Gradle Archives

There is a sample Gradle build file for a project with Android Annotations. This is pretty complicated stuff, that was achieved with a lot of my blood, so I decided to post it here, so that you can use it to try to find your mistakes. Android Annotations library is loaded with apt. The position of every setting is important. There is also a trick to avoid Lint errors and a custom task to run app via command line.

I used Gradle 1.12 and Android Studio 0.8.4 with Android SDK 20, Android Build Tools 20.0 and Android Plugin 0.12.+.

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.12.+'
        classpath 'com.neenbedankt.gradle.plugins:android-apt:1.3'
    }
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    mavenLocal()
}

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'android-apt'
def AAVersion = '3.0.1'

dependencies {
    apt "org.androidannotations:androidannotations:$AAVersion"
    compile "org.androidannotations:androidannotations-api:$AAVersion"
    compile "com.android.support:support-v4:18.0.+"
    compile "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:18.0.+"
    compile 'org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.0.+'
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')
}

apt {
    arguments {
        androidManifestFile variant.processResources.manifestFile
        resourcePackageName "ru.rabota.app2"
    }
}

android {
    compileSdkVersion 20
    buildToolsVersion '20.0.0'

    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 10
        targetSdkVersion 20
        versionCode 17
        versionName "2.4.2"
    }

    sourceSets {
        main {
            manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
            java.srcDirs = ['src']
            resources.srcDirs = ['src']
            aidl.srcDirs = ['src']
            renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']
            res.srcDirs = ['res']
            assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
        }

        androidTest.setRoot('tests')
    }

    lintOptions {
        abortOnError false
    }
}

task appStart(type: Exec, dependsOn: ':installDebug') {
    // linux 
    commandLine 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'ru.rabota.app2/ru.rabota.intro.IntroActivity'

    // windows
    // commandLine 'cmd', '/c', 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity'      
}

buildscript {

repositories {

mavenCentral()

}

dependencies {

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.12.+'

classpath 'com.neenbedankt.gradle.plugins:android-apt:1.3'

}

repositories {

mavenCentral()

mavenLocal()

}

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

apply plugin: 'android-apt'

def AAVersion = '3.0.1'

dependencies {

apt "org.androidannotations:androidannotations:$AAVersion"

compile "org.androidannotations:androidannotations-api:$AAVersion"

compile "com.android.support:support-v4:18.0.+"

compile "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:18.0.+"

compile 'org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.0.+'

compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')

}

apt {

arguments {

androidManifestFile variant.processResources.manifestFile

resourcePackageName "ru.rabota.app2"

}

android {

compileSdkVersion 20

buildToolsVersion '20.0.0'

defaultConfig {

minSdkVersion 10

targetSdkVersion 20

versionCode 17

versionName "2.4.2"

}

sourceSets {

main {

manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'

java.srcDirs = ['src']

resources.srcDirs = ['src']

aidl.srcDirs = ['src']

renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']

res.srcDirs = ['res']

assets.srcDirs = ['assets']

}

androidTest.setRoot('tests')

}

lintOptions {

abortOnError false

}

task appStart(type: Exec, dependsOn: ':installDebug') {

// linux

commandLine 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'ru.rabota.app2/ru.rabota.intro.IntroActivity'

// windows

// commandLine 'cmd', '/c', 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity'

}

Here I will show you, how I managed to build and run an Android app via command line (Terminal, since I use Mac) using Gradle and how I start a resulting app on the device (Google Nexus 5 with Android 4.4.2) automatically. I had to solve two major problems to achieve this.

The first problem is with Gradle version: last version of Gradle is not compatible with the last version of Android Plugin.
The second problem is with custom task to run app on device: you have to put the correct package and activity names.

The final result looks like this:

~/Documents/Multiverse: $ gradle appStart

1	~/Documents/Multiverse: $ gradle appStart

Where Multiverse is the root folder of my project and the name of the project, appStart – custom Gradle task that builds and runs an app on device.
Gradle loads all dependencies, builds app, makes a lint check and starts and app on your device automatically. Yahoo! This is how it looks on Terminal:

	pkg: /data/local/tmp/Multiverse-debug.apk
Success
:appStart
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity }

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

Total time: 13.475 secs

pkg: /data/local/tmp/Multiverse-debug.apk

Success

:appStart

Starting: Intent { cmp=com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity }

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

Total time: 13.475 secs

However, I should notice, that this works slower than just running via Eclipse: as you see it takes at least 13 seconds for a little project on Macbook Pro Retina Display Late 2012.

