Using CardView and RecyclerView in my layout files throws an exception

Question

So I've been taking a shot at the Material Design of Android Preview L. I imported both the CardView and the RecyclerView libraries.

I use the Android Studio preview version 0.8.0. Have the latest SDK packages installed.

Once I use them in my layout files though, the previewer throws an exception for both of them.

Here is the exception for the CardView:

java.lang.ClassFormatError: Illegal field name "CardView.Dark" in class android/support/v7/cardview/R$style
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:792)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:635)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.ProjectClassLoader.findClass(ProjectClassLoader.java:63)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:424)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:411)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:357)
at android.support.v7.widget.CardView.initialize(CardView.java:69)
at android.support.v7.widget.CardView.<init>(CardView.java:60)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:526)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.ViewLoader.createNewInstance(ViewLoader.java:375)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.ViewLoader.loadView(ViewLoader.java:100)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.LayoutlibCallback.loadView(LayoutlibCallback.java:172)
at android.view.BridgeInflater.loadCustomView(BridgeInflater.java:207)
at android.view.BridgeInflater.createViewFromTag(BridgeInflater.java:132)
at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:478)
at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:381)
at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.impl.RenderSessionImpl.inflate(RenderSessionImpl.java:395)
at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.Bridge.createSession(Bridge.java:329)
at com.android.ide.common.rendering.LayoutLibrary.createSession(LayoutLibrary.java:332)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService$3.compute(RenderService.java:575)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService$3.compute(RenderService.java:564)
at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl.runReadAction(ApplicationImpl.java:932)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService.createRenderSession(RenderService.java:564)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService.render(RenderService.java:691)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.doRender(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:586)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.access$1900(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:80)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager$6$1.run(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:528)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl$2.run(ProgressManagerImpl.java:178)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.ProgressManager.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManager.java:209)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManagerImpl.java:212)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.runProcess(ProgressManagerImpl.java:171)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager$6.run(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:523)
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$1.run(Alarm.java:327)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724)

And here is the exception for RecyclerView:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.onMeasure(RecyclerView.java:1310)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at android.widget.RelativeLayout.measureChildHorizontal(RelativeLayout.java:722)
at android.widget.RelativeLayout.onMeasure(RelativeLayout.java:458)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:5257)
at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:314)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:5257)
at com.android.internal.widget.ActionBarOverlayLayout.onMeasure(ActionBarOverlayLayout.java:447)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:5257)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureChildBeforeLayout(LinearLayout.java:1436)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureHorizontal(LinearLayout.java:1083)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:615)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:5257)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureChildBeforeLayout(LinearLayout.java:1436)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:722)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:613)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:875)
at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:613)
at android.view.View.measure(View.java:16987)
at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.impl.RenderSessionImpl.measureView(RenderSessionImpl.java:621)
at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.impl.RenderSessionImpl.render(RenderSessionImpl.java:521)
at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.Bridge.createSession(Bridge.java:331)
at com.android.ide.common.rendering.LayoutLibrary.createSession(LayoutLibrary.java:332)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService$3.compute(RenderService.java:575)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService$3.compute(RenderService.java:564)
at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl.runReadAction(ApplicationImpl.java:932)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService.createRenderSession(RenderService.java:564)
at com.android.tools.idea.rendering.RenderService.render(RenderService.java:691)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.doRender(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:586)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.access$1900(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:80)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager$6$1.run(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:528)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl$2.run(ProgressManagerImpl.java:178)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.ProgressManager.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManager.java:209)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManagerImpl.java:212)
at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.runProcess(ProgressManagerImpl.java:171)
at org.jetbrains.android.uipreview.AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager$6.run(AndroidLayoutPreviewToolWindowManager.java:523)
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$1.run(Alarm.java:327)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724)

This makes building layout near impossible using these two (amazing) Views, which I'm most curious about.

Is there a fix for this already, or is this actually expected behaviour seeing as they're "custom" Views, in a sense?

Answer 1

This is a bug in Android Studio. The preview tool does not know how do initialize the widgets. I believe so, because the same exception is thrown from your app if you forget to call recyclerView.setLayoutManager() in your code.

Answer 2

I am using Eclipse and faced the same issue. As suggested by user7610, you need to call recyclerView.setLayoutManager() to get over this.

Here is how i solved it..

Create a member variable..

RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager;

In onCreate() or onCreateView()

recyclerView = (RecyclerView) view
                .findViewById(R.id.business_recycler_view);
recyclerView.setHasFixedSize(true);

mLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(getActivity());
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLayoutManager);

This solved my NullPointerException.

Answer 3

I found Similar Issue. As such if we only inflate layout which consist RecyclerView then While doing setcontentView it gives error because layout manager is not set for Recyclerview Defined in Layout file.

RecyclerView recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.searchResultsList);
LinearLayoutManager layoutmanager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
layoutmanager.setOrientation(LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutmanager);