NPE while inflating layout (Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean java.lang.String.equals(java.lang.Object)' on a null object reference)

Change <view to <View, because view is not about empty view. It's for custom view defined through class attr, like below:

<view    android:layout_width="wrap_content"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"    class="com.your.package.YourCustomView" />

And you got

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean java.lang.String.equals(java.lang.Object)' on a null object reference

because of LayoutInflater tries to parse class attr:

LayoutInflater source code

//...View createViewFromTag(View parent, String name, Context context, AttributeSet attrs,        boolean ignoreThemeAttr) {    if (name.equals("view")) { // line 724        name = attrs.getAttributeValue(null, "class"); // line 725    }    // Apply a theme wrapper, if allowed and one is specified.    if (!ignoreThemeAttr) {        final TypedArray ta = context.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, ATTRS_THEME);        final int themeResId = ta.getResourceId(0, 0);        if (themeResId != 0) {            context = new ContextThemeWrapper(context, themeResId);        }        ta.recycle();    }    if (name.equals(TAG_1995)) { // line 738        // Let's party like it's 1995!        return new BlinkLayout(context, attrs);    }//...

• On line 724 it check that your tag is view and gets true
• On line 725 it tries to get class through class attr and gets null
• On line 738 it tries to check for blink tag and gets crash

Also, there is a curious thing, Android developers added Easter egg, you can try it:

<view    android:layout_width="wrap_content"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"    class="blink">    <TextView        android:layout_width="match_parent"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:gravity="center"        android:text="Some text" /></view>

After 2 days I solved this problem use View instead of view

<View    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:layout_height="1dp"    android:background="#faf4f4"></View>