java - Application works in debug / run from Eclipse, but .APK gives .classNotFoundException when parsing XML layout that contains a custom View

Question

My application will debug and run perfectly fine on my target device (HTC Desire HD) when the application is installed via USB from Eclipse.

However, when I export to .APK and then install this .APK on my Desire HD (having first manually uninstalled the previous installation of my application), it crashes.

Having inspected the error in Logcat I can see that a custom extended View of mine, that is referenced using its fully-qualified name in a layout XML file, apparently cannot be found and leads to a .classNotFoundException.

The two lines of interest from the Logcat error trace are:

04-09 21:29:01.101: E/AndroidRuntime(2157): Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #12: Error inflating class com.trevp.myAppName.DashboardLayout

And further below:

04-09 21:29:01.101: E/AndroidRuntime(2157): Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.trevp.myAppName.DashboardLayout in loader dalvik.system.PathClassLoader[/data/app/com.trevp.myAppName-1.apk

This crash does not occur when the application is installed from Eclipse, only when installed from an exported .APK.

In case this could be a Proguard issue, here is my Proguard configuration file. I haven't really touched it from default, as I'm new to using Proguard. My Proguard version is 4.7.

-optimizationpasses 5
-dontusemixedcaseclassnames
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclasses
-dontpreverify
-verbose
-optimizations !code/simplification/arithmetic,!field/*,!class/merging/*

-keep public class * extends android.app.Activity
-keep public class * extends android.app.Application
-keep public class * extends android.app.Service
-keep public class * extends android.content.BroadcastReceiver
-keep public class * extends android.content.ContentProvider
-keep public class * extends android.app.backup.BackupAgentHelper
-keep public class * extends android.preference.Preference
-keep public class com.android.vending.licensing.ILicensingService

-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    native <methods>;
}

-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
}

-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
}

-keepclassmembers enum * {
    public static **[] values();
    public static ** valueOf(java.lang.String);
}

-keep class * implements android.os.Parcelable {
  public static final android.os.Parcelable$Creator *;
}

The XML file that is being inflated. (Merge tags are used because the elements within are added as children to the parent FrameLayout.)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<merge xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <ImageView   
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="top|left"
    android:scaleType="centerCrop"
    android:id="@+id/dashLayoutImage"
    android:src="@drawable/background2" android:drawingCacheQuality="high"/>

    <com.trevp.myAppName.DashboardLayout
    android:clipChildren="false"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:id="@+id/dashLayout"
    android:layout_gravity="top|left" />

    <include
    android:layout_gravity="top|left"
    layout="@layout/status_bar"
    android:id="@+id/statusBar" />

    <TextView
    android:layout_gravity="bottom|left"
    android:id="@+id/pollRate"
     android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    >
    </TextView>

</merge>

Thanks in advance for any tips on this. Please shout if there are any other extracts or configuration information required.

Answer 1

This problem has been now fixed by using a completely standard and default proguard.cfg file taken from a freshly created test project.

The configuration file I was previously using, as quoted in my original question, was one that I had to add to the project manually a short time back because it was missing. I am not sure where the file came from now -- I had most probably Googled and found a sample default file and just used it.

Here is the one that Eclipse put into the new project for me, and that enabled a working .APK.

-optimizationpasses 5
-dontusemixedcaseclassnames
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclasses
-dontpreverify
-verbose
-optimizations !code/simplification/arithmetic,!field/*,!class/merging/*


-keep public class * extends android.app.Activity
-keep public class * extends android.app.Application
-keep public class * extends android.app.Service
-keep public class * extends android.content.BroadcastReceiver
-keep public class * extends android.content.ContentProvider
-keep public class * extends android.app.backup.BackupAgentHelper
-keep public class * extends android.preference.Preference
-keep public class com.android.vending.licensing.ILicensingService

-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    native <methods>;
}

-keepclasseswithmembers class * {
    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
}

-keepclasseswithmembers class * {
    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
}

-keepclassmembers class * extends android.app.Activity {
   public void *(android.view.View);
}

-keepclassmembers enum * {
    public static **[] values();
    public static ** valueOf(java.lang.String);
}

-keep class * implements android.os.Parcelable {
  public static final android.os.Parcelable$Creator *;
}

I can see that the differences are in the -keepclass* type instructions.

I will now make more of an effort to actually understand how to configure Proguard!

For the sake of interest, looking at the following lines:

-keepclasseswithmembers class * {
    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
}

-keepclasseswithmembers class * {
    public <init>(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
}

These look like they're there to preserve View constructors (or, preserve the classes that contain them) that would only be called when the class is referenced from XML.