I am trying to understand AOSP makefiles, I am lost following the build structure. It's way too complex. Is there any tool that gives the build process for a target visually or atleast an editor that helps me navigate the build files by clicking on it (Ctrl + Click navigation)
Thanks
No, there are no tools for this. But there are some rules for Android.mk files. The Android build system start to look for Android.mk files recursively: starting from more "root" folders and proceeding to more far folders. Maybe this can help you to understand build files.
Related
The question
When you need to use resource files, such as images, in your Android project, typically you put them in the res directory (e.g. res/drawable), and the Android build process picks them up by default. But what if your resource files come from a directory outside of your Android project? How do you copy them into a folder like res/drawable during sync or build?
What I have tried
I have a feeling that the solution is to write Gradle code, but I'm not sure how to do it. I tried the following code in my app module build.gradle file:
task copyResources(type: Copy) {
from '../../../images'
into 'res/drawable'
}
But it did not copy anything as far as I can tell. This is probably just my ignorance of how to use Gradle, and I could use some help.
I realize I could manually copy from ../../../images to res/drawable, but let's say those files change often, and I want to get the current version automatically whenever I sync or maybe whenever I build. If this is possible, I would appreciate knowing how to do it. If it is not possible, I would like to know that as well.
See How to run copy task with android studio into assets folder
Can do with adding
preBuild.dependsOn copyResources
after task copyResources(){...}
in your build.gradle.
But, it's not a good way for copying resources.
Generally you don't want to do that. The reason is that it makes what would otherwise be a clean source control system confused by the copied files.
A better idea would be to build an Android library (AAR) housed in a separate project, then consume them by adding that AAR as a dependency to the parent project.
Every project created in Android Studio 1.0.2 contains several files that reference the project's own absolute path. I can't even move my own project directory if I want to, let alone share the project with other developers.
Excluding files in app/build, these are the files containing absolute paths:
.idea/workspace.xml
.idea/modules.xml
.idea/libraries/support_v4_21_0_3.xml
.idea/libraries/appcompat_v7_21_0_3.xml
.idea/gradle.xml
.gradle/2.2.1/taskArtifacts/taskArtifacts.bin
.gradle/2.2.1/taskArtifacts/fileSnapshots.bin
app/app.iml
How do I force Android Studio to use relative paths for everything?
Edit: By experimenting with vanilla IDEA, I've narrowed down the origin of these absolute paths to a specific type of module, which Android Studio apparently always uses without offering you a choice. But I'm still no closer to understanding how to eradicate them.
In IDEA 14.0.2, if you create an empty project or an Android project with an "Application Module", the project does not contain any absolute paths. If you create a project with a "Gradle: Android Module", then it contains absolute paths in the same files as an Android Studio project.
Edit #2: Created IDEA-134587
In general, don't consider any of the .iml files or the contents of the .idea folder to be part of the project, and don't share any of those files, don't check them into source control, and don't move them with the project. Think of them as cache files.
The Gradle files are the source of truth, so if you're having troubles with absolute paths, close the project, delete the non-shareable files, and re-import it from the Gradle build scripts.
I ran into the exact same problem, but the solution suggested above contradicts JetBrains' advice as well as this answer. Also, my co-worker working from the same source code (with unexpanded paths) and Android Studio version wasn't having the problem, so I kept banging my head against the wall.
We eventually solved the problem when we realized that many of the paths I used included symlinks. In my case, I had a symlink set up for ~/work so that it pointed to /some/drive/with/space. Within Android Studio all of my source was referred to from ~/work/source rather than /some/drive/with/space/source. When I changed everything so that Android Studio referred to things with their actual paths, the $PROJECT_DIR$ and $MODULE_DIR$ variables magically started working and my .iml files were no longer getting corrupted. YMMV.
TL;DR: Don't use symlinks in your project paths!
Also, be sure to not keep the files within .gradle as part of your shared project.
Also, one set of files that you might want to share though are your files under .idea/copyright though as that allows you to have shared copyright settings.
So a possible .gitignore file might be:
.gradle
.idea
!.idea/copyright/[YourCopyrightFile].xml
!.idea/copyright/profile_settings.xml
*.iml
build
local.properties
Hmm. I just don't see the same absolute paths in those files, I only see references to MODULE_DIR and PROJECT_DIR, such as:
./app/app.iml: <excludeFolder url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/build/intermediates/lint" />
or:
./.idea/workspace.xml: <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/libraries/appcompat_v7_21_0_2.xml">
I wonder if this is Linux issue only, or something in your settings?
I develop an SDK, and would like to be able to check in module files for both IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio. I've devised the following solution, with one missing piece:
Create module files ending in -intellij-idea for the main project, and each module.
Create build.gradle files, and use the "sourceset" directive to use the old style src and res directory structure.
The problem is that the project information is always stored in a directory called ".idea". Before, I could have two IPR files, such as my-project-android-studio.ipr and my-project-intellij-idea.ipr. I could then open one in Android Studio, and the other in Intellij IDEA, but the actual source would remain the same.
