Develop Reference

How to exclude a dynamic feature from Android app flavor?

I have this project structure:
app
library1
dynamicFeature1
dynamicFeature2
Now, I want dynamicFeature2 to only be included in my development builds, and never appear in anything that could be released.
I used productFlavors like this:
productFlavors {
public {
dynamicFeatures = [':dynamicFeature1']
}
development {
dynamicFeatures = [':dynamicFeature1', ':dynamicFeature2']
}
}
This way I have both features in public* and development* variants, however if I comment out the dynamicFeatures line for development flavor, I will only have dynamicFeature1 in both flavors. So it kinda works, but not the way I want.
So, is there a way for app flavors to have different sets of dynamic features?

I have the same problem.
And this solition help me
android{
...
productFlavors {
public {}
development {}
}
def gradleStartTasks = gradle.getStartParameter().taskNames
gradleStartTasks.forEach { taskName ->
if (taskName.contains('Development')) {
dynamicFeatures = [':dynamicFeature1', ':dynamicFeature2']
} else if (taskName.contains('Public')) {
dynamicFeatures = [':dynamicFeature1']
}
}

I followed this question to solve it for now. I created a development source set for dynamicFeature2, where there is only a manifest file present. This manifest declares:
<dist:module
dist:instant="false"
dist:title="#string/title_dynamic_feature_2"
tools:node="replace">
<dist:delivery>
<dist:install-time />
</dist:delivery>
<dist:fusing dist:include="true" />
</dist:module>
The manifest in main source set uses <dist:on-demand />. This way I only have dynamicFeature2 installed for development* variants, and I don't make a SplitInstallRequest for this feature.
This is only a workaround, as the bundle still contains dynamicFeature2 apk, which I hoped to not be built using gradle configuration.

How to set custom permission's protectionLevel dynamically from build.gradle file?

I would like to set an android permission's protectionLevel dynamically depending on debug or release, say, from the build.gradle file, something like this:
The AndroidManifest.xml file:
<permission
android:name="com.somestring.MY_CUSTOM_PERMISSION"
android:protectionLevel=BuildConfig.protectionlevel />
And the build.gradle file:
android {
buildTypes {
release {
buildConfigField "String" , "protectionlevel" , "signature"
}
debug{
buildConfigField "String" , "protectionlevel" , "normal"
}
}
}
Setting variables from build.gradle in this way works in java / other cases, but does not work for signature. I have tried some other variations that you can find in a quick Google search, but so far, I could not make it work for this case.

Usually manifest placeholders can be used:
buildTypes {
release {
manifestPlaceholders = [protectionLevel: "signature"]
}
debug{
manifestPlaceholders = [protectionLevel: "normal"]
}
}
And then:
<permission
android:name="com.somestring.MY_CUSTOM_PERMISSION"
android:protectionLevel="${protectionLevel}" />

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>

Using a different manifestPlaceholder for each Build Variant

I will start by saying that I am very new to Gradle, so I apologize if this has already been answered.
I'm working on an Android application that uses an API key to access a 3rd party tool. A different API key needs to be used depending on both the flavor and build type of the app.
Here is a basic outline of what I'm trying to do:
android {
defaultConfig {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
buildTypes{
debug{
// Some debug setup
}
release{
// Some release setup
}
}
productFlavors {
// List of flavor options
}
productFlavors.all{ flavor->
if (flavor.name.equals("someFlavor")) {
if (buildType.equals("release")) {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"RELEASE_KEY_1" ]
} else {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
} else {
if (buildType.equals("release")) {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"RELEASE_KEY_2" ]
} else {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
}
}
}
So far the manifestPlaceholders statement is working in a very simple case, but I don't know how to reference the buildType from within the productFlavors block so that I can use it as a conditional.

