I am running an avd that supports api 2.1 but always receives a weird forced quit when i start running the codes. Chapter 5's code has no such problem. I wonder if there is something special about running the code for chapter 9 and 10 for Earthquake project.

You need to look at your logcat in order to figure out what is triggering the force quit. I've only run bits and pieces of the Earthquake application so I couldn't say for sure if I've run into the same trouble that you're having.

Maybe there should be a chapter just on debugging.

I basically ran the code downloaded from this website, but apparently there are a lot of small errors in the code. I think there should be an error page on the website to help people fixing those small errors.

That's odd -- you certainly shouldn't be seeing force close on those later chapters -- could you provide a little more info on what errors you're seeing in the code? I can update the samples and add the errors to the books errata site, but I need your help to figure out what the errors are first :)

Could you include the contents of your logcat output after the force quit?

__________________
Reto Meier

Author, "Professional Android 4 Application Development", Wrox, ©2012, 2010, 2008
@retomeier

Sure, I am willing to cooperate as much as possible since I am curious about why as well...

The code is from Professional Android 2 Code Example Projects.zip
Project Name: Chapter 9 Earthquake 4
My avd is running Google api level 7 platform 2.1

Error message on the screen of android simulator: Sorry! The application Earthquake (process com.paad.earthquake) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.
Force close


Logcat errors:

04-04 09:32:31.469: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(293): ERROR: thread attach failed

04-04 09:32:34.900: ERROR/gralloc(52): [unregister] handle 0x368728 still locked (state=40000001)

04-04 09:32:35.130: ERROR/Database(300): Failure 1 (near ",": syntax error) on 0x139460 when preparing 'create table earthquakes (_id integer primary key autoincrement, date INTEGER, details TEXT, latitude FLOAT, longitude FLOAT, magnitude FLOAT), link TEXT);'.

04-04 09:32:34.900: ERROR/gralloc(52): [unregister] handle 0x368728 still locked (state=40000001)
04-04 09:32:35.130: ERROR/Database(300): Failure 1 (near ",": syntax error) on 0x139460 when preparing 'create table earthquakes (_id integer primary key autoincrement, date INTEGER, details TEXT, latitude FLOAT, longitude FLOAT, magnitude FLOAT), link TEXT);'.


Full logcat logs:

04-04 09:31:24.139: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(261): >>>>>>>>>>>>>> AndroidRuntime START <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
04-04 09:31:24.149: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(261): CheckJNI is ON
04-04 09:31:24.350: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(261): --- registering native functions ---
04-04 09:31:24.670: DEBUG/ddm-heap(261): Got feature list request
04-04 09:31:25.109: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(261): Shutting down VM
04-04 09:31:25.119: DEBUG/dalvikvm(261): DestroyJavaVM waiting for non-daemon threads to exit
04-04 09:31:25.119: DEBUG/dalvikvm(261): DestroyJavaVM shutting VM down
04-04 09:31:25.119: DEBUG/dalvikvm(261): HeapWorker thread shutting down
04-04 09:31:25.119: DEBUG/dalvikvm(261): HeapWorker thread has shut down
04-04 09:31:25.119: DEBUG/jdwp(261): JDWP shutting down net...
04-04 09:31:25.119: INFO/dalvikvm(261): Debugger has detached; object registry had 1 entries
04-04 09:31:25.139: DEBUG/dalvikvm(261): VM cleaning up
04-04 09:31:25.149: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(261): ERROR: thread attach failed
04-04 09:31:25.169: DEBUG/dalvikvm(261): LinearAlloc 0x0 used 628628 of 5242880 (11%)
04-04 09:31:25.630: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(269): >>>>>>>>>>>>>> AndroidRuntime START <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
04-04 09:31:25.630: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(269): CheckJNI is ON
04-04 09:31:25.850: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(269): --- registering native functions ---
04-04 09:31:26.179: DEBUG/ddm-heap(269): Got feature list request
04-04 09:31:26.630: DEBUG/ActivityManager(52): Uninstalling process com.paad.earthquake
04-04 09:31:26.630: DEBUG/ActivityManager(52): Force removing process ProcessRecord{43dd1f88 252:com.paad.earthquake/10027} (com.paad.earthquake/10027)
04-04 09:31:26.630: INFO/Process(52): Sending signal. PID: 252 SIG: 9
04-04 09:31:26.710: INFO/UsageStats(52): Unexpected resume of com.android.launcher while already resumed in com.paad.earthquake
04-04 09:31:26.750: INFO/ActivityManager(52): Starting activity: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.paad.earthquake/.Earthquake }
04-04 09:31:26.760: DEBUG/ActivityManager(52): Received spurious death notification for thread android.os.BinderProxy@43dd4a58
04-04 09:31:26.770: DEBUG/AndroidRuntime(269): Shutting down VM
04-04 09:31:26.770: DEBUG/dalvikvm(269): DestroyJavaVM waiting for non-daemon threads to exit
04-04 09:31:26.780: DEBUG/dalvikvm(269): DestroyJavaVM shutting VM down
04-04 09:31:26.780: DEBUG/dalvikvm(269): HeapWorker thread shutting down
04-04 09:31:26.780: DEBUG/dalvikvm(269): HeapWorker thread has shut down
04-04 09:31:26.780: DEBUG/jdwp(269): JDWP shutting down net...
04-04 09:31:26.790: INFO/dalvikvm(269): Debugger has detached; object registry had 1 entries
04-04 09:31:26.790: DEBUG/dalvikvm(269): VM cleaning up
04-04 09:31:26.850: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(269): ERROR: thread attach failed
04-04 09:31:26.880: DEBUG/dalvikvm(269): LinearAlloc 0x0 used 638596 of 5242880 (12%)
04-04 09:31:27.020: WARN/InputManagerService(52): Window already focused, ignoring focus gain of: com.android.internal.view.IInputMethodClient$Stub$ Proxy@43de6898
04-04 09:31:27.040: INFO/ActivityManager(52): Start proc com.paad.earthquake for activity com.paad.earthquake/.Earthquake: pid=276 uid=10027 gids={3003}
04-04 09:31:27.359: DEBUG/ddm-heap(276): Got feature list request
04-04 09:31:27.520: WARN/ActivityThread(276): Application com.paad.earthquake is waiting for the debugger on port 8100...
04-04 09:31:27.550: INFO/System.out(276): Sending WAIT chunk
04-04 09:31:27.581: INFO/dalvikvm(276): Debugger is active
04-04 09:31:27.590: INFO/ARMAssembler(52): generated scanline__00000077:03010104_00000004_00000000 [ 22 ipp] (41 ins) at [0x37ab70:0x37ac14] in 1176000 ns
04-04 09:31:27.760: INFO/System.out(276): Debugger has connected
04-04 09:31:27.760: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:27.960: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:28.159: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:28.360: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:28.570: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:28.770: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:28.976: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:29.177: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:29.379: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:29.583: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:29.787: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:29.990: INFO/System.out(276): waiting for debugger to settle...
04-04 09:31:30.199: INFO/System.out(276): debugger has settled (1434)
04-04 09:31:30.350: INFO/ActivityThread(276): Publishing provider com.paad.provider.earthquake: com.paad.earthquake.EarthquakeProvider
04-04 09:31:30.590: ERROR/Database(276): Failure 1 (near ",": syntax error) on 0x128dd0 when preparing 'create table earthquakes (_id integer primary key autoincrement, date INTEGER, details TEXT, latitude FLOAT, longitude FLOAT, magnitude FLOAT), link TEXT);'.
04-04 09:31:36.768: WARN/ActivityManager(52): Launch timeout has expired, giving up wake lock!
04-04 09:31:37.473: WARN/ActivityManager(52): Activity idle timeout for HistoryRecord{43de2fb8 com.paad.earthquake/.Earthquake}

