java.lang.IllegalStateException: The specified child already has a parent

Question

I am using fragments, when I instantiate a fragment the first time it it. but the second time I got this exception. I couldn't find the line where I got the error?

 04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713): java.lang.IllegalStateException: The specified child already has a parent. You must call removeView() on the child's parent first.
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.view.ViewGroup.addViewInner(ViewGroup.java:3013)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.view.ViewGroup.addView(ViewGroup.java:2902)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.view.ViewGroup.addView(ViewGroup.java:2859)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.view.ViewGroup.addView(ViewGroup.java:2839)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.support.v4.app.NoSaveStateFrameLayout.wrap(Unknown Source)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(Unknown Source)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(Unknown Source)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.run(Unknown Source)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execPendingActions(Unknown Source)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl$1.run(Unknown Source)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:132)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4126)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:491)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:844)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:602)
    04-04 08:51:54.320: E/AndroidRuntime(29713):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Here are what i do when i click on an element of my list fragment.

// If we are not currently showing a fragment for the new
 // position, we need to create and install a new one.
 RouteSearchFragment df = RouteSearchFragment.newInstance(index);

 // Execute a transaction, replacing any existing fragment
 // with this one inside the frame.
 FragmentTransaction ft = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();
 ft.replace(R.id.details_full, df);
 ft.setTransition(FragmentTransaction.TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_FADE);
 ft.commit();

The first time it is Ok, I click element2 from list, it's also ok; but when I return to element1 I got this bug.

Thanks every one!

need to call layoutView.removeAllViews(); before add views to layout — ρяσѕρєя K, Apr 04 '12 at 08:05
@imrankhan wrong! You can add without removing all. The most important part is missing and as there is no custom package in the stacktrace, I suggest you remove some code and test it step by step... — WarrenFaith, Apr 04 '12 at 08:20
What's this RouteSearchFragment class?? Can't find any reference in Android docs. Please update the class definition too. — 0xC0DED00D, Apr 04 '12 at 09:48

score 371 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 19 '19 at 14:52

371

Sorry to post to an old question but I was able to fix it using a totally different solution. I was getting this exception but I changed the first line of my onCreatView override from this:

View result = inflater.inflate(R.layout.customer_layout, container);

...to this:

View result = inflater.inflate(R.layout.customer_layout, container, false);

I have no idea why but using the override that accepts the boolean as the third param fixed it. I think it tells the Fragment and/or Activity not to use the "container" as the parent of the newly-created View.

edited Nov 19 '19 at 14:52

answered Oct 19 '12 at 00:47

Patrick

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Don't be sorry - this was very useful to me, and clearly a number of other people. Thanks! – head in the codes Jun 05 '13 at 23:28
Thanks a lot, I keep forgetting this and coming back to this answer – noloman Jul 13 '16 at 14:06
@Patrick, The first attaches the inflated view to the container, adding the false flag specifies you not want to add the inflated view to the container. – Ne0 Jun 15 '17 at 14:12
and I keep coming back to this post and finding out that this is THE ANSWER :) – noloman Feb 06 '18 at 12:16

score 45 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 15 '13 at 11:54

45

I have facing this issue many time. Please add following code for resolve this issue :

@Override
    public void onDestroyView() {
        super.onDestroyView();
        if (view != null) {
            ViewGroup parentViewGroup = (ViewGroup) view.getParent();
            if (parentViewGroup != null) {
                parentViewGroup.removeAllViews();
            }
        }
    }

Thanks

answered Apr 15 '13 at 11:54

Hardik

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Thank you on this solution :) I have a very specific case where I can not use inflater to solve this. You saved me lots of time – Bojan Jun 06 '13 at 13:12
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand cuz I'm new to android. – Zin Win Htet Sep 05 '14 at 08:03
In view.getParent(); Where dose view object come from? – Zin Win Htet Sep 05 '14 at 08:04
Cristy YG: Take a View instance as a global variable, and inflate your layout xml on above global variable. are you following me or not? – Hardik Dec 01 '14 at 06:57
Yes, view instance declare as global. – Hardik May 22 '15 at 06:15

score 36 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 06 '17 at 19:07

36

When you override OnCreateView in your RouteSearchFragment class, do you have the

if(view != null) {
    return view; 
}

code segment?

If so, removing the return statement should solve your problem.

You can keep the code and return the view if you don't want to regenerate view data, and onDestroyView() method you remove this view from its parent like so:

    @Override
    public void onDestroyView() {
        super.onDestroyView();
        if (view != null) {
            ViewGroup parent = (ViewGroup) view.getParent();
            if (parent != null) {
                parent.removeAllViews();
            }
        }
    }

edited Dec 06 '17 at 19:07

Salam El-Banna

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answered Apr 04 '12 at 12:09

Medo

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@Override public void onDestroyView() { super.onDestroyView(); ViewGroup parentViewGroup = (ViewGroup) mRoutesSearchViewContainer.getParent(); if( null != parentViewGroup ) { parentViewGroup.removeView( mRoutesSearchViewContainer ); } } – haythem souissi Apr 04 '12 at 14:37
@Medo: Can you give brief explaination for this. I have the same error shown in the logcat. as you have given the suggestion "remove the return statement should solve your problem" but we need to return View object in onCreateView() method. can you provide snippet code for you're explanation. Thank you. – Krishna Prasad Feb 07 '13 at 11:49
@Krishna Just inflate and return the view as you would normally. You can skip the whole if statement. – Medo Feb 08 '13 at 15:10
65

For me, I just had to replace `return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_search, container);` with `return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_search, container, false);` – Sufian Jul 13 '14 at 14:00

score 35 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 18 '14 at 08:38

35

If you have this statement..