You may set manifestPlaceholders inside applicationVariants by accessing mergedFlavor for specific applicationVariant.
android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
def mergedFlavor = variant.getMergedFlavor()
mergedFlavor.manifestPlaceholders = [appPackageId: "myPackageExample"]
}
If you're using the Kotlin DSL, you should use something like this:
android.applicationVariants.all { // don't put 'variant ->' here or you'll get the 'all' extension function
// no need to define 'mergedFlavor' because 'this' _is_ the variant so 'mergedFlavor' is already available.
mergedFlavor.manifestPlaceholders = ...
}

I would guess that you are referring to Fabric ApiKey? :) I just spent hours trying to do it in a similar way with the placeholders and specifying the ApiKey in the gradle file although it does not seem possible as of com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.3.1. It is possible to specify a placeholder for a specific flavor but not for a flavor AND buildType.
Just to correct your syntax, the way you would have to do it (if it was possible) would be something like that but manifestPlaceholders are unknown to variants.
applicationVariants.all{ variant->
if (variant.productFlavors.get(0).name.equals("someFlavor")) {
if (variant.buildType.name.equals("release")) {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"RELEASE_KEY_1" ]
} else {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
} else {
if (variant.buildType.name.equals("release")) {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"RELEASE_KEY_2" ]
} else {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
}
}
What you actually need to do is to keep the key in the AndroidManifest.xml and handle it with multiple manifest file
src/AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
<application>
<meta-data
android:name="io.fabric.ApiKey"
android:value="DEBUG_KEY" tools:replace="android:value"/>
</application>
</manifest>
src/someFlavorRelease/AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
<application>
<meta-data
android:name="io.fabric.ApiKey"
android:value="RELEASE_KEY_1" tools:replace="android:value"/>
</application>
</manifest>
src/someOtherFlavorRelease/AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
<application>
<meta-data
android:name="io.fabric.ApiKey"
android:value="RELEASE_KEY_2" tools:replace="android:value"/>
</application>
</manifest>
The manifestMerger will handle the replacement and you will end up with the proper key in every scenario. I just implemented it successfully. I just hope you were really referring to the Fabric key! :)
Hope this helps!

I found this great solution in https://azabost.com/android-manifest-placeholders/
android {
...
buildTypes {
release {
...
manifestPlaceholders.screenOrientation = "portrait"
}
debug {...}
}
}
or
android {
...
flavorDimensions "features"
productFlavors {
paid {
dimension "features"
manifestPlaceholders.hostName = "www.paid-example.com"
}
free {
dimension "features"
manifestPlaceholders.hostName = "www.free-example.com"
}
}

Similarly to the accepted answer, you could do it with string resources, if you didn't want to duplicate your manifests.
For example, if you had two flavors (flavor1 and flavor2)
You'd end up w/ the following source sets.
app/
src/
main/
res/
values/strings.xml
flavor1Release/
res/
values/strings.xml
flavor1Debug/
res/
values/strings.xml
flavor2Release/
res/
values/strings.xml
flavor2Debug/
res/
values/strings.xml
You could then just use a string resource for your key value
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
<application>
<meta-data
android:name="io.fabric.ApiKey"
android:value="#string/apiKey" tools:replace="android:value"/>
</application>
</manifest>
One further optimization to keep all your keys in one place is to define them all in strings.xml in your main source set. and then have the flavor/build source sets reference those.
for example:
<resources>
<string name="flavor1ReleaseKey">flavor1ReleaseKey</string>
<string name="flavor1DebugKey">flavor1DebugKey</string>
<string name="flavor2ReleaseKey">flavor2ReleaseKey</string>
<string name="flavor2DebugKey">flavor2DebugKey</string>
</resources>
then in each of your flavor/build sourceSets, you just reference those keys.
flavor1Release/res/values/strings.xml
<resources>
<string name="apiKey">#string/flavor1ReleaseKey</string>
</resources>

I believe that you need a manifestPlaceHolder to read that value in your Java code, right? If this is the case, you can already read the FLAVOR name in your generated BuildConfig.java. For example, if you define a flavor whose name is smartphone you can access that value using BuildConfig.FLAVOR String; then in your code you can use a simple if (BuildConfig.FLAVOR.equals("smartphone"))...
But maybe you need to read a sort of configuration of your app, an apiKey. In that case, the best way to go is to create a Class or a string resource for every flavor; this is the link for you.

