Concurrent Modification Exception : adding to an ArrayList

Admin 1
Viewed 95977

The problem occurs at 

Element element = it.next();

And this code which contains that line, is inside of an OnTouchEvent

for (Iterator<Element> it = mElements.iterator(); it.hasNext();){
    Element element = it.next();

    if(touchX > element.mX  && touchX < element.mX + element.mBitmap.getWidth() && touchY > element.mY   
            && touchY < element.mY + element.mBitmap.getHeight()) {  

        //irrelevant stuff..

        if(element.cFlag){
            mElements.add(new Element("crack",getResources(), (int)touchX,(int)touchY));
            element.cFlag = false;

        }           
    }
}

All of this is inside synchronized(mElements), where mElements is an ArrayList<Element>

When I touch an Element, it may activate cFlag, which will create another Element with different properties, which will fall off the screen and destroy itself in less than a second. It's my way of creating particle effects. We can call this "particle" crack, like the String parameter in the constructor.

This all works fine until I add another main Element. Now I have two Elements on the screen at the same time, and if I touch the newest Element, it works fine, and launches the particles.

However, if I touch and activate cFlag on the older Element, then it gives me the exception.

 07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026): java.util.ConcurrentModificationException
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at java.util.ArrayList$ArrayListIterator.next(ArrayList.java:573)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at com.Juggle2.Panel.onTouchEvent(Panel.java:823)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.view.View.dispatchTouchEvent(View.java:3766)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:863)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:863)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1767)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1119)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.app.Activity.dispatchTouchEvent(Activity.java:2086)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1751)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1785)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:893)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:651)
07-28 15:36:59.815: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4026):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

How can I make this work?

arraylist iteration android exception java
10 Answers

I solved creating a lock (Kotlin):

import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock

Class A {
    private val listLock = ReentrantLock()
    fun doSomething(newElement){
        listLock.lock()
        list.add(newElement)
        listLock.unlock()
    }
}
user_10956100

You could use an auto-decrement for loop, and deal with the additional elements next time.

List additionalElements = new ArrayList();
for(int i = mElements.size() - 1; i > -1 ; i--){
    //your business
    additionalElements.add(newElement);
}
mElements.add(additionalElements);
user_59241470

The accepted solution (to create a copy of the collection) usually works well.

However, if the Element contains another collection this does not make a deep copy!

Example:

class Element {
   List<Kid> kids;

   getKids() {
      return kids;
   }
}

Now when you create a copy of the List of Elements:

for (Element element : new ArrayList<Element>(elements)) { ... }

You can still get a ConcurrentModificationException if you iterate over element.getKids() and, parally, alter the kids of that element.

Looking back it's obvious, but I ended up in this thread so maybe this hint helps others, too:

class Element {
   List<Kid> kids;

   getKids() {
      // Return a copy of the child collection
      return new ArrayList<Kid>(kids);
   }
}
user_58150540
Related