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lifecycleacraandroid

Android Application class method onCreate being called multiple times

i've overloaded the Application class in my android app and i'm using the ACRA report system. My app looks like ( real source code here ) :

public class MyApplication extends Application 
{
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {        
        ACRA.init( this );

        /*
         * Initialize my singletons etc
         * ...
         * ...
         */
        super.onCreate();
    }
}

And as far as i know, the Application object should be created only once, so the onCreate method should be called only once. The problem is, that in my crash reports ( from ACRA ) i have this:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create service it.evilsocket.myapp.net.N ...
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create service it.evilsocket.myapp.net.NetworkMonitorService: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create application it.evilsocket.myapp.MyApplication: **java.lang.IllegalStateException: ACRA#init called more than once**
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleCreateService(ActivityThread.java:2283)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1600(ActivityThread.java:127)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1212)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4441)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:784)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:551)
    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create application it.evilsocket.myapp.MyApplication: java.lang.IllegalStateException: ACRA#init called more than once
    at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:495)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleCreateService(ActivityThread.java:2269)
    ... 10 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: ACRA#init called more than once
    at org.acra.ACRA.init(ACRA.java:118)
    at it.evilsocket.myapp.MyApplication.onCreate(MyApplication.java:46)
    at android.app.Instrumentation.callApplicationOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:969)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:492)
    ... 11 more
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create application it.evilsocket.myapp.MyApplication: java.lang.IllegalStateException: ACRA#init called more than once
    at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:495)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleCreateService(ActivityThread.java:2269)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1600(ActivityThread.java:127)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1212)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4441)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:784)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:551)
    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: ACRA#init called more than once
    at org.acra.ACRA.init(ACRA.java:118)
    at it.evilsocket.myapp.MyApplication.onCreate(MyApplication.java:46)
    at android.app.Instrumentation.callApplicationOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:969)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:492)
    ... 11 more
java.lang.IllegalStateException: ACRA#init called more than once
    at org.acra.ACRA.init(ACRA.java:118)
    at it.evilsocket.myapp.MyApplication.onCreate(MyApplication.java:46)
    at android.app.Instrumentation.callApplicationOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:969)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:492)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleCreateService(ActivityThread.java:2269)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1600(ActivityThread.java:127)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1212)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4441)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:784)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:551)
    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

So it seems like the app onCreate is being called multiple times, any idea on this ?

NOTES:

  • In my android xml manifest, i did NOT use the android:process="string" attribute.
  • Yes, i'm sure that in my initialization routines i'm not accidentally calling MyApplication.onCreate .
Solution

  • If you look at the stack trace, it looks like ACRA.init is calling makeApplication. I suspect that there's some sort of code to check if the application has been created already and if not, create it and that it is caused by your calling ACRA.init before super.onCreate. Generally when overriding onCreate methods (whether Application or Activity) it's recommended to call super.onCreate as the first line of your implementation and do your custom stuff afterwards. I'd give that a shot and see if it fixes things.