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Just getting started with Android Studio 3.1 (using Kotlin) from a tutorial, and there's a problem I've spent all day trying to figure out.

The tutorial shows a Transitions menu for an activity layout under the Palette section, but it's nowhere to be found on my machine.

I show the following:

My IDE view

The tutorial, which I think uses Android Studio 2.3, shows this:

Tutorial IDE view

I don't know if this has to do with the IDE versions, or some frameworks that aren't getting loaded, or something else. Everything else is working perfectly. Some direction would be appreciated.

To give a little more detail, the machine is 64-bit Linux (LinuxMint 18.3).

From the About page:

Android Studio 3.1
Build #AI-173.4670197, built on March 21, 2018

JRE: 1.8.0_152-release-1024-b01 amd64
JVM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains s.r.o Linux 4.13.0-37-generic

I just tried installing Android Studio 3.2 (Canary). Same issue there. Will try an older version next.

Tried installing 3.0.1, but when it goes to download the SDK, it just infinitely loops, printing https://dl.google.com/android/repository/sdk-tools-linux-4333796.zip.

Also tried 3.0, but gives the same infinite loop.

I installed 2.3.3, and it shows the expected items. Next I'll see if upgrading from within Android Studio carries those items forward.

Upgraded from 2.3.3 to 3.1 and it returns to the same problem. Is this an issue with locating dependencies?

  • The tutorial was probably doing MinSDK 21+ while you're stuck with MinSDK some number lower – EpicPandaForce Mar 28 '18 at 22:44
  • @EpicPandaForce: Thanks. I do have `android { defaultConfig { minSdkVersion 21 ...` in a `build.gradle` file, if that's what you meant. All this Android/Gradle stuff is new to me, so any other tips would be appreciated. –  Mar 28 '18 at 22:51
  • welp, there goes my guess -_- transitions were added in api 21, but i guess that is not the cause – EpicPandaForce Mar 28 '18 at 22:58
  • @EpicPandaForce: Thanks for the guess. Any advice on how to check if the framework is on my machine? Not quite sure yet how to navigate to the right locations. –  Mar 28 '18 at 23:04
  • Its not just Transitions that are gone. All the picker widgets have vanished. I've opened a bug report. – Mike James Mar 29 '18 at 10:00
  • @MikeJames: Thank you for filing the report. I've reinstalled multiple times, but no luck yet. Hopefully I'll get this figured out before long. –  Mar 29 '18 at 12:12
  • @Crazy Train: I wouldn't hold your breath it takes ages to get a bug report processed and then it mostly just gets a request for more information. I can't understand why there isn't more complaining some of the missing widgets are used a lot (I think). – Mike James Mar 29 '18 at 18:12
  • @MikeJames: Looking at the first screenshot on [this page of their documentation](https://developer.android.com/studio/write/layout-editor.html), it looks just like mine, so I guess this isn't a bug. I just need to figure out how they now do the transitions shown in the tutorial. –  Mar 29 '18 at 19:24

1 Answers1

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@Crazy Train: I agree it isn't a bug in the sense they intended the redesign. I don't think that it was intended that widgets would be dropped. There was no discussion during the beta and I assumed it was an oversight that would be corrected in the final version. If they plan to simple drop widgets without discussion or notification this IS a bug. There are three ways to get around the problem:

  1. go back to 3.0 - which is what I've done. It works and you don't miss anything unless you are using C/C++ and even then not a lot.
  2. Enter the XML manually into the file -it might render in the layout editor I haven't checked.
  3. Write the code to do the transitions. This is the method that most Android programmers would think is the best way to do the job (I don't agree.)
Mike James
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  • Thank you for the helpful insights. I understand what you mean about it being a bug. I did try installing version **3**, and it too had the same problem. I also tried installing **2.3.3**, which worked, but then used the automatic upgrade to **3.1**, which again had the issue. So I may be stuck coding it by hand for now. –  Mar 30 '18 at 13:58
  • I wonder if **3** works for you because you were able to update from **2.x.x** to **3** instead of **3.1**. Maybe if I reinstall **2.3.3** and then manually install **3** without first deleting all the supporting files, which is what I was doing. Anyway, thanks again for the help! –  Mar 30 '18 at 14:00
  • Simply download the 3.0 zip file and unzip it. Then use the studio32 or 64 file in the bin directory to run Android Studio. You don't have to go through the upgrade steps. As long as you unzip to different folders you can have as many installations of Android Studio as you like. The bug report is still just sitting in the queue. What I cannot understand is why there aren't more users wondering where the widgets have gone. – Mike James Mar 30 '18 at 15:59
  • That was super helpful. I was simply able to unzip the **3.0.1** and do a drop-in downgrade from **3.1**. Not sure why it didn't work with a clean install. Anyway, I've been reading through the official docs, but would like to first get through the tutorial. Now I'm back on track. Thanks again! –  Mar 30 '18 at 18:33
  • The clean install didn't work probably because it isn't a clean install - it installs to the same directory that you have Android Studio in and its only clean if you first delete everything - which is super scary at the best of times. :-) Still no word on the bug report. – Mike James Mar 31 '18 at 09:02
  • Just had time to check. If you switch to text mode in 3.1 you can start to type one of the missing widgets - I tried – Mike James Apr 01 '18 at 09:23
  • Android Studio just upgraded to 3.1.1 still no sign of missing widgets. Still no response on any of the bug reports. – Mike James Apr 10 '18 at 08:15
  • Yeah, I recently checked 3.2 Canary 9, and it's the same situation. Hope they make a decision one way or the other. –  Apr 10 '18 at 12:58
  • Still no word - the bug reports are still being ignored. If anyone has any idea how to get the message to the Android Studio team... – Mike James Jun 07 '18 at 17:35