First of all you need to install a correct version of Gradle. If you just download the latest version, your Android plugin will not work. You have to get a version, for instance, 1.10, not 2.0. Also you need to setup PATH variable, so that you will have bin folder of Gradle and android sdks tools there:

~/Documents/Multiverse: $ vim ~/.bash_profile

export PATH=/Users/Denis/gradle-1.10/bin:$PATH
export PATH=/Users/Denis/android-sdks/platform-tools:$PATH
export PATH=/Users/Denis/android-sdks/tools:$PATH

~/Documents/Multiverse: $ source ~/.bash_profile

~/Documents/Multiverse: $ vim ~/.bash_profile

export PATH=/Users/Denis/gradle-1.10/bin:$PATH

export PATH=/Users/Denis/android-sdks/platform-tools:$PATH

export PATH=/Users/Denis/android-sdks/tools:$PATH

~/Documents/Multiverse: $ source ~/.bash_profile

Then I created a gradle build file:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.11.1'
    }
}

apply plugin: 'android'

dependencies {
    compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar')
    compile files('libs/androidannotations-api-3.0.1.jar')
    compile files('libs/commons-lang3-3.1.jar')
    compile files('libs/flurryAnalytics_3.4.0.jar')
    compile files('libs/libGoogleAnalyticsServices.jar')
}

android {
    compileSdkVersion 19
    buildToolsVersion "19.1"
}

android {
    sourceSets {
        main {
            manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
            java.srcDirs = ['src']
            resources.srcDirs = ['src']
            aidl.srcDirs = ['src']
            renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']
            res.srcDirs = ['res']
            assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
        }

        androidTest.setRoot('tests')
    }
}

/*android {
      lintOptions {
          abortOnError false
      }
}*/

task appStart(type: Exec, dependsOn: ':installDebug') {
    // linux, mac 
    commandLine 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity'

    // windows
    // commandLine 'cmd', '/c', 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity'      
}

buildscript {

repositories {

mavenCentral()

}

dependencies {

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.11.1'

}

apply plugin: 'android'

dependencies {

compile files('libs/android-support-v4.jar')

compile files('libs/androidannotations-api-3.0.1.jar')

compile files('libs/commons-lang3-3.1.jar')

compile files('libs/flurryAnalytics_3.4.0.jar')

compile files('libs/libGoogleAnalyticsServices.jar')

}

android {

compileSdkVersion 19

buildToolsVersion "19.1"

}

android {

sourceSets {

main {

manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'

java.srcDirs = ['src']

resources.srcDirs = ['src']

aidl.srcDirs = ['src']

renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']

res.srcDirs = ['res']

assets.srcDirs = ['assets']

}

androidTest.setRoot('tests')

}

/*android {

lintOptions {

abortOnError false

}

}*/

task appStart(type: Exec, dependsOn: ':installDebug') {

// linux, mac

commandLine 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity'

// windows

// commandLine 'cmd', '/c', 'adb', 'shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', 'com.alwawee.multiverse/com.alwawee.main.MainActivity'

}

Here com.alwawee.multiverse is the package name of the application.
And com.alwawee.main.MainActivity is the full Activity name, that the application starts from. This is how my project tree looks like:

This is a part of the Manifest file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.alwawee.multiverse"
    android:versionCode="2"
    android:versionName="1.0.8" >
    
    ...
        
        <activity
            android:name="com.alwawee.main.MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name">
    ...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

package="com.alwawee.multiverse"

android:versionCode="2"

android:versionName="1.0.8" >

...

<activity

android:name="com.alwawee.main.MainActivity"

android:label="@string/app_name">

...

At the end there is a custom task appStart. It is important to correctly write the package name before class name. I thought that the package name is the package name for MainActivity class. I was wrong. It’s a name for a whole app’s package name. You can find it at the root node of your Manifest file.

Notes on commented code: use abortOnError false if you have any serious problems with lint and don’t want to solve them. Uncomment the line about Windows, if you use Windows.

This is a StackOverflow question, I asked to reach this goal.

Alwawee

Tag Archives: Gradle

Gradle build file for a project with Android Annotations

Running Android app on device using Gradle

iOS Development