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Android: Graphical Layout not working - doesn't show anything

My situation is: I once made an android project(2.2 version) but soon needed to format my computer. After formatting, I downloaded eclipse again but when I imported my project, I wasn't able to use the 'graphical layout' menu for xml. It doesn't show me anything like the picture below.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3586/19978552.png
I cleaned the project and updated the Android SDK, however, none of these seemed to work well. What could be causing this?

Try restarting Eclipse. Usually that solves the problem for me when that happens.

Right click on your layout xml file and select Open With -> Android Layout Editor. It will force eclipse to open file in android's layout editor mode

None of above worked for me. what worked for me is:
1- Select a Google APIs Project Build Target rather than one of the Android X.X ones. This setting is in right click on project -> Properties->Android.
2- Make a change in XML and save it. Now switch back to "Graphical Layout" and it will show the layout.
For some, only 2nd step works.

This Question was asked 3 year ago, I am sure that you have get your solution, however i was also facing the same problem but got the solution in eclipse, here it is:-
1)Goto help->AboutEclipse->Installation details.
2)check the version of Android DDMS, Android development tool, Android hierarchy viewer, Android native development tool, Android trace view and tracer for openGl ES in installed software tab.
3)If they have different version than you have to update all of them.
4)Goto help->check for update in eclipse and follow the instruction.
5)Then restart eclipse.
This solve my problem.

The topic seems a little bit cold, but I wanted to add it nonetheless.
I had a similar problem with my layouts recently. When i create a project it automatically creates the layouts in the latest version of Android (eclipse shows it as version 22 of android as of today). But i can't see anything. So i just change the version to, say 18, and it shows ok. Furthermore if i want to change it back to version 22 it throws and exception, saying that a class can't be instantiated. (I am probably missing a class or a library on my system.)
Therefore if you cant see the layout it might be a good idea to switch back to earlier versions for development. cheers.

Eclipse Not Showing Graphical Layout for Android XML files

I had a HD hardware failure the otherday and have been trying to recreate my Android programming environment.
I have installed Eclipse and the Android SDK. I have updated the SDK to the latest version.
I then imported my project from my backup folder. When I look at my layout files in eclipse I cannot view the Grphical.layout as its not an option. I get the following tab options for the page (Design or Source).
However my old environmet which i have a copy of in a virtual machine gives me following tab options for the layout file (Graphical Layout or filename.xml)
Any ideas why this is occuring? I assume it must be something to do with eclipse not realising that its menat to be looking at android xml layout files.
Please help,
Iain

comic if graphical layout is not showing by opening the xml file try using OpenWith ->Layout Editor on the xml file witch u want to open from project explorer under res folder

If the above answer doesn't work and if you cannot see the option of 'Layout Editor' on right click, restart eclipse. Worked for me.

sometime graphical layout show.but nothing showing.only blank.this is happen because the manifest minimum sdk is not support to view the layout.to resolve that change the api level which display in the right corner of layout display area.

I tried the option suggested by Muni, but did not work. Then I noticed that the Android version in the Graphical Layout was higher than what I had selected for my project which was causing the issue. After setting it to appropriate version it worked fine.

I had same problem with ADT eclipse. Probably this happens when you change something with your editor like changing themes.
Need not to worry about this, here I have solution for your issue it to navigate with your xml sourc and xml Layout files as for displaying Graphical Layout use this keyboard shortcut.
Shift+Alt+F7 and for navigating with source editor of xml file use this shortcuts as Alt+F7 Thanks for such good question. hope my answer will useful for all those are stuck with this.

I was facing this problem but that didn't get corrected by restarting.
Actually, my xml file say "MyFile.xml" was present in a sub folder of layout and in the layout folder itself(root).
When i opened "MyFile.xml" from the subfolder it just showed the code.
When i opened "MyFile.xml" directly from the layout folder(not from itz sub folder), it showed both the design and code.
:p
that was my blunder!

Just follow this pattern :
Package Explorer ---> res --> Layout ---> activity_main.XML
Open activity_main.XML
May 2013

just open with regular xml editor and put them side by side. 'right click' open with xml editor, and drag it so the windows layout side by side.

My problem was that I installed everything and restarted eclipse. But I didn't go back to.
Window | Android SDK manager.
When I did that I saw that eventhough I had installed everything and the SDK worked just fine. There was another 3 packages left to install. I installed that (and some sample code). Restarted Eclipse and everything worked like a charm.

This Question was asked 3 year ago, I am sure that you have get your solution, however i was also facing the same problem but got the solution in eclipse, here it is:-
1)Goto help->AboutEclipse->Installation details.
2)check the version of Android DDMS, Android development tool, Android hierarchy viewer, Android native development tool, Android trace view and tracer for openGl ES in installed software tab.
3)If they have different version than you have to update all of them.
4)Goto help->check for update in eclipse and follow the instruction.
5)Then restart eclipse.
This solve my problem.

From the upper right corner try a different "Android version to use when rendering layouts in eclipse". (Small green android icon). This worked for me.

