Develop Reference

Does an Android .aar built with Gradle contain dependencies?

Not sure why I can't find any answers on this. If I convert my library project into an .aar using Gradle in Android Studio, does it retain all the dependencies of that module?
I'm asking because I'm trying to use a Gradle generated .aar locally, but it looks like only some of the original dependencies have been packaged. Namely, it complains that I'm missing 'OkHttp', but if I add it to the main project I get duplicate class errors.

Usually a library does not directly contain its dependencies. This does not matter whether it is an aar or a jar. Instead, the library declares its dependencies in the Gradle build file and they are resolved when someone uses the library.

Import library module that has dependency on local aar file

I have an Android Instant App with following structure:
B: base module
Installed: installed app module
Instant: instant app module
F: feature with functional specific to Installed app. F depends on local aar library local-lib located in project\F\libs.
F's build.gradle is following:
repositories {
flatDir {
dirs 'libs'
}
}
dependencies {
api ":local-lib#aar"
}
I tried to include F module to Installed app module like this:
dependencies {
implementation project(':B')
implementation project(':F')
}
But gradle couldn't resolve local-lib, giving error:
Error:Could not resolve all dependencies for configuration ':Installed:releaseCompileClasspath'.
> Could not find :local-lib:.
Searched in the following locations:
... some remote repositories ...
Required by:
project :Installed > project :F
I tried to duplicate libs folder to project\Installed\libs, and it worked. So basically I need 2 copies of local-lib to make this work? How should I organise imports to avoid duplication? Perfect case would be if libs folder was inside F module.

IMHO, the cleanest way to make it work would be to use some local repository, like a Maven, publish your local-lib here, and reference it from here, and do the same for each of your libraries. When you publish to an artifact repository manager - let's say a Maven - you will have your .aar coupled with a pom file, containing all the needed dependencies.
You have to keep in mind here that your aar is kind of a flat file, meaning, while you reference it somewhere, there is not way to keep track of the transitive dependencies of it (that's the job of the pom files on Maven).
This means that when you reference F in Installed, the F aar is added, but Installed doesn't know that it has to get local-lib in order for F to work properly, or doesn't know where. That's why you have lines on the remote repositories: gradle searches everywhere (in every possible place = in every repository you have listed) for the dependency.
When you copy/paste the code as a module of your project, the gradle knows what are the transitive dependencies because it can access the gradle file for each dependency.
When you copy the aar directly inthe Installed/libs folder, it also works because gradle checks here (you probably have a compile line in your gradle checking for that folder).
If you want to keep the flat file, you should try putting somewhere reachable by all modules, on the same folder level (take a look at that question), or you could try to add the local-lib as an Android module project, and not just put it in the libs folder.

How to manually import a gradle dependency in android studio

I'm trying to contribute to an open source project from Mapzen called "On the Road". (Github link)
I would like to edit and add some code to the project. At the moment I'm including the project using gradle with the following dependency:
compile 'com.mapzen:on-the-road:1.1.1'
Someone gave me a tutorial on how to do this here, but I'm getting a gradle error;
Error:Configuration with name 'default' not found.
What I did was clone the project from github, copied the entire master folder into my apps main and renamed it to "customLibrary".
I then added include':customLibrary' to my settings.gradle and compile project(':customLibrary') to my build.gradle(Module:app) file.
How do I import this project without the errors?

As you cloned the entire master folder, inside the customLibrary there is the build.gradle file which is the top-level file of the library.
You can't do it.
Since you are including the customLibrary folder, gradle is looking for a module build.gradle.
You have to clone the library folder instead of the entire master folder.
Otherwise you can use include':customLibrary:library' only to add the module library of the entire project.

Multiple AAR files

I am using Android Studio 1.2
I create a private library I want to use that one in another application.
To use it I create an AAR files, but this AAR don't work. I have in my library a dependency to an AAR file.
The AAR files do not the dependencies?
If I use the jar and I includ ans create all the dependencies the project works fine.
NOTE :
I know how to importe the AAR file. The problem is to use an AAR in the AAR..
Thanks.

