NoSuchMethodError error for getActionBar() (API-8)

Question

when i run the app it installs but then crashes, ecplise isnt telling there is anything wrong with my code. i think its a problem with my manifest...

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.secondapp"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_main" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>                
                <meta-data
                    android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                    android:value="com.example.secondapp" />
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

do u guys see any problems?

10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147): java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com.example.secondapp.MainActivity.getActionBar
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at com.example.secondapp.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:15)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1722)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1784)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:123)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:939)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3835)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:864)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:622)
10-19 10:41:25.589: E/AndroidRuntime(10147):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

this is the logcat, not sure if this will help

Solution 1

Use getSupportActionBar available with support library v7 as described here on the 6. Retrieve the Action Bar section

getSupportActionBar documentation

Solution 2

This is because the getActionBar is a method of api 11, but you can do this:

if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 11)
    getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true); //example

and in the activity class add this suppress Lint:

@SuppressLint("NewApi")

Solution 3

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com.example.secondapp.MainActivity.getActionBar

On your MainActivity class, you call getActionBar() which is not available to your application.

Your android:minSdkVersion is set to 8 (API-8), which does not provide getActionBar() (only since API-11).

You should use ActionBarSherlock for good backward compatibility, or set android:minSdkVersion but then all devices < API-11 won't be targeted.

Solution 4

I faced this same issue before. I just replace

getActionBar()

with

getSupportActionBar()

Solution 5

You are probably running on a phone that is lower than API 11, which is when the method getActionBar was introduced. If you need to run on devices lower than API level 11, then you will need to guard against executing those calls that only exist on newer API levels, or else use a compatibility library such as ActionBarSherlock or Action Bar Compatiblity. (See this thread for a discussion of the differences between these two.)

Change the android:minSdkVersion="8" to android:minSdkVersion="11" and all the newer API calls that you are making will light up as errors. This will make it easier to locate those parts of your code that need attention.

View more solutions

Comments

[Renato Lochetti]

What is the code of the line 15 in MainActivity?

[ahodder]

Aparently MainActivity doesn't have the method getActionBar(). Post you MainActivity code.

[Raghunandan]

stackoverflow.com/questions/9183461/…. This may be of help to you.

[shkschneider]

Changing android:minSdkVersion will prevent its application from running for devices < API 11

[Ted Hopp]

@shkschneider - Well, yes. If OP doesn't use a compatibility library (such as ActionBarSherlock), then the app won't run on pre-11 devices. The purpose of changing the minSdkVersion is to make it easy to find all the places where the code contains calls that need attention.

[Tarantula]

Is the Android lint failing to catch this ? If his "android:minSdkVersion" is right then the lint should throw an error right ?

[shkschneider]

@Tarantula I don't think so. Maybe a SuppressWarning or something. Anyway, that is the error I think

[Admin]

Note that even if you use a compatibility library (specifically ActionBarSherlock) you may still get this error.

[Ted Hopp]

@dpk - That's surprising. Under what circumstances will the error still show up (for calling getActionBar) when using the compatibility library?

[Admin]

@TedHopp Not exactly sure, but I was using ActionBarSherlock and getActionBar() was throwing NoSuchMethodError. I switched to getSupportActionBar() and the problem went away.

[javaxian]

As other (less voted) answers suggest, you just need to add compatility feature and use getSupportActionBar() instead.