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Set a global variable in gradle that can use in manifest file

I want to create a global variable similar with applicationId.
It is set value in build.gradle and will be used in manifest. Is it possible?

You can set them, for instance I'm setting it for different product flavors
productFlavors {
production {
applicationId = "com.myapp.app"
resValue "string", "authority", "com.facebook.app.FacebookContentProvider5435651423234"
}
development {
applicationId = "com.myapp.development"
resValue "string", "authority", "com.facebook.app.FacebookContentProvider2134564533421"
}
qa {
applicationId = "com.myapp.qa"
resValue "string", "authority", "com.facebook.app.FacebookContentProvider29831237981287319"
}
}
And use it like this
<provider
android:name="com.facebook.FacebookContentProvider"
android:authorities="#string/authority"
android:exported="true" />

If you just want to use the application id set in gradle in your manifest, you can simply use:
${applicationId}
For instance:
<provider
android:authorities="${applicationId}.ShareFileProvider" ... >
...
</provider>
If you want the same behavior with custom variables, you can use manifestPlaceholders, like this:
android {
defaultConfig {
manifestPlaceholders = [hostName:"www.example.com"]
}
}
And in your manifest:
<intent-filter ... >
<data android:scheme="http" android:host="${hostName}" ... />
...
</intent-filter>
See https://developer.android.com/studio/build/manifest-build-variables.html for more information.

While Marko's answer seems to work, there's currently a better solution that doesn't require adding variables to the string resource files.
The manifest merger accepts placeholders:
For custom placeholders replacements, use the following DSL to
configure the placeholders values :
android {
defaultConfig {
manifestPlaceholders = [ activityLabel:"defaultName"]
}
productFlavors {
free {
}
pro {
manifestPlaceholders = [ activityLabel:"proName" ]
}
}
will substitute the placeholder in the following declaration :
<activity android:name=".MainActivity" android:label="${activityLabel}" >
You can also manipulate those strings with groovy functions.

To use the string in Manifest, you can directly make it in strings.xml.
Like this,
<string name="variable_name">value</string>

How can I access a BuildConfig value in my AndroidManifest.xml file?

Is it possible to access a BuildConfig value from AndroidManifest.xml?
In my build.gradle file, I have:
defaultConfig {
applicationId "com.compagny.product"
minSdkVersion 16
targetSdkVersion 21
versionCode 1
versionName "1.0"
// Facebook app id
buildConfigField "long", "FACEBOOK_APP_ID", FACEBOOK_APP_ID
}
FACEBOOK_APP_ID is defined in my gradle.properties files:
# Facebook identifier (app ID)
FACEBOOK_APP_ID=XXXXXXXXXX
To use Facebook connect in my app, I must add this line to my AndroidManifest.xml:
<meta-data android:name="com.facebook.sdk.ApplicationId" android:value="#string/applicationId"/>
I want to replace #string/applicationId by the BuildConfig field FACEBOOK_APP_ID defined in gradle, like this:
<meta-data android:name="com.facebook.sdk.ApplicationId" android:value="FACEBOOK_APP_ID"/>
Is that possible using BuildConfig? If not, how can I achieve this?

Replace
buildConfigField "long", "FACEBOOK_APP_ID", FACEBOOK_APP_ID
with
resValue "string", "FACEBOOK_APP_ID", FACEBOOK_APP_ID
then rebuild your project (Android Studio -> Build -> Rebuild Project).
The two commands both produce generated values - consisting of Java constants in the first case, and Android resources in the second - during project builds, but the second method will generate a string resource value that can be accessed using the #string/FACEBOOK_APP_ID syntax. This means it can be used in the manifest as well as in code.

Another way to access Gradle Build Config values from your AndroidManifest.xml is through placeholders like this:
android {
defaultConfig {
manifestPlaceholders = [ facebookAppId:"someId..."]
}
productFlavors {
flavor1 {
}
flavor2 {
manifestPlaceholders = [ facebookAppId:"anotherId..." ]
}
}
}
and then in your manifest:
<meta-data android:name="com.facebook.sdk.ApplicationId" android:value="${facebookAppId}"/>
See more details here: https://developer.android.com/studio/build/manifest-build-variables.html
(Old link just for reference: http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide/manifest-merger)

