this code seems to be the culprit?
this is the only place showFormWidget is called in the code, and it returns the
result of the input created by the user.  that result doesnt seem to be used
anywhere...that might be the cause of the NPE

                    enumBox.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                            if (updateInProgress)
                                return;
                            JComboBox box = (JComboBox) e.getSource();
                            String str = (String) box.getSelectedItem();
                            if (str.startsWith("- Create") ||
!((List)box2list.get(box)).contains(str))
                            {
                                if (DEBUG)
                                    System.out.println("--- selected User Create");

                                String aInstanceType = c.getURI().toString();
                                showFormWidget(aInstanceType);
                            }
                        }
                    });