android getSharedPreferences error: Map value without name attribute: boolean

Question

I am trying to figure out the cause of this error it occurs on startup when i try to get the shared preferences for the app. the code is just:

settings = this.getSharedPreferences(Globals.PREFS_NAME, 0)

Seems like a corruption, but the bug is in the app as i have installed it on multiple devices and the same error occurs. I have uninstalled the app and re-installed it to no avail. also did a fully clean build. I googled the error and dont seem to be able to find anything on it.

I was previously working fine. so I am a rather stumped. Any leads would be very highly appreciated ...

regards,

rob

W/ApplicationContext( 1541): getSharedPreferences
W/ApplicationContext( 1541): org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException: Map value without name attribute: boolean
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at com.android.internal.util.XmlUtils.readThisMapXml(XmlUtils.java:521)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at com.android.internal.util.XmlUtils.readThisValueXml(XmlUtils.java:733)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at com.android.internal.util.XmlUtils.readValueXml(XmlUtils.java:667)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at com.android.internal.util.XmlUtils.readMapXml(XmlUtils.java:470)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.ContextImpl.getSharedPreferences(ContextImpl.java:376)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.content.ContextWrapper.getSharedPreferences(ContextWrapper.java:146)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at net.robmunro.mypod.WelcomeActivity.onEWCreate(WelcomeActivity.java:160)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at net.robmunro.mypod.AbstractEWActivity.onCreate(AbstractEWActivity.java:25)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1611)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1663)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:117)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:931)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
W/ApplicationContext( 1541):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Answer 1

Are you able to reproduce this on emulator? If yes, then you could extract the prefs file using Eclipse DDMS tools to investigate the contents of the prefs file.

Answer 2

thanks for the tip. the prefs file was

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>
<map>
<boolean value="false" />
<boolean name="initialised" value="true" />
<boolean name="upd.auto" value="true" />
<long name="backup.last" value="1300662039054" />
<string name="msg.read">0.995.18Beta</string>
</map>

turns out i was writing a null preference name to the prefs - so the error was correct - though I don't think the API should let you do that since the prefs cant be read after that.

anyways, a bit of a schoolboy error, but got there ...

thanks for the quick reply, rob

Answer 3

In my case

public static String docsDownloadStatus;

    SharedPreferences sharedPref = context.getSharedPreferences(
            "Pref-Values", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
    SharedPreferences.Editor editor = sharedPref.edit();
>>>>    editor.putString(docsDownloadStatus, value);
    editor.commit();

"docsDownloadStatus" is not initialized because of this whole shared pref file was corrupted. After initializing docsDownloadStatus key everything worked fine.