Android Studio 3.1.3, design view is always empty

Question

I\'m new to android development and I have this problem with my Android Studio 3.1.3 demo project or any project that I create.

Even though that I can drag and drop diff

Answer 1

I have been having the same problem and found that this hack worked for me. I have changed the versions in app file located in the Gradle Scripts/ build.gradle(Module:app) to versions 27. CompileSdkVersion, minSdkVersion, targetSdkVersion and implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.0.0'. These are listed on line 4,7,8 and 23.. (it might be different for you).

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 27
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.fiv4.masterapp"
        minSdkVersion 27
        targetSdkVersion 27
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.0.0'
    implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.1.2'
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.2'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.2'
}