java - PreferenceScreen class not found

Question

I have this in preferences.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <CheckBoxPreference
        android:key="displayNotification"
        android:title="Display notification"
        />

    <ListPreference
        android:entries="@array/languages"
        android:key="language"
        />
</PreferenceScreen>

PreferencesActivity.java, the class that uses this xml

public class PreferencesActivity extends PreferenceActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.xml.preferences);
    }
}

And I have it declared in the manifest like this

<activity android:name="com.tellthetime.PreferencesActivity" />

When I start the activity I get a class not found exception, which I don't understand.

05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.tellthetime/com.tellthetime.PreferencesActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #2: Error inflating class PreferenceScreen
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2496)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2512)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2200(ActivityThread.java:119)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1863)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4363)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:860)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:618)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212): Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #2: Error inflating class PreferenceScreen
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:576)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:385)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:320)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:276)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.setContentView(PhoneWindow.java:198)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.Activity.setContentView(Activity.java:1622)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at com.tellthetime.PreferencesActivity.onCreate(PreferencesActivity.java:13)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2459)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     ... 11 more
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212): Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: android.view.PreferenceScreen in loader dalvik.system.PathClassLoader@44c067e8
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at dalvik.system.PathClassLoader.findClass(PathClassLoader.java:243)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:573)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:532)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:466)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.onCreateView(LayoutInflater.java:544)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneLayoutInflater.onCreateView(PhoneLayoutInflater.java:66)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:563)
05-17 00:35:13.633: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(212):     ... 19 more

This was already asked here but no one answered. As pointed out in that thread by Heiko Rupp, android is looking for the class in the package android.view, but the class is in android.preferences, this really lost me.

Answer 1

You're getting confused, you're trying to set the preference definition as the layout definition. First set a layout for the Activity, then bind your preferences XML:

  ...
  setContentView(R.layout.layout);
  addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);
  ...