Android SDK Content Loader failing with NullPointerException

Question

I've just recently started getting an error any time I interact with the Android SDK and AVD Manager in Eclipse Helios

I've tried reinstalling the Eclipse plugin and the Android SDK but to no avail.

If I go to the "Installed packages" page and click refresh (or install or remove a package) I get a popup box saying that

'Android SDK Content Loader' has encountered a problem. 
parseSdkContent failed 
java.lang.NullPointerException.

Here is the full log:

Stack Trace

java.lang.NullPointerException
   at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.sdk.Sdk.loadTarget(Unknown Source)
   at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.AdtPlugin$10.run(Unknown Source)
   at org.eclipse.core.internal.jobs.Worker.run(Worker.java:54)

Session Data

eclipse.buildId=M20100909-0800
java.version=1.6.0_20
java.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=linux, ARCH=x86, WS=gtk, NL=en_IE
Framework arguments:  -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product
Command-line arguments:  -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product

Has anyone else encountered this recently? It doesn't seem to be affecting actual Android development but its just kinda annoying.

Answer 1

The issue is in the your-avd-name.ini that is located at ...<user-profile>.android on your Windows machine (if you're Windows user). When any error occurs during the avd.ini parser, the Google ADT plugin tries to access a map that is null. The workaround is to delete the offending .ini file and recreate your avd(s).

This information was posted here: http://community.developer.motorola.com/t5/MOTODEV-Studio-for-Android/Android-SDK-Content-Loader-has-encountered-a-problem/td-p/6565