import android.support.v7.app.appcompatactivity error

Question

I'm taking a Udemy course and trying to make an Instagram clone in Android Studio. However, the course is a bit outdated and its causing problems with the main activity. The project does not recognize AppCompatActivity and won't even import it. It's my first time implementing a parse server on a project so I'm a bit confused. I managed to code the build.gradle in a way to get the 2nd activity to work but I cannot get the main activity to work. I have looked for solutions everywhere and cannot find any. This is also my first time asking a question here so sorry if I messed anything up. Here's my code:

MainActivity

package com.parse.starter;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Switch;

import com.parse.LogInCallback;
import com.parse.Parse;
import com.parse.ParseAnalytics;
import com.parse.ParseAnonymousUtils;
import com.parse.ParseException;
import com.parse.ParseUser;
import com.parse.SaveCallback;


public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {


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

    
    ParseAnalytics.trackAppOpenedInBackground(getIntent());
  }

}

StarterApplication:

package com.parse.starter;

import android.app.Application;
import android.util.Log;

import com.parse.Parse;
import com.parse.ParseACL;
import com.parse.ParseException;
import com.parse.ParseObject;
import com.parse.ParseUser;
import com.parse.SaveCallback;


public class StarterApplication extends Application {

  @Override
  public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();

    // Enable Local Datastore.
    Parse.enableLocalDatastore(this);

    // Add your initialization code here
    Parse.initialize(new Parse.Configuration.Builder(getApplicationContext())
            .applicationId("")
            .clientKey("")
            .server("")
            .build()
    );

    ParseObject object = new ParseObject("ExampleObject");
    object.put("myNumber", "123");
    object.put("myString", "rob");

    object.saveInBackground(new SaveCallback () {
      @Override
      public void done(ParseException ex) {
        if (ex == null) {
          Log.i("Parse Result", "Successful!");
        } else {
          Log.i("Parse Result", "Failed" + ex.toString());
        }
      }
    });


    ParseUser.enableAutomaticUser();

    ParseACL defaultACL = new ParseACL();
    defaultACL.setPublicReadAccess(true);
    defaultACL.setPublicWriteAccess(true);
    ParseACL.setDefaultACL(defaultACL, true);

  }
}

build.gradle(Project):

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        jcenter()
        maven {
            url 'https://maven.google.com/'
            name 'Google'
        }
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.2.0'
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

ext {
    compileSdkVersion = 22
    buildToolsVersion = "23.0.1"

    minSdkVersion = 9
    targetSdkVersion = 23
}

build.gradle(Module):

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 23
    buildToolsVersion '22.0.1'

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.parse.starter"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }
    dexOptions {
        javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.4.0'
    compile 'com.parse.bolts:bolts-tasks:1.3.0'
    compile 'com.parse:parse-android:1.13.0'
    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:9.4.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
}

Answer 1

You're using outdated/deprecated code.

Don't copy the whole code from the sample or tutorials because they might be using an older version of the android studio hence outdated code.

I suggest making a fresh project and using androidx this time

For your problem try importing androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity and add this dependency androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.4.1