My android app stops unexpectedly

Question

my app has three buttons that each create a new intent like this:

 Button button3 = (Button) findViewById(R.id.Button03);
    button3.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View view) {
            Intent myIntent = new Intent(view.getContext(), Shout.class);
            startActivityForResult(myIntent, 0);
        }

    });

so basically my other classes in the project start when I click a button. When I want to go back to the first screen I just press the back key. this works well but after I've pressed the buttons and the back key about 5 times the app crashes. Why? I've noticed that even after I go back from the class, the sensorlistener continues to run at full speed like here:

02-07 16:51:13.034: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.094: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.154: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.214: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.274: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.334: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.394: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.444: INFO/ActivityManager(156): Starting: Intent { cmp=com.bengaard/.Shout } from pid 5354
02-07 16:51:13.504: DEBUG/sensor(5354): onSensorChanged: 2
02-07 16:51:13.564: DEBUG/dalvikvm(5354): GC_EXTERNAL_ALLOC freed 394K, 60% free 3179K/7943K, external 24861K/26873K, paused 34ms
02-07 16:51:13.574: ERROR/dalvikvm-heap(5354): 32980-byte external allocation too large for this process.
02-07 16:51:13.604: ERROR/GraphicsJNI(5354): VM won't let us allocate 32980 bytes
02-07 16:51:13.604: DEBUG/dalvikvm(5354): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed <1K, 60% free 3179K/7943K, external 24861K/26873K, paused 21ms
02-07 16:51:13.614: DEBUG/skia(5354): --- decoder->decode returned false
02-07 16:51:13.614: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(5354): Shutting down VM
02-07 16:51:13.614: WARN/dalvikvm(5354): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40169560)
02-07 16:51:13.614: DEBUG/webviewglue(5354): nativeDestroy view: 0x4dc7e0
02-07 16:51:13.614: DEBUG/webviewglue(5354): nativeDestroy view: 0x47a310
02-07 16:51:13.614: DEBUG/webviewglue(5354): nativeDestroy view: 0x4339e8
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.bengaard/com.bengaard.Shout}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #21: Error inflating class <unknown>
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1622)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1638)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:117)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:928)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3647)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354): Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #21: Error inflating class <unknown>
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:518)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneLayoutInflater.onCreateView(PhoneLayoutInflater.java:56)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:568)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:386)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:320)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:276)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.widget.Toast.makeText(Toast.java:235)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at com.bengaard.Shout.onCreate(Shout.java:57)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1586)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     ... 11 more
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354): Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.constructNative(Native Method)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:415)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:505)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     ... 20 more
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354): Caused by: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: bitmap size exceeds VM budget
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.nativeDecodeAsset(Native Method)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.decodeStream(BitmapFactory.java:450)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.graphics.BitmapFactory.decodeResourceStream(BitmapFactory.java:326)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.graphics.drawable.Drawable.createFromResourceStream(Drawable.java:697)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.content.res.Resources.loadDrawable(Resources.java:1740)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.content.res.TypedArray.getDrawable(TypedArray.java:601)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.View.<init>(View.java:1951)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.View.<init>(View.java:1899)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.view.ViewGroup.<init>(ViewGroup.java:286)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     at android.widget.LinearLayout.<init>(LinearLayout.java:120)
02-07 16:51:13.644: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(5354):     ... 23 more
02-07 16:51:13.674: WARN/ActivityManager(156):   Force finishing activity com.bengaard/.Shout
02-07 16:51:13.674: WARN/ActivityManager(156):   Force finishing activity com.bengaard/.OB
02-07 16:51:14.174: WARN/ActivityManager(156): Activity pause timeout for HistoryRecord{40a5f000 com.bengaard/.Shout}
02-07 16:51:14.224: ERROR/AK8973(135): Compass driver encountered fatal error2. 

it looks like an out-of-memory issue, but how can I close down the activities when I click the back button so I won't get this problem, or is there another answer to the problem? Why doesn't the sensorlistener stop after I click the back key? Excuse me for being so noob :o)

Answer 1

You have a bitmap in one of your views that is big enough that when the app tries to inflate the xml of this view and decode the bitmap in question it crashes with an out of memory error.

Try to see if you can optimize this drawable or try do clean it up on the ondestroy of your activity.

Answer 2

You need to unregister your sensor listener (preferably in your activity's onPause() method) or else the system will keep a reference to it and it won't be released for garbage collection. If the registered listener is the activity itself or anything else that has a direct or indirect reference to the bitmap, then the bitmap won't be released to the garbage collector, either.