Can't start Android Studio Layout Inspector: "Unexpected error: empty view hierarchy"

Question

Can't seem to launch Layout Inspector on Android Studio 3.0 (Canary 3)

When connected to my device and app running, choosing Tools > Android > Layout Inspector comes up with the following error dialog:

"Error obtaining view hierarchy: Unexpected error: empty view hierarchy"

Any setup I'm missing? I have Developer Options enabled on the device.

Almost 2019 and they still have not fixed this frigging problem. — Kedar Paranjape, Nov 27 '18 at 14:47

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered May 30 '18 at 21:52

11

In general I've this behavior when something is "moving" in the view so the layout inspector cannot retrieve a simple layout, that's why pausing a video will work but if you have something more complex like camera preview or Google Map is harder, not sure how to work around this

answered May 30 '18 at 21:52

JavierSP1209

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Thanks! For me it was Lotty animation. So I changed animation scale to 0 to stop it – Shurov Dec 11 '18 at 13:10
1

Yes, same to me. A Lottie animation caused the view to "change" all the time. – Tobias Reich Jan 17 '19 at 10:32

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 26 '17 at 11:15

If you have ViewTreeObserver in your code to measure a view's width/height, and you're changing some width/height/padding/etc. according to a result you are getting from addOnPreDrawListener of ViewTreeObserver;

Just comment inside onPreDraw or comment all code related to ViewTreeObserver.

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 07 '17 at 02:13

4

I can't launch my hierarchy viewer while playing video. Once I pause the video, it works!

answered Jul 07 '17 at 02:13

Wayne Foks

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I happened to meet that error as well on production Android Studio 3.0, in an activity after an activity having a live preview from camera. So far I haven't been able to come up with a solution to this – Antek Nov 20 '17 at 10:28

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 11 '17 at 21:33

3

This could be related to your Android version. For example, in my case, this error occurs on Genymotion on Android 4. After moving to Android 5 this error gone.

answered Oct 11 '17 at 21:33

yuliskov

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Well said. I changed from Android 6 to 7. Problem solved!! Thanks. – Fatima Apr 23 '18 at 10:34

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 18 '18 at 13:02

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In my case, I had two devices connected to add, one device and an emulator. And I had to make sure only one device is connected. Then it worked. I was on Android Studio 3.2 Canary.

answered Jun 18 '18 at 13:02

cgr

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score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 07 '19 at 14:37

What I tried and did NOT work:

kill adb process and tried it again
clearing cache and restart
uninstalling the app, cleaning the build and building it again
disconnect the device and plug it back in

Finally I managed to solve it by turning off developer options and then turning it on + enable usb debugging.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 15 '17 at 21:01

1

Had same problem on Android Studio v2.3.3, problem was related to CountDownTimer Object, somehow it cause problem (probably because of onTick method). After commenting it, I could normally use Layout Inspector. Maybe you use something similar in your code, try to comment it out and see if if works.

answered Jun 15 '17 at 21:01

Nimdokai

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Disable all timer make it work. Thank for your suggest! – Thanh Nguyen Van Jun 19 '19 at 09:02

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 24 '19 at 04:25

0

Had the same problem.

Could not capture hierarchy on Emulator.

I used a real device and it worked fine.

answered Feb 24 '19 at 04:25

Amir

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The opposite for me, emulator worked but device didn't. – Michael Osofsky Mar 20 '19 at 22:47

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 28 '19 at 06:26

0

I changed my device from a Nexus 6 to a Pixel XL. Then it worked.

So try and change your device and see if that fixes the issue.

edited Jun 28 '19 at 06:26

geisterfurz007

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answered Jun 28 '19 at 06:22

user3531806

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Can't start Android Studio Layout Inspector: "Unexpected error: empty view hierarchy"

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