What i did is copied current AndroidManifest.xml into app/src/debug
and changed the key there debug Manifest :
<meta-data
android:name="com.crashlytics.ApiKey"
tools:replace="android:value"
android:value="#string/crashlytics_debug" />
app/src/main Manifest is like :
<meta-data
android:name="com.crashlytics.ApiKey"
android:value="#string/crashlytics_live" />

You don't need duplicate files
Build.gradle
productFlavors {
prod {
applicationId "com.example.prod"
dimension "mode"
manifestPlaceholders = [hostName:"some String"]
}
dev {
applicationId "com.example.dev"
dimension "mode"
manifestPlaceholders = [hostName:"some String"]
}
Manifiest use "${hostName}". Example below
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
android:value="${hostName}" />

As a complement to #Eric's post, for AGP version com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.x, this code snippet
applicationVariants.all{ variant->
if (variant.productFlavors.get(0).name.equals("someFlavor")) {
if (variant.buildType.name.equals("release")) {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"RELEASE_KEY_1" ]
} else {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
} else {
if (variant.buildType.name.equals("release")) {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"RELEASE_KEY_2" ]
} else {
manifestPlaceholders = [ apiKey:"DEBUG_KEY" ]
}
}
}
should be updated to
androidComponents {
onVariants(selector().withBuildType("debug")) {
manifestPlaceholders.apiKey = "DEBUG_KEY"
}
onVariants(selector().withBuildType("release")) {
if(flavorName.equals("someFlavor"))
manifestPlaceholders.apiKey = "RELEASE_KEY_1"
else
manifestPlaceholders.apiKey = "RELEASE_KEY_2"
}
}

Using build types in Gradle to run same app that uses ContentProvider on one device

I have set up Gradle to add package name suffix to my debug app so I could have release version that I'm using and debug version on one phone. I was referencing this: http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Build-Types
My build.gradle file looks like this:
...
android
{
...
buildTypes
{
debug
{
packageNameSuffix ".debug"
versionNameSuffix " debug"
}
}
}
Everything works fine until I start using a ContentProvider in my app. I get:
Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_CONFLICTING_PROVIDER]
I understand that this happens because two apps (release and debug) are registering same ContentProvider authority.
I see one possibility to solve this. If I understand correctly, you should be able to specify different files to use when building. Then I should be able to put different authorities in different resource files (and from Manifest set authority as string resource) and tell Gradle to use different resource for debug build. Is that possible? If yes then any hints on how to achieve that would be awesome!
Or maybe it's possible to directly modify Manifest using Gradle? Any other solution on how to run same app with ContentProvider on one device is always welcome.

