Android string and layout editors in Eclipse-ADT frequently crash

Question

I recently started programming for Android using the Eclipse ADT. What I am frequently observing is, that when I open some Android .xml file (e.g. res/strings.xml or some res/layout/<...>.xml file) that there are NullPointerExceptions.

One can then still edit the file in source mode, but the convenient Resources-tab or the Layout-tab, resp., remain empty. That's especially happening when opening .xml files created by others. E.g. I downloaded and imported the eclipse project found here (http://www.designerandroid.com/?cat=4) and imported the downloaded eclipse project into Eclipse (Helios).

When I open the strings.xml file or any of the layout files, none of the special views (Resources or Layout, resp.) works! Are these ADT views really so brittle or is my setup somehow false or corrupted?

Michael

Answer 1

It is a defect of ADT. See here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8173

I got the same problem when upgrading my WST to a newer version than the one ADT was using. BTW, Helios is quite new for ADT. The official Android developer site recommends that you should stick with Eclipse 3.4 or 3.5 for now.