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For people that don't actually use Android Studio, what does your dev setup looks like?

by samiq 9y ago

developernotes 9y ago
In the early years of Android Studio, I generally preferred IntelliJ. I have since converted our application and main library (SQLCipher for Android) to use Gradle. I have Instant Run disabled, but otherwise I haven't run into many issues with Android Studio. We still coordinate our library build with a Makefile.
codeulike 9y ago
I use IntelliJ, with LibGDX/Gradle (game development)
jmkni 9y ago
I do Android dev in Visual Studio with Xamarin. Your app is structured the same as a native one (Activities, Receivers, Services, Layouts, etc) and the XML for your layouts is identical, but you get to work in C# and don’t have to deal with Gradle etc. I like it.
- elboru 9y ago
  What downsides does it have compared to a more traditional environment? I'm a C# developer so Xamarin sounds really tempting, it's just that I don't want to break my head on "simple" stuff I could easily avoid with a traditional environment
  - titanix2 9y ago
    You still have to learn the underlying story platform and API, that’s not abstracted. Also choosing between Xamarin Forms and Xamarin Native for the UI (not compatible between them). Obscure errors sometimes. But from my (little) experience on it, getting to an app running and start working on it is way mire easy than with the Java approach. Give it a try :)
  - pasta 9y ago
    Maybe the designer isnt that good. But overall it's much better. And you get: Shared models with your web api, reusable business for iOS and Windows, great tools like ReSharper, and so on.
meesles 9y ago
React native! Sublime to edit text (mostly the React app, but you can modify Android/ios if you want). I have the node CLI compiling code in one terminal, and then pointing all that to a Genymotion android emulator. Pretty smooth! Not having to compile the whole android app that only serves as a container to the JS is a godsend!
hungerstrike 9y ago
Last year: Ionic/Cordova and Visual Studio Pro. This year: Expo/React-Native and VS Code.
kyrra 9y ago
http://flutter.io http://flutter.io works right with IntelliJ IDEA, so you don't need to deal with the Android SDK junk.
- gcb0 9y ago
  even flutter doesn't use studio's gradle setup.
  - skybrian 9y ago
    I'm not sure what you mean by "setup" but Flutter does use Gradle and Flutter's Gradle plugin [1] depends on the Android SDK's Gradle plugin. Also, Flutter's install instructions say: "Flutter requires Android Studio to be installed and configured" [2]. The Flutter SDK hides this away nicely, but Gradle runs when you launch a Flutter app during development (on Android). [1] https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/master/packages/flutter_tools/gradle/flutter.gradle https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/master/packages/flut... [2] https://flutter.io/setup-macos/#android-setup https://flutter.io/setup-macos/#android-setup
    - kyrra 9y ago
      You can do Flutter dev without Android Studio[0], but I'm guessing if you want to ship/test in the world of Android, you would need Android Studio. [0] https://flutter.io/intellij-ide/ https://flutter.io/intellij-ide/
      - skybrian 9y ago
        Yes, Android Studio is needed for running Flutter apps on Android but not for iOS. (You don't normally need to launch Android Studio, just have it installed on your machine.) Similarly, if you want to run on iOS you need a Mac with xCode installed. (It's rather weird to me that you need to install entire other IDE's as developer dependencies to build mobile apps, but that seems to be how it is.)
        9y ago
WorldMaker 9y ago
Cordova in Visual Studio right now. (On very lean teams that don't have the resources to build bespoke UI for every platform, even with Xamarin or React Native, and the web platform is a good compromise for the simple data collection apps we are building.)
- pier25 9y ago
  Same here. Using Cordova with Atom or Sublime, and building/signing/deploying on the device via the CLI. We need to deploy to desktop/mobile/chromebook and we don't have the budget to develop native UI for each one. The be honest the only problematic platform has been iOS and its crappy UIWebView / WkWebView, and Windows but only because we are using Squirrel for the installs.
  - ezekg 9y ago
    What's wrong with Squirrel and Windows? I thought they had a Windows update framework?
    - pier25 9y ago
      It has given me a few headaches. On Mac, Squirrel has worked flawlessly. The biggest headache for my users is that the app is not added to the start menu, and the .exe is buried in some deep bizarre folder. Maybe there is a way to solve this, but I haven't been able to find it. There is an option to add a shortcut to the desktop, but if the user deletes it then the exe is lost forever. I've had other bizarre problems for a few users and the only solution was to reinstall the app from scratch. Tech support is not very happy about that. Maybe it all stems from my Windows ignorance but Electron-builder, one of the most important projects for packaging Electron apps, is moving away from Electron to NSIS. The problem is that AFAIK NSIS doesn't work with Electron updater. I'm seriously considering moving away from Electron and replacing it with a UWP JS app and distribute it via the Windows Store.
      - ezekg 9y ago
        Man, that sucks. I just read through the discussion on that and can see where the pain points are in using Squirrel.Windows [0]. Hopefully they eventually deal with that. I don't use Windows much, so outside of making sure Squirrel.Windows is working correctly, I don't have much of an opinion on whether or not it provides a good UX to end-users (and it sounds like it doesn't, unfortunately). [0]: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/472 https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues...
smichel17 9y ago
I'm about 75% vim, 25% Android Studio, usually in that order (bulk of the changes in vim, then cleanup in studio).
- muzani 9y ago
  Is this effective? I've never used vim, but Android Studio is great as an IDE. It has lots of autocomplete for tedious things like layouts, the shortcuts open up files as needed, and it highlights more effective ways to do things. This is extra useful for Kotlin.
iainmerrick 9y ago
I am currently using a pure command-line build, with Ninja build files, and a standalone NDK toolchain (https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/standalone_toolchain.html https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/standalone_toolchai...). It's a pretty hacky solution but it works and it's very fast. This is for C++ code, which is kind of a special case. Android Studio now has C++ support but I tried it and wasn't impressed. Among other problems, the build process seems to be extremely slow.
- pjmlp 9y ago
  We are pretty much 2nd class citzens on AS.
gcb0 9y ago
you can't. in typical Google being evil fashion, using their central authority on Android they now discontinued android sdk and made the sdk a piece of android studio. for no reason other than forcing everyone to beta test their "version 3" (ha) studio. so much so that you now have to download the whole studio, and pick the sdk from within it. there are still some ways to find the sdk directly, but they are going away.
- greydata 9y ago
  https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads
- PureSin 9y ago
  I'm not aware of plans to force users to download sdk only through Android Studio. You can find download links to the sdk at the bottom of: https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html disclosure: I work on the Android Studio team.
  - Griffinsauce 9y ago
    Egg, meet face.
  - finchisko 9y ago
    Yes, but now it's CLI only. It used to have GUI.
  - gcb0 9y ago
    Not saying it is forbidden. But everywhere that google used to say "download the android SDK" now says, for no good reason, "download Android Studio". Why does flutter tells to download android studio, open it, run the sdk downloader, close it forever and move to another IDE?
turrini 9y ago
I use Qt Creator with Qt 5.9 for C++/QML/Js programming.

