Gradle: Working with multi app projects in Android Studio

In this tutorial I wanted to share how is my project organized to work with multiple apps and libraries.

Maven: updating version on Mac

In this tutorial we will discuss upgrading Maven on Mac OS X.

Maven: installing Android SDK

In order to compile Android project using Maven you have to instal Android SDK to your Maven repository.

$ git clone https://github.com/mosabua/maven-android-sdk-deployer.git

Cloning into 'maven-android-sdk-deployer'...

remote: Counting objects: 3198, done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (7/7), done.

remote: Total 3198 (delta 3), reused 6 (delta 3)

Receiving objects: 100% (3198/3198), 435.92 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.

Resolving deltas: 100% (1585/1585), done.

Checking connectivity... done.

$ cd maven-android-sdk-deployer/

Android NFC

In this tutorial we will create a simple NFC app as a new project from scratch.

Android: reinstalling several APKs from single folder

In this tutorial we will install multiple APKs from your local computer to Android device using ADB connection.

echo "                    ██╗"
echo "██╗   ██╗ ██╗   ██╗ ╚═╝"
echo "██║   ██║ ██╚═██╗═╝ ██╗"
echo "██║   ██║ ████══╝   ██║"
echo "██║   ██║ ██║╚██╗   ██║"
echo "████████║ ██║  ╚██╗ ██║"
echo "╚═══════╝  ╚╝   ╚═╝ ╚═╝"
echo

# Install new APKs
for apk in $(ls *.apk)
do
    echo "Installing $apk"
    echo
    adb install -r "$apk"
done

Groovy on Android

Android developers are already using Groovy in many places AROUND Android, for example in Gradle build scripts. Now the dream of using Groovy as primary language for Android is a little closer to realization! See what is cooking.

Installing Maven

After few years of not needing it, I came back to Maven, reason being that I cannot use Gradle for reasons beyond my control and Ant does not describe complex projects structures required.

Bash: GIT repetitive tasks

I have too many GIT repos to remember that I need to keep updated, to do that I have a script that updates what I need.

Mac Daemons that hunt us

Sometimes you get annoyed by garbage other companies are trying to stuff on your computer. Motorola is one of these companies. When I connect my test DROID device the annoying popups are opened. 

This is not a conclusive solution, but a start of the longer article on the unwanted Mac Daemons that suck up your patience and CPU power.

Removing Launch services

$ launchctl list | grep moto

- 0 com.motorola.motohelperUpdater

32594 - com.motorola.motohelper

- 0 com.motorola.MDMUpdaterPlist

$ launchctl remove com.motorola.motohelper

$ launchctl remove com.motorola.motohelperUpdater

Removing unwanted Application

cd /Library/Application\ Support/

$ ls | grep Moto

MotoCast

Motorola Mobility

uki@ Application Support $ sudo rm -r MotoCast

Password:

uki@ Application Support $ sudo rm -r Motorola\ Mobility/

List of legitimate Services:

• PTPCamera - part of the Image Capture software that MacOS uses

Got Droid? - My Android (test) devices

While cleaning my office I decided to make an inventory of my Android devices.

Please note that it is NOT worth testing on anything less than API 8 Android 2.2 Froyo as it is less than 0.7% of the market share,  so it is OK to use support library v7 in all apps you are running. 

I keep my Google ION for "sentimental reasons only.

OS	OS version	Version Name	API LEVEL	% used	Make	Model	CPU name	CPU Mhz	CPU number	flash ROM	RAM	Camera Mp	BT	Radio	screen height	screen width	screen density dpi	Screen diagonal inches
Android	1.6	Donut	4	0	HTC	Google ION / Magic		528	1			3	2	quad band unlocked				3.2
Android	2.2.3	Froyo	8	0.7	Motorola	DROID	Arm Cortex A8	600	1	512					854	480	240	3.7
Android/CM	2.3.3	Gingerbread MR1	10	11.4	BN	NookColor									1024	600	161	7
Android	2.3.3	Gingerbread MR1	10	11.4	HTC	Vision / Desire Z A7272	ARMv7 Scorpion	800	1	1.5Gb	512	5	2.1		800	480	240	3.7
Android	2.3.4	Gingerbread MR1	10	11.4	Motorola	DROID2 A955	OMAP 3630	1000	1	8Gb	512	5	2.1		854	480		3.7
Android	4.2.2	Jelly Bean	17	20.7	Samsung	GT-P7510 Tab 10.1									1280	752	160	10.1
Android	4.1.1		17	20.7	HTC	One X									1196	720	320	4.9
Android	4.4.2	KitKat	19	24.5	Samsung	SM-P990 Galaxy Tab 12.1									2560	1600	320	12.1
Android/CM	4.4.4	KitKat	19	24.5	OnePlus	One A0001	Snapdragon 801		4						1920	1080	480	5.5