note: when you use resValue the value can accidentally be overridden by the strings resource file (e.g. for another language)
To get a true constant value that you can use in the manifest and in java-code, use both manifestPlaceholders and buildConfigField: e.g.
android {
defaultConfig {
def addConstant = {constantName, constantValue ->
manifestPlaceholders += [ (constantName):constantValue]
buildConfigField "String", "${constantName}", "\"${constantValue}\""
}
addConstant("FACEBOOK_APP_ID", "xxxxx")
}
access in the manifest file:
<meta-data android:name="com.facebook.sdk.ApplicationId" android:value="${FACEBOOK_APP_ID}"/>
from java:
BuildConfig.FACEBOOK_APP_ID
If the constant value needs to be buildType-specific, the helper addConstant needs to be tweaked (to work with groovy closure semantics), e.g.,
buildTypes {
def addConstantTo = {target, constantName, constantValue ->
target.manifestPlaceholders += [ (constantName):constantValue]
target.buildConfigField "String", "${constantName}", "\"${constantValue}\""
}
debug {
addConstantTo(owner,"FACEBOOK_APP_ID", "xxxxx-debug")
}
release {
addConstantTo(owner,"FACEBOOK_APP_ID", "xxxxx-release")
}

Access build.gradle properties in your manifest as in following example:
For example you have a property "applicationId" in your build.gradle and you want to access that in your AndroidManifest:
Access "applicationId" in AndroidManifest:
<receiver
android:name="com.google.android.gms.gcm.GcmReceiver"
android:exported="true"
android:permission="com.google.android.c2dm.permission.SEND">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.RECEIVE" />
<category android:name="${applicationId}" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
Similarly, we can create string resources for other constants and access them in code files as simple as:
context.getString(R.string.GCM_SENDER_ID);

#stkent is good but forgets to add that you need to rebuild your project afterwards
Replace
buildConfigField "long", "FACEBOOK_APP_ID", FACEBOOK_APP_ID
with
resValue "string", "FACEBOOK_APP_ID", FACEBOOK_APP_ID
then
Android Studio -> Build -> Rebuild Project
This will allow android generate the string resource accessible via
R.string.FACEBOOK_APP_ID

Another option: use a different string resource file to replace all Flavor-dependent values:
Step 1:
Create a new folder in the "src" folder with the name of your flavor, im my case "stage"
Step 2:
Create resource files for all files that are dependent on the flavor
for example:
Step 3:
I am also using different icons, so you see the mipmap folders as well. For this quetion, only the "strings.xml" is important. Now you can overwrite all important string resources. You only need to include the ones you want to override, all others will be used from the main "strings.xml", it will show up in Android Studio like this:
Step 4:
Use the string resources in your project and relax:

You can use long value as below
buildConfigField 'long', 'FLAVOR_LONG', '11500L'

custom strings for debug buildType

I have an android app and I want to change the app label for the debug and other buildTypes. I don´t have any flavors!
Here is the setup that I believe looks like it should work:
-src
|-debug
|-res
|-values
|-strings.xml
|-main
|-res
|-values
|-strings.xml
|-java
[...]
I have no custom sourcesets just a debug buildType:
buildTypes {
debug {
applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
}
}
so I though
sourceSets.debug.res.srcDirs = ['src/debug/res']
would to the trick. But it doesn't. Any ideas?
How to change app name per Gradle build type does not work anymore...

I found another sweet solution to this, using manifest placeholders:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<application
android:label="${applicationLabel}">
<activity
android:label="${applicationLabel}">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
and in your gradle file:
android {
defaultConfig {
manifestPlaceholders = [ applicationLabel:"#string/app_name"]
}
buildTypes {
debug {
applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
manifestPlaceholders = [ applicationLabel:"MyApp Debug"]
}
}
}

buildTypes {
release {
resValue 'string', 'APP_NAME', '"My App Release"'
}
debug {
resValue 'string', 'APP_NAME', '"My App Debug"'
}
}
value\strings.xml
< string name="app_name" >#string/APP_NAME< /string>
and use app_name everywhere

You have to use
|-debug
|-res
|-values
|-strings.xml
In your picture you have debug/res/strings.xml
Also you doens't need it (because it is the standard, but the issue isn't here).
sourceSets.debug.res.srcDirs = ['src/debug/res']

Forget the string.xml files. All can be easily configured in build.gradle.
First of all, you should maintain the string pointer "app_name" in AndroidManifest file, and delete all instances of "app_name" in string's resource files:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<application
android:label="#string/app_name">
<activity
android:label="#string/app_name">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
Secondly, the resource value of #string/app_name is currently not defined. So we must apply its default definition in build.gradle:
defaultConfig {
applicationId "com.example.myapp"
minSdkVersion 14
targetSdkVersion 22
versionCode 123423432
versionName "1.0.0"
resValue 'string', 'app_name', '"My app label"'
}
Currently, app_name is defined for all build types. By assuming you want to change the app label for the buildTypes, each build type must be defined with a string value in the same build.gradle branch:
buildTypes {
release {
resValue 'string', 'app_name', '"My app label Release"'
}
debug {
resValue 'string', 'app_name', '"My app label Debug"'
}
}
Since this resource value is set programmatically, we also need to add a certain translations lint ignore in case of a Release build:
lintOptions { disable 'MissingTranslation' }
In case you want to change it accordingly with a set of defined Flavours(dev, qua or prd) add the resValues definitions in productFlavours instead of buildTypes:
productFlavors {
dev {
applicationId "com.example.myapp.dev"
resValue 'string', 'app_name', '"My app label Dev"'
}
qua {
applicationId "com.example.myapp.qua"
resValue 'string', 'app_name', '"My app label Qua"'
}
prd {
applicationId "com.example.myapp.prd"
resValue 'string', 'app_name', '"My app label Prd"'
}
}

