Android app crashes after startActivity method is called from Onclick callback, manifest seems ok

Question

I am writing my first Android app and I am stuck with this problem:

I'd like to switch from MainActivity to AddExpense activity after a FloatingButton is clicked so I wrote this code (inside protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState):

    FloatingActionButton fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);
    fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), AddExpense.class);
            startActivity(intent);
        }
    });

AddExpense class looks easily like this

public class AddExpense extends AppCompatActivity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_add_expense);
}

}

However the application keeps crashing after i click on the fab.
Looking through other answers i found that usually the problem lies inside the manifest, but i think this is not my case:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<application>
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
    <activity
        android:name=".MainActivity"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity android:name=".AddExpense"
        android:label="@string/app_name"></activity>
</application>

Any help would be extremely appreciated.

--EDIT-- logcat report:

08-19 18:10:02.802 10393-10393/com.example.senso.budgetracker E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
                                                                            Process: com.example.senso.budgetracker, PID: 10393
                                                                            java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.senso.budgetracker/com.example.senso.budgetracker.AddExpense}: java.lang.IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2728)
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2814)
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap12(ActivityThread.java)
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1527)
                                                                                at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
                                                                                at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6290)
                                                                                at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
                                                                                at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:886)
                                                                                at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:776)
                                                                             Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.
                                                                                at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegateImplV9.createSubDecor(AppCompatDelegateImplV9.java:356)
                                                                                at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegateImplV9.ensureSubDecor(AppCompatDelegateImplV9.java:325)
                                                                                at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegateImplV9.setContentView(AppCompatDelegateImplV9.java:286)
                                                                                at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity.setContentView(AppCompatActivity.java:139)
                                                                                at com.example.senso.budgetracker.AddExpense.onCreate(AddExpense.java:11)
                                                                                at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:6760)
                                                                                at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1134)
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2681)
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2814) 
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap12(ActivityThread.java) 
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1527) 
                                                                                at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102) 
                                                                                at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154) 
                                                                                at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6290) 
                                                                                at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)

Look at the [stack trace](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23353173) to determine the cause of the crash. — Mike M., Aug 19 '17 at 16:47
@umuieme and MIiikeM, i did, i think maybe the problem is : `java.lang.IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.` right? — F.Peconi, Aug 19 '17 at 16:57

Mohamoud Mohamed · Answer 1 · 2017-08-19T17:14:52.310

0

in your xml try adding a theme tag like this:

<activity android:name=".AddExpense"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar">
    <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="blah.blah.com.Myproject.MainActivity" // your package replace
       />

</activity>

edited Aug 19 '17 at 17:14

answered Aug 19 '17 at 16:56

Mohamoud Mohamed

515
7
16

awesome can you mark it as answered :) best of luck. The reason why it wasn't working is you didn't link the parent activity. – Mohamoud Mohamed Aug 19 '17 at 17:05
1

@F.Peconi, you can remove the `` tag. You only need the `android:theme` – ישו אוהב אותך Aug 19 '17 at 17:12
your answer is correct but not your comment. It has nothing to do with Parent activity but with the theme. `android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar"` is actually what you need – umuieme Aug 19 '17 at 17:13

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '17 at 17:33

I figured out, it was a syntax problem !
Somehow, editing the manifest, i changed

<application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

in

<application>
android:allowBackup="true" 
...
android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

closing immediately the application tag and leaving the attributes no parsable.
It was enough to close the tag properly to make everything work.

Android app crashes after startActivity method is called from Onclick callback, manifest seems ok

2 Answers2