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Hi, I have the same error in my app. It seems the error occurs only on some LG devices with Android 4.1

Same here: developer console reports Android 4.1 on LG Optimus L3 II (vee3e)

Same here, Android 4.1, LG Optimus L9 (u2)

Hello,
I have an LG Optimus L9 Android 4.1 and I have the same error in my app.

If I try in emulator with same version of android everything works fine!!!

The problem in on LG

See many error reports from Google Play about this issue, all are from LG devices.
Do you guy have any workarounds for this problem?
And Google, why do u ignore this issue? Many people can't use feature hidden in overflow button right now...

It seems there is a workaround here : http://developer.lge.com/community/forums/RetrieveForumContent.dev?detailContsId=FC29190703


           @Override
           public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
                             if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU){
                                 openOptionsMenu();
                                 return true;
                             }
                             return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
                  }

#6: Note that `Activity.openOptionsMenu()` might work on those affected LG devices (I haven't tried), but it generally won't work with AppCompat (it's a no-op).

A potential solution may be to catch the NPE `onKeyUp()` and then call `openOptionsMenu()` there. If going that route, no need to override `onKeyDown()` either.

@5 - it looks like this is a bug with LG's customised version of Android. There's nothing this website can do here to help if a manufacturer chooses to do something that introduces bugs on their devices only.

@8 - it looks that the bug is related to the latest appcompat library v7.
I developed an application that was working fine with older versions of the library, but after I upgraded the application source code including the revision 21 of the appcompat I started to receive lots of NPE from LG devices with hardware option button.

So the NPE was caused by the new Appcompat library, which indicates that Google did not perform any regression tests on these devices.

Why older versions of Appcompat works well with LG phones?

Note that no one from Google team has yet provided any answer, which is really unprofessional.

@9 The fact that only LG devices are affected is proof that it is a bug made by LG. The appcompat library is not device-specific, so how could this be considered Google's problem if their implementation works fine on thousands of other devices? Google should be allowed to alter the implementation of the appcompat library without having to worry about bugs that LG and other OEMs introduced in their code.

agree with #10 but Google is the only one can help developers to fix this problem. If they don't fix then many many many Android users can't use menu button anymore.

That workaround in #6 does not work for my customers. Any ideas?

I had to override both the keyDown and keyUp events.

@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if ((keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) &&
            (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT == 16) &&
            (Build.MANUFACTURER.compareTo("LGE") == 0)) {
        return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
}

@Override
public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if ((keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) &&
            (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT == 16) &&
            (Build.MANUFACTURER.compareTo("LGE") == 0)) {
        openOptionsMenu();
        return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
}

I was able to avoid the issue by using the following code in my activities:

@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
   if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU && "LGE".equalsIgnoreCase(Build.BRAND)) {
       return true;
   }
   return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
}

@Override
public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
   if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU && "LGE".equalsIgnoreCase(Build.BRAND)) {
       openOptionsMenu();
       return true;
   }
   return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
}

This bug is still not fixed in appcompat-v7 version 21.0.2.

Still on appcompat-v7 version 21.0.3

#15 and #16 - It's a bug on LG's end, not the support library's. You'll probably have to wait until LG fixes the bug themselves (or use a workaround like in #13 or #14).

This bug is a serious issue and we all know that LG won't update any Android 4.1 devices.

Android4.0.4 made of LG also I crashed.

"Build.BRAND" is not valid.
There is a terminal that does not appear as "LGE".
*It was a contract carrier in my terminal.

Measures that I'm using is the following.

@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
     if ((keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) &&
              (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= 16) &&
              (Build.MANUFACTURER.compareTo("LGE") == 0)) {
           return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
}

@Override
public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if ((keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) &&
                 (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= 16) &&
                 (Build.MANUFACTURER.compareTo("LGE") == 0)) {
           openOptionsMenu();
     return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
}

While there are apparently not the same NullPointerExceptions, we've received reports of hardware menu button functionality not working (sounds a no-op) on an LG G2 running Android 4.2.

I'm certain Google won't approve of the workaround, but this is the most reliable way we've found to keep everything in our app functional using AppCompat v21:

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    if (isMenuWorkaroundRequired()) {
      forceOverflowMenu();
    }
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  }

  @Override
  public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    return (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU && isMenuWorkaroundRequired()) || super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
  }

  @Override
  public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, @NonNull KeyEvent event) {
    if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU && isMenuWorkaroundRequired()) {
      openOptionsMenu();
      return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
  }

  public static boolean isMenuWorkaroundRequired() {
    return VERSION.SDK_INT < VERSION_CODES.KITKAT          &&
           VERSION.SDK_INT > VERSION_CODES.GINGERBREAD_MR1 &&
           ("LGE".equalsIgnoreCase(Build.MANUFACTURER) || "E6710".equalsIgnoreCase(Build.DEVICE));
  }

  /**
   * Modified from: http://stackoverflow.com/a/13098824
   */
  private void forceOverflowMenu() {
    try {
      ViewConfiguration config       = ViewConfiguration.get(this);
      Field             menuKeyField = ViewConfiguration.class.getDeclaredField("sHasPermanentMenuKey");
      if(menuKeyField != null) {
        menuKeyField.setAccessible(true);
        menuKeyField.setBoolean(config, false);
      }
    } catch (IllegalAccessException | NoSuchFieldException e) {
      Log.w(TAG, "Failed to force overflow menu.");
    }
  }

I've made an Xposed module that fixes this bug. You should be able to install it if your phone is rooted and you have the Xposed installer.

See http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.saikrishna.lgmenubuttonfix

If it's worth to mention the problem doesn't seem to occur when using Support v7 22.0.1 .. I create a git repo:

https://github.com/fcduarte/deckard-gradle

that contains a Espresso test for calling the hardware button. I tested it on appthwack.com using all their LG 4.1.2 devices and I don't see the crash anymore .. Can someone else confirm?

Also maybe it'd be nice to investigate the differences between 21 and 22 to discover how it was fixed.

@22: can you share the source code?

Thanks for reminding me.

https://github.com/saiarcot895/LGMenuButtonFix

It looks like this was fixed in a recent update of the support library (22.2, maybe?). Using the fix above will result in the menu key _not_ working (but with no crash).

The LG menu bug was fixed in v22.0 IIRC.

Do you have further information where this error was affecting?

I was using version of appcompat 21.0.3, but the error output was different:
(notice the location of the exception in the code is different):

 java.lang.NullPointerException
            at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.onKeyUpPanel(PhoneWindow.java:987)
            at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.onKeyUp(PhoneWindow.java:1686)
...