Sporadic IllegalArgumentException: Unknown URL content://

Question

Very rarely getting:

Fatal Exception: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unknown URL content://com.example.provider/info  
    at android.content.ContentResolver.insert(ContentResolver.java:1252)

Fatal Exception: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unknown authority com.example.provider
    at android.content.ContentResolver.applyBatch(ContentResolver.java:1247)

Emphasis on rarely. Generally work fine without issue, so the authorities is set up fine, but this is showing up every once in a while for no reason. Are there reasons why the ContentResolver may not be able to find a ContentProvider (i.e. if not set up yet)?

Have you defined your ContentProvider with same authority in manifest.xml and android:exported="true"? — Michele Lacorte, Jan 31 '17 at 09:45
Yeah, the content provider authority is the same in both the androidmanifest and in usage, which is proven by content uri resolving correctly under testing. The content provider is an internal use only, so our exported is set to false. — David Liu, Jan 31 '17 at 20:03
did you test properly insert and apply_batch ? post your content provider code so we can have a look at it. — jdesesquelles, Feb 06 '17 at 09:33
@jdesequelles The contentProvider side insert/apply_batch code is a bit irrelevant, as it doesn't even reach that code. This crash happens due to the content provider not being found, so it can't send those commands to it. As noted above though, inserts and applyBatch work fine 99% of the time. This is a rare off case that I'd like to fix. — David Liu, Feb 06 '17 at 19:48
@DavidLiu what was your final decision ?) how did you fix that ? — Rob, Nov 21 '22 at 13:16

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

I've had the rare IllegalArgumentException with Unknown URIs issue when I was doing ContentResolver operations in the custom Application object.

For example, I was trying to delete items in my content provider in the application onCreate method which would very occasionally crash:

public class CustomApplication extends Application {

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        //..
        context.getContentResolver().delete(ReminderEntry.getContentURI(), null, null, null, null);
        //.. 
    }
}

Which would sometimes render the following crash:

Fatal Exception: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create application com.myapp.CustomApplication: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unknown URL content://com.myapp.db.CustomContentProvider/reminder
   at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6431)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1800(ActivityThread.java:229)
   at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1887)
   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7331)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java)
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1230)
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1120)
Caused by java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unknown URL content://com.myapp.db.CustomContentProvider/reminder
       at android.content.ContentResolver.delete(ContentResolver.java:1376)
       at com.myapp.ReminderEntryDao.delete(Unknown Source)
       at com.myapp.CustomApplication.onCreate(Unknown Source)
       at android.app.Instrumentation.callApplicationOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1037)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6428)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1800(ActivityThread.java:229)
       at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1887)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
       at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7331)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1230)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1120)

I also saw similar behaviour with a BOOT_COMPLETE receiver. I had about 70 reported crashes with this exception (mostly Infinix devices ~43%, hardly any Samsung Devices) of about 200 000 monthly active users.

I moved this into a background scheduled job and haven't seen the crash since. I was only ever able to reproduce this issue once on a Nexus device that I used but never again.

I suspect perhaps sometimes on some versions of Android on some devices the Application/BOOT_COMPLETE Receiver initializes before the ContentProvider is fully initialized and therefore when it tries to access it, it is not properly set up yet.

There are a couple of stackoverflow posts that do state exactly what is created first and how the OS should behave:

Is the Application class guaranteed to be instantiated before a defined boot receiver is called

But like I said, I've seen otherwise and moving operations out of the classes into background schedulers seems to fix the problem (perhaps it is just because it takes a bit longer to get setup). Hopefully my experience will help you.

Edit: I used the evernote job dispatcher and deferred my ContentResolver operations to the job if required. (but I would assume that deferring the content provider operation to any kind of background processing might fix it as it had a bit more time to get setup - these are just my suspicions of course).

class DeleteRemindersJob extends Job {
    @NonNull
    @Override
    protected Result onRunJob(final Params params) {
        cursor = getContext().getContentResolver().delete(ReminderEntry.getContentURI(), null, null, null, null);
        //..
        return Result.SUCCESS;
    }
}

Could you go into some more details about the background scheduled job? Also, did you happen to see this occur on more mainstream devices (i.e. Motorola/Samsung/etc.)? — David Liu, Feb 07 '17 at 00:32
@DavidLiu I have updated the answer with more information - but in summary, I didn't really see it on a Samsung device but was able to get it once on a Nexus emulator. I also used the evernote job dispatcher to process it in the background but I think moving it to any background operation will help, ie an IntentService or Service. — riggaroo, Feb 07 '17 at 05:37
I got this on some devices including samsungs. In my case, the ContentProvider is accessed in background thread, but the thread can be started very early. I read about this answer and decided to delay jobs in that thread for 1s. But it didn't work well and I am still receiving these crashes. Am I missing something? — hqzxzwb, Nov 15 '17 at 13:16

Sporadic IllegalArgumentException: Unknown URL content://

1 Answers1