I recently deployed an update to my app, and a user reported a crash the very next day via the Google Play reporting facility. The stack dump was for LoadApk() and the error was in the loading of my Application class. Here is that dump:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate application com.goalstate.WordGames.FullBoard.library.FullBoardApplication: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.goalstate.WordGames.FullBoard.library.FullBoardApplication" on path: DexPathList[[],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/vendor/lib, /system/lib]]
at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:516)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:4703)
at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1600(ActivityThread.java:175)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1368)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:146)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5602)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1283)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1099)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.goalstate.WordGames.FullBoard.library.FullBoardApplication" on path: DexPathList[[],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/vendor/lib, /system/lib]]
at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:67)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:497)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:457)
at android.app.Instrumentation.newApplication(Instrumentation.java:981)
at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:511)
... 11 more
I have a library and my Application class was defined in that library. The manifest for my app (which used the library) referred to the class in that library by its full path. It did not have an application class of its own.
All of my in-house testing had not reproduced this problem, and even when I tested (using the Samsung Remote Test Lab) on the same device (actually two different devices, one running 4.3 and one running 4.4.4) as reported the crash (a Galaxy Note II, running Android 4.4), there was no problem.
In searching for information on this I found mention of the fact that different devices may have slightly different approaches to resolving class references, and that is probably why most devices had no problem with my APK, but this particular device (which, unlike my test devices, was provided with its Android flavor by Sprint) did. And similarly, it may be why just one percent of your own customers had the problem, while most did not.
I decided that the best approach would be to make it as easy as possible for even an unsophisticated device to find the classes that were referenced from my manifest file. So, I defined a new application class within the package of the app itself (rather than the library) and I had that class inherit from the application class in my library. The new class was otherwise empty.
I then replaced the full path reference to the application class in the library with a relative reference to the new class I had created in the app itself. So, instead of having:
<application android:name="com.goalstate.WordGames.FullBoard.library.FullBoardApplication"
in my manifest, I had:
<application android:name=".FullBoardWordChumsApplication"
That (according to folklore on this topic) should make it easier for a less sophisticated resolution process to succeed.
I also took the full path that I had been using in the manifest to name my already-local activity class and made it relative (by simply lopping off everything preceding the final dot).
Additional folklore found online indicates that it may help to turn off "Build Automatically" for the project in Eclipse, then exit Eclipse, re-enter Eclipse, and then, after it rebuilds, go directly to Android Tools to export the signed APK (without ever turning on Build Automatically). So, throwing salt over my left shoulder, and saying a prayer to the gods of fragmentation paranoia, I accommodated this superstition in preparing my APK for release.
Does any of this really help? Time will tell, but so far my updated release has not generated any additional crashes.