None of existing answers satisfied me, however Liberty was close. So this is how am I doing it.
First of all at the moment I am working with:
Android Studio Beta 0.8.2
Gradle plugin 0.12.+
Gradle 1.12
My goal is to run Debug version along with Release version on the same device using the same ContentProvider.
In build.gradle of your app set suffix for Debug build:
buildTypes {
debug {
applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
}
}
In AndroidManifest.xml file set android:authorities property of your ContentProvider:
<provider
android:name="com.example.app.YourProvider"
android:authorities="${applicationId}.provider"
android:enabled="true"
android:exported="false" >
</provider>
In your code set AUTHORITY property that can be used wherever needed in your implementation:
public static final String AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + ".provider";
Tip: Before it was BuildConfig.PACKAGE_NAME
That's it! It will work like a charm. Keep reading if you use SyncAdapter!
Update for SyncAdapter (14.11.2014)
Once again I will start with my current setup:
Android Studio Beta 0.9.2
Gradle plugin 0.14.1
Gradle 2.1
Basically, if you need to customise some values for different builds you can do it from the build.gradle file:
use buildConfigField to access it from the BuildConfig.java class
use resValue to access it from resources e.g. #string/your_value
As an alternative for resources, you can create separate buildType or flavour directories and override XMLs or values within them. However, I am not going to use it in example below.
Example
In build.gradle file add the following:
defaultConfig {
resValue "string", "your_authorities", applicationId + '.provider'
resValue "string", "account_type", "your.syncadapter.type"
buildConfigField "String", "ACCOUNT_TYPE", '"your.syncadapter.type"'
}
buildTypes {
debug {
applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
resValue "string", "your_authorities", defaultConfig.applicationId + '.debug.provider'
resValue "string", "account_type", "your.syncadapter.type.debug"
buildConfigField "String", "ACCOUNT_TYPE", '"your.syncadapter.type.debug"'
}
}
You will see results in BuildConfig.java class
public static final String ACCOUNT_TYPE = "your.syncadapter.type.debug";
and in build/generated/res/generated/debug/values/generated.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<!-- Automatically generated file. DO NOT MODIFY -->
<!-- Values from default config. -->
<item name="account_type" type="string">your.syncadapter.type.debug</item>
<item name="authorities" type="string">com.example.app.provider</item>
</resources>
In your authenticator.xml use resource specified in build.gradle file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:accountType="#string/account_type"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:smallIcon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
/>
In your syncadapter.xml use the same resource again and #string/authorities too
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sync-adapter xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:contentAuthority="#string/authorities"
android:accountType="#string/account_type"
android:userVisible="true"
android:supportsUploading="false"
android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"
/>
Tip: autocompletion(Ctrl+Space) does not work for these generated resource so you have to type them manually

New Android build system tip: ContentProvider authority renaming
I guess all of you have heard of the new Android Gradle-based build system. Let's be honest, this new build system is a huge step forward compared to the previous one. It is not final yet (as of this writing, the latest version is 0.4.2) but you can already use it safely in most of your projects.
I've personnaly switched most of my project to this new build system and had some issues because of the lack of support in some particular situations. One of which is the support for ContentProvider authority renaming
The new Android built system lets you deal with different types of your app by simply modifying the package name at build time. One of the main advantage of this improvement is you can now have two different versions of your app installed on the same device at the same time. For instance:
android {
compileSdkVersion 17
buildToolsVersion "17.0.0"
defaultConfig {
packageName "com.cyrilmottier.android.app"
versionCode 1
versionName "1"
minSdkVersion 14 // Listen to +Jeff Gilfelt advices :)
targetSdkVersion 17
}
buildTypes {
debug {
packageNameSuffix ".debug"
versionNameSuffix "-debug"
}
}
}
Using such a Gradle configuration, you can assemble two different APKs :
• A debug APK with the com.cyrilmottier.android.app.debug package name
• A release APK with the com.cyrilmottier.android.app package name
The only issue with that is you won't be able to install the two APKs at the same time if they both expose a ContentProvider with the same authorities. Pretty logically we need to rename the authority depending on the current build type … but this is not supported by the Gradle build system (yet? ... I'm sure it will be fixed soon). So here is a way to go:
First we need to move the provider Android manifest ContentProvider declaration to the appropriate build type. In order to do that we will simply have :
src/debug/AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.cyrilmottier.android.app"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1">
<application>
<provider
android:name=".provider.Provider1"
android:authorities="com.cyrilmottier.android.app.debug.provider"
android:exported="false" />
</application>
</manifest>
src/release/AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.cyrilmottier.android.app"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1">
<application>
<provider
android:name=".provider.Provider1"
android:authorities="com.cyrilmottier.android.app.provider"
android:exported="false" />
</application>
</manifest>
Make sure to remove the ContentProvider declaration from the AndroidManifest.xml in src/main/ because Gradle doesn't know how to merge ContentProviders having the same name but a different authority.
Finally we may need to access to the authority in the code. This can be done pretty easily using the BuildConfig file and the buildConfig method:
android {
// ...
final PROVIDER_DEBUG = "com.cyrilmottier.android.app.debug.provider"
final PROVIDER_RELEASE = "com.cyrilmottier.android.app.provider"
buildTypes {
debug {
// ...
buildConfigField "String", "PROVIDER_AUTHORITY", PROVIDER_DEBUG
}
release {
buildConfigField "String", "PROVIDER_AUTHORITY", PROVIDER_RELEASE
}
}
}
Thanks to this workaround you'll be able to use BuildConfig.PROVIDER_AUTHORITY in your ProviderContract and install two different versions of your app at the same time.
Originaly on Google+:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/118417777153109946393/posts/EATUmhntaCQ

