Why might AccountManager.addAccountExplicitly return false?

Question

Google's Android docs (http://developer.android.com/reference/android/accounts/AccountManager.html#addAccountExplicitly(android.accounts.Account, java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle)) say:

Returns

True if the account was successfully added, false if the account already exists, the account is null, or another error occurs

I am getting false. Specifically, what other errors could cause this?

Adamic

Was there anything in the log output? Is this being called from the application or the authenticators that you have written? – Doering

can you share code snippet? – Prosperus

Answer 1

false if the account already exists

Without any information provided, this could be the reason you are getting false

Armagh

Answer 2

AccountManagerService is the actual system service that manages accounts, whereas AccountManager is just a proxy that hides all bound-services-related stuff under the hood.

The below source code of addAccountInternal method from AccountManagerService is pretty much self-explanatory, except that if you pass null for account then IllegalArgumentException will be thrown instead of execution of this method:

private boolean addAccountInternal(UserAccounts accounts, Account account, String password,
        Bundle extras, boolean restricted, int callingUid) {
    if (account == null) {
        return false;
    }
    synchronized (accounts.cacheLock) {
        final SQLiteDatabase db = accounts.openHelper.getWritableDatabase();
        db.beginTransaction();
        try {
            long numMatches = DatabaseUtils.longForQuery(db,
                    "select count(*) from " + TABLE_ACCOUNTS
                            + " WHERE " + ACCOUNTS_NAME + "=? AND " + ACCOUNTS_TYPE+ "=?",
                    new String[]{account.name, account.type});
            if (numMatches > 0) {
                Log.w(TAG, "insertAccountIntoDatabase: " + account
                        + ", skipping since the account already exists");
                return false;
            }
            ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
            values.put(ACCOUNTS_NAME, account.name);
            values.put(ACCOUNTS_TYPE, account.type);
            values.put(ACCOUNTS_PASSWORD, password);
            values.put(ACCOUNTS_LAST_AUTHENTICATE_TIME_EPOCH_MILLIS, System.currentTimeMillis());
            long accountId = db.insert(TABLE_ACCOUNTS, ACCOUNTS_NAME, values);
            if (accountId < 0) {
                Log.w(TAG, "insertAccountIntoDatabase: " + account
                        + ", skipping the DB insert failed");
                return false;
            }
            if (extras != null) {
                for (String key : extras.keySet()) {
                    final String value = extras.getString(key);
                    if (insertExtraLocked(db, accountId, key, value) < 0) {
                        Log.w(TAG, "insertAccountIntoDatabase: " + account
                                + ", skipping since insertExtra failed for key " + key);
                        return false;
                    }
                }
            }
            db.setTransactionSuccessful();

            logRecord(db, DebugDbHelper.ACTION_ACCOUNT_ADD, TABLE_ACCOUNTS, accountId,
                    accounts, callingUid);

            insertAccountIntoCacheLocked(accounts, account);
        } finally {
            db.endTransaction();
        }
        sendAccountsChangedBroadcast(accounts.userId);
    }
    if (accounts.userId == UserHandle.USER_OWNER) {
        addAccountToLimitedUsers(account);
    }
    return true;
}

Bottom line: addAccountExplicitly will return false if either the required account already exists, or some SQLite database error prevented storage of account related information in database.

Kyphosis

Answer 3

Make sure you are connected to internet! In my case this was the problem!

if (accountManager.addAccountExplicitly(_account, null, null)) {
       System.out.println("_add account if");
   }else {
      // This block is also executed in case device has no internet connection
}

Cynarra

That method does not use Internet, it just adds a new account locally. – Dorcus