Android Development: Common Issues and Solutions

This page describes some of the common issues I faced while developing an Android App. Hope you find it useful.

I am using Android Studio version 1.4.1

1. Cannot resolve symbol 'R'
   
   Issue: While getting a handle to a component through its id, I used - R.id.<id> and it was erroring out with the message- 'Cannot resolve symbol 'R'
   
   Solution: Build your project and clean gradle. Click on Build > Clean Project.
   
2. You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with the design library
   
   Issue: While selecting an app theme, say, 'Material Light' got the following error-
   
   java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with the design library.
        at android.support.design.widget.ThemeUtils.checkAppCompatTheme(ThemeUtils.java:34)
        at android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.<init>(AppBarLayout.java:145)
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
   
   Solution: Remove tools:showIn="@layout/activity_main" in content_main.xml under RelativeLayout tab. If you are having activity_main.xml, try using 'Empty Activity' instead of 'Blank Activity'.
   
   
3. Issue: couldn't resolve resource @dimen/activity_horizontal_margin (4 similar errors not shown)"
   " @dimen/activity_horizontal_margin " in attribute "paddingLeft" is not a valid format (4 similar errors not shown)
   
   Solution: Set the values for padding to some dp say 50dp. (dp = density independent pixels)
   
   
4. Issue: Error during Sync: EOF
   
   Solution: Restart your AVD (Android Virtual Device)
   
   
5. Issue: CPU acceleration status: HAXM must be updated (version 1.1.4 < 6.0.1)
   
   Solution:
   - Uninstall Intel HAXM from SDK Manager
   - Re-install Intel HAXM
   - Go to location- C:\Users\my_user_name\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\extras\intel\Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager
   - Run intelhaxm-android.exe
   - Run the emulator
   
6. Issue: android.database.sqlite.sqliteexception no such table <table_name>
   
   Solution: This error occurs when an empty database is created in the application with a specific database version. Increment the DATABASE_VERSION by 1 and run the app.
   
   
7.