While Cyril's example works great if you only have a few build types, it quickly gets complicated if you have many build types and/or product flavors as you need to maintain lots of different AndroidManifest.xml's.
Our project consists of 3 different build types and 6 flavors totaling 18 build variants, so instead we added support for ".res-auto" in ContentProvider authorities, which expand to the current packagename and removes the need to maintain different AndroidManifest.xml
/**
* Version 1.1.
*
* Add support for installing multiple variants of the same app which have a
* content provider. Do this by overriding occurrences of ".res-auto" in
* android:authorities with the current package name (which should be unique)
*
* V1.0 : Initial version
* V1.1 : Support for ".res-auto" in strings added,
* eg. use "<string name="auth">.res-auto.path.to.provider</string>"
*
*/
def overrideProviderAuthority(buildVariant) {
def flavor = buildVariant.productFlavors.get(0).name
def buildType = buildVariant.buildType.name
def pathToManifest = "${buildDir}/manifests/${flavor}/${buildType}/AndroidManifest.xml"
def ns = new groovy.xml.Namespace("http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android", "android")
def xml = new XmlParser().parse(pathToManifest)
def variantPackageName = xml.#package
// Update all content providers
xml.application.provider.each { provider ->
def newAuthorities = provider.attribute(ns.authorities).replaceAll('.res-auto', variantPackageName)
provider.attributes().put(ns.authorities, newAuthorities)
}
// Save modified AndroidManifest back into build dir
saveXML(pathToManifest, xml)
// Also make sure that all strings with ".res-auto" are expanded automagically
def pathToValues = "${buildDir}/res/all/${flavor}/${buildType}/values/values.xml"
xml = new XmlParser().parse(pathToValues)
xml.findAll{it.name() == 'string'}.each{item ->
if (!item.value().isEmpty() && item.value()[0].startsWith(".res-auto")) {
item.value()[0] = item.value()[0].replace(".res-auto", variantPackageName)
}
}
saveXML(pathToValues, xml)
}
def saveXML(pathToFile, xml) {
def writer = new FileWriter(pathToFile)
def printer = new XmlNodePrinter(new PrintWriter(writer))
printer.preserveWhitespace = true
printer.print(xml)
}
// Post processing of AndroidManifest.xml for supporting provider authorities
// across build variants.
android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
variant.processManifest.doLast {
overrideProviderAuthority(variant)
}
}
Example code can be found here: https://gist.github.com/cmelchior/6988275

Since the plugin version 0.8.3 (actually 0.8.1 but it wasn't working properly) you can define resources within the build file so this could be a cleaner solution because you don't need to create strings files nor additional debug/release folders.
build.gradle
android {
buildTypes {
debug{
resValue "string", "authority", "com.yourpackage.debug.provider"
}
release {
resValue "string", "authority", "com.yourpackage.provider"
}
}
}
AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.yourpackage"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1">
<application>
<provider
android:name=".provider.Provider1"
android:authorities="#string/authority"
android:exported="false" />
</application>
</manifest>

I don't know if anybody mention it. Actually after android gradle plugin 0.10+, the manifest merger will provide the official support for this function:
http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide/manifest-merger
In AndroidManifest.xml, you can use ${packageName} like this:
<provider
android:name=".provider.DatabasesProvider"
android:authorities="${packageName}.databasesprovider"
android:exported="true"
android:multiprocess="true" />
And in your build.gradle you can have:
productFlavors {
free {
packageName "org.pkg1"
}
pro {
packageName "org.pkg2"
}
}
See full example here:
https://code.google.com/p/anymemo/source/browse/AndroidManifest.xml#152
and here:
https://code.google.com/p/anymemo/source/browse/build.gradle#41

