Failed linking file resources

You maybe having this error on your java files because there is one or more XML file with error.

Go through all your XML files and resolve errors, then clean or rebuild project from build menu

Start with your most recent edited XML file

If anyone reading this has the same problem, this happened to me recently, and it was due to having the xml header written twice by mistake:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <!-- Remove this one -->
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
     <solid android:color="@color/mug_blue"/>
     <corners android:radius="@dimen/featured_radius" />
</shape>

The error I was getting was completely unrelated to this file so it was a tough one to find. Just make sure all your new xml files don't have some kind of mistake like this (as it doesn't show up as an error). EDIT It seems like it shows up as an error now, make sure to check your error logs.

One possible solution I already mentioned in a comment:

I had an issue in XML file that IDE did not highlight. Had to ask my colleague to compile for me and it shown in his IDE. Buggy Android Studio.

But I found a way around that.

If you go to Gradle panel on the right. Select your desired module, eg. app, then under build select assembleDebug it will show you all errors in stdout.

Look at the error you are getting:

C:\Projects\TimeTable\app\src\main\res\layout-land\activity_main.xml Error:error: resource android:attr/colorSwitchThumbNormal is private.

It means that in your activity_main.xml you are referencing the color "android:colorSwitchThumbNormal", but inside the 'android' namespace that resource is private. What you probably meant to do is try to reference that color from the support version of this attribute, so without the "android:" prefix.

<item name="android:colorSwitchThumbNormal">@color/myColor</item>

Replace with:

<item name="colorSwitchThumbNormal">@color/second</item>

Run ./gradlew build -stacktrace in Android Studio terminal. It helps you to find a file that causes this error.