If I'm understanding your question correctly, there are 3 projects involved:
Library Project 2 --> Library Project 1 --> Application Project
You are editing "Library Project 1" and have added to it's app/build.grade a dependency on the Library Project 2's aar. Something like this: compile 'com.arasthel:gnavdrawer-library:1.1.5'
I am not sure where you are running into an issue, but I'll attempt an answer anyway. If I'm completely off-base, can you please elaborate on how the AAR dependency is not working? Any error messages?, a class/resource not found, etc.
I think it's unlikely you are unable to use a class from Library Project 2 inside Library Project 1, because I just tried this myself and it seems to be working just fine. It's worth noting that the Library Project 1 aar file will NOT include classes or resources from Library Project 2. Library Project 2 will be noted as a dependency in Library Project 1's pom if published using gradle's maven plugin to publish Library Project 1.
My guess is that you are having a problem in the Application Project? Perhaps the class from Library Project 2 is not found in the Application Project?
If that is correct, then there are two possible solutions:
Enable transitive dependencies on the aar dependency in the Application project's app/build.gradle: Instead of compile 'com.example:myLibrary:versionX', make it compile('com.example:myLibrary:versionX'){transitive=true}. I just verified this causes gradle to read Library Project 1's pom and automatically add dependencies found there into the Application Project.
If you would like to use transitive dependencies, your Library Project will need to be generating a pom and publishing it along with the aar. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/30085677/431296 for some additional information on how I have this working.
Manually add the dependency on Library Project 2 to the Application Project - so that your Application has a dependency line for both Libraries. Depending on your specific situation this may or may not be a workable solution.

Add following code to you project build.gradle file, and you should put you AAR file to the libs folder.
repositories {
mavenCentral()
flatDir {
dirs 'libs'
}
}
And finally add compile info to your dependencies:
dependencies {
compile(name:'AARFileName', ext:'aar')
}

Library projects in Android Studio only work if nested in the project tree?

I'm trying to build a project dependent on ActionbarSherlock in Android Studio.
After much reading I've ended up having a working build, but only if I nest the ABS project inside my main project like so:
MainProject
MainProject\ABS (copied here and then used import module)
MainProject\MainModule (the one created by the wizard)
I had to edit the various Gradle files, settings.gradle is as follows:
include ':OnTop'
include ':ActionbarSherlock'
I fixed the dependencies in the build.gradle files accordingly.
This is suboptimal, I think. Surely I don't want to replicate the ABS module in every new project that uses it? What should I be doing instead?

Every step are here : How do I add a library project to Android Studio?
If you want to more about gradle see the Google I/O conference by Xavier Ducrohet on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCJAgPkpmR0

I searched this issue enough and finally these are my results:-
This sample project
-> project root
d:\asprojects\thisproject
-> module
d:\asprojects\thisproject\MyModule
-> libraries
d:\asprojects\lvl
d:\asprojects\MyLibrary
-> jars
D:/asprojects/android-support-v4.jar
D:/asprojects/GoogleAdMobAdsSdk-6.4.1.jar
-If you want to use external (outside the project) libraries then the settings.gradle has to point to it like so:-
settings.gradle
include ':lvl', ':MyLibrary', ':MyModule'
project(':MyLibrary').projectDir = new File('D:/asprojects/MyLibrary')
project(':lvl').projectDir = new File('D:/asprojects/lvl')
-Then you need to setup the build.gradle for the MyModule correctly like so:-
build.gradle
dependencies
{
compile files('D:/asprojects/android-support-v4.jar')
compile files('D:/asprojects/GoogleAdMobAdsSdk-6.4.1.jar')
compile project(':lvl') compile project(':MyLibrary')
}
-But the IDE will not like these absolute paths and will say not found.
-But gradlw from commandline work justs fine:-
gradlew clean
gradlew build
gradlew installRelease
etc