Android Studio - UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:

I have built a new project in Android Studio using the new project templates provided as part of the tool. All of the code has been generated by Studio I have not made any amendments yet.

I am attempting to run the code but the app fails with the following errors, not sure what the problem is so any help appreciated.

UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/v7/app/ActionBar$Callback;
	at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.readSortableTypes(DexMerger.java:594)
	at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.getSortedTypes(DexMerger.java:552)
	at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeClassDefs(DexMerger.java:533)
	at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeDexes(DexMerger.java:170)
	at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.merge(DexMerger.java:188)
	at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.mergeLibraryDexBuffers(Main.java:439)
	at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.runMonoDex(Main.java:287)
	at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:230)
	at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:199)
	at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:103)

 FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:dexDebug'.
> com.android.ide.common.internal.LoggedErrorException: Failed to run command:
	C:\Users\RichardKavanagh\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\build-tools\19.0.1\dx.bat --dex --output D:\Android\Projects\MyHealthRecord\app\build\libs\app-debug.dex D:\Android\Projects\MyHealthRecord\app\build\classes\debug D:\Android\Projects\MyHealthRecord\app\build\dependency-cache\debug D:\Android\Projects\MyHealthRecord\app\build\pre-dexed\debug\android-support-v7-appcompat-5a78dab7e2789bbe64f4bc80d106ca75c04dcf6f.jar D:\Android\Projects\MyHealthRecord\app\build\pre-dexed\debug\classes-f9b947272e9f33ba50355b52d82755584f9c0c58.jar D:\Android\Projects\MyHealthRecord\app\build\pre-dexed\debug\support-v4-19.0.0-31a2c13df80d37d62ca50fec3bde6da0ca706223.jar
Error Code:
	2
Output:
	
	UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
	com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/v7/app/ActionBar$Callback;
		at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.readSortableTypes(DexMerger.java:594)
		at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.getSortedTypes(DexMerger.java:552)
		at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeClassDefs(DexMerger.java:533)
		at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeDexes(DexMerger.java:170)
		at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.merge(DexMerger.java:188)
		at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.mergeLibraryDexBuffers(Main.java:439)
		at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.runMonoDex(Main.java:287)
		at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:230)
		at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:199)
		at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:103)
	


* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.

BUILD FAILED

Total time: 12.948 secs

Like everyone else said here, the support library (com.android.support) is being included more than once in your project. Try adding this in your build.gradle at the root level and it should exclude the support library from being exported via other project dependencies.

configurations {
    all*.exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-v4'
}

If you have more then one support libs included in the dependencies like this, you may want to remove one of them:

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:19.1.+'
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
}

This gets conflicted if you have the support jar in your libs folder. If you have the support jar in your project libs folder and you have the module dependency added to compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:13.0.+' the UNEXPECTED_TOPLEVEL_DEPENDANCY exception will be thrown.

Because you may include two same libs in your project. check your build.gradle file.

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:+'
    compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar') 
 }

if your file includes compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:+' and compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar'), it will have this problems. delete this sentence: compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar')

That's how I fix this problem.

The error occurs when you have the same library/directory included more than once in your build.gradle's dependencies. Ok, let’s say you have an App structure that looks like this:

So you have the main “app” and then you have a bunch of sub-apps/modules/libraries. The libraries are: 1) gene_test_library, 2) genes_nine_old_androids_library, & 3) swipe_list_view_library.

My name is Gene, so that’s why there are all these “gene” libraries.

Inside the build.gradle for “app”, I have:

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.0'

    compile project(':libraries:gene_test_library')
    //compile project(':libraries:genes_nine_old_androids_library')
    compile project(':libraries:swipe_list_view_library')
}

Inside the build.gradle for gene_test_library, I have nothing:

dependencies {
}

Inside build.gradle for gene_nine_old_androids_library, I have:

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.0'
}

Inside build.gradle for swipe_list_view_library, I have:

dependencies {
    compile 'com.nineoldandroids:library:2.4.0+'
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.0'
}

This line of code “compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])” just means “hey, look inside the ‘libs’ folder inside this module for any jar files. I do not have anything in the libs folder of any of the modules so you can ignore that line of code.

So let’s say I uncomment out //compile project(':libraries:genes_nine_old_androids_library') In the build.gradle for the “app” module. Then I would get the “UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:” error. Why is that?

