'The specified child already has a parent. You must call removeView() on the child's parent first (Android)

I have to switch between two layouts frequently. The error is happening in the layout posted below.

When my layout is called the first time, there doesn't occur any error and everything's fine. When I then call a different layout (a blank one) and afterwards call my layout a second time, it throws the following error:

> FATAL EXCEPTION: main
>     java.lang.IllegalStateException: The specified child already has a parent. You must call removeView() on the child's parent first.

My layout-code looks like this:

    tv = new TextView(getApplicationContext()); // are initialized somewhere else
    et = new EditText(getApplicationContext()); // in the code


private void ConsoleWindow(){
        runOnUiThread(new Runnable(){

     @Override
     public void run(){

        // MY LAYOUT:
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_console);
        // LINEAR LAYOUT
        LinearLayout layout=new LinearLayout(getApplicationContext());
        layout.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);
        setContentView(layout);

        // TEXTVIEW
        layout.addView(tv); //  <==========  ERROR IN THIS LINE DURING 2ND RUN
        // EDITTEXT
        et.setHint("Enter Command");
        layout.addView(et);
        }
    }
}

I know this question has been asked before, but it didn't help in my case.

javaandroidandroid-edittexttextviewparent-child


Solution 1:[1]

The error message says what You should do.

// TEXTVIEW
if(tv.getParent() != null) {
    ((ViewGroup)tv.getParent()).removeView(tv); // <- fix
}
layout.addView(tv); //  <==========  ERROR IN THIS LINE DURING 2ND RUN
// EDITTEXT

Solution 2:[2]

simply pass the argument

attachtoroot = false

View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.child_layout_to_merge, parent_layout, false);

Solution 3:[3]

I came here on searching the error with my recyclerview but the solution didn't work (obviously). I have written the cause and the solution for it in case of recyclerview. Hope it helps someone.

The error is caused if in the onCreateViewHolder() the following method is followed:

layoutInflater = LayoutInflater.from(context);
return new VH(layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.single_row, parent));

Instead it should be 

return new VH(layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.single_row, null));

Solution 4:[4]

I got this message while trying to commit a fragment using attach to root to true instead of false, like so:

return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_profile, container, true)

After doing:

return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_profile, container, false)

It worked.

Solution 5:[5]

You must first remove the child view from its parent.

If your project is in Kotlin, your solution will look slightly different than Java. Kotlin simplifies casting with as?, returning null if left side is null or cast fails.

(childView.parent as? ViewGroup)?.removeView(childView)
newParent.addView(childView)

Kotlin Extension Solution

If you need to do this more than once, add this extension to make your code more readable.

childView.removeSelf()

fun View?.removeSelf() {
    this ?: return
    val parentView = parent as? ViewGroup ?: return
    parentView.removeView(this)
}

It will safely do nothing if this View is null, parent view is null, or parent view is not a ViewGroup

Solution 6:[6]

frameLayout.addView(bannerAdView); <----- if you get error on this line the do like below..

if (bannerAdView.getParent() != null)

  ((ViewGroup) bannerAdView.getParent()).removeView(bannerAdView);

   frameLayout.addView(bannerAdView);     <------ now added view

Solution 7:[7]

If other solution is not working like:

View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.child_layout_to_merge, parent_layout, false);

check for what are you returning from onCreateView of fragment is it single view or viewgroup? in my case I had viewpager on root of xml of fragment and I was returning viewpager, when i added viewgroup in layout i didnt updated that i have to return viewgroup now, not viewpager(view).

Solution 8:[8]

My error was define the view like this:

view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.qr_fragment, container);

It was missing:

view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.qr_fragment, container, false);

Solution 9:[9]

In my case it happens when i want add view by parent to other view

View root = inflater.inflate(R.layout.single, null);
LinearLayout lyt = root.findViewById(R.id.lytRoot);
lytAll.addView(lyt);  // ->  crash

you must add parent view like this

View root = inflater.inflate(R.layout.single, null);
LinearLayout lyt = root.findViewById(R.id.lytRoot);
lytAll.addView(root);

Solution 10:[10]

Simplified in KOTLIN

 viewToRemove?.apply {
            if (parent != null) {
                (parent as ViewGroup).removeView(this)
            }
        }

Solution 11:[11]

In my case, I had id named as "root" for constraint layout, which was conflicting the existing parent root id.

