Could not find class/NoClassDefFound error on Android running 4.3/ pre L

Question

I have an android application that seems to run fine on Android L+ devices. However, when I try to run it for pre L devices, I seem to get an exception on Could not Find Class or NoClassDefFoundError and these classes seem to be from a different project on which my project is dependent upon.

I tried java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError on Android devices with KitKat and NoClassDefFoundError in 4.4 kitkat but not in 5.0 Lollipop - Could not find class , which recommended me to disable multidex in build.gradle, but it did not find the issue and I started getting transformClasseswithDexforDebug errors listed at UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION: com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define, which recommended me to turn back multiDex back to enabled.

Here is a sample stacktrace of the errror:

01-28 17:09:21.214 15125-15125/<app> I/dalvikvm: Could not find method <XXX>, referenced from method <YYY>.findZygotePid 01-28 17:09:21.190 15125-15125/<app> E/dalvikvm: Could not find class '<ZZZ>', referenced from method <AAA>.broadcast 01-28 17:09:21.229 15125-15125/<AAA> E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: <Method from a dependent project's class>

Both my main Android project and the dependent module have multidex enabled and dependencies is set to compile com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0. Can someone please provide some inputs on how do I go about fixing the exception being thrown on pre L devices? Any inputs would be appreciated.

I also tried clean build and rebuild of the project, but it doesn't help me. Thanks.

UPDATE: Sample Code

class Dummy { 
Dummy(<params>) {
        initialize variables;
    }

}

and this is being invoked as new Dummy(<params>), where it throws an exception of NoClassDefFound package_name.Dummy

there are some api's in lollipop which requires minimum sdk version to be lollipop. So those classes wouldn't be available in pre lollipop devices, therefore you get that error — Vivek Mishra, Jan 28 '16 at 12:05
It is just a timer task, who reference is not found, and not some specific Android API, resulting in an exception. — learn_develop, Jan 28 '16 at 12:11

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 09 '16 at 07:27

3

Fixed the above problem, by making my base activity extend MultiDexApplication (not Application) and the application does not crash now. Also, modified build.gradle and AndroidManifest.xml to set minSdkVersion to 18.

answered Feb 09 '16 at 07:27

learn_develop

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whaaaat?! are u kidding?! how it can be an activity then?! – Siavash Abdoli Dec 02 '20 at 16:39

Could not find class/NoClassDefFound error on Android running 4.3/ pre L

1 Answers1