Android vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true is stopping app

Question

If I use vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true in gradle then run the app it stopped unfortunately. If I remove vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true the app works.

My gradle:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 25
    buildToolsVersion "25.0.2"
    defaultConfig {
        vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true
        applicationId "com.helikanon.firstapp"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 25
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"

    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
    })
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.1.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:25.1.0'
    compile 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:8.4.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:25.1.0'
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
    annotationProcessor 'com.jakewharton:butterknife-compiler:8.4.0'
    compile 'uk.co.chrisjenx:calligraphy:2.2.0'
    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:10.0.1'
}

The errors :

E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
                  java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.helikanon.firstapp/com.helikanon.firstapp.activities.MainActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #62: Error inflating class Button
                      at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2059)
                      at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2084)
                      at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:130)
                      at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1195)
                      at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
                      at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
                      at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4745)
                      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
                      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
                      at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:786)
                      at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:553)
                      at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
                   Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #62: Error inflating class Button
                      at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:704)
                      at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:746)
.
.
.

The app is crashing when I use Api 16 and Api 19 but When I use Api 23 it works.

Answer 1

You cannot use Vector Drawables in any other views except ImageView in pre-lollipop.

Please see this SO Answer by google developer advocate.

For AppCompat users, we’ve decided to remove the functionality which let you use vector drawables from resources on pre-Lollipop devices due to issues found in the implementation in version 23.2.0/23.2.1 [ https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=205236, https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=204708 ]. Using app:srcCompat and setImageResource() continues to work.

If you want to use the Vector Drawables pre-lollipop, use can set it programatically by converting it into a drawable.

Drawable drawable;

if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
     drawable = context.getResources().getDrawable(drawableResId, context.getTheme());
} else {
     drawable = VectorDrawableCompat.create(context.getResources(), drawableResId, context.getTheme());
}

button.setCompoundDrawablesWithIntrinsicBounds(drawable, null, null, null);

Answer 2

I was on one of practice projects trying to learn background tasks and services in Android. When I pulled their sample code then initially it wasn't compiling due to this error. So I added below tag in app's build.gradle file to get rid of compilation issue:

android {
    defaultConfig{
        vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true
    }
}

Now, the moment I added this configuration then my app also started to crash in Microsoft Android Simulator exactly the way OP has described.

Since my current focus was to learn about background tasks so I wanted to get started with debugging my app. So, I removed above configuration setting again. In addition to that I also removed an attribute named android:fillColor in path tag of one of my drawable resources (or you can also replace the value @color/colorAccent with a hexadecimal code such as #FF000000). After removing(or changing with hexadecimal code) it, my initial compilation error didn't come:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<vector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:width="80dp"
    android:height="80dp"
    android:viewportWidth="24"
    android:viewportHeight="24">

    <path
        android:fillColor="@color/colorAccent"
        android:pathData="M16.01 7L16 3h-2v4h-4V3H8v4h-0.01C7 6.99 6 7.99 6 8.99v5.49L9.5
18v3h5v-3l3.5-3.51v-5.5c0-1-1-2-1.99-1.99z" />
    <path
        android:pathData="M0 0h24v24H0z" />
</vector>

After removal it looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<vector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:width="80dp"
    android:height="80dp"
    android:viewportWidth="24"
    android:viewportHeight="24">

    <path
        android:pathData="M16.01 7L16 3h-2v4h-4V3H8v4h-0.01C7 6.99 6 7.99 6 8.99v5.49L9.5
18v3h5v-3l3.5-3.51v-5.5c0-1-1-2-1.99-1.99z" />
    <path
        android:pathData="M0 0h24v24H0z" />
</vector>

My MS Android emulator had Kitkat(4.4). My code was crashing as my app was trying to use vector drawables on a pre-lollipop version of Android as mentioned in Vipul's accepted answer.

Answer 3

To use VectorDrawableCompat, you need to set:

android.defaultConfig.vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true

To use VectorDrawableCompat, you need to make two modifications to your project. First, set android.defaultConfig.vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true in your build.gradle file, and second, use app:srcCompat instead of android:src to refer to vector drawables.

1. Go to your build.gradle(Module: app) and add following line to android block. It should look like that.

   android {
       compileSdkVersion 27
       defaultConfig {
           applicationId "..."
           minSdkVersion 15
           targetSdkVersion 27
           versionCode 1
           versionName "1.0"
           testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
           vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true // <------
       }
       buildTypes {
           release {
               minifyEnabled false
               proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
           }
       }
   }
   

2. Refer to the source as srcCompat to allow your application to use vector graphics.

   app:srcCompat="@drawable/plane"