Thanks!

There's a typo that somehow managed to sneak through in both the code and the examples.

Line 191 of the EarthquakeProvider class (introduced on Page 232) has a superfluous ")". It should read:

NOT

I'll update the downloadable code samples ASAP and add this to the book's errata page. Thanks for letting me know!

__________________
Reto Meier

Author, "Professional Android 4 Application Development", Wrox, ©2012, 2010, 2008
@retomeier

Yea, it seems to work.

By the way, some of the projects like the ones for Chapter 7 and Chapter 9, have multiple versions, like Chapter 9 has 1 2 3 4 for Earthquake, do you know what's the difference between them?

I am getting the same errors with the Bluetooth texting example in Chapter 13, i.e., the project Force Quits when it is run on my device as well as on the emulator (I am aware that the emulator cannot do bluetooth, but I was just trying it there to see if it would compile).

How can I access this "Logcat" information in order to post it here? I searched the eclipse help for "logcat" and came up with nothing.

Please help. Thanks.

I found the logcat information pane finally under window->show view->logcat. Why that is not in the help is beyond me.

At any rate, here is the log I am getting when I try to run it on my device. My device, BTW, is a Nexus One with Android 2.1 update1 running on it.

04-09 10:48:35.213: WARN/WindowManager(52): Key dispatching timed out sending to <null>
04-09 10:48:35.213: WARN/WindowManager(52): Dispatch state: null
04-09 10:48:35.213: INFO/WindowManager(52): focus null mToken is null at event dispatch!
04-09 10:48:35.213: WARN/WindowManager(52): Current state: {{KeyEvent{action=0 code=82 repeat=0 meta=0 scancode=229 mFlags=8} to null @ 1270824515216 lw=null lb=null fin=true gfw=true ed=true tts=0 wf=false fp=false mcf=null}}
04-09 10:48:35.213: WARN/WindowManager(52): Continuing to wait for key to be dispatched
04-09 10:48:40.222: WARN/WindowManager(52): Key dispatching timed out sending to <null>
04-09 10:48:40.222: WARN/WindowManager(52): Dispatch state: null
04-09 10:48:40.222: INFO/WindowManager(52): focus null mToken is null at event dispatch!
04-09 10:48:40.222: WARN/WindowManager(52): Current state: {{KeyEvent{action=0 code=82 repeat=0 meta=0 scancode=229 mFlags=8} to null @ 1270824520225 lw=null lb=null fin=true gfw=true ed=true tts=0 wf=false fp=false mcf=null}}
04-09 10:48:40.222: WARN/WindowManager(52): Continuing to wait for key to be dispatched

there could be an error in the way EarthquakeService.java reads the preferences (lines 191 - 205).

IMHO, reading of preferences should be similar to lines 210 - 212 of Earthquake.java, because the values are stored in Preferences as the "real values", not index values.