What causes "enableSlidingActionBar must be called in onCreate." in jfeinstein10/SlidingMenu?

Move the setSlidingActionBarEnabled(true/false) call into onCreate (before onPostCreate)

jfeinstein10/SlidingMenu · error · IllegalStateException

enableSlidingActionBar must be called in onCreate.

Error message

enableSlidingActionBar must be called in onCreate.

What it means

setSlidingActionBarEnabled() must be called during onCreate, before SlidingActivityHelper.onPostCreate() attaches the SlidingMenu to the Activity. Once mOnPostCreateCalled is true the menu is already built, so changing the ActionBar-sliding flag throws IllegalStateException.

Solutions

Move the setSlidingActionBarEnabled(true/false) call into onCreate (before onPostCreate)
If runtime toggling is needed, recreate the activity or create a fresh SlidingMenu instance
Use a field set before onCreate completes and pass it to setSlidingActionBarEnabled in onCreate

Example fix

// before
protected void onResume() { super.onResume(); setSlidingActionBarEnabled(true); } // throws
// after
protected void onCreate(Bundle b) {
    super.onCreate(b);
    setSlidingActionBarEnabled(true);
    setBehindContentView(R.layout.menu_frame);
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// call only inside onCreate, before onPostComplete:
@Override protected void onCreate(Bundle b) { super.onCreate(b); setSlidingActionBarEnabled(true); setBehindContentView(R.layout.menu_frame); }

Try / catch

try { setSlidingActionBarEnabled(enabled); } catch (IllegalStateException e) { // too late; recreate activity to apply }

Prevention

Invoke setSlidingActionBarEnabled only in onCreate
Never toggle it from onResume/click handlers
Store the desired flag and apply it during onCreate on activity recreation

When it happens

Trigger: Calling setSlidingActionBarEnabled() in onResume, onStart, onPostCreate, or any point after onPostCreate has run; calling it after configuration change outside onCreate.

Common situations: Toggling the sliding ActionBar in response to user action at runtime; moving the call out of onCreate during a refactor; calling it in a fragment's lifecycle callback.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jfeinstein10/SlidingMenu@4254feca3e (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d88bece9a9490775. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at library/src/com/jeremyfeinstein/slidingmenu/lib/app/SlidingActivityHelper.java:97

						mSlidingMenu.showMenu(false);
					}
				} else {
					mSlidingMenu.showContent(false);					
				}
			}
		});
	}

	/**
	 * Controls whether the ActionBar slides along with the above view when the menu is opened,
	 * or if it stays in place.
	 *
	 * @param slidingActionBarEnabled True if you want the ActionBar to slide along with the SlidingMenu,
	 * false if you want the ActionBar to stay in place
	 */
	public void setSlidingActionBarEnabled(boolean slidingActionBarEnabled) {
		if (mOnPostCreateCalled)
			throw new IllegalStateException("enableSlidingActionBar must be called in onCreate.");
		mEnableSlide = slidingActionBarEnabled;
	}

	/**
	 * Finds a view that was identified by the id attribute from the XML that was processed in onCreate(Bundle).
	 * 
	 * @param id the resource id of the desired view
	 * @return The view if found or null otherwise.
	 */
	public View findViewById(int id) {
		View v;
		if (mSlidingMenu != null) {
			v = mSlidingMenu.findViewById(id);
			if (v != null)
				return v;
		}
		return null;
	}

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