If you can't see "Android Layout Editor",
right click on an xml layout file and choose Open With | Android Common XML Editor then choose Graphical Layout tab.
See here

If the above solutions doesn't fix the problem , then remove the very first line that is autogenerated while creating the xml file
and select some theme like "No Title Bar" or other.
Your problem will be fixed.

I am doing only
WORKSPACE ALL CONTENT DELETE
INSTALLED adt-bundle-windows-x86-20131030 USED
ECLIPS DOUBLE CLICK
MY PROBLEM SOLVE

Blank Graphical Layout?

I don't get this. I've searched everywhere and no one's answers have solved this for me.
Why does this keep happening? I can't do anything! The XML Code is still there, but it doesn't show anything in the Graphical Editor. The Palette comes up if I change it to "4in WVGA (Nexus S)" or some other configuration, but I still can't see anything and the Theme drop down menu is unselectable. All my XML documents are like that.

Just delete any custom device screen configuration you have added . It will solve the issue :)

That just happen to me and after some attempts I found the reason.
When I first opened the project in eclipse I found some errors related with the version of Java. I changed the JDK compliance to 1.6 (Project->Properties->Java Compiler) and all errors dissapear but all graphical layouts went blank.
I uncheked "Enable project specific settings" (Project->Properties->Java Compiler) and now all the graphical layouts are working.

When everything fails, close eclipse and start it all over again, it solved my problem.

I also had that problem, it happened to me when i imported my project. after some time I came to reason just change the workspace of eclipse to folder, which contains your folder.
I changed workspace on opening eclipse, there can be some other way as well
hope this will solve it

If it has never worked for you (or something went wrong upgrading your SDK, as in my case), you may need to install an extra package. For me the issue was fixed when I installed Android Native Development Tools under NDK Plugins (SDK version 20).

I had this problem since I switched the option Show previews in the palette. I switched to show only icons, everything is ok now.

Can't preview Android XML layout - LayoutLib is too recent. Update your tool?

After upgrading the Android SDK through the AVD manager, I cannot preview XML layouts any longer in eclipse for Android 2.2 previews. Eclipse says, "LayoutLib is too recent. Update your tool!"
Using the drop-down and choosing any other platform works fine. Why is this happening for Android 2.2 previews?
I have also updated the ADT plugin for ecplise as well. Any suggestions?

This is a bug: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=17369

Updating from 10.0.1 to 12.0.0 resolved this issue for me.
In Eclipse, Help --> Check for updates
You'll likely see three items to be updated to 12.0.0+. Install, restart Eclipse, and the layout view should display without error.

More of a fix than an answer, or a fix with no explanation: r-click on the res\layout*.xml file you want to open, select Open with, then select Android Layout Editor. That should open the .xml in the graphical layout/design view you're used to.
For whatever reason, after updating from 10.0.1 to 12.0.0, my layout viewer default changed to XML Editor (one of the options under the context menu referenced above), and I have to manually open with different editor. Opening manually selecting Android Layout Editor seems to set ALE as the default for that .xml file going forward.

I had the same issue. Went in Eclipse->Help->CheckforUpdates. Selected everything there and hit next. Keep hitting next until finish. The update will start at the bottom right hand corner. Will also ask for permission. Press "OK". Will restart eclipse and problem is solved. I guess there was a bug with ADT but whatever this update fixed it.

Android XML Content Type Errors after Update

After updating (to the just released updates) a problem occurs: I get an Error message "Unsupported Content Type in Editor"
The quick error dialog say's that the layout xml is 'illformed'. Not sure that has anything to do with it (as these all worked before). If I click the link in the dialog panel and make an association - same problem occurs (even after rebooting Eclipse).
When I expand the layout xml to the full list of errors, the top two errors are:
org.eclipse.core.runtime.CoreException:
Error opening the Android XML editor.
Is the document an XML file? at
com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.editors.AndroidXmlEditor.createTextEditor(AndroidXmlEditor.java:617)
Any ideas ??? Obviously I can't open it to see what the 'illformed' issues are and, ALL these projects worked fine before the update...
UPDATED
If you experience the same/similar problem, add to the list at http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15003
The Problem follows but, here's a Workaround that worked for me: Make the association of the xml to the Android Layout Editor via Eclipse Pref's - associating them from the problem dialog doesn't appear to work. Then, restart Eclipse. This is a project per project needed change.

I had the exact same issue today. I'm assuming that you've done it already - but just in case - a restart of Eclipse made the issue go away for me.

Im posting here to other users know how to fix this issue. A simple way to get out of the problem for now: rename the XML file you want to see and the Android Builder will recognize the XML file.

i had the same problem after updating to latest SDK (honeycomb). It happened only on existing projects loaded into eclipse but not on new project. My solution was to delete the project first (do not delete the project source code) then import the project again, it works perfectly.

open that xml file in another editor and put the following line in start:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

That problem is the result of the newly installed plugin. Uninstall it!