Gson NoClassDefFoundError after ADT and SDK Tools update to v17

Question

Today I updated my ADT and SDK Tools to v17 and my projects using Google's gson jar library started to throw NoClassDefFoundError. Here's the logcat output:

> 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
> 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):
> java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com.google.gson.Gson 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> com.matriksdata.conn.XRequestHandler.connect(XRequestHandler.java:35)
> 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> com.matriksdata.conn.XRequestHandler.makeRequest(XRequestHandler.java:
> 29) 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> com.matriksdata.bavul.XBaseWithConnectionActivity.makeRequest(XBaseWithConnectionActivity.java:
> 46) 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> com.matriksdata.ui.login.SplashScreenActivity.onCreate(SplashScreenActivity.java:
> 36) 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:4465) 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:
> 1049) 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:
> 1919) 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:
> 1980) 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:122) 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1146)
> 03-22 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137) 03-22 12:30:58.941:
> E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4340) 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511) 03-22 12:30:58.941:
> E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit
> $MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:784) 03-22 12:30:58.941:
> E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:551) 03-22
> 12:30:58.941: E/AndroidRuntime(21672):    at
> dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

any ideas?

Answer 1

I faced a similar problem today.

This fixed it for me:

• Remove all Android Library projects and external jars from the build path.
• Create a folder named 'libs' in your project.
• Place all external .jars in that folder, the ADT should now place them under 'Android Dependencies'.
• Re-import all your previous Android Library projects the normal way.

The issue is that external jars are not placed in the 'libs' folder by default when using Properties - Java Build Path- Add External Jar, instead they are placed under 'Referenced Libraries' instead of 'Android Dependencies' and this causes the NoClassDefFoundError.

Please, check Dealing with dependencies in Android projects for more details.