PropertyValuesHolder causes crash when used in XML defined animation

Question

I'm trying to use some propertyValuesHolder with an objectAnimator in an animation I've defined in XML. When I load it a runtime exception is thrown with the reason Unknown animator name: propertyValuesHolder

This is the full animation taken directly from the ObjectAnimator docs here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<objectAnimator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
            android:duration="1000"
            android:repeatCount="1"
            android:repeatMode="reverse">
    <propertyValuesHolder android:propertyName="x" android:valueTo="400"/>
    <propertyValuesHolder android:propertyName="y" android:valueTo="200"/>
</objectAnimator>

I'm using the following code to load and start the animation:

Animator animator = AnimatorInflater.loadAnimator(getApplicationContext(), R.animator.example);
animator.setTarget(view);
animator.start();

The cause I get from the stacktrace is this:

Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unknown animator name: propertyValuesHolder
  at android.animation.AnimatorInflater.createAnimatorFromXml(AnimatorInflater.java:592)
  at android.animation.AnimatorInflater.createAnimatorFromXml(AnimatorInflater.java:551)
  at android.animation.AnimatorInflater.loadAnimator(AnimatorInflater.java:122) 
  at android.animation.AnimatorInflater.loadAnimator(AnimatorInflater.java:102)
  at android.animation.AnimatorInflater.loadAnimator(AnimatorInflater.java:87)

This works when I use an animation that doesn't contain a propertyValuesHolder. I can't find any examples online where that tag is used in XML. Am I doing something wrong or does it just not work?

Answer 1

I believe the reason is that propertyValuesHolder XML element is not supported before Lollipop.

If you take a look at AnimatorInflater you will see that first time PropertyValuesHolder class is referenced there is in 5.0.