Android : Edittext.getText().toString() returning null

i have an edittext field and when I am trying to use the toString to fill it in it seems like I am returning null. I'm using a toast to try to figure out the value of it. The edittext field is input from the softkeyboard.

String fav=disp_label.getText().toString();
    Toast toast =Toast.makeText(this," "+fav+fav.length(),Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
    toast.show();

if i try adding

disp.setText(fav);

it still returns nothing

this is what i used to get an integer out of an edittext field which works correctly...is there something similar for a string?

channel=Integer.parseInt(disp.getText().toString());