Why cant I exchange CheckBoxPreference with SwitchPreference?

Question

I've made a simple PreferenceScreen with multiple Preference Categorys and CheckBoxPreferences.

<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <PreferenceCategory android:title="General">

        <CheckBoxPreference
            android:title="GPS"
            android:key="gps_preference"
            android:summary="Enales the GPS tracking of your device"
            android:defaultValue="true"
            ></CheckBoxPreference>

        <SwitchPreference
        android:title="WLAN"
        android:key="wlan_preference"
        android:summary="Enables the WLAN usage"
        android:defaultValue="true"></SwitchPreference>

        <CheckBoxPreference
            android:title="Benachrichtigungen"
            android:key="benachrichtigung_preference"
            android:summary="Enables the Push messages"
            android:defaultValue="true"
            ></CheckBoxPreference>

    </PreferenceCategory>
</PreferenceScreen>

This Preference screen is inside a android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat. If I leave everyhing like it is, everything works just fine.

However if i want to switch out one CheckBoxPreference for a SwitchPreference (which should work by simply switching out the xml tag for CheckBoxPreference with SwitchPreference) I'm getting a rendering error in my design tab:

Exception raised during rendering: android.preference.CheckBoxPreference cannot be cast to android.preference.GenericInflater$Parent

Stack Trace:

android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #15: Error inflating class (not found)SwitchPreference
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.createItemFromTag(PreferenceInflater.java:301)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.rInflate(PreferenceInflater.java:359)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.rInflate(PreferenceInflater.java:361)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.inflate(PreferenceInflater.java:167)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.inflate(PreferenceInflater.java:117)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.inflateFromResource(PreferenceManager.java:115)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat.setPreferencesFromResource(PreferenceFragmentCompat.java:424)
                                                                               at com.julianriegraf.app2night.SettingsFragment.onCreatePreferences(SettingsFragment.java:22)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat.onCreate(PreferenceFragmentCompat.java:216)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.Fragment.performCreate(Fragment.java:2062)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1051)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.setLastIn(BackStackRecord.java:795)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.calculateFragments(BackStackRecord.java:835)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.run(BackStackRecord.java:676)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execPendingActions(FragmentManager.java:1671)
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl$1.run(FragmentManager.java:532)
                                                                               at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:739)
                                                                               at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
                                                                               at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
                                                                               at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5417)
                                                                               at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
                                                                               at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726)
                                                                               at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616)
                                                                            Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "android.support.v7.preference.SwitchPreference" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.julianriegraf.app2night-2/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.julianriegraf.app2night-2/lib/x86, /vendor/lib, /system/lib]]
                                                                               at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:56)
                                                                               at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:511)
                                                                               at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:469)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.createItem(PreferenceInflater.java:233)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.onCreateItem(PreferenceInflater.java:281)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.createItemFromTag(PreferenceInflater.java:290)
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.rInflate(PreferenceInflater.java:359) 
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.rInflate(PreferenceInflater.java:361) 
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.inflate(PreferenceInflater.java:167) 
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceInflater.inflate(PreferenceInflater.java:117) 
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.inflateFromResource(PreferenceManager.java:115) 
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat.setPreferencesFromResource(PreferenceFragmentCompat.java:424) 
                                                                               at com.julianriegraf.app2night.SettingsFragment.onCreatePreferences(SettingsFragment.java:22) 
                                                                               at android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat.onCreate(PreferenceFragmentCompat.java:216) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.Fragment.performCreate(Fragment.java:2062) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1051) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.setLastIn(BackStackRecord.java:795) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.calculateFragments(BackStackRecord.java:835) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.run(BackStackRecord.java:676) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execPendingActions(FragmentManager.java:1671) 
                                                                               at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl$1.run(FragmentManager.java:532) 
                                                                               at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:739) 
                                                                               at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95) 
                                                                               at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148) 
                                                                               at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5417) 
                                                                               at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
                                                                               at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726) 
                                                                               at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616) 

Femineity

If your modified XML works when you run your app, and only the design tab is complaining, then most likely this is a bug in Android Studio. – Teniers

yeah, but it isn't working on my device aswell... – Femineity

You should be getting some other error there. Check LogCat to see how you are crashing. – Teniers

@Teniers it says: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #15: Error inflating class (not found)SwitchPreference and then a few at android.support.v7.preference ... – Femineity

I suggest that you edit your question. You are showing us code that you are not using and is not giving you errors. Instead, you need to post the code that is giving you errors, along with the full stack trace of your crash. – Teniers

@Teniers done – Femineity

Answer 1

There is no class named android.support.v7.preference.SwitchPreference. There is android.support.v7.preference.SwitchPreferenceCompat, android.support.v14.preference.SwitchPreference, and the native android.preference.SwitchPreference.

Teniers