All the people that I work with use Eclipse for creating android apps. However, I recently found out that Android is no longer supporting Eclipse and they are moving to Android Studio. All that apps that I am working on have been complied and created with Eclipse.
I'm thinking if the code and the programming language is the same, then the compiler or the IDE shouldn't matter. Would we be able to still work together and share code if I switched to Android Studio and they stayed in Eclipse? What are some of the potential problems?
No, the two IDEs use different project structures, but Android Studio has a very nice wizard that allows you to move your Eclipse project to AS. I really recommend you and your team to move to AS.
As already stated, everybody would have to make the switch to Android Studio at the same time, and you would need to make some changes to the build system.
Until everyone makes the switch, you should just use the Eclipse/ADT bundle.
You can technically keep the same old folder structure for source files when porting a project to Android Studio (we tried it, it works), but the different build system is the main change that throws a wrench into the works.
Eclipse uses the ANT build system for Android projects.
Android Studio uses the Gradle build system.
We are in the process of planning a switch at my work, and everybody will need to switch at the same time, and the build system will have to be ported from ANT over to Gradle.
See more about Gradle: http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide
Migrating old projects to Android Studio: http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/migrate.html
*edited for clarity regarding folder structure
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I prefer eclipse over android studio, my question is if I can still use it to build projects for future development - for example the recycleview library. It is supported in eclipse too, but will future google libraries continue to support it?
My second question is, if I'm using eclipse to make an app, will it be run on new devices too, as the project structure is different in eclipse and android studio.
My final question is how can I use libraries from android arsenal if I don't use android studio (all the libraries there are for maven and gradle)?
I prefer eclipse over android studio, my question is if I can still use it to build projects for future development - for example the recycleview library. It is supported in eclipse too, but will future google libraries continue to support it?
In the end, it is all just Java, XML, and other such resources. The RecyclerView library is no exception- it is just a library that can be used in any IDE.
The IDE you use for development is just a tool to view and edit these project files. Separately, you use a build system to build the application. Your IDE, the build system, and the project files are completely separate and one doesn't depend on the other to create a functioning application. In fact, you can build an Android application without an IDE at all.
The biggest issue you might run into here is the format of libraries such as RecyclerView. In the Eclipse days (note that Eclipse Android projects typically use Ant for building), most libraries came as either JAR files or Android libraries (of source code). With the release of Android Studio and the Android Gradle plugin, everything is shifting towards Gradle dependencies.
Also be aware that Google is not going to continue supporting Eclipse development. The tools for building Android application in Eclipse will not continue to receive updates, so bugs may pop up in the future that prevent you from continuing to use it effectively.
My second question is, if I'm using eclipse to make an app, will it be run on new devices too, as the project structure is different in eclipse and android studio.
The output of building an Android application is the same regardless of how or where you build it - you get an APK with the same file structure. The structure of the built APK is independent of the structure of the source code.
My final question is how can I use libraries from android arsenal if I don't use android studio (all the libraries there are for maven and gradle)?
Eclipse can use both Gradle and Maven for building. If you want to use libraries as Gradle or Maven dependencies, you will need to set up your project to use either Maven or Gradle to build instead of Ant. Otherwise you can still find JARs for most projects that don't rely on the Android framework, or you will need to get the source code for the library and set it up as a project dependency yourself.
I am new to Android app development. I have a source code and would like to modify some xml/java codes. Can I use the Brackets editor for this? I don't want to use Android studio as it's a bit complicated for me.
If you really want to, you can edit source files in an editor of your choosing and build the app manually via terminal. Actually, this is how it's done on Continuous Integration systems.
Typically Android projects are using Gradle build system, and come with Gradle wrappers. After you are done editing, you can just invoke it to assemble the release APK signed with proper keys as discussed in How to create a release signed apk file using Gradle? thread. Note that it would require you having downloaded Android SDK and configured your paths properly, which would be tricky for a beginner, yet completely automated in a proper IDE.
If you are unlucky, it could be an old Eclipse project, or using some less popular build system, like Ant.
As you are new to Android development, I think you should go the more simple route and just download Android Studio and import your project.
I am using eclipse with adt to developing android apps
I want to use 47deg Android Swipe Listview library in my app
Is this library created just for Android Studio IDE And is there any way to use this in eclipse?
(Because it has some files in it like build.gradle and ...)
From my own experience, there is no easy way to do that. the project meta-data is significantly different so eclipse and Android Studio are not compatible in that respect.
I created a new project in Eclipse and added the source files manually. alternatively - I found instructions on how to open an older version of the project in eclipse here- https://github.com/47deg/android-swipelistview/wiki (which I intend to try tomorrow).
Good luck!
Can we use Android studio for AOSP(Android Open Source Project) development, is there a way to do it. I didnt find one. anybody got any idea on this please ?
You can use Android Studio as a IDE for AOSP, since it's just a modified version of InteliJ's IDE.
from AOSP root:
make idegen && development/tools/idegen/idegen.sh
Then just "Open Project" in Android Studio and select the android.ipr it generated.
To import AOSP source in Android Studio or Eclipse, follow the full instructions here :
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/development/+/master/tools/idegen/README
What Pedlar suggested above is one way of doing it. I ran into lot of Jar dependency issues when I tried it with IDEA community edition (Android Studio is a fork of IDEA IDE). The IDE keeps prompting you about duplicate jars etc. The generated project includes framework Java sources as well as App sources. I tried to build an App project which resulted in broken AOSP build. IMHO, IDEA is a great IDE for Java development. But didn't work well with AOSP.
What worked for me is using eclipse to browse/edit/debug framework sources, but build the code from a terminal window. To avoid AOSP build breaks, please create a shadow dir of AOSP (i.e. lndir of AOSP) and use shadow dir for eclipse project.
This is explained at Using eclipse to browse/edit AOSP link in step by step.
If you are working on AOSP, you might want to check Debugging Android framework services.
I implemented the current version of ActionBarSherlock to my Android Project.
Everything works fine and I don't get any errors.
But when I try to debug or export my project I don't get an .apk-file out of my project. Just a .jar-file with the name of my project.
I've read about some problems the SDK had with building projects that contain external libraries but this was at SDK version 14 and so I hope, this bug is fixed...
So there might be another cause for this problem.
Does anybody know a possible solution?
You cannot get *.jar file as the result of building Android project. This seems very strange to me. There must be something wrong with your project settings (if you changed them), or the project you build is of the wrong type (i.e. it is Java Application instead of Android Application).
You didn't mention which IDE do you use, but I assume you use Eclipse.
Make sure you have installed Android SDK and Eclipse ADT correctly (just in case).
Next thing to try is to create a new Android Application project from existing sources (there should be such option during the process of creation).