Use ${applicationId} placeholders in xml and BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID in code.
You will need to extend the build script to enable placeholders in xml files other than the manifest. You could use a source directory per build variant to provide different versions of the xml files but maintenance will become cumbersome very quickly.
AndroidManifest.xml
You can use the applicationId placeholder out of the box in the manifest. Declare your provider like this:
<provider
android:name=".provider.DatabaseProvider"
android:authorities="${applicationId}.DatabaseProvider"
android:exported="false" />
Note the ${applicationId} bit. This is replaced at build time with the actual applicationId for the build variant that is being built.
In code
Your ContentProvider needs to construct the authority string in code. It can use the BuildConfig class.
public class DatabaseContract {
/** The authority for the database provider */
public static final String AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + ".DatabaseProvider";
// ...
}
Note the BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID bit. It is a generated class with the actual applicationId for the build variant being built.
res/xml/ files, e.g. syncadapter.xml, accountauthenticator.xml
If you want to use a Sync Adapter you will need to provide meta-data for the ContentProvider and AccountManager in xml files in the res/xml/ directory. The applicationId placeholder is not supported here. But you can extend the build script yourself to hack it in.
<sync-adapter xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:accountType="${applicationId}"
android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
android:contentAuthority="${applicationId}.DatabaseProvider"
android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"
android:supportsUploading="true"
android:userVisible="true" />
<account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:accountType="${applicationId}"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/account_authenticator_label"
android:smallIcon="#drawable/ic_launcher" />
Again, note the ${applicationId}. This only works if you add the below gradle script to the root of your module and apply it from build.gradle.
build.gradle
Apply the extra build script from the module build.gradle script. A good place is below the Android gradle plugin.
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply from: './build-processApplicationId.gradle'
android {
compileSdkVersion 21
// etc.
build-processApplicationId.gradle
Below is working source for a res/xml/ placeholder build script. A better documented version is available on github. Improvements and extensions are welcome.
def replace(File file, String target, String replacement) {
def result = false;
def reader = new FileReader(file)
def lines = reader.readLines()
reader.close()
def writer = new FileWriter(file)
lines.each { line ->
String replacedLine = line.replace(target, replacement)
writer.write(replacedLine)
writer.write("\n")
result = result || !replacedLine.equals(line)
}
writer.close()
return result
}
def processXmlFile(File file, String applicationId) {
if (replace(file, "\${applicationId}", applicationId)) {
logger.info("Processed \${applicationId} in $file")
}
}
def processXmlDir(File dir, String applicationId) {
dir.list().each { entry ->
File file = new File(dir, entry)
if (file.isFile()) {
processXmlFile(file, applicationId)
}
}
}
android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
variant.mergeResources.doLast {
def applicationId = variant.mergedFlavor.applicationId + (variant.buildType.applicationIdSuffix == null ? "" : variant.buildType.applicationIdSuffix)
def path = "${buildDir}/intermediates/res/${variant.dirName}/xml/"
processXmlDir(new File(path), applicationId)
}
}
Strings.xml
In my opinion there is no need to add placeholder support for resource strings. For the above use case at least it is not needed. However you could easily change the script to not only replace placeholders in the res/xml/ directory, but also in the res/values/ directory.

I would rather prefer a mixture between Cyril and rciovati. I think is more simplier, you only have two modifications.
The build.gradle looks like:
android {
...
productFlavors {
production {
packageName "package.name.production"
resValue "string", "authority", "package.name.production.provider"
buildConfigField "String", "AUTHORITY", "package.name.production.provider"
}
testing {
packageName "package.name.debug"
resValue "string", "authority", "package.name.debug.provider"
buildConfigField "String", "AUTHORITY", "package.name.debug.provider"
}
}
...
}
And the AndroidManifest.xml:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="package.name" >
<application
...>
<provider android:name=".contentprovider.Provider" android:authorities="#string/authority" />
</application>
</manifest>

