What's wrong with this XML file? (keeps crashing aapt.exe)

Question

I've had problems with my app and eclipse so I saved my code, deleting eclipse, and re-downloaded and extracted. Immediately after I added the XML file to res/menu, I got a windows message saying aapt.exe has stopped working; I'd been getting this message constantly before. I've researched it before so I know that if an XML file isn't written correctly, aapt.exe will keep crashing. Only thing is, I don't see the problem with the file.

createlgmenu.xml (used as a popup menu for a button event):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item
        android:id="@+id/Create_List"
        android:title="@string/Create_List"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/Create_Food_Group"
        android:title="@string/Create_Food_Group"/>

</menu>

|

Other files:

I have practically no code in my mainactivity.java:

package com.example.groceryrunner;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.PopupMenu;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    @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.main, menu);
        return true;
    }


    public void onCreateLGClick(View v) {
        final int id = v.getId();
        switch (id) {
        case R.id.CreateLG:
            //findViewById(R.id.GetStarted).setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
            createLGPopup(v);
            break;
        /*case R.id.ListsButton:
            findViewById(R.id.GetStarted).setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
            createLGMenu(v);
            break;*/
        }
    }

    public void createLGPopup(View v) {
        PopupMenu LGMenu = new PopupMenu(this, v);
        LGMenu.getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.createlgmenu, LGMenu.getMenu());
        LGMenu.setOnMenuItemClickListener(new PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener() {

            @Override
            public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem item) {
                String choice = new String((String) item.getTitle());
                if (choice == "Create_List") {
                    //createListDialog();
                }
                else if (choice == "Create_Group") {
                    //createListDialog();
                }
                return false;
            }
        });
        LGMenu.show();
    }

}

Only one button so far in my activity_main.xml:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/CreateLG"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_marginLeft="37dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="21dp"
        android:text="+"
        android:textSize="40sp" />

</RelativeLayout>

In case you want to see my menu.xml:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        android:showAsAction="never"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"/>

</menu>

did you change something like android:id="@id/Create_List" to android:id="@+id/Create_List", I see your menu.xml is correct, try cleaning your project. — Jorgesys, Jan 24 '14 at 22:58
Nope, it's always says @+id. Also, I cannot seem to clean my project when I have the createlg_menu.xml in my res/menu, since instead of cleaning the project, aapt.exe stops working yet again. If I remove createlg_menu.xml, the project cleans itself up. I should also say that my MainActivity.java never detects createlg_menu (originally called createlgmenu), it thinks it doesn't exist. It also doesn't say other things exist, such as CreateLG, the button id for my only button (it used to be fine..). — user2100364, Jan 25 '14 at 00:08

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 25 '14 at 20:29

If you are using the support library and a library project, then you need a custom namespace for the "showAsAction" tag for older platform versions.

So change this:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        android:showAsAction="never"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"/>

</menu>

To this:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:custom="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        custom:showAsAction="never"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"/>

</menu>

Note that "custom" can be anything you want.

user2100364 · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-25T23:09:33.520

I think I've found my solution.

I had copied the xml and changed the items originally myself. So I deleted it and created it through Eclipse (right click on the res/menu folder > New > Other > Android XML File > Menu). I no longer seem to be getting the appt.exe error. I then added the items using Eclipse instead of writing or copying them myself.

The only difference in the two files is that the old one ended each item with this:

\>

And the one created by Eclipse uses this at the end of an item declaration:

></item>

As for Eclipse not recognizing my xml files, AdamM helped me find the solution to that problem as well: 1) I deleted the R import

2) Commented out the lines that were giving me errors in recognizing my xml files

3) Restarted Eclipse & Built All

What's wrong with this XML file? (keeps crashing aapt.exe)

2 Answers2