Android In App Billing: Can't start launchPurchaseFlow because launchPurchaseFlow is in progress

Question

I'm implementing In App Billing for the first time and I'm testing my first purchases using the static SKU ids.

It worked very well the first time. I called mHelper.launchPurchaseFlow(...) and completed the test purchase. My activity received the onActivityResult callback and I made sure to process it with mHelper.handleActivityResult(...). Everything was great.

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    // Pass on the activity result to the helper for handling
    log("onActivityResult");
    if (!this.mHelper.handleActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)) {
        log("cleared the launch flow");
        // not handled, so handle it ourselves (here's where you'd
        // perform any handling of activity results not related to in-app
        // billing...
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    }
}

However, I wanted to test the next part, so I relaunched the app and tried to purchase the same SKU (the static purchased SKU).

mHelper.launchPurchaseFlow(rootActivity, "android.test.purchased", 10002,   
       new IabHelper.OnIabPurchaseFinishedListener() {

        @Override
        public void onIabPurchaseFinished(IabResult result, Purchase purchaseInfo) {
            if (result.isFailure()) {
                log("purchased failed");
            } else {
                log("purchase succeeded");
            }
        }
    }, "bGoa+V7g/yqDXvKRqq+JTFn4uQZbPiQJo4pf9RzJ");

The second time I try to purchase the item, my OnIabPurchaseFinishedListener is called and I see purchase failed in my log: "In-app billing error: Unable to buy item, Error response: 7:Item Already Owned"

That makes sense, but if I try to purchase another item, then my app crashes with the following error:

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Can't start async operation (launchPurchaseFlow) because another async operation(launchPurchaseFlow) is in progress.

The onActivityResult callback doesn't happen when I try to do the purchase that fails, so the launch flow that failed doesn't get handled and cleaned up. So, when I try another purchase, that's why it crashes because it's still supposedly in the middle of the last failed transaction.

What am I doing wrong? How do I ensure that the launchPurchaseFlow() is cleaned up after a failure?

Answer 1

I believe you just have to get the updated code the the in-app billing classes and you shouldn't run into the same problem again.

Google hasn't pushed out the changes to the SDK Manager yet as far as I know. Just copy/paste the new classes into yours and you shouldn't run into the problem any longer.

Have a look at the new code changes here: https://code.google.com/p/marketbilling/source/detail?r=7ec85a9b619fc5f85023bc8125e7e6b1ab4dd69f&path=/v3/src/com/example/android/trivialdrivesample/MainActivity.java

The classes that were changed as of March 15th are: IABHelper.java, Inventory.java, SkuDetails.java and some of the MainActivity.java file

Answer 2

I know it is kind of late contribution to the question, but I was facing the same problem today and I was calling the in App billing within a fragment, so I looked in "labHelper.java" and I saw a direct solution I believe to the problem which is ... I modified the method "void flagStartAsync(String operation)" in labHelper.java to be like the following

void flagStartAsync(String operation) {
    if (mAsyncInProgress) {
        flagEndAsync();
    }
    if (mAsyncInProgress) throw new IllegalStateException("Can't start async operation (" +
            operation + ") because another async operation(" + mAsyncOperation + ") is in progress.");
    mAsyncOperation = operation;
    mAsyncInProgress = true;
    logDebug("Starting async operation: " + operation);
}

I hope this would help some one out there ...

Answer 3

For me, the best fix was to both udpate the code to the recent one (here), and do what this post suggest:

1) make method flagEndAsync public. It is there, just not visible.

2) have every listener call iabHelper.flagEndAsync to make sure the procedure is marked finished properly; it seems to be needed in all listeners.

3) surround calls with a try/catch to catch the IllegalStateException which may occur, and handle it that way.

The reason that updating the code wasn't enough is that I've found special cases where this bug still occurs (or at least one):

• disconnect from the Internet;
• enter your app;
• let it initialize the IabHelper;
• connect to the Internet;
• once the device is connected, try to make a purchase.

Answer 4

I have the same problem.

First attempt: Workaround

I downloaded the current IabHelper.java, as per jmrmb80's solution, but that didn't work. (It seems that the repo is now deprecated and we should rely upon the version supplied by Android SDK manager.) So I followed Khan's advice:

• define IabHelper.flagEndAsync() as public, and
• add iabHelper.flagEndAsync() before iabHelper.launchPurchaseFlow(...)

This seems like a blatant hack! And it may have undesirable side effects. But, it does "work"...

This seems to be a known bug: #134 and #189.

Second attempt: Fix

After further investigation, I don't think the above workaround solved my problem. I think the real solution is to override onActivityResult in the UI thread.

Answer 5

No need for hacky solutions. The Activity or Fragment that is requesting the purchase flow should have this:

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    Log.d(TAG, "onActivityResult(" + requestCode + "," + resultCode + "," + data);
    if (billingHelper == null) return;

    // Pass on the activity result to the helper for handling
    if (!billingHelper.handleActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)) {
        // not handled, so handle it ourselves (here's where you'd
        // perform any handling of activity results not related to in-app
        // billing...
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    }
    else {
        Log.d(TAG, "onActivityResult handled by IABUtil.");
    }
}

That's from Google's sample project, tried it on my project and it works.