Illegal char <:> at index 40: com.recognize.app-mergeDebugResources-33:/values/values.xml)

Question

I can't compile my app because of this error

com.android.aaptcompiler.ResourceCompilationException:
Resource compilation failed
(Failed to compile values resource file C:\Users\hesam\AndroidStudioProjects\RecognizeProject\app\build\intermediates\incremental\debug\mergeDebugResources\merged.dir\values\values.xml. 
Cause: java.nio.file.InvalidPathException: Illegal char <:> at index 40: com.recognize.app-mergeDebugResources-33:/values/values.xml).

and I don't know what's going on...

build.gradle (module)

plugins {
    id 'com.android.application'
    id 'com.google.gms.google-services'
    id 'com.google.firebase.crashlytics'
    id 'com.google.firebase.firebase-perf'
}

android {
    compileSdk 32

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.recognize"
        minSdk 21
        targetSdk 32
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"

        testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation platform('com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:30.0.1')
    implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-auth'
    implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database'
    implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-storage'
    implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics'
    implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-crashlytics'
    implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-perf'
    implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.4.1'
    implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.6.0'
    implementation 'androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:2.1.4'
    implementation 'io.github.yanndroid:oneui:2.4.0'
    implementation 'com.mikhaellopez:circularimageview:4.3.0'
    implementation 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:4.13.0'
    implementation 'io.github.chaosleung:pinview:1.4.4'
    annotationProcessor 'com.github.bumptech.glide:compiler:4.13.0'
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.13.2'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.ext:junit:1.1.3'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.4.0'
}

build.gradle (project)

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.
buildscript {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.10'
        classpath 'com.google.firebase:firebase-crashlytics-gradle:2.8.1'
        classpath 'com.google.firebase:perf-plugin:1.4.1'
    }
}

plugins {
    id 'com.android.application' version '7.2.0' apply false
    id 'com.android.library' version '7.2.0' apply false
}

task clean(type: Delete) {
    delete rootProject.buildDir
}

I don't know what other information I should put here. Is it possible that it's because of some library?

I recently added this library (build works before adding this lib but i was adding more stuff like strings to strings.xml, new Java classes, Layouts etc.) but I don't know if it's its fault because in Issues on GitHub nobody had this problem....

Answer 1

I just ran into this as well. From all the searching, it seems to most often occur in attrs.xml

In order to actually find where your problem is, perform the following steps.

1. Back-up your attrs.xml
2. Clear it, so it's only:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
</resources>

3. Compile. If you get a different error, you know for certain it's in attrs.
4. Add back in half your attributes. E.g. all attributes starting with A-M
5. Compile. If the error is back, you know it's in the top half. If not, it's in the bottom half.
6. If you have the error: remove half your attributes (say G-M). If you don't add extra ones (e.g. N-R).
7. Keep doing this, until you narrow it down to where adding one line causes the issue, and removing it resolves it.
8. Rename that attribute.

Some things I ran into:

• With me, it's often enums.
• Adding dependencies can cause this issue, probably if they have same-named attributes.

Answer 2

I had this when i named an attribute 'font':

<declare-styleable name="Scale">
    <attr name="name" />
    <attr name="colour" />
    <attr name="direction" format="string" />
    <attr name="font" format="string" /> // **AARGH!
    <attr name="fontSize" format="float" />
    <attr name="every" format="float" />
    <attr name="radius" format="float" />
</declare-styleable>

Renaming it to fontName fixed it:

<attr name="fontName" format="string" /> // Nice

Answer 3

My attrs.xml file was

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <attr name="state_error"  />   <======HERE WAS THE PROBLEM
    <declare-styleable name="ValueEditor">
       <attr name="nameShown" format="string"/>
       <... other definitions />
    </declare-styleable>
</resources>

the attr with name state_error was causing the problem. Must have been there from some copy-paste source code because when I removed it the problem disappeared.

The problem occurred with every implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.6.0-alpha02' bigger than that

Answer 4

I'm facing the same problem while developing a library, after several tries I found this related to the attrs. There is a property "colorScheme" in the attrs.xml file of the library project:

<declare-styleable name="GridColorPicker">
   <attr name="colorScheme" format="string" />
   <attr name="selectorColor" format="color" />
</declare-styleable>

But after search in the generated \merged.dir\values\values.xml file, it has another "colorScheme" in it:

<enum name="standard" value="0"/>
<enum name="wide" value="1"/>
<enum name="icon_only" value="2"/>
</attr>
<attr format="reference" name="colorScheme">
<enum name="dark" value="0"/>
<enum name="light" value="1"/>
<enum name="auto" value="2"/>

So I changed my "colorScheme" to a unique one the problem was solved.

I think you can contact the library's author or fork the library and try these steps yourself.