For people that don't actually use Android Studio, what does your dev setup looks like?

by samiq 9y ago

For people that don't actually use Android Studio, what does your dev setup looks like?

In the early years of Android Studio, I generally preferred IntelliJ. I have since converted our application and main library (SQLCipher for Android) to use Gradle. I have Instant Run disabled, but otherwise I haven't run into many issues with Android Studio. We still coordinate our library build with a Makefile.

codeulike 9y ago

I use IntelliJ, with LibGDX/Gradle (game development)

jmkni 9y ago

I do Android dev in Visual Studio with Xamarin. Your app is structured the same as a native one (Activities, Receivers, Services, Layouts, etc) and the XML for your layouts is identical, but you get to work in C# and don’t have to deal with Gradle etc. I like it.

elboru 9y ago
What downsides does it have compared to a more traditional environment? I'm a C# developer so Xamarin sounds really tempting, it's just that I don't want to break my head on "simple" stuff I could easily avoid with a traditional environment
- titanix2 9y ago
  You still have to learn the underlying story platform and API, that’s not abstracted. Also choosing between Xamarin Forms and Xamarin Native for the UI (not compatible between them). Obscure errors sometimes. But from my (little) experience on it, getting to an app running and start working on it is way mire easy than with the Java approach. Give it a try :)
- pasta 9y ago
  Maybe the designer isnt that good. But overall it's much better. And you get: Shared models with your web api, reusable business for iOS and Windows, great tools like ReSharper, and so on.

meesles 9y ago

React native! Sublime to edit text (mostly the React app, but you can modify Android/ios if you want). I have the node CLI compiling code in one terminal, and then pointing all that to a Genymotion android emulator. Pretty smooth! Not having to compile the whole android app that only serves as a container to the JS is a godsend!

hungerstrike 9y ago

Last year: Ionic/Cordova and Visual Studio Pro. This year: Expo/React-Native and VS Code.

kyrra 9y ago

http://flutter.io http://flutter.io works right with IntelliJ IDEA, so you don't need to deal with the Android SDK junk.