View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment1, container);//may be Incorrect

Then try this.. Add false as third argument.. May be it could help..

View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment1, container, false);//correct one

edited Jul 18 '14 at 08:38

Baby Groot

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answered Jul 18 '14 at 07:52

Dhananjay M

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score 22 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 04 '13 at 11:29

22

I had this code in a fragment and it was crashing if I try to come back to this fragment

if (mRootView == null) {
    mRootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_main, container, false);
}

after gathering the answers on this thread, I realised that mRootView's parent still have mRootView as child. So, this was my fix.

if (mRootView == null) {
    mRootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_main, container, false);
} else {
    ((ViewGroup) mRootView.getParent()).removeView(mRootView);
}

hope this helps

answered Sep 04 '13 at 11:29

user1736525

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+1 helped me. Especially true if your activity stays but fragment manager is adding new fragments on top. when it gets back to the first fragment, need to make sure the old root view gets removed. Thanks! – Bundeeteddee Nov 20 '13 at 08:18
It helped me a lot. I've been finding that solution for 3 days. Simple and pretty answer. – Zin Win Htet Sep 05 '14 at 08:31
Wow! finally it worked for me! grat solution. thanks! – avisper Jul 05 '17 at 08:23
I dont have a rationale why "(ViewGroup) mRootView.getParent()).removeView(mRootView);" works in contrast to directly calling " .removeView(mRootView)" But this works for me as well, I'm testing on Android 8.0 and 9.0. Thanks bud ^ – Khay Feb 16 '19 at 01:33

score 16 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 19 '14 at 20:37

16

It also happens when the view returned by onCreateView() isn't the view that was inflated.

Example:

View rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.my_fragment, container, false);

TextView textView = (TextView) rootView.findViewById(R.id.text_view);
textView.setText("Some text.");

return textView;

Fix:

return rootView;

Instead of:

return textView; // or whatever you returned

answered Dec 19 '14 at 20:37

Mateus Pires

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Thanks! it helped me! – Sudheesh Mohan Jul 03 '15 at 10:27

score 5 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 13 '15 at 14:00

I had this problem and couldn't solve it in Java code. The problem was with my xml.

I was trying to add a textView to a container, but had wrapped the textView inside a LinearLayout.

This was the original xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">
    
    <TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:id="@android:id/text1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceListItemSmall"
        android:gravity="center_vertical"
        android:paddingLeft="16dp"
        android:paddingRight="16dp"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:background="?android:attr/activatedBackgroundIndicator"
        android:minHeight="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeightSmall"/>

</LinearLayout>

Now with the LinearLayout removed:

<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:id="@android:id/text1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceListItemSmall"
        android:gravity="center_vertical"
        android:paddingLeft="16dp"
        android:paddingRight="16dp"
        android:textColor="#fff"
        android:background="?android:attr/activatedBackgroundIndicator"
        android:minHeight="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeightSmall"/>

This didn't seem like much to me but it did the trick, and I didn't change my Java code at all. It was all in the xml.

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 04 '12 at 08:21

2

You are adding a View into a layout, but the View already is in another layout. A View can't be in more than one place.

answered Apr 04 '12 at 08:21

0xC0DED00D

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i added more details to my question, please can you see that? – haythem souissi Apr 04 '12 at 09:19

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 18 '14 at 06:32

This solution can help :

public class FragmentItem extends Android.Support.V4.App.Fragment
{
    View rootView;
    TextView textView;

    public override View OnCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        if (rootView != null) 
        {
            ViewGroup parent = (ViewGroup)rootView.Parent;
            parent.RemoveView(rootView);
        } else {
            rootView = inflater.Inflate(Resource.Layout.FragmentItem, container, false);
            textView = rootView.FindViewById<TextView>(Resource.Id.textViewDisplay);            
        }
        return rootView;
    }
}

I think rootView will always be null since you didn't initialize it. — Zin Win Htet, Sep 05 '14 at 08:11

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 26 '18 at 10:45

I solved it by setting attachToRoot of inflater.inflate() to false.

public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_overview, container, false);
    return view;
}

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 15 '18 at 07:38

in your xml file you should set layout_width and layout_height from wrap_content to match_parent. it's fixed for me.

<FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 23 '22 at 13:51

I used to get these when adding a custom view to a FrameLayout. I did this:

if (this.chartFrame.indexOfChild(mark.markView) == -1)
                    this.chartFrame.addView(mark.markView);

Which checked to see if it was already in the layout. Seemed to work until I saw an error today for the first time in years on API 31 (Android 12). Not sure what is happening yet,

java.lang.IllegalStateException: The specified child already has a parent

12 Answers12

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