Can't start Android Studio Layout Inspector: “

Question

Can't seem to launch Layout Inspector on Android Studio 3.0 (Canary 3)

When connected to my device and app running, choosing Tools > Android > Layout Inspector comes up with the following error dialog:

"Error obtaining view hierarchy: Unexpected error: empty view hierarchy"

Any setup I'm missing? I have Developer Options enabled on the device.

Answer 1

I changed my device from a Nexus 6 to a Pixel XL. Then it worked.

So try and change your device and see if that fixes the issue.

Answer 2

This could be related to your Android version. For example, in my case, this error occurs on Genymotion on Android 4. After moving to Android 5 this error gone.

Answer 3

In my case, I had two devices connected to add, one device and an emulator. And I had to make sure only one device is connected. Then it worked. I was on Android Studio 3.2 Canary.

Answer 4

Had the same problem.

Could not capture hierarchy on Emulator.

I used a real device and it worked fine.

Answer 5

Had same problem on Android Studio v2.3.3, problem was related to CountDownTimer Object, somehow it cause problem (probably because of onTick method). After commenting it, I could normally use Layout Inspector. Maybe you use something similar in your code, try to comment it out and see if if works.

Answer 6

If you have ViewTreeObserver in your code to measure a view's width/height, and you're changing some width/height/padding/etc. according to a result you are getting from addOnPreDrawListener of ViewTreeObserver;

Just comment inside onPreDraw or comment all code related to ViewTreeObserver.