In an android eclipse project, I have a directory like assets/gfx. In this directory are files like mysprite.png, but I also have mysprite.xcf, the original gimp file. Is this file included in the apk file, and if so, is there a way to exclude it from the build of the apk file?
First, yes. this files are present in your apk as well as /res files.
Second, no. You cannot modify apk contents(delete, add, ..). You may keep them (for example picture) on SD card
Related
I have some files that I want to read from my app.Currently, I have to do the following:
Check if the file exists in the files directory.
If it doesnt, then copy the files from assets to the files directory
If it does, then, skip step 2
So, is it possible to not copy the files ? This increases the size of my app (uselessly) as there is an extra copy of all the files.
Note, that I have to access the file using getfiles(). I am using a library that doesnt work if I give the uri of my assets folder.
So, it it somehow possible to compile the app with some files already in the files directory ?
Internal storage for you app is created when application is installed so there is no way to provide files there during compile time, that would be magic.
You could try creating ContentProvider for sharing your files stored inside assets folder.
Besides, you should tell which library you are using. Then I may be able to suggest something more precise.
I have a number of files in a project that I don't want to include in the compiled apk.
For source files, right-click -> Build Path -> Exclude does the trick.
How about for excluding other files, for example certain ones in the assets folder? If my understanding is correct, all of these are included in the apk by default.
Also, if I create a custom folder in my project structure (e.g. inside the assets onee) it will show in the package explorer. Would its contents be added to the apk?
Apparently, folders named _pre_production are not added to the APK.
I cannot take credit for this. Here is where I found the answer:
Ignoring files from Android APK
I'm duplicating the answer here in case someone comes by.
I want to add a text file to my APK root. This file will not be used in the application but it will stay there for manual extraction of the APK.
I tried to put it into the root of the project in Eclipse but it didn't include that file in the APK. I don't want to put it into assets folder. Can't I put it to the root?
Use the assets folder.
According to Android developer
assets/
This is empty. You can use it to store raw asset files. Files that you save here are compiled into an .apk file as-is, and the original filename is preserved. You can navigate this directory in the same way as a typical file system using URIs and read files as a stream of bytes using the AssetManager. For example, this is a good location for textures and game data.
Files that are not put into any of the main directories of your android project will NOT be included in your apk. You MUST put the file in the assets so it can be accessed within the application as an external resource/file.
I have a lot of unused images in my android app. Those images are placed in separate folder in project root directory. They are not being used anywhere in a project, but I need to keep them.
My concern is that will these unused images be included in the apk file? Since there are a lot of them and increase the size of apk file.
Files stored in the root directory (including custom subdirectories) are not included in the APK. It is very common practice to have your own files needed for the project in the project root. For example, a source license file, a to-do list, a directory with high-resolution images that you create distributed images out of, etc.
Android uses these subdirectories with special meaning:
src/
res/
assets/
libs/
gen/
bin/
Using a subdirectory name other than those, Android will ignore your files.
Confirm by your self: create the apk and change the extension to zip and extract that.
You can use an apk optimizer like progaurd and more for same.
addon to #Darshan-JosiahBarber s excellent answer
With android-studio-0.5.8, gradle-1.11 and android-tools.0.9.+ you can also have a folder
resources
for files to be copied relative to the root of the android apk.
Example:
project file res/some/dir/file.txt will be copied to apk /res/some/dir/file.txt
project file assets/some/dir/file.txt will be copied to apk /assets/some/dir/file.txt
project file resources/some/dir/file.txt will be copied to apk /some/dir/file.txt
This folder resources is necessary if you want to include *.properties files used by crossplatform libs like ical4j.
I'm pretty new to eclipse and Android and I'm trying to add some files to the assets folder, but certain files and directories are not being included in the .apk file.
I have set-up the following structure in the solution:
/assets
/textures
/test.png
/splash.png
/xml
/testData.xml
I don't know if there is a specific way to get eclipse to re-build/compile the project and add the new assets to the assets folder in the .apk, but the /xml subfolder (and its contents) are not in the apk. Subsequently I get FilenotFoundExceptions thrown when I deploy the app. The textures are all included.
How can I force a recompile and rebuild of the apk and is there anywhere to manually check which files are included in the project (like an assets manifest file)?
As far as I know there are no restrictions placed on hierarchy or file formats for within the assets folder. Also, when I dragged the files from the desktop to the solution explorer, I selected 'copy files to project'.
Thanks
It appears one cannot use upper-case letters in the naming of files within the assets folder. Contrary to my example above, I was actually using camel-backed file names within the folders. After changing the file names to lower-case, the apk was automatically re-built with the assets the next time I deployed