Databinding NoSuchMethodError with buildtools 3.4.0

Question

When using the latest DataBinding

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.0-alpha10'

A NoSuchMethodError crashes the app upon Activity load. Using:

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.2.1'

causes the databinding to work successfully.

Here's the crash:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: No direct method <init>
(Landroidx/databinding/DataBindingComponent;Landroid/view/View;I)V in 
class Landroidx/databinding/ViewDataBinding; or its super classes
(declaration of 'androidx.databinding.ViewDataBinding'

Is there any way around this if we want to use the latest build tools?

Ganja

Do you have androidx in the project? The reason may be, that 3.4.0-alpha10 uses androidx for data binding and therefore crashes. – Unessential

We are using androidx in this project. – Ganja

I'm facing the same issue with an external library which uses data binding + AndroidX on 3.4.0-beta05 build tools. 3.3.1 works just fine. – Stump

@JacobFerrero it will be fixed in 3.4.1 – Stump

Answer 1

One of your libraries relies on data binding and is distributed with generated data-binding classes built with build tools 3.3 (or earlier). The issue is caused by the breaking change introduced in the latest beta/rc version of the data binding lib. In version 3.4 the signature of androidx.databinding.ViewDataBinding constructor has been changed from:

protected ViewDataBinding(DataBindingComponent bindingComponent, View root, int localFieldCount)

to:

protected ViewDataBinding(Object bindingComponent, View root, int localFieldCount)

Which makes any generated data binding class binary incompatible with 3.4 databinding lib, resulting in the following exception upon startup:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: No direct method <init>(Landroidx/databinding/DataBindingComponent;Landroid/view/View;I)V in class Landroidx/databinding/ViewDataBinding; or its super classes (declaration of 'androidx.databinding.ViewDataBinding' appears in /data/app/com.example.idolon-LqF2y8dUMxZoK3PVRlzbzg==/base.apk)
        at com.example.lib.databinding.ActivityLibBinding.<init>(ActivityLibBinding.java:20)
        at com.example.lib.databinding.ActivityLibBindingImpl.<init>(ActivityLibBindingImpl.java:30)
        at com.example.lib.databinding.ActivityLibBindingImpl.<init>(ActivityLibBindingImpl.java:27)
        at com.example.lib.DataBinderMapperImpl.getDataBinder(DataBinderMapperImpl.java:316)
        at androidx.databinding.MergedDataBinderMapper.getDataBinder(MergedDataBinderMapper.java:74)
        at androidx.databinding.DataBindingUtil.bind(DataBindingUtil.java:199)
        at androidx.databinding.DataBindingUtil.bindToAddedViews(DataBindingUtil.java:327)
        at androidx.databinding.DataBindingUtil.setContentView(DataBindingUtil.java:306)
        at androidx.databinding.DataBindingUtil.setContentView(DataBindingUtil.java:284)

As a workaround you can rebuild libraries that contains data binding classes using the latest build tools.

The corresponding bug on Androig Bug tracker is: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/122936785

UPDATE
The issue has been fixed and the fix is available in 3.5 beta 1 (it will also be available in the upcoming 3.4.1)

Stump