"Application stopped working" after enabling Proguard

Question

It was a working app, both on emulator and the device i am testing on.

But now, i enabled Proguard and Exported the signed app using Android-Tools > Export signed application

Then i copied this .apk on to the SD card and tried to install on the Device. But the application stopped working, asking for force close if i try to open it.

It works on the device if i run from Eclipse.

Since, its said:

Proguard has effect only when you export a release .apk file. I checked it, and the apk file size in the bin folder is 1.8mb where as the 1 i got after exporting is 1.4mb. Seems like Proguard has done its job. But the application is not working. And sadly i cannot see any logs etc..,

EDIT:

If i disabled Proguard and then Exported, the release apk file works fine now. So, some problem with Proguard?

My Folder structure

proguard-project.txt

# This is a configuration file for ProGuard.
# http://proguard.sourceforge.net/index.html#manual/usage.html

-dontusemixedcaseclassnames
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclasses
-verbose

# Optimization is turned off by default. Dex does not like code run
# through the ProGuard optimize and preverify steps (and performs some
# of these optimizations on its own).
-dontoptimize
-dontpreverify
# Note that if you want to enable optimization, you cannot just
# include optimization flags in your own project configuration file;
# instead you will need to point to the
# "proguard-android-optimize.txt" file instead of this one from your
# project.properties file.

-keepattributes *Annotation*
-keep public class com.google.vending.licensing.ILicensingService
-keep public class com.android.vending.licensing.ILicensingService
-keep public class * extends android.app.Application
-keep public class * extends android.app.Activity
-keep public class * extends android.app.PreferenceActivity
-keep public class * extends android.view.View
-keep public class * extends android.widget.BaseAdapter
-keep public class * extends android.app.Service
-keep public class * extends android.content.BroadcastReceiver
-keep public class * implements android.view.View.OnTouchListener
-keep public class * implements android.view.View.OnClickListener
-keep public class * extends com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockActivity
-keep public class * extends com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockFragmentActivity
-keep public class * extends com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockMapActivity
-keep public class * extends com.readystatesoftware.mapviewballoons.BalloonItemizedOverlay<OverlayItem>
-keep public class * extends com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockFragment


-libraryjars libs/android-support-v4.jar
-libraryjars libs/apache-mime4j-0.6.jar
-libraryjars libs/httpmime-4.0.1.jar
-libraryjars libs/libGoogleAnalyticsV2.jar  



-assumenosideeffects class android.util.Log {
    public static *** v(...);
    public static *** i(...);
    public static *** d(...);
    public static *** w(...);
    public static *** e(...);
}

# For native methods, see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#native
-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    native <methods>;
}

# keep setters in Views so that animations can still work.
# see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#beans
-keepclassmembers public class * extends android.view.View {
   void set*(***);
   *** get*();
}

# We want to keep methods in Activity that could be used in the XML attribute onClick
-keepclassmembers class * extends android.app.Activity {
   public void *(android.view.View);
}

# For enumeration classes, see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#enumerations
-keepclassmembers enum * {
    public static **[] values();
    public static ** valueOf(java.lang.String);
}

-keep class * implements android.os.Parcelable {
  public static final android.os.Parcelable$Creator *;
}

-keepclassmembers class **.R$* {
    public static <fields>;
}

# The support library contains references to newer platform versions.
# Don't warn about those in case this app is linking against an older
# platform version.  We know about them, and they are safe.
-dontwarn android.support.**
-dontwarn org.apache.**

I just started using it today, and i am not sure if i am using it the right way. So, please correct me if i am wrong anywhere.

This is the LogCat error:

01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.xApp.app/com.xApp.app.LandingActivity}: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: a(Activity,int)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1647)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1663)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:117)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:931)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: a(Activity,int)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at com.actionbarsherlock.a.a(Unknown Source)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockActivity.a(Unknown Source)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockActivity.setContentView(Unknown Source)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at com.xApp.app.LandingActivity.onCreate(Unknown Source)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1611)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  ... 11 more
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585): Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: a(Activity,int)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at java.lang.Class.getMatchingConstructor(Class.java:643)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  at java.lang.Class.getConstructor(Class.java:472)
01-02 13:18:54.711: E/AndroidRuntime(585):  ... 17 more

Thank You

Answer 1

The stack trace shows that ActionBarSherlock is failing to find a constructor "a(Activity,int)" using reflection. Its documentation indeed specifies that each extension of ActionBarSherlock should have such a constructor. ProGuard doesn't (can't) know this and has removed the constructor, because it appears unused in the code. You therefore have to explicitly tell ProGuard to keep it:

-keepclassmembers class * extends com.actionbarsherlock.ActionBarSherlock {
    <init>(android.app.Activity, int);
}

In general, if you get such stack traces related to reflection in your code or its libraries, you need to add corresponding configuration.