Why do I get "must override a superclass method" with @Override?

Question

The following code generates this error message at the public void onClick line.

Multiple markers at this line
- implements android.view.View.OnClickListener.onClick
- The method onClick(View) of type new View.OnClickListener(){} must override a superclass method

I can't understand why. This code is taken from numerous examples I've seen. What can possibly be wrong?

private Button audioButton;

/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    audioButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.imageButton1);
    audioButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View button) {
            if (button.isSelected()) {
                button.setSelected(false);
            }
            else {
                button.setSelected(true);
            }
        }
    });
}

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1678122/must-override-a-superclass-method-errors-after-importing-a-project-into-eclips — , Jan 02 '12 at 05:14
If changing compiler to 1.6 don't work then refresh the project and build it. It worked for me. — Vineela Thonupunuri, Dec 03 '18 at 21:46

score 173 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 12 '21 at 22:35

173

Check the project's properties and verify that Java Compiler -> Compiler compliance level is set to 1.6 (or a later version).

It worked for me... i am using eclipse 2021.... and ..

edited Oct 12 '21 at 22:35

Shweta Gaikwad

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answered Jan 02 '12 at 05:04

Diego Torres Milano

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Thanks! That fixed it. This is so arcane. How is a newbie supposed to know this kind of thing?? – Richard Eng Jan 02 '12 at 14:14
However, now the program crashes with a forced close -- "has stopped unexpectedly". Wow, that's helpful. – Richard Eng Jan 02 '12 at 14:26
I commented out the setOnClickListener statement, but left the findViewById line alone, and it still crashes! How can the mere act of obtaining the Button object cause the program to stop unexpectedly?? – Richard Eng Jan 02 '12 at 14:30
I've narrowed it down to the fact that it just doesn't like image buttons. If I use a normal button, it's okay. This is puzzling – Richard Eng Jan 02 '12 at 14:49
I understand now: an ImageButton is not compatible with Button. *sigh*. – Richard Eng Jan 02 '12 at 15:07
And I required an Eclipse restart – Aaron Axvig Jan 05 '14 at 01:47
See my Answer (below) for an explanation of why this is necessary. – Stephen C Nov 07 '16 at 07:29
2

*"How is a newbie supposed to know this kind of thing??"* - A newbie is supposed to know how to Google ... and find this Q&A :-) But seriously, there is no practical solution to the problem of computer programming being arcane. – Stephen C Jul 19 '18 at 01:15
Because I started my journey with Java 8, I am not sure, but is this something which wasn't there during Java 6? – absin Aug 23 '18 at 05:08
This was there in Java 6. – Stephen C Aug 10 '22 at 02:36

Stephen C · Answer 2 · 2017-02-16T04:46:49.620

58

This is most likely due to a source code level incompatibility between Java 1.5 and 1.6.

In Java 5, the @Override annotation requires that the method is actually overriding a method in a superclass.
In Java 6 and later, the @Override annotation will also be satisfied if the method is implementing an abstract method in a superclass or interface.

So the most likely reason for seeing this in code that you expect to work is that you are compiling Java 6 (or later) code with a Java 5 compiler (or some other compiler with the compiler's source compliance level set to 5).

edited Feb 16 '17 at 04:46

answered Jan 02 '12 at 05:49

Stephen C

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Thank you for actually explaining *why* the compiler compliance level is important. – Dalbergia Jan 23 '12 at 15:41

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 08 '16 at 02:59

MAVEN USERS If you're using Maven for build it can override the eclipse settings during build. So if you set Eclipse to 1.7 but don't specifically set the Maven JDK build version(which at the time of this writing defaults to 1.5), then it will reset eclipse target compiler back to 1.5. Set the Maven compiler as follows.

    <build>
        ...
        <plugins>
            ....
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.5.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>1.7</source>
                    <target>1.7</target>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>            
    </build>

This helped me a lot. Thank you. – Victor Viola Jan 05 '20 at 17:58 — Victor Viola, Jan 05 '20 at 17:58

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 11 '12 at 08:51

4

If you set the compiler to 1.6 and still get this error, try to check your imports, because what Eclipse does is that it always try to do this

import android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener

instead of ->

import android.view.View.OnClickListener

That solves my problem.

edited Oct 11 '12 at 08:51

kleopatra

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answered Jul 20 '12 at 04:26

John Paul Manoza

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 03 '18 at 07:07

1

Now it's 2018! For easy reference, see screenshot below.

answered Nov 03 '18 at 07:07

Marvin Glenn Lacuna

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 29 '20 at 14:18

1

It's 2020 -

Project>Right Click>Java Compiler>Compiler Compliance Level> Change this to 1.8 [or latest level]

answered Aug 29 '20 at 14:18

Vikas Piprade

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score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 04 '19 at 11:14

Putting a View.onCLickListener() solved the problem to me. My Java Compiler --> Compiler Compliance level is already set to 1.6 but still I was having the same problem.

But changing the code

rdBtn.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                onRadioButtonClicked(v);
            }
        });

to

rdBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                onRadioButtonClicked(v);
            }
        });

solved the problem in my case.

In short, your code imported the wrong `OnClickListener` class. — Stephen C, Mar 02 '21 at 23:28

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:31

0

For me this happened because the Method I wanted to override was package private and I tried to override it from a different package.

Eclipse will additionally put a warning in that case that I didn't notice because of a ton of other warnings

answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:31

Qw3ry

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 21 '20 at 07:31

Now it's 2020! And you should change the compliance to 1.8 !

I tried changing the compliance to 1.6 but it didn't work. And I was trying randomly changing it to other levels like 11, 12 or 13 but it didn't work either.

After reading a bit I found this topic which has helped me to understand: What is “compiler compliance level” in Eclipse?

Reading that the Java compiler can compile code that will run on prior versions of the JVM. I have changed the compiler level to 1.8 and it did solve the problem. So, always aim to the highest compliance level!

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 08 '22 at 18:52

0

Change your jdk version to minimum 1.8 in library section of buildpath.
Change your your project facets java version to 1.8 apply and close

Finally your issues will be resolved.

answered Jun 08 '22 at 18:52

Somanath Behera

11
1

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Dec 07 '22 at 05:36

for someone using vscode with maven, you can add these settings to your pom.xml to let vscode use the preferred compiler version:

<project>
...
    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
    </properties>
...
</project>

Why do I get "must override a superclass method" with @Override?

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