Try to change the id.

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
            android:id="@+id/root"  //<--It should not named as root.
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Solution 12:[12]

In my case the problem was caused by the fact that I was inflating parent View with <merge> layout. In this case, addView() caused the crash.

View to_add = inflater.inflate(R.layout.child_layout_to_merge, parent_layout, true);
// parent_layout.addView(to_add); // THIS CAUSED THE CRASH

Removing addView() helped to solve the problem.

Solution 13:[13]

The code below solved it for me:

@Override
public void onDestroyView() {
    if (getView() != null) {
        ViewGroup parent = (ViewGroup) getView().getParent();
        parent.removeAllViews();
    }
    super.onDestroyView();
}

Note: The error was from my fragment class and by overriding the onDestroy method like this, I could solve it.

Solution 14:[14]

You just need to pass attachToRoot parameter false.

mBinding = FragmentCategoryBinding.inflate(inflater, container, false)

Solution 15:[15]

check if you already added the view

if (textView.getParent() == null)
    layout.addView(textView);

Solution 16:[16]

if(tv!= null){
    ((ViewGroup)tv.getParent()).removeView(tv); // <- fix
}

Solution 17:[17]

In my case I was accidentally returning a child view from within Layout.onCreateView() as shown below:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    View v= inflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_deliveries, container, false);
    RecyclerView rv  = (RecyclerView) v.findViewById(R.id.deliver_list);
    
    return rv; // <- here's the issue
}

The solution was to return the parent view (v) instead of the child view (rv).

Solution 18:[18]

I found another fix:

if (mView.getParent() == null) {
                    myDialog = new Dialog(MainActivity.this);
                    myDialog.setContentView(mView);
                    createAlgorithmDialog();
                } else {
                    createAlgorithmDialog();
                }

Here i just have an if statement check if the view had a parent and if it didn't Create the new dialog, set the contentView and show the dialog in my "createAlgorithmDialog()" method.

This also sets the positive and negative buttons (ok and cancel buttons) up with onClickListeners.

Solution 19:[19]

My problem is related to many of the other answers, but a little bit different reason for needing to make the change... I was trying to convert an Activity to a Fragment. So I moved the inflate code from onCreate to onCreateView, but I forgot to convert from setContentView to the inflate method, and the same IllegalStateException brought me to this page.

I changed this:

binding = DataBindingUtil.setContentView(requireActivity(), R.layout.my_fragment)

to this:

binding = DataBindingUtil.inflate(inflater, R.layout.my_fragment, container, false)

That solved the problem.

Solution 20:[20]

I was facing the same error, and look what I was doing. My bad, I was trying to add the same view NativeAdView to the multiple FrameLayouts, resolved by creating a separate view NativeAdView for each FrameLayout, Thanks

Solution 21:[21]

In my case, I had an adapter which worked with a recyclerView, the items that were being passed to the adapter were items with their own views.

What was required was just a LinearLayout to act as a container for every item passed, so what I was doing was to grab the item in the specified position inside onBindViewHolder then add it to the LinearLayout, which was then displayed.

Checking the basics in docs,

When an item scrolls off the screen, RecyclerView doesn't destroy its view

Therefore, with my items, when I scroll towards a direction, then change towards the opposite direction - fast, the racently displayed items have not been destroyed, meaning, the items are still associated with the LinearLayout container, then on my end, I'm trying to attach to another container, which ends up with a child having a parent already.

My solution was to check if the specified item has a parent, if it has, I assign it to a variable, then call parentVar.removeView(item), then assign the new parent.