gcb0 9y ago
even flutter doesn't use studio's gradle setup.
- skybrian 9y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean by "setup" but Flutter does use Gradle and Flutter's Gradle plugin [1] depends on the Android SDK's Gradle plugin. Also, Flutter's install instructions say: "Flutter requires Android Studio to be installed and configured" [2]. The Flutter SDK hides this away nicely, but Gradle runs when you launch a Flutter app during development (on Android). [1] https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/master/packages/flutter_tools/gradle/flutter.gradle https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/master/packages/flut... [2] https://flutter.io/setup-macos/#android-setup https://flutter.io/setup-macos/#android-setup
  - kyrra 9y ago
    You can do Flutter dev without Android Studio[0], but I'm guessing if you want to ship/test in the world of Android, you would need Android Studio. [0] https://flutter.io/intellij-ide/ https://flutter.io/intellij-ide/
    - skybrian 9y ago
      Yes, Android Studio is needed for running Flutter apps on Android but not for iOS. (You don't normally need to launch Android Studio, just have it installed on your machine.) Similarly, if you want to run on iOS you need a Mac with xCode installed. (It's rather weird to me that you need to install entire other IDE's as developer dependencies to build mobile apps, but that seems to be how it is.)
      - 9y ago

WorldMaker 9y ago

Cordova in Visual Studio right now. (On very lean teams that don't have the resources to build bespoke UI for every platform, even with Xamarin or React Native, and the web platform is a good compromise for the simple data collection apps we are building.)

pier25 9y ago
Same here. Using Cordova with Atom or Sublime, and building/signing/deploying on the device via the CLI. We need to deploy to desktop/mobile/chromebook and we don't have the budget to develop native UI for each one. The be honest the only problematic platform has been iOS and its crappy UIWebView / WkWebView, and Windows but only because we are using Squirrel for the installs.
- ezekg 9y ago
  What's wrong with Squirrel and Windows? I thought they had a Windows update framework?
  - pier25 9y ago
    It has given me a few headaches. On Mac, Squirrel has worked flawlessly. The biggest headache for my users is that the app is not added to the start menu, and the .exe is buried in some deep bizarre folder. Maybe there is a way to solve this, but I haven't been able to find it. There is an option to add a shortcut to the desktop, but if the user deletes it then the exe is lost forever. I've had other bizarre problems for a few users and the only solution was to reinstall the app from scratch. Tech support is not very happy about that. Maybe it all stems from my Windows ignorance but Electron-builder, one of the most important projects for packaging Electron apps, is moving away from Electron to NSIS. The problem is that AFAIK NSIS doesn't work with Electron updater. I'm seriously considering moving away from Electron and replacing it with a UWP JS app and distribute it via the Windows Store.
    - ezekg 9y ago
      Man, that sucks. I just read through the discussion on that and can see where the pain points are in using Squirrel.Windows [0]. Hopefully they eventually deal with that. I don't use Windows much, so outside of making sure Squirrel.Windows is working correctly, I don't have much of an opinion on whether or not it provides a good UX to end-users (and it sounds like it doesn't, unfortunately). [0]: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/472 https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues...

smichel17 9y ago

I'm about 75% vim, 25% Android Studio, usually in that order (bulk of the changes in vim, then cleanup in studio).

muzani 9y ago
Is this effective? I've never used vim, but Android Studio is great as an IDE. It has lots of autocomplete for tedious things like layouts, the shortcuts open up files as needed, and it highlights more effective ways to do things. This is extra useful for Kotlin.

iainmerrick 9y ago

I am currently using a pure command-line build, with Ninja build files, and a standalone NDK toolchain (https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/standalone_toolchain.html https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/standalone_toolchai...). It's a pretty hacky solution but it works and it's very fast. This is for C++ code, which is kind of a special case. Android Studio now has C++ support but I tried it and wasn't impressed. Among other problems, the build process seems to be extremely slow.

pjmlp 9y ago
We are pretty much 2nd class citzens on AS.

gcb0 9y ago

you can't. in typical Google being evil fashion, using their central authority on Android they now discontinued android sdk and made the sdk a piece of android studio. for no reason other than forcing everyone to beta test their "version 3" (ha) studio. so much so that you now have to download the whole studio, and pick the sdk from within it. there are still some ways to find the sdk directly, but they are going away.

greydata 9y ago
https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads
PureSin 9y ago
I'm not aware of plans to force users to download sdk only through Android Studio. You can find download links to the sdk at the bottom of: https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html disclosure: I work on the Android Studio team.
- Griffinsauce 9y ago
  Egg, meet face.
- finchisko 9y ago
  Yes, but now it's CLI only. It used to have GUI.
- gcb0 9y ago
  Not saying it is forbidden. But everywhere that google used to say "download the android SDK" now says, for no good reason, "download Android Studio". Why does flutter tells to download android studio, open it, run the sdk downloader, close it forever and move to another IDE?

turrini 9y ago

I use Qt Creator with Qt 5.9 for C++/QML/Js programming.