gradle.build
android {
compileSdkVersion 23
buildToolsVersion "23.0.1"
defaultConfig {
applicationId "com.example.awsomeapp"
minSdkVersion 9
targetSdkVersion 23
versionCode 1
versionName "1.0.0"
}
productFlavors
{
prod {
applicationId = "com.example.awsomeapp"
}
demo {
applicationId = "com.example.awsomeapp.demo"
versionName = defaultConfig.versionName + ".DEMO"
}
}
buildTypes {
release {
signingConfig signingConfigs.release
debuggable false
minifyEnabled false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.txt'
}
debug {
applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
versionNameSuffix = ".DEBUG"
debuggable true
}
}
applicationVariants.all { variant ->
variant.outputs.each { output ->
// rename the apk
def file = output.outputFile;
def newName;
newName = file.name.replace(".apk", "-" + defaultConfig.versionName + ".apk");
newName = newName.replace(project.name, "awsomeapp");
output.outputFile = new File(file.parent, newName);
}
//Generate values Content Authority and Account Type used in Sync Adapter, Content Provider, Authenticator
def valueAccountType = applicationId + '.account'
def valueContentAuthority = applicationId + '.authority'
//generate fields in Resource string file generated.xml
resValue "string", "content_authority", valueContentAuthority
resValue "string", "account_type", valueAccountType
//generate fields in BuildConfig class
buildConfigField "String", "ACCOUNT_TYPE", '"'+valueAccountType+'"'
buildConfigField "String", "CONTENT_AUTHORITY", '"'+valueContentAuthority+'"'
//replace field ${valueContentAuthority} in AndroidManifest.xml
mergedFlavor.manifestPlaceholders = [ valueContentAuthority: valueContentAuthority ]
}
}
authenticator.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:accountType="#string/account_type"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:smallIcon="#drawable/ic_launcher" />
sync_adapter.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sync-adapter xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:contentAuthority="#string/content_authority"
android:accountType="#string/account_type"
android:userVisible="true"
android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"
android:supportsUploading="true"/>
AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0.0" package="com.example.awsomeapp">
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS"/><!-- SyncAdapter and GCM requires a Google account. -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.AUTHENTICATE_ACCOUNTS"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_CREDENTIALS"/>
<!-- GCM Creates a custom permission so only this app can receive its messages. -->
<permission android:name="${applicationId}.permission.C2D_MESSAGE" android:protectionLevel="signature"/>
<uses-permission android:name="${applicationId}.permission.C2D_MESSAGE"/>
<application....
.......
<!-- Stub Authenticator -->
<service
android:name="com.example.awsomeapp.service.authenticator.CAuthenticatorService"
android:exported="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator"/>
</intent-filter>
<meta-data android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator" android:resource="#xml/authenticator"/>
</service>
<!-- -->
<!-- Sync Adapter -->
<service
android:name="com.example.awsomeapp.service.sync.CSyncService"
android:exported="true"
android:process=":sync">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.content.SyncAdapter"/>
</intent-filter>
<meta-data android:name="android.content.SyncAdapter" android:resource="#xml/sync_adapter" />
</service>
<!-- -->
<!-- Content Provider -->
<provider android:authorities="${valueContentAuthority}"
android:exported="false"
android:name="com.example.awsomeapp.database.contentprovider.CProvider">
</provider>
<!-- -->
</application>
</manifest>
Code:
public static final String CONTENT_AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.CONTENT_AUTHORITY;
public static final String ACCOUNT_TYPE = BuildConfig.ACCOUNT_TYPE;