How can I accomplish this? If there is a way to force Android Studio to generate IPR files instead of the ridiculous .idea directory, that would be optimal.
I am trying to build a branded Android app, that will have different resource files (mainly drawables) for different customers. The Java code in the apps will be the same, but the different apps will have a different look--meaning different color schemes and different logos etc. I have been told, and my research suggests that Ant is the best way to achieve this.
Where should I change the Android 'build.xml' file? What sort of Ant task should I use to achieve this?
For debugging, I would like to just use Eclipse and build with the default resources. But for production releases, I would like to run Ant on build.xml to produce multiple APKs from different /res folders. I do not even need any code snippets (although that would be nice), just even some tips from people that have done this before or something similar.
I ended up writing a Python script to reorganize the Android project before each build. I recommend avoiding the use of Ant for stuff like this. My 100-200 lines of Python achieved the equivalent of about 1000+ extra lines of Ant that was required in addition to the default Android build.xml Ant script.
I have encountered a similar issue where I want to compile the same code base with some changes as well as changes in the resource files. The solution I am pursuing at the moment is creating a library with the shared code/resources and separate "regular" projects for each of the different APK releases. Unfortunately, I don't have a functional final solution to the problem yet, so all I can give is these vague hints.
Requirement Setup
1. Go to the URL :
http://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi
and download the apache ant and extract it in to the any folder like d:/ant .
2. I think you already having the Android SDK path is like(D:/Android SDK/)
Now go to the Enviroment variables and check whether path variable is there is there add these in path otherwise create a new varible with name path and put it there in vaue
D:/ant/bin;D:/Android SDK/tools
done
Go to command prompt and navigate it to the root directory of your project and run the command
android update project -p /
Note: / if you are in the root directory of project else you need to give the path of root directory like d:/myworkspace/mysampleproject
this will generate and build.xml file in your project.
now run the command for this it is necessary to be in root directory of your project
ant debug
this will generate an apk file in bin folder signed with default debug key.
I've never made a program into an executable before, and I've been looking into how to do this for some time now. When I try to put it into a jar everything works fine but when I try to run it nothing happens.
How do I make my game into an executable so it can be run (on windows, not android)
I feel like I am not Linking it to the libraries or something... Not sure.
Thanks!
Edit:
I should add I get the error
JAR export finished with warnings. See details for additional information.
duplicate entry: com/badlogic/gdx/utils/arial-15.fnt
duplicate entry: com/badlogic/gdx/utils/arial-15.fnt
duplicate entry: com/badlogic/gdx/utils/arial-15.png
duplicate entry: com/badlogic/gdx/utils/arial-15.png
Jar export finished with problems.
See details for additional information.
Your problem is that when you use eclipse export as Executable jar file it does not include the assets (graphical, sounds ...) that you used in your gdx project. What you can do manually is either copy your assets folder right next to the generated jar file or include your assets folder in your jar file with your favorite zip management tool.
Another way would be to use this same eclipse export wizard and check "Save as ANT script" and then edit the generated ant file to include all the files and folders needed by your app.
Hope this helps
This is an old question, but if you are using a new version of LibGDX and Gradle you can use the command line to make an executable.
There are several commands, but these are for packaging:
Desktop
gradlew desktop:dist
Android (unsigned)
gradlew android:assembleRelease
iOS
gradlew ios:createIPA
Web
gradlew html:dist
Read more at https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/wiki/Gradle-on-the-Commandline
I'm assuming your application is setup as the libgdx wiki page suggests (with a "main project" and separate "desktop" and "android" projects that share the sources from the "main" project).
Since your app is written in Java, it requires a JVM to run on a desktop. You have to decide if you want to package that up, or rely on a JVM already being installed by the user. I believe packaging up the JVM with Java class files is very complicated and raises a host of other issues (and it becomes very platform specific). So, I believe most libgdx-based games get distributed as an executable Jar file, which means the user must already have Java. (It works for Minecraft, so its probably good enough for you, too. :)
Eclipse makes that really easy: File -> Export ... -> Java -> Executable Jar File. There may be additional steps required to include assets like your app's images and sounds into this .jar file. (My game is currently "asset free", so I don't have any experience with this part.)
You might also consider side-stepping the desktop executable, and packaging your game as an applet and running it in a web browser so there is very little "installation" required by the folks you want to show it to. Here's a walkthrough for making an applet from a libgdx-based game. (I haven't actually tried this myself yet, but I do have a libgdx-based game that I'm planning on doing this for.)
If you're using Android Studio, you can create a custom configuration to distribute from within the program.
On the Run dropdown list select edit configurations.
Click the "+". Select Gradle.
On the right half of that screen give your configuration a Name.
Gradle Project: Use the browse button to select your desktop application. This will look something like (project name):desktop
Tasks: type "desktop:dist"
Apply.
Close the configuration editor and select your new configuration from the dropdown. Hit run and it should build your project.
Your new Jar file should be located in (ProjectName)/desktop/build/libs