Xamarin linking SDK and UserAssemblies: Error inflating class android.support.v7.widget.FitWindowsFrameLayout

Question

My app is working without linking. It works fine also when I choose Sdk Assemblies only. It works fine in debug mode as well but it start failing if I choose linking SDk and Use

Answer 1

Try to exclude Android.Support v7 and v4 from the linker.

In XamarinStudio: Project Options -> Android Build -> Linker -> Ignore assemblies

add Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.AppCompat;Xamarin.Android.Support.v4

Answer 2

Try change ProGuard configuration.

I found great article with ProGuard configuration which fixes the missing "android.support.v7.widget.FitWindowsFrameLayout" problem ("Solution 2: ProGuard" in the article):

http://shaneneuville.com/firebase/proguard/2017/06/17/firebase-proguard-fun.html

ProGuard configuration from article:

-keep class com.google.android.gms.** { *; }
-dontwarn com.google.android.gms.**
-keep class com.microsoft.windowsazure.messaging.** { *; }
-dontwarn com.microsoft.windowsazure.messaging.**
-keep class com.google.firebase.** { *; }
-dontwarn com.google.firebase.**
-keep class android.support.v7.widget.** { *; }
-dontwarn android.support.v7.widget.**
-keep class android.support.v4.widget.Space { *; }
-dontwarn android.support.v4.widget.Space

You should clean solution after any ProGuard configuration changes.

Answer 3

Actually you should be fine specifying in a custom proguard.cfg file:

-keep class android.support.v7.widget.FitWindowsLinearLayout { *; }

Create file, add above line, add it to your project and specify Build Action: ProguardConfiguration

Clean (important)/Build/Deploy and it should work. ​​​​​​ ​​

Answer 4

It's stripped by the linker so you can "trick it " and simulate a false usage like this :

static bool falseflag = false;
static LinkerPleaseInclude()
{
    if (falseflag)
    {
        var ignore = new FitWindowsFrameLayout(Application.Context);
    }
}

This is available in the Xamarin documentation too : https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/advanced_topics/linking/