Based on the sample by #ChristianMelchior, here's my solution, which fixes two issues in the previous solutions:
solutions that change values.xml in the build directory cause a full rebuild of resources (including aapt of all drawables)
for an unknown reason, IntelliJ (and probably Android Studio) do not reliably process the resources, causing the build to contain un-replaced .res-auto provider authorities
This new solution does things more the Gradle way by creating a new task and allows for incremental builds by defining input and output files.
create a file (in the example I put it in a variants directory), formatted like a resource xml file, which contains string resources. These will be merged into the app's resources, and any occurrence of .res-auto in the values will be replaced with the variant's package name, for example <string name="search_provider">.res-auto.MySearchProvider</string>
add the build_extras.gradle file from this gist to your project and reference it from the main build.gradle by adding apply from: './build_extras.gradle' somewhere above the android block
make sure you set a default package name by adding it to the android.defaultConfig block of build.gradle
in AndroidManifest.xml and other configuration files (such as xml/searchable.xml for auto-completion search providers), reference the provider (for example #string/search_provider)
if you need to get the same name, you can use the BuildConfig.PACKAGE_NAME variable, for example BuildConfig.PACKAGE_NAME + ".MySearchProvider"
https://gist.github.com/paour/9189462
Update: this method only works on Android 2.2.1 and later. For earlier platforms, see this answer, which has its own set of problems, since the new manifest merger is still very rough around the edges…

I've written a blogpost with Github sample project that tackles this problem (and other similar problems) in a slightly different way than Cyril's.
http://brad-android.blogspot.com/2013/08/android-gradle-building-unique-build.html

Unfortunately, the current version (0.4.1) of the android plugin doesn't seem to provide a good solution for this. I haven't had time to try this yet, but a possible workaround for this problem would be to use a string resource #string/provider_authority, and use that in the manifest: android:authority="#string/provider_authority". You then have a res/values/provider.xml in the res folder of each build type that should override the authority, in your case this would be src/debug/res
I've looked into generating the xml file on the fly, but again, there doesn't seem to be any good hooks for it in the current version of the plugin. I'd recommend putting in a feature request though, I can imagine more people will run into this same issue.

The answer in this post works for me.
http://www.kevinrschultz.com/blog/2014/03/23/using-android-content-providers-with-multiple-package-names/
I use 3 different flavours so I create 3 manifest with content provider in each flavour as kevinrschultz said:
productFlavors {
free {
packageName "your.package.name.free"
}
paid {
packageName "your.package.name.paid"
}
other {
packageName "your.package.name.other"
}
}
Your main Manifest not include providers:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<!-- Permissions -->
<application>
<!-- Nothing about Content Providers at all -->
<!-- Activities -->
...
<!-- Services -->
...
</application>
And your manifest in your each flavour including provider.
Free:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<application>
<!-- Content Providers -->
<provider
android:name="your.package.name.Provider"
android:authorities="your.package.name.free"
android:exported="false" >
</provider>
</application>
</manifest>
Paid:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<application>
<!-- Content Providers -->
<provider
android:name="your.package.name.Provider"
android:authorities="your.package.name.paid"
android:exported="false" >
</provider>
</application>
</manifest>
Other:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<application>
<!-- Content Providers -->
<provider
android:name="your.package.name.Provider"
android:authorities="your.package.name.other"
android:exported="false" >
</provider>
</application>
</manifest>

Why not just add this?
type.packageNameSuffix = ".$type.name"

My solution is to use placeholder replacement in AndroidManifest.xml. It also handles packageNameSuffix attributes so you can have debug and release as well as any other custom builds on the same device.
applicationVariants.all { variant ->
def flavor = variant.productFlavors.get(0)
def buildType = variant.buildType
variant.processManifest.doLast {
println '################# Adding Package Names to Manifest #######################'
replaceInManifest(variant,
'PACKAGE_NAME',
[flavor.packageName, buildType.packageNameSuffix].findAll().join()) // ignores null
}
}
def replaceInManifest(variant, fromString, toString) {
def flavor = variant.productFlavors.get(0)
def buildtype = variant.buildType
def manifestFile = "$buildDir/manifests/${flavor.name}/${buildtype.name}/AndroidManifest.xml"
def updatedContent = new File(manifestFile).getText('UTF-8').replaceAll(fromString, toString)
new File(manifestFile).write(updatedContent, 'UTF-8')
}
I have it up on a gist too if you want to see if it evolves later.
I found to be a more elegant approach than the multiple resources and XML parsing approaches.