Apps Newbie question "Cannot resolve symbol setText"

[Aap Beer]

Dear,

I'm new to Android/Java, trying to replicate the exercise from https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html in Android Studio 2.3

After the last step "Start Another Activity" I get the error message "Cannot resolve symbol setText" in statement textView.setText(message);

Why?

Sorry for stupid question

Code as follows:

package acme.hello_world;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class DisplayMessageActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    [USER=1021285]@override[/USER]
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_display_message);
    }

    // Get the Intent that started this activity and extract the string
    Intent intent = getIntent();
    String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);

    // Capture the layout's TextView and set the string as its text
    TextView textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textView);
    textView.setText(message);

}

 

[Deleted User]

You have a block of code which is outside the method. It's a question of where you place the brackets "{ }". So your code should read

public class DisplayMessageActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_display_message);

        // Get the Intent that started this activity and extract the string
        Intent intent = getIntent();
        String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);

        // Capture the layout's TextView and set the string as its text
        TextView textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textView);
        textView.setText(message);
   }
}

 

[Aap Beer]

Yes, it's working now and I do understand. Thank you so much.

So the example code in the tutorial is incorrect :-(

https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/starting-activity.html

 

[Deleted User]

It's not incorrect. You just typed it wrong

 

[Aap Beer]

It's not incorrect. You just typed it wrong

I used select, copy and paste
Cf. aforementioned webpage:

Add a method in MainActivity.java that's called by the button as follows:

In the file app > java > com.example.myfirstapp > MainActivity.java, add the sendMessage() method stub as shown below:
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }

    /** Called when the user taps the Send button */
    public void sendMessage(View view) {
        // Do something in response to button
    }
}

 

[Aap Beer]

Quoted the wrong block of code, sorry

 

[Deleted User]

Ok, as you're persisting with this, let me explain in detail what's wrong with the code you posted. And I can really assure you that the example code posted on Google's official Android developer website is not wrong. If that were the case, then the mistake would have been spotted long ago.

Anyway, here's the code you posted:

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_display_message);
    }

    // Get the Intent that started this activity and extract the string
    Intent intent = getIntent();
    String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);

    // Capture the layout's TextView and set the string as its text
    TextView textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textView);
    textView.setText(message);

And here's the code I just pasted from the website:

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_display_message);
  
    // Get the Intent that started this activity and extract the string
    Intent intent = getIntent();
    String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);

    // Capture the layout's TextView and set the string as its text
    TextView textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView);
    textView.setText(message);
}

Can you see the crucial difference in the placement of the closing "}"?
This makes all the difference, because the code in your case is just hanging in the middle of nowhere. Any code you write, which isn't a variable declaration, must be within the confines of a method body.

 

[Aap Beer]

Yes, I can see clearly now.
Newbie question for sure ;-)
Sorry again :-*>

 

[Deleted User]

Yes, I can see clearly now.
Newbie question for sure ;-)
Sorry again :-*>

It's ok, can be tricky if you're not used to the syntax. Things like this get easier to spot as you write more code. And as you can see, the compiler was not much help here was it? I mean it could have told you something a bit less cryptic.

 

[Aap Beer]

Programming is all about making the compiler happy