Android name to version to API level table

• API 1 (no code name) 1.0  
• API 1 (no code name) 1.1  
• API 3 Cupcake 1.5, NDK 1
• API 4 Donut 1.6, NDK 2
• API 5 Eclair 2.0  
• API 6 Eclair 2.0.1  
• API 7 Eclair 2.1, NDK 3 - support-v7 ActionBar
• API 8 Froyo 2.2.x  , NDK 4
• API 9 Gingerbread 2.3 - 2.3.2  , NDK 5 - added some NFC
• API 10 Gingerbread 2.3.3 - 2.3.7   - added full NFC
• API 11 Honeycomb 3.0  
• API 12 Honeycomb 3.1  , NDK 6
• API 13 Honeycomb 3.2.x  
• API 14 Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.1 - 4.0.2, NDK 7 - added NFC: Android Beam
• API 15 Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 - 4.0.4 , NDK 8
• API 16 Jelly Bean 4.1.x  
• API 17 Jelly Bean 4.2.x  
• API 18 Jelly Bean 4.3.x  
• API 19 KitKat 4.4 - 4.4.4  
• API 20 Android Wear devices
• API 21 Lollipop 5.0 API level 21

My devices spreadsheet

8b. ListViewSwipeActivity

In this tutorial you will learn how to use ListViewSwipeActivity.

6a. Java: Generic Type Interface

In this tutorial we will learn how to create an Interface that serves any type of object using Java Generic Types introduced in Java 1.5.

9b. Gradle: AndroidStudio with submodules (library projects)

In this tutorial we will overview integration basics of Android Studio and Gradle build tools.

Android: ListViewSwipeActivity ListView with swipe detection

In this tutorial we will explore writing and using ListView that extends support-v7 ActionBarActivity and detects side-to-side swipes and touch events.

8a. Android: populating ListView from the Databse

In this tutorial we will expand on the previous example showing basic SQLite CRUD methods. We will populate a list with results from the database.

7b. SQLite CRUD - BookShelf app

In this tutorial you will learn basic SQLite CRUD  functions (Create, Read, Update, Delete) for database operations. Actually, we will use Save, Fetch, Update and Delete method names.

7a. Android: Shared Preferences: saving and fetching persistent data

In this tutorial you will learn how to save and retrieve user preferences.

IntelliJ IDEA 13: error preventing Android project compilation

4:00:12 AM Throwable: Cannot generate protobuf files as the path to protoc has not been set. Please set in Settins > Compiler
4:00:12 AM Compilation completed with 0 errors and 0 warnings in 0 sec


Not resolved

5e. Android: opening a Web page

In this Tutorial you will learn how to open a Web page in Android.

Android: opening other screen (Activity) from Menu

In this tutorial you will learn how to open a new screen (Activity) using an Intent and Menu items.

5d. AndroidStudio: convert to lower/upper case

This tutorial shows you how to change the code lower/upper case of code in Android Studio.

5c. Android: Fragments

When part of your screen has to change layout based on the application logic it is a good practice to use Fragments. For example, user changes convertor type from "length" to "colors" which has very different UI layout, some of the the screen (Activity) will remain the same, but the conversion input will be a different Fragment.

Eclipse: export and import preferences

When you work in multiple Eclipse workspaces recreating your preferences is time consuming, to avoid this you can quickly export your set-up and next time you create a workspace import it.