TaskStackBuilder#startActivities() NullPointerException

Question

I have a crash that keeps occurring on 4.4.2 and 4.4.3 devices (although I'm not sure this is an API issue), where in some ParsePushBroadcastReceiver the following code causes a NullPointerException somewhere deep inside the startActivities call.

Intent intent = new Intent(context, SomeActivity.class);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
TaskStackBuilder.create(context)
            .addParentStack(SomeActivity.class)
            .addNextIntent(intent)
            .startActivities();

I have tried testing to see whether the context was null, however, the Intent instantiation would've caught that. It might also be worth noting that this application is using Parse Push. The crash log for this crash:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start receiver com.example.app.android.receiver.PushReceiver: java.lang.NullPointerException
       at android.app.ActivityThread.handleReceiver(ActivityThread.java:2567)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1800(ActivityThread.java:161)
       at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1341)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
       at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:157)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5356)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Method.java)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1265)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1081)
       at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(NativeStart.java)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
       at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1471)
       at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1419)
       at android.app.ActivityManagerProxy.startActivities(ActivityManagerNative.java:4494)
       at android.app.Instrumentation.execStartActivitiesAsUser(Instrumentation.java:1496)
       at android.app.Instrumentation.execStartActivities(Instrumentation.java:1458)
       at android.app.ContextImpl.startActivities(ContextImpl.java:1465)
       at android.content.ContextWrapper.startActivities(ContextWrapper.java:350)
       at android.content.ContextWrapper.startActivities(ContextWrapper.java:350)
       at android.support.v4.content.ContextCompatJellybean.startActivities(ContextCompatJellybean.java:26)
       at android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat.startActivities(ContextCompat.java:105)
       at android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder.startActivities(TaskStackBuilder.java:325)
       at android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder.startActivities(TaskStackBuilder.java:301)
       at com.example.app.android.receiver.PushReceiver.routePush(PushReceiver.java:59)
       at com.example.app.android.receiver.PushReceiver.onPushOpen(PushReceiver.java:35)
       at com.parse.ParsePushBroadcastReceiver.onReceive(ParsePushBroadcastReceiver.java:108)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.handleReceiver(ActivityThread.java:2552)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1800(ActivityThread.java:161)
       at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1341)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
       at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:157)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5356)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Method.java)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1265)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1081)
       at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(NativeStart.java)

I'm running in to basically the same thing. Seeing it only on 4.4.2 and 4.4.4 — Daniel Jette, Apr 22 '15 at 20:48
also seen only on Samsung so far - 4.4.2 and 4.4.4. I suspect they are using a rewritten version of `ActivityManagerNative`, because the line numbers in my crashes don't match up to the AOSP code — Richard Le Mesurier, Aug 10 '16 at 14:23

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 24 '15 at 13:27

I wasn't able to solve this problem as I have a suspicion that this might be a bug specific to 4.4.* devices. As an alternative, I replaced my use of the TaskStackBuilder with creating my activities via PendingIntent.getActivities. In my case, this provided equivalent functionality and it was a straightforward replacement. Perhaps you might find it useful as well.

final Intent parentIntent = new Intent(context, ParentActivity.class);
parentIntent.putExtra(ParentActivity.EXTRA, extraValue);

final Intent childIntent = new Intent(context, ChildActivity.class);
childIntent.putExtra(ChildActivity.EXTRA, extraChildValue);
childIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

final Intent[] intents = new Intent [] {parentIntent, childIntent};
PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivities(context, INTENT_REQUEST_CODE, intents, PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);

pendingIntent.send();

Awesome workaround. Will throw it in the next update for this app as an alternative for API 19, will report back with findings. — alex, Apr 25 '15 at 23:21
Been running this in production for a bit now and haven't run into any issues with. Great stuff @daniel — alex, May 11 '15 at 03:03

TaskStackBuilder#startActivities() NullPointerException

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