I've switched to the Xamarin SDK beta channel, and they say they have Android 9.0 support there, however after switching / downloading / installing the latest SDK's and targeting Android 9.0 in my Android project, I still am not seeing the BiometricPrompt class available for consumption. I need to leverage this for facial recognition on login in my app, and to replace the FingerprintManager class (at least for Android 9 devices.)
What am I missing?
Your compile target must be set to Android 9.0 (Pie) to gain access to the API Level 28 SDK:
Then the runtime target needs to be set to Android 9.0 API level 28 (or "auto" which would be the compile target of 28). From there you can do your API level checks at runtime to determine which APIs to call.
Related
I have an Android app that was last released targeting API level 29. I'm trying to upgrade to API level 30 with its enforced scoped storage. I'm having some difficulty implementing it, and I would like te be able to compare my app's performance under API level 30 with what it used to do under level 29. However Android Studio won't let me set targetSdk to 29 in build.gradle. It complains that "Google Play requires that apps target API level 30 or higher", and at runtime Build.VERSION.SDK_INT evaluates to 30. The SDK manager shows both Android 10.0 (29) and Android 11.0 (30) as being installed.
I don't want to release an app with with an out-of-date API, I just want to be able to try it out on my own test devices. How can I convince Android Studio to allow this?
I was following setup guide for android in react-native documentation
and have it up and running correctly using suggested SDK v23
However there are much newer SDK versions available, I would like to set v23 as a minimum SDK version, but use latest one as my main one.
Being new to android I'm not sure on how to achieve this, what steps should I take? I can see option to edit sdk versions in some xml files and can download latest one using Android Studio.
As a side note, what are my limitations of using SDK v23? Will it not work on newer devices, do I loose out on performance etc... ?
According to some sources React Native does support up to API level 25, but there seems to be some disagreement on the issue. So according to official sources, React Native only supports Android API level 16 to level 23.
I haven't used React Native myself, but assuming versioning works the same as native development, an application with a compileSdkVersion lower than the version it is running against will run fine. The only limitations on the application would be that it would be unable to access the new features and APIs introduced by those higher SDK versions.
For example, Android 8.0 (API level 26) introduced a new Picture-in-Picture API, but the method used to enter picture-in-picture mode would not be available in code compiled against API level 23. Some new features may effect performance (usually positively), but an application compiled against API level 23 won't perform any worse on on a device running on API 26 than one running on API 23.
I am trying to make a basic Xamarin.forms (pcl) application (in Visual studio 2017) and i want to Target Lolipop (5.0.0, api level 21).
So i made a basic Xamarin solution and i adjusted the Android properties all to Android 5.0 lollipop
Compile using Android version "Android 5.0 (Lollipop)"
Minimum Android to target "Android 5.0 (API Level 21 - Lollipop)"
Target Android Version "Android 5.0 (API Level 21 - Lollipop)"
Unfortunately in my warning list i get the following
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Warning The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for Xamarin.Forms.Platform.dll (v7.0) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v5.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. Prolang.Android C:\Projects\Prolang\Prolang\Prolang.Android\Prolang.Android.csproj
If i google for this error most people say to indeed update your android project to use the latest Targetframework version. But in my case i really want to only be able to call Api calls that are available to level 21 aka Android 5.0 Lollipop. As in i want the compile time safety net that i only use Api Calls from Api level 21.
To me it seems like i have to downgrade my xamarin.Forms dll to a version that is made specifically for android lollipop since the one i use right now targets a higher version.
So should i downgrade my xamarin.forms dll to achieve this and get rid of the error? And if i downgrade to what version do i need to downgrade so i target Android 5.0 Lollipop? This information is all pretty unclear to me.
Xamarin.Forms is designed using the Android's support libraries so it will run on a wide range of APIs without any additional actions from the developer.
If you are using native APIs via Xamarin.Android (assumably via Forms' Dependency Service) then yes you would have to be aware of the API level of the method calls.
That said, since Xamarin.Forms uses the com.android.support.* libraries and you would have to have to a Forms versions that uses com.android.support:design:21.x.x and the associated Android build tools for API 21.
Now you can review the package dependancies and you will see that your choices are Forms' is 1.4
`1.4.0.6336-pre1` to `1.4.4.6449`
Note: v1.5.x moved to version 22 of the Android support libraries
IMHO using Forms's 1.4 would a bad mistake due to its age and the mountain of improvements and bugs fixes since 2015, you are so much better off:
Using the latest Forms version
Set the Framework version to latest (7.1)
Set the Target Android version to Android 5.0 (API Level 21)
Set the Minimum Android version to whatever you need...
Forgo the compile time API checks
Check runtime API issues via API-21 devices and emulators
I am new to android development and using Xamarin.Android so please keeps terminology simple and relevant if possible.
Current question is, are apps developed for API 22 (android 5.1) compatible with API 21 (android 5.0) by nature - i.e. without adding any package and stuff. If not, how do I make backwards compatibility possible? Thanks.
Typically, you set a minimum SDK value, and a target SDK, and that says what API "range" your app runs against. You additionally compile with a particular SDK version, and that includes the code and resources for the app.
Most of the core API methods and classes are available starting at API 1.
If you want to include libraries, the support libraries should get you backwards compatible back to about API 7.
are apps developed for API 22 (android 5.1) compatible with API 21
If you use classes and methods which were introduced in API 22, then your app will not run on API 21. On the other hand, if you limit yourself to only methods available on API 21, then your app will run on both API 21 and API 22. For newer features, you can use the Support Library.
While creating an android project if i say that the Build Target of my Android porject is 2.2 (API Level is picked as 8) and in the text box for Min SDK version. If i put some value apart from the API level (smaller or greater than 8) of the build target then what happens?
Does the build happen according to the build target specified, but the application developed is compatible with the smaller android versions (if i specify API level < 8 ). Or the application developed is only compatible for the higher android version (if i specify API level > 8 ).
Can anyone please explain?
There is a similiar question already posted with an excellent answer:
Read the post by Steve H.
Android Min SDK Version vs. Target SDK Version
Say you set the manifest API level to 4, then the app will work on any api 4 device provided. BUT the project will be built to API level 8 so if you have any post-level 4 api methods in your code then the app will crash.
You can only put min SDK version less than your target version,it tell that your application can support to that min SDK version,but you should confirm that your application should run under min SDK version supported devices since the Build target versions may use new APIs which are available for that specific version and those APIs may not available in min SDK versions
ok.. if you have developed an application using particular sdk for instance Android 2.2 and your minSDKversion is < 8 then application is falsely declaring to android system that It can be installed in Android device having sdk version less than Android 2.2. In that case if application happens to install on Android 2.1 and if you re using API that are exculsiviely avaialbe in Android 2.2 platform and not on Android 2.1 then your application will crash on the device. if your minsdkversion > 8 then application won't get installed on the device having Android sdk 2.2 or lower version