report came in from a client about an NPE when trying to set a cookie

I am attempting to set a cookie using the following code:
 /**
     *
     */
    private void updateCookie()
    {
        Cookie userCookie = new Cookie("User", userid);
        userCookie.setMaxAge(60 * 60 * 24 * 365);
        ((BridgeExternalContext) FacesContext.getCurrentInstance()
                .getExternalContext()).addCookie(userCookie);
    }

When I run I am getting the following stack trace (NullPointerException).

[2/1/07 10:13:55:265 CST] 0000002a jsf E
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase execute
java.lang.NullPointerException
                                 javax.faces.el.EvaluationException:
java.lang.NullPointerException
      at
com.sun.faces.el.MethodBindingImpl.invoke(MethodBindingImpl.java:131)
      at javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:305)
      at
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:302)
      at
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:416)
      at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase.execute(InvokeApplicationPhase.java:77)
      at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.phase(LifecycleImpl.java:220)
      at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:91)
      at
com.icesoft.faces.webapp.xmlhttp.BlockingServlet.renderCycle(Unknown
Source)
      at
com.icesoft.faces.webapp.xmlhttp.BlockingServlet.receiveUpdates(Unknown
Source)
      at com.icesoft.faces.webapp.xmlhttp.BlockingServlet.service(Unknown
Source)
      at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1282)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1239)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:113)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain._doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:82)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:670)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.handleRequest(WebApp.java:2933)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebGroup.handleRequest(WebGroup.java:221)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.VirtualHost.handleRequest(VirtualHost.java:210)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer.handleRequest(WebContainer.java:1912)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channel.WCChannelLink.ready(WCChannelLink.java:84)
      at
com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:472)
      at
com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleNewInformation(HttpInboundLink.java:411)
      at
com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpICLReadCallback.complete(HttpICLReadCallback.java:101)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager.requestComplete(WorkQueueManager.java:566)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager.attemptIO(WorkQueueManager.java:619)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager.workerRun(WorkQueueManager.java:952)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager$Worker.run(WorkQueueManager.java:1039)
      at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1462)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
      at com.icesoft.faces.context.BridgeExternalContext.addCookie(Unknown
Source)
      at
gov.mo.modot.budget.control.ProfileBean.updateCookie(ProfileBean.java)
      at
gov.mo.modot.budget.control.ProfileBean.login(ProfileBean.java:205)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
      at
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:85)
      at
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:58)
      at
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:60)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:391)
      at
com.sun.faces.el.MethodBindingImpl.invoke(MethodBindingImpl.java:127)
      at javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:305)
      at
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:302)
      at
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:416)
      at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase.execute(InvokeApplicationPhase.java:77)
      at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.phase(LifecycleImpl.java:220)
      at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:91)
      at
com.icesoft.faces.webapp.xmlhttp.BlockingServlet.renderCycle(Unknown
Source)
      at
com.icesoft.faces.webapp.xmlhttp.BlockingServlet.receiveUpdates(Unknown
Source)
      at com.icesoft.faces.webapp.xmlhttp.BlockingServlet.service(Unknown
Source)
      at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1282)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1239)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:113)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain._doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:82)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:670)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.handleRequest(WebApp.java:2933)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebGroup.handleRequest(WebGroup.java:221)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.VirtualHost.handleRequest(VirtualHost.java:210)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer.handleRequest(WebContainer.java:1912)
      at
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channel.WCChannelLink.ready(WCChannelLink.java:84)
      at
com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:472)
      at
com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleNewInformation(HttpInboundLink.java:411)
      at
com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpICLReadCallback.complete(HttpICLReadCallback.java:101)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager.requestComplete(WorkQueueManager.java:566)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager.attemptIO(WorkQueueManager.java:619)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager.workerRun(WorkQueueManager.java:952)
      at
com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.WorkQueueManager$Worker.run(WorkQueueManager.java:1039)
      at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1462)

responseCookieMap is null so I guess we might want to call
getResponseCookieMap(), which creates the hashtable if it's null, in addCookie()
 instead of referencing responseCookieMap directly:

public void addCookie(Cookie cookie) {
        getResponseCookieMap().put(cookie.getName(), cookie);
    }