How do I solve this fatal exception in eclipse?

Question

This is the coding for my application, and I am using Eclipse.

DisplayMessageActivity.java

package com.example.myfirstapp;

import android.annotation.SuppressLint;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.NavUtils;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.TextView;

@SuppressLint("NewApi") public class DisplayMessageActivity extends Activity 
{
    @SuppressLint("NewApi") @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) 
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_display_message);
        // Show the Up button in the action bar.
        getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
        //Get the message from the intent
        Intent intent = getIntent();
        String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);

        //Create the text view
        TextView textView = new TextView(this);
        textView.setTextSize(40);
        textView.setText(message);

        //Set the text view
        setContentView(textView);
    }

//  OKAY TO REMOVE
    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) 
    {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_display_message, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) 
    {
        switch (item.getItemId()) 
        {
        case android.R.id.home:
            // This ID represents the Home or Up button. In the case of this
            // activity, the Up button is shown. Use NavUtils to allow users
            // to navigate up one level in the application structure. For
            // more details, see the Navigation pattern on Android Design:
            //
            // http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/navigation.html#up-vs-back
            //
            NavUtils.navigateUpFromSameTask(this);
            return true;
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

}

MyFirstAppManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.myfirstapp"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="17" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" android:debuggable="true">
        <activity
            android:name="com.example.myfirstapp.MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name="com.example.myfirstapp.DisplayMessageActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_display_message"
            android:parentActivityName="com.example.myfirstapp.MainActivity" >
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.example.myfirstapp.MainActivity" />
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

MainActivity.java

package com.example.myfirstapp;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;

public class MainActivity extends Activity 
{
    public final static String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "com.example.myfirstapp.MESSAGE";

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

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu);
        return true;
    }
    /** Called when the user clicks the Send button */
    public  void sendMessage (View view)
    {
        // Do something in response to button
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
        EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
        String message = editText.getText().toString();
        intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
        startActivity(intent);
    }
}

If you need more information or debug results, please let me know. I am following the Android Developer Tutorial located here.

Whenever your application crashes, if USB debugging is enabled, the LogCat view in eclipse will output red lines. That is the stack trace and that is what helps you figure out where you went wrong. Also, what API is your phone/emulator? `@SuppressLint("NewApi")` might be one cause if you're on anything older than honeycomb. — A--C, Dec 24 '12 at 17:30
My phone is a Galaxy model, running Gingerbread.FF19 Model is SPH-M820-BST — Steven Zahuranec, Dec 24 '12 at 17:33
What should I change the "NewApi" to if I want to target most of the Android devices? — Steven Zahuranec, Dec 24 '12 at 17:40

A--C · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-24T17:51:09.963

Without the LogCat, I can address one problem with your code. @SuppressLint("NewApi"). Lint makes a good point - your target API is 8. Froyo and Gingerbread don't have an Action Bar.

Now, in DisplayMessageActivity make a method like this:

    @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
    private void setupActionBar() {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
            // Show the Up button in the action bar.
            getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
        }
    }

Now take this line out of your code in DisplayMessageActivity

getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);

and replace it with

setupActionBar();

That way Android checks the API version and if it is below HoneyComb's does not call the getActionBar() method which does not exist on Gingerbread.

Thanks! I am no longer getting a crash. – Steven Zahuranec Dec 24 '12 at 18:01 — Steven Zahuranec, Dec 24 '12 at 18:01

How do I solve this fatal exception in eclipse?

1 Answers1