You can create a string in gradle that will be available in xml too:
buildTypes {
debug {
buildConfigField "String", "app_name", "AppDebug"
}
release {
buildConfigField "String", "app_name", "AppRelease"
}
And then use it in xml:
android:label="#string/app_name"
Just make sure app_name not specified in your strings.xml.

Try this.
buildTypes {
debug {
applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
}
sourceSets.debug.resources.srcDirs = ['src/debug/res']
}

Have you remembered to get rid of the directory listing inside your app's build.gradle?
sourceSets {
main {
manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
java.srcDir 'src'
// res.srcDir 'res' <--- This line should be removed
assets.srcDir 'assets'

I know this is quite an old question, but I've had the same problem and just solved it.
You should update these codes if you have one in your build.gradle for your app.
debug.setRoot('build-types/debug')
release.setRoot('build-types/release')
These codes automatically generate your AppName.iml and set default debug and release directory to /build-types/debug/res, which is different from src/debug/res.

How to change app name per Gradle build type

I am trying to figure out a way to be able to change my application's app name per build type in gradle.
For instance, I would like the debug version to have <APP_NAME>-debug and the qa version to have <APP-NAME>-QA.
I am familiar with:
debug {
applicationIdSuffix '.debug'
versionNameSuffix '-DEBUG'
}
However, I can't seem to find a gradle command to apply the change of the app when in the launcher.

If by "app name", you mean android:label on <application>, the simplest solution is to have that point at a string resource (e.g., android:label="#string/app_name"), then have a different version of that string resource in a src/debug/ sourceset.
You can see that in this sample project, where I have a replacement for app_name in src/debug/res/values/strings.xml, which will be applied for debug builds. release builds will use the version of app_name in src/main/.

You can use something like this
buildTypes {
debug {
applicationIdSuffix '.debug'
versionNameSuffix '-DEBUG'
resValue "string", "app_name", "AppName debug"
}
release {
minifyEnabled true
shrinkResources true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
signingConfig signingConfigs.release
zipAlignEnabled true
resValue "string", "app_name", "AppName"
}
}
You can use #string/app_name in AndroidManifest.xml files.
Make sure you remove app_name from values/ folder (no entry by this name).

You can do this with gradle:
android {
buildTypes {
release {
manifestPlaceholders = [appName: "My Standard App Name"]
}
debug {
manifestPlaceholders = [appName: "Debug"]
}
}
}
Then in your AndroidManifest.xml put:
<application
android:label="${appName}"/>
<activity
android:label="${appName}">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
Note: it also works with productFlavors.

To support translations make this:
1. remove string "app_name"
2. add to gradle
buildTypes {
admin {
resValue "string", "app_name", "#string/app_name_admin"
}
release {
resValue "string", "app_name", "#string/app_name_release"
}
debug {
resValue "string", "app_name", "#string/app_name_debug"
}
}
3. Set app name in Manifest as "#string/app_name"
4. Add to strings.xml values
<string name="app_name_admin">App Admin</string>
<string name="app_name_release">App release</string>
<string name="app_name_debug">App debug</string>

The app name is user-visible, and that's why Google encourages you to keep it in your strings.xml file. You can define a separate string resource file that contains strings that are specific to your buildTypes. It sounds like you might have a custom qa buildType. If that's not true, ignore the qa part below.
└── src
├── debug
│   └── res
│   └── buildtype_strings.xml
├── release
│   └── res
│   └── buildtype_strings.xml
└── qa
   └── res
   └── buildtype_strings.xml

We need a solution to support app name with localization (for multi language).
I have tested with #Nick Unuchek solution, but building is failed (not found #string/) . a little bit change to fix this bug:
build.gradle file:
android {
ext{
APP_NAME = "#string/app_name_default"
APP_NAME_DEV = "#string/app_name_dev"
}
productFlavors{
prod{
manifestPlaceholders = [ applicationLabel: APP_NAME]
}
dev{
manifestPlaceholders = [ applicationLabel: APP_NAME_DEV ]
}
}
values\strings.xml:
<resources>
<string name="app_name_default">AAA prod</string>
<string name="app_name_dev">AAA dev</string>
</resources>
values-en\strings.xml:
<resources>
<string name="app_name_default">AAA prod en</string>
<string name="app_name_dev">AAA dev en</string>
</resources>
Manifest.xml:
<application
android:label="${applicationLabel}" >
</application>

