inflating fragments with compatibility package android

Question

I am trying to inflate a layout containing a Fragment using the backwards compatibility package. I took the jar file and placed it in the libs folder of my project. I extended Fragment and then tried to inflate it by setting the contentView of the Activity to

<LinearLayout
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  android:orientation="vertical">
 <fragment
  class="com.test.fragments.AdFragment"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"/></LinearLayout>

But when I set the content view it fails with a ClassNotFoundException for the fragment tag. Here is the logcat output.

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{}: \
      android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #51: \
      Error inflating class fragment
   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1777)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1793)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:123)
   at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:939)
   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3848)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:841)
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:599)
   at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

 Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #51: \
      Error inflating class fragment
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:581)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:623)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:408)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:320)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:276)
   at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.setContentView(PhoneWindow.java:211)
   at android.app.Activity.setContentView(Activity.java:1657)
   at com.test.base.activities.TabbedStoreActivity.onCreate(TabbedStoreActivity.java:46)
   at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1731)
   ... 11 more

 Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: android.view.fragment in loader \
      dalvik.system.PathClassLoader[/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar: \
      /data/app/com.test.test.apk]
   at dalvik.system.PathClassLoader.findClass(PathClassLoader.java:240)
   at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:551)
   at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:511)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:471)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.onCreateView(LayoutInflater.java:549)
   at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneLayoutInflater.onCreateView(PhoneLayoutInflater.java:66)
   at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:568)
   ... 20 more

Shiftless

Similar problem: #5511271. I had this issue because I wrote Fragment instead of fragment – Incontinent

Answer 1

Make sure your activity is inheriting from FragmentActivity, otherwise <fragment> does not work. Here is a sample project demonstrating this.

Carillonneur

Thanks I will try this out tonight when I get home, crazy thing is I searched the docs and FragmentActivity isn't listed but then I checked the library and its in there alright. This puts a damper on my plans since there is no FragmentListActivity, etc. Makes it a whole lot of work at once rather than slowly moving stuff over to fragments. – Shiftless

Suck! Is this a limitation only in the compatibility library for android versions less than 3.0, or is this a limitation in android 3.0? – Dorrie

@emmby: The compatibility library needs this. If you are coding straight to the Android 3.0 fragment stuff, there is no FragmentActivity, as @schwiz points out. – Carillonneur

thanks Mark that was the problem, also when you extend FragmentActivity you must call super.onCreate before setting the content view. – Shiftless

That was it, saved me from pulling my hair out all afternoon – Thermae

Same issue here, not at all obvious this was the problem from the exception trace. – Tasteful

@CommonsWare: Oh sweet Lord, how much that helped me. I'll start buying your books out of sheer respect for your genuine efforts to help us mere mortals :-) – Induction

This is not the sollution, AppCompatActivity extends android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity yet the error appears. – Brufsky

@f470071: Then you have some other problem. Feel free to ask a separate Stack Overflow question, where you provide a minimal, complete, and verifiable example demonstrating your problem. – Carillonneur

@Carillonneur #33534393 – Brufsky

@Carillonneur See what happens if you provide minimal, complete and verifiable example. – Brufsky