Well, writing //compile project(':libraries:genes_nine_old_androids_library') inside the build.gradle for “app”, is the same as taking the build dependencies of “genes_nine_old_androids_library” module and putting it there. So uncommenting the //compile project(':libraries:genes_nine_old_androids_library') statement, the build.gradle for “app” module becomes:

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.0'

    compile project(':libraries:gene_test_library')
    ***compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])***
    ***compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.0'***
    compile project(':libraries:swipe_list_view_library')
}

Notice how now “compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.0'” shows up 2x. That’s where the error is coming from.

I found 2 reason for this issue:

1. Sometimes its because of multiple included libraries. For example you add

   compile 'com.nineoldandroids:library:2.4.0'

in your gradle and add another library that it also use "nineoldandroids" in it's gradle!

1. As Android Developer Official website said:

> If you have built an Android app and received this error, then congratulations, you have a lot of code!

So, why?

> The Dalvik Executable specification limits the total number of methods that can be referenced within a single DEX file to 65,536, including Android framework methods, library methods, and methods in your own code. Getting past this limit requires that you configure your app build process to generate more than one DEX file, known as a multidex configuration.

Then what should you do?

• Avoiding the 65K Limit - How?

1. Review your app's direct and transitive dependencies - Ensure any large library dependency you include in your app is used in a manner that outweighs the amount of code being added to the application. A common anti-pattern is to include a very large library because a few utility methods were useful. Reducing your app code dependencies can often help you avoid the dex reference limit.
2. Remove unused code with ProGuard - Configure the ProGuard settings for your app to run ProGuard and ensure you have shrinking enabled for release builds. Enabling shrinking ensures you are not shipping unused code with your APKs.

• Configuring Your App for Multidex with Gradle - How? 1.Change your Gradle build configuration to enable multidex.

put

multiDexEnabled true

in the defaultConfig, buildType, or productFlavor sections of your Gradle build file.

2.In your manifest add the MultiDexApplication class from the multidex support library to the application element.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.android.multidex.myapplication">
<application
    ...
    android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication">
    ...
</application>
</manifest>

Note: If your app uses extends the Application class, you can override the attachBaseContext() method and call MultiDex.install(this) to enable multidex. For more information, see the MultiDexApplication reference documentation.

---

Also this code may help you:

dexOptions {
    javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
}

Put in your gradle(android{ ... } ).

Hi all I had the same issue that was being caused by a duplicate support version 4 file that I had included while trying to get parse integrated. Deleted the extra inclusion from the libs directory and it works fine now!

This happens when a library is getting compiled twice (i.e it is added two time). It can be support library or any other, it doesn't matter.
The common case is that you have added a compile statement of a library which is already in your libs/ directory. All the *.jar files are compiled automatically. Thus, adding a compile statement is causing the error. Removing that statement might fix this issue. If this is not applicable then we already have some awesome answers.

This might be the dumbest answer, but this worked for me :

• I removed and added all the libraries on my project manually.(One after the other) And voila, it worked.
• Build -> Rebuild project

Note: No library of mine was compiled twice.

Make sure you have downloaded Support Repository to use support library dependency in build.gradle.

If these all are there already installed sync your project with gradle once using the button available.

In my case TOP LEVEL EXCEPTION was throw because of a special char in project path. Just closed the project, changed "á" to "a" and reopened the project. Works!

Suddenly, without any major change in my project, I too got this error.

All the above did not work for me, since I needed both the support libs V4 and V7.

At the end, because 2 hours ago the project compiled with no problems, I simply told Android Studio to REBUILD the project, and the error was gone.

I had similar problem when I tried to build a signed apk for my app.

Strange, it happened only when I wanted to build a release apk, while on debug apk everything worked OK.

Finally, looking on this thread, I checked for support library duplications in build.gradle and removed any duplications but this wasn't enough..

I had to do clean project and only then finally I've got it to work.

I know that the problem was answered, but this could happen again and my solution was a little different from the ones that I found. In my case the solution wasn't related to include two different libraries in my project. See code below:

compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
}

This code was giving that error "Unexpected Top-Level Exception". I fix the code making the following changes:

compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
}

I solved my problem with adding these in build gradle:

   defaultConfig {
   multiDexEnabled true


 dependencies {
 compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'

another solution can be removing unnecessary libraries