For a more dynamic gradle based solution (e.g. set a base Application name in main's strings.xml once, and avoid repeating yourself in each flavor / build type combination's strings.xml), see my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/32220436/1128600

There are multiple ways you can do.
you can create manifestPlaceholders OR resValue in app level build.gradle. e.g.
buildTypes {
release {
...
manifestPlaceholders = [appLabel: "My App"]
//resValue "string", "appLabel", '"My App"'
}
debug {
...
manifestPlaceholders = [appLabel: "My App - Debug"]
//resValue "string", "appLabel", '"My App - Debug"'
}
}
OR
If you have productFlavors, you can create there
flavorDimensions "env"
productFlavors {
dev {
dimension "env"
...
manifestPlaceholders = [appLabel: "My App - Development"]
//resValue "string", "appLabel", '"My App - Development"'
}
prod {
dimension "env"
...
manifestPlaceholders = [appLabel: "My Awesome App"]
//resValue "string", "appLabel", '"My Awesome App"'
}
}
Then in AndroidManifest.xml if you are using manifestPlaceholders, just change android:label="${appLabel}" as below OR if you are using resValue, just change android:label=#string/appLabel
<application
...
android:label="${appLabel}"> //OR `android:label=#string/appLabel`
<activity
...
android:label="${appLable}">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
NOTE: Make sure to change android:lable as well in <activity> of LAUNCHER category. If it doesn't require to use android:label in <activity>, just remove this.
If you do not want to add in build.gradle directly, you can add in values/string.xml of selected ProductFlavors. e.g.
Add
<string name="appLabel">My App - Development</string>
in app/src/dev/res/values/string.xml
and
<string name="appLabel">My Awesome App</string>
in app/src/prod/res/values/string.xml

You can use strings.xml in different folders, see Android separate string values for release and debug builds.
So, create this file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="app_name">Your app name</string>
</resources>
Then paste it to app\src\debug\res\values\ and app\src\release\res\values\ folders. Replace "Your app name" in debug and release files. Remove app_name item from strings.xml in app\src\main\res\values\ folder.
In AndroidManifest you will have the same
<application
android:label="#string/app_name"
...
No changes at all. Even if you added a library with it's AndroidManifest file and strings.xml.

As author asks to do this in Gradle, we can assume he want to do it in the script and not in the configuration files. Since both Android Studio and Gradle has been heavily updated and modified in the last year (~2018) all other answers above, seem overly contorted. The easy-peasy way, is to add the following to your app/build.gradle:
android {
...
buildTypes {
...
// Rename/Set default APK name prefix (app*.apk --> AwesomeApp*.apk)
android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
variant.outputs.all { output ->
def appName = "AwesomeApp"
outputFileName = appName+"-${output.baseName}-${variant.versionName}.apk"
}
}
}

Android - Manifest placeholders for different build types

I am very hyped about the new possibility of manifest placeholders in Gradle + Android Build. I've found in the gradle documentation that I can specify my own placeholders like this:
productFlavors {
free {
}
pro {
manifestPlaceholders = [ activityLabel:"proName" ]
}
}
But I would like to have one placeholder dependent on build type and not on product flavors. When I insert that placeholder specification into build type settings it takes no effect. Do you know how to achieve this? Because it seems to me stupid have three build types and three flavors associated with it. Thanks

This is my solution for different product flavours:
build.gradle:
productFlavors {
normal {
applicationId "mobi.cwiklinski.urc"
buildConfigField "String", "providerAuthority", "\"mobi.cwiklinski.urc.provider\""
resValue "string", "authorities", "mobi.cwiklinski.urc.provider"
}
adfree {
applicationId "mobi.cwiklinski.urc.adfree"
buildConfigField "String", "providerAuthority", "\"mobi.cwiklinski.urc.adfree.provider\""
resValue "string", "authorities", "mobi.cwiklinski.urc.adfree.provider"
}
}
AndroidManifest.xml
<provider
android:name="mobi.cwiklinski.urc.provider.AppProvider"
android:authorities="#string/authorities"
android:exported="true"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:syncable="true"
android:writePermission="mobi.cwiklinski.urc.permission.USE_PROVIDER" />
And that's all - in different product flavours you will get different resource value.

Starting today with gradle plugin 0.13.0 is already working.