"System services not available to Activities before onCreate()" Error message?

Question

When the user hits an icon in my app, I want the app first to check if the device is connected to the internet and then do something depending on the result it receives (for know it's just popping up a dialog, informing whether the device is connected or not). So I wrote this code:

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

// SOME CONSTANTS WILL BE DEFINED HERE

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    findViewById(R.id.icoMyIcon).setOnClickListener(listener);
}


private OnClickListener listener = new OnClickListener() {

    public void onClick(View v) {
        if (isNetworkConnected()) {
            builder.setMessage("Internet connected!").setCancelable(false)
            .setPositiveButton("OK", null);
            builder.create().show();
        } else {
            builder.setMessage("Internet isn\'t connected!")
            .setCancelable(false)
            .setPositiveButton("OK", null);
            builder.create().show();
        }

    }
};


// Check if the device is connected to the Internet
private boolean isNetworkConnected() {
    ConnectivityManager cm = (ConnectivityManager) getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
    NetworkInfo ni = cm.getActiveNetworkInfo();
    if (ni == null) {
        // There are no active networks.
        return false;
    } else
        return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu);
    return true;
}

}

When I'm trying to run this App on the emulator it keeps crushing and I'm getting this Error messages in LogCat:

07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to 
    instantiate activity ComponentInfo{com.my.app/com.my.app.MainActivity}: 
    java.lang.IllegalStateException: System services not available to Activities before onCreate()
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2585)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2679)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2300(ActivityThread.java:125)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2033)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894): Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: System services not available to Activities before onCreate()
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.Activity.getSystemService(Activity.java:3526)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at com.android.internal.app.AlertController$AlertParams.<init>(AlertController.java:743)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.AlertDialog$Builder.<init>(AlertDialog.java:273)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at com.my.app.MainActivity.<init>(MainActivity.java:24)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at java.lang.Class.newInstanceImpl(Native Method)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:1429)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.Instrumentation.newActivity(Instrumentation.java:1021)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2577)
07-24 22:59:45.034: E/AndroidRuntime(894):  ... 11 more

Why is it happening and how do I fix it? I'm a novice at this, so... please be gentle! :)

Answer 1

I think it's because your instantiating an onClick listener before on create is called. Try instantiating the onClick listener inside the onCreate() method.

This may or may not be the case with the AlertDialog too, but I'm not entirely sure.

Technically I believe it is the following line that causes the problem:

ConnectivityManager cm = (ConnectivityManager) getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);

However, because this is being called within the isNetworkConnected() method which in turn is called within your onClick method, moving the instantiation of the onClick fixes the problem.

The clue is in the exception System services not available to Activities before onCreate()