setEntryEventHandlers(GridPane g, Scene sc, Stage st, ArrayList<FormRow> formRows){
        int row = 0, col = 0;
        TextField curTextEntry = null;
        TextField nextTextEntry = null;
        Label curConfLabel = null;
        Label curLabel = null;
        //Iterate through every field and set event handler, goes down via row
        for(int i = 0; i < fieldsAdded; i++){
            curLabel = (Label)getNodeFromGrid(g, i, col);//Gets Label from coordinates
            curTextEntry = (TextField) getNodeFromGrid(g, i, col + 1);//Gets Entry Textfield from Coordinates
            nextTextEntry = (TextField)getNodeFromGrid(g,i + 1, col + 1 );//Gets the Next Text Entry from coordinates
            curConfLabel = (Label)getNodeFromGrid(g, i, col + 2);//
            //function call that contains Scene.getFocusOwner
            TextField tempFocus = getFocusFromGrid(g, sc, formRows, userSelectedCoordinates);
            if(tempFocus == null){
                System.out.println("TEXTFIELD IS NULL BABY");
            }
            else{
                System.out.println("ALL IS GOOD");
            }
            .
            .
            .
        }
    }

The function where Scene.getFocusOwner is called…

    public TextField getFocusFromGrid(GridPane g, Scene sc, ArrayList<FormRow> rows, int[] v){

        Node tempNode = sc.getFocusOwner();
        //try to find the node in children of GridPane, it will never find it because it is null
        if(g.getChildren().contains(tempNode)){
            System.out.println("FOUND THIS");
        }
        else{
            System.out.println("NOTHING WAS FOUND");
        }
        return (TextField)tempNode;
     
    }

So that call for Scene.getFocusOwner always returns null, I’m not even sure if I set all of this uuprightor if I can use the function call two functions deep (so to speak) from the start function. Any help would be appreciated.

Just move setEntryEventHandlers so it’s invoked after show:

primaryStage.setScene(sc);
primaryStage.show();
setEntryEventHandlers(g, sc, primaryStage, entryRows);

What you’re doing is invoking setEntryEventHandlers when primaryStage is not yet a window, so focus will be null. For better results, you should invoke it on the primaryStage.onShown event: primaryStage.setOnShown(e-> setEntryEventHandlers(g, sc, primaryStage, entryRows)); and after setting onShown handler, you show the stage and should work fine.