Here's the sample code(Problematic Adapter):

override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: QuestionWidgetViewHolder, position: Int) {

    holder.linearLayoutContainer.removeAllViewsInLayout()

    val questionWidget: QuestionWidget =
        dataSource[position]

    questionWidget.setValueChangedListener(this)

    holder.linearLayoutContainer.addView(questionWidget)/*addView throws error once in a while*/
    

}


inner class QuestionWidgetViewHolder(mView: View) : 

RecyclerView.ViewHolder(mView) {
        val linearLayoutContainer: LinearLayout =
            mView.findViewById(R.id.custom_question_widget_container)

}

Content of the R.id.custom_question_widget_container:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/custom_question_widget_container"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_margin="10dp"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="10dp" />

So, the questionWidget seems to have been retaining the parent for almost 4 steps outside visibility, and when I scroll to the opposite direction fast, I would encounter it still with its parent, then I'm attempting to add it to another container.

Here's the fix - option 1:

        override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: QuestionWidgetViewHolder, position: Int) {
    
            holder.linearLayoutContainer.removeAllViewsInLayout()
    
            val questionWidget: QuestionWidget =
                dataSource[position]
    
            questionWidget.setValueChangedListener(this)
    
       val initialWidgetParent : ViewParent? = questionWidget.parent

//attempt to detach from previous parent if it actually has one
        (initialWidgetParent as? ViewGroup)?.removeView(questionWidget)

        holder.linearLayoutContainer.addView(questionWidget)
            
    
        }

Another better solution - option 2:

        override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: QuestionWidgetViewHolder, position: Int) {
    
            holder.linearLayoutContainer.removeAllViewsInLayout()
    
            val questionWidget: QuestionWidget =
                dataSource[position]
    
            questionWidget.setValueChangedListener(this)
    
        val initialWidgetParent : ViewParent? = questionWidget.parent
//if it's in a parent container already, just ignore adding it to a view, it's already visible

       if(initialWidgetParent == null) {
           holder.linearLayoutContainer.addView(questionWidget)
       }
            
    
        }

Actually, it's much of asking the child if it has a parent before adding it to a parent.

Solution 22:[22]

I tried all the things that you guys suggested, with no luck.

But, I managed to fix it by moving all my binding initializations from onCreate to onCreateView.

onCreate(){
        binding = ScreenTicketsBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
}

MOVE TO

onCreateView(...){
            binding = ScreenTicketsBinding.inflate(layoutInflater) 
}

Solution 23:[23]

If you're using ViewBinding, make sure you're referring to the right binding!

I had this issue when I was trying to inflate a custom dialog from within an activity:

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);

final AlertBinding alertBinding = AlertBinding.inflate(LayoutInflater.from(this), null, false);

builder.setView(binding.getRoot()); // <--- I was using binding (which is my Activity's binding), instead of alertBinding.

Solution 24:[24]

You can use this methode to check if a view has children or not .

public static boolean hasChildren(ViewGroup viewGroup) {
    return viewGroup.getChildCount() > 0;
 }

Solution 25:[25]

My case was different the child view already had a parent view i am adding the child view inside parent view to different parent. example code below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="@dimen/lineGap"
>
<TextView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:textColor="@color/black1"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:gravity="center"
    />

</LinearLayout>

And i was inflating this view and adding to another LinearLayout, then i removed the LinaarLayout from the above layout and its started working

below code fixed the issue: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:gravity="center"
   android:textColor="@color/black1" />

Solution 26:[26]

It happened with me when I was using Databinding for Activity and Fragments.

For fragment - in onCreateView we can inflate the layout in traditional way using inflater. and in onViewCreated method, binding object can be updated as

 binding = DataBindingUtil.getBinding<FragmentReceiverBinding>(view) as FragmentReceiverBinding

It solved my issue

Solution 27:[27]

In my case, I was doing this (wrong):

...
TextView content = new TextView(context);
for (Quote quote : favQuotes) {
  content.setText(quote.content);
...

instead of (good):

...
for (Quote quote : favQuotes) {
  TextView content = new TextView(context);
  content.setText(quote.content);
...

Solution 28:[28]

If in your XML you have layout with id "root" It`s problem, just change id name

Solution 29:[29]

This is how I do my custom dialog

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(MainActivity.this);
android.view.View views = getLayoutInflater().inflate(layout_file, null, false);

builder.setView(views);
dialog = builder.create();
dialog.show();

I changed it into this and its works for me, I hope this helps

Dialog dialog = new Dialog(MainActivity.this);
dialog.setContentView(layout_file);
dialog.show();

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