I need to have different versions of my code on my device when I'm developing my android application. I want to have a copy of my latest code once in a week or so. The reason is that sometimes you make changes to the code and make it worse for a while, then after that you polish your code to include the features. So I need to have a copy of latest correctly running version of my code on the device.
I tried to change the app name, to see whether the ide deploys a new copy of my code, but it didn't work and the ide seems to be smarter than that and it replaces the app with the new name. I suspect that I need to change the package which is a little bit frustrating/risky. Anyone knows the solution?
Right now, I'm using Intellij to implement my android project but I think this doesn't matter.
You need to change the package name.
I use ant build script to do this easily. I created an ant task to rename the package name and make a build.
Typically I use svn to keep track of changes and label which ones are the ones that work then add features and use svn merge commands to combine new features with working code. Then if you want to undo something you can just roll back a revision.
The way I achieved that goal is:
- configure the original project as library
- create another project specifying a different package name in the manifest
- you also need to declare all the activities, receivers, etc with the full name in the new manifest
In that way switching the code of the original project through different branches you can create different apks and have different version of the app installed at the same on your device.
You need to change the package name, not the app name, it's pretty easy in Eclipse.
If your package name now is 'com.sina.perch', so just rename it to 'com.sina.perch1' or something else whatever in file 'AndroidManifest.xml' , which looks like:
It will be work.
Related
I have an existing android app and I'm trying to implement some junit tests. Normally (with Android Studio 1.2) the test package is created automatically. If I try to manually create folders to mimic the structure I've seen elsewhere there is either no option to create package under those folders, or I can't name it what I should be able to without it being placed under the existing package. Anyone know how to properly add this just as it would have been when auto created?
Every article covering this assumes its already there... like this one:
http://evgenii.com/blog/testing-activity-in-android-studio-tutorial-part-1/
This may not be the best way to do this, but I just created a new project, let it auto-generate the test package, and moved everything from my old project into the new one. There were a few references after the refactoring that needed to be cleaned up but it worked quite well for the most part.
I developed an app for android, but I need to install two instances of it, one for my daily use, another for debug/development, I don't have too many phones for debug, just have one phone, and don't want to debug on emulator, because it's too slow compare to real phone.
Or is there any thing we can change on APK file, then we can install it as another app, e.g. change it's package name ?
Currently, I changed the package name in code then make them to two apps, which can be installed on the same phone, but this way is not convenient. seek for simple way.
Update: is there any tool to modify package name in androidmanifest.xml directly after packaged(apk file)? then we just need unzip the apk, modify the androidmanifest.xml, zip the apk again.
You've answered the question yourself. You have to change the package name in the manifest, otherwise Android will override the old app (or can't install it, if the certificate differs).
Try changing the the name of the app in strings.xml from resource folder #string/app_name to have multiple instances of the same app. And package name must be changed so that the existing app is not overridden.
You can copy your project and change the package name in the copy.
You can use the same SVN path to apply the changes on the two projects.
Or you could automate the different builds using an ANT build.xml file with parameters. There are several examples on how to do this for Android in Google.
ref: One android application, one startup view, two icons
I would make the original app a library project and create a new project which uses the library project.
Advantage:
you can have both running as your new project should have a different package name
easily identification by overriding the app name in your new project (just add "beta" to it)
both versions can be installed on one device/emulator parallel
pretty good setup if you try to verify the update process of your app
no confusion with a version control system - renaming packages results in awful non-real changes on your development branches
Disadvantage:
you need to "uncheck" the library setting before you can release the original project
you might need to change some stuff in both manifest files which will increase the maintainability in a small manner
If you really need a market version of your app on your device, this method is the easiest one as a package rename will very probably result in worse maintainability.
edit:
You can mark a project as a library project in project preferences -> Android. After that you can link add that library project to another normal android project at the same spot, just click on the add button.
Me and my friend started building our first app on android. We started on one laptop and then copied project to another laptop too. Now we started doing our part on android separately.
Now i have to combine the work in one app, So when I tried to import the other project to my workspace, it says "Some projects cannot be imported because they already exist in the workspace" I tried changing my package name too. But even after that, the same warning comes. what to do? thanks
You need to set up some sort of repository with version control, then both of you can check out code, work on it and check it back in. The versioning system will keep track of everything, perform merges and flag conflicts for you.
Some info about Revision Control
And a list of various software
If you don't want to do version control, you can use a diff program to comnpare the two files and merge the differences. Set it up to compare, make the changes to "your" copy, and you should be set to go.
I've used ExamDiff to great success before (they have a very usable free version).
And here's a list of diff software.
I downloaded the source code of OI Notepad and did some modifications to it. And then made an .apk file out of it. But when I try to install the .apk it shows
This is a system application.
Do you still want to replace it?
When i say yes it moves forward but does not install it..
I have this post My application tries replace another my application and the answer given there the package name of both the apps cannot be same.
But is there any way in which I can manage to install modified OI Notepad without any hassles of replacing the older one. It happens in Emulator..
Thanks
If you are using eclipse you can right click the package tree and use the refactor option to quickly change the package. This, in most cases, correctly updates the Application Manifest for you. This 'should' resolve the error you are having keeping in mind that you will now have two versions of the application so it may be in your best interest to change the application name of your custom version so you can easily distinguish between the two.
Whenever I try to install the 2nd version, it says that it is going to replace all data from the previous version. I did the following things to avoid such situations:
app names are different so .apk file name is also different
package names are different
My app has a database. Do I need to have different database name for these two version ?
So, I would like to know, what I am doing wrong and what more should be done? I am using eclipse simulator at the moment.
You must have a different package name, there is no other way.
I had 2 different versions of the same product (free & paid) and used: com.package.paid & com.package.free.
This means that nothing is shared between the 2 apps (DB included).
You can also use ANT scripts to build both apps from the same code base, I just changed it manually every time I needed to build a version.
Make sure that you have changed the package= in the AndroidManifest.xml