Could not initialize class android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout

Question

I am trying to use the CoordinatorLayout from the new Android design library. I added the package to gradle; then I try to use the layout I get this error:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39) at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27) at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513) at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.ViewLoader.createNewInstance(ViewLoader.java:413) at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.ViewLoader.loadView(ViewLoader.java:105) at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.LayoutlibCallback.loadView(LayoutlibCallback.java:177) at android.view.BridgeInflater.loadCustomView(BridgeInflater.java:207) at android.view.BridgeInflater.createViewFromTag(BridgeInflater.java:132) at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:482) at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:385) at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.impl.RenderSessionImpl.inflate(RenderSessionImpl.java:400) at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.Bridge.createSession(Bridge.java:332) at com.android.ide.common.rendering.LayoutLibrary.createSession(LayoutLibrary.java:350) at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderTask$2.compute(RenderTask.java:497) at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderTask$2.compute(RenderTask.java:485) at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl.runReadAction(ApplicationImpl.java:894) at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderTask.createRenderSession(RenderTask.java:485) at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderTask.render(RenderTask.java:590) at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.doRender(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:644) at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.access$1700(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:79) at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager$7$1.run(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:586) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager$2.run(CoreProgressManager.java:152) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.registerIndicatorAndRun(CoreProgressManager.java:452) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.executeProcessUnderProgress(CoreProgressManager.java:402) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManagerImpl.java:54) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.runProcess(CoreProgressManager.java:137) at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager$7.run(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:581) at com.intellij.util.ui.update.MergingUpdateQueue.execute(MergingUpdateQueue.java:320) at com.intellij.util.ui.update.MergingUpdateQueue.execute(MergingUpdateQueue.java:310) at com.intellij.util.ui.update.MergingUpdateQueue$2.run(MergingUpdateQueue.java:254) at com.intellij.util.ui.update.MergingUpdateQueue.flush(MergingUpdateQueue.java:269) at com.intellij.util.ui.update.MergingUpdateQueue.flush(MergingUpdateQueue.java:227) at com.intellij.util.ui.update.MergingUpdateQueue.run(MergingUpdateQueue.java:217) at com.intellij.util.concurrency.QueueProcessor.runSafely(QueueProcessor.java:238) at com.intellij.util.Alarm$Request$1.run(Alarm.java:351) at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:439) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:895) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:918) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:695) 

Anybody have a fix for this? Thank you.

Answer 1

This is a known issue. It is open on the Android Open Source Project Issue Tracker:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=175595

The workaround described by the Android project member is:

Workaround: Try rendering with M preview using AS v1.3 preview.

Another way to workaround this issue is to replace your android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout with a FrameLayout when you want to edit it in the visual design editor, make your changes to the layout and then change it back to a CoordinatorLayout when you are finished.