Get an Error When Try to Run HelloWorld Example on New Installation of Android Studio

[Rex Ruffley]

Howdy,

I get the following error when I try to run the example Hello World application that is included with each new project:

Execution failed for task ':app:transformDexArchiveWithExternalLibsDexMergerForDebug'. > java.lang.illegalStateException: Expected BEGIN_ARRAY but was STRING at line 1 column 1 path $

The steps I took to get this error include:
- install Android Studio
-Open a new Project
-Start the emulator

Please note that I have already tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling Android Studio, which by the way, I find runs at a snails pace.

Thank you,

Wex

[Pete Letkeman]

There are a couple of different things to unpack here.

1) You stated that Android Studio is slow.
I know that they are constantly working on making the IDE better, but that doesn't help right now.
Things you could try:

Give Android Studio more memory

Turn off extra things like tabs and extra plugins

Close other programs that you have running e,g, MP3 player, Web Browser, Anti-Virus (when developing only) etc

I would recommend that you have at least 8 GB of RAM in your development system.
Are you running a 64 bit operating system? If not I strongly suggest that you do upgrade to a 64 bit operating system.
There are some things you can do with Windows systems to speed things up like turning off some services and cleaning up the startup menu and more.

2) As for the error that you are experiencing.

I suggest that you remove temporary files. These could be all over the place depending on which operating system you are using.

After uninstalling/removing Android Studio I suggest that you check to see if you have a directory named ".AndroidStudio3.0" and if you do then remove/rename it. Then try reinstalling Android Studio.

Some operating systems like Windows may could be infested with malware/spyware and this could cause some problems.

In Android Studio in the File menu there is an option labeled "Invalidate Caches/Restart". If you invalidate the cache this may run better.

Are you able to run scandisk/checkdisk or fsck etc on your hard drive(s) to make sure that there aren't any problems with your hard drive(s)?

A few other items of note:

Are you using the most recent Stable version which as of today is 3.0.1 build date Nov 9, 2017?

I suggest that you disable all the plugins/extensions that you can to see if any of those are the cause of the problem.

When you create the sample Android application are you enabling C++ or Kotlin support?

There are many templates to choose from such as Basic Activity, Empty Activity etc. Which ones have you tried?

What SDJK versions are you building your sample app for (KitKat, Lollipop, etc)?

What form factor are you building you sample app for (Phone, Wear, TV, etc)?

What happens when you choose a project from "Import an Android code sample"? Do any of those projects work?

What version of Java installed on your system? It could be argued that the newer versions are more stable and run better then older versions.

[Pete Letkeman]

You can also try to run "Clean Project" from the build menu.
This removes files from previous builds, both valid and invalid.
After you run "Clean Project" then try building the project.