Android, Java error "Syntax error on token "start", Identifier expected after this token"

[Martin Thomas]

Hi,
I am new to android programming. I have this error "Syntax error on token "start", Identifier expected after this token". The code is shown below

 package com.apptest.testapp;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;


public class First extends Activity {

	@Override
	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.main);
	}

	Thread timer = new Thread(){
		public void run(){
			try{
				sleep(5000);
			}catch(InterruptedException e){
				e.printStackTrace();
			}finally{
				Intent openSecond = new Intent(".Second");
				startActivity(openSecond);
			}
		}
	};
	timer.start();
	
};

Anyone, Please help .

[Ulf Dittmer]

Most likely the main.xml file is malformed.

[Martin Thomas]

Ulf Dittmer wrote:Most likely the main.xml file is malformed.

Thanks for the reply, but i don't understand.
Here is my code

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".First" >
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello"
        android:textSize="40sp"/>
</LinearLayout>

[Ulf Dittmer]

Try adding an XML declaration.

[Steve Luke]

Your problem is that you call timer.start() in the class' body, and not inside a method or other code block. You can't do that. You have to figure out where/when you want the timer thread to start. The least possible change would be:

public class First extends Activity {
    //...
    {
        timer.start();
    }
}

Those brackets create an initializer block around the method call, so the call can be performed. This will cause the timer to be started when the class instance is created. You might consider moving that to one of the lifecycle methods (like onCreate()).

Your code also has a spurious semicolon after the end of the class-closing curly bracket.

[Ulf Dittmer]

D'oh! I was thinking this was a runtime problem.

[Martin Thomas]

Steve Luke wrote:Your problem is that you call timer.start() in the class' body, and not inside a method or other code block. You can't do that. You have to figure out where/when you want the timer thread to start. The least possible change would be:

public class First extends Activity {
    //...
    {
        timer.start();
    }
}

Those brackets create an initializer block around the method call, so the call can be performed. This will cause the timer to be started when the class instance is created. You might consider moving that to one of the lifecycle methods (like onCreate()).

Your code also has a spurious semicolon after the end of the class-closing curly bracket.

Thanks steve. I moved the timer to onCreate() method and it worked.