How to create android project with gradle from command line?

Question

How to create android project with gradle from command line (without any IDE)?

Before it was with android util like below

Answer 1

Here is the solution PHP Android CLI

Just run:

phpandroid create HelloWorld com.example.helloworld

and your project is scaffolded with latest android-studio parameters, like, compile & target SDK is 29, buildToolsVersion is 29.0.1 & minSdk is 16.

If you want to change, like, want to set minSdk to 14:

phpandroid create PROJECT PACKAGE --minSdk=14

PHP Android CLI can also create Variants and modules (application/library):

phpandroid create PROJECT PACKAGE --modules=common:library,admin --variants=free:type,paid:type,php:backend,firebase:backend

this will generate 2 applications, app, admin & a library common. App has 2 dimensions: type & backend 4 variants: free & paid of type dimension; php & firebase variant of backend dimension.

Answer 2

android create project was removed in SDK tools 26.0.1

See https://askubuntu.com/questions/906942/android-update-project-path-target-android-25-on-ubuntu-16-04 for more details

Trying to use it fails with:

*************************************************************************
The "android" command is deprecated.
For manual SDK, AVD, and project management, please use Android Studio.
For command-line tools, use tools/bin/sdkmanager and tools/bin/avdmanager
*************************************************************************
Invalid or unsupported command "project create"

Supported commands are:
android list target
android list avd
android list device
android create avd
android move avd
android delete avd
android list sdk
android update sdk

Workaround: Android Studio template + copy helper script

The best workaround I have is to:

• create a new Gradle project manually from the Android Studio GUI
• use a helper script to copy that template around, renaming classes in the process

The following helper script allows you to do:

./template NewAppName AppTemplateProject

to get a new app NewAppName from an existing AppTemplateProject created with Android studio:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -ex
new="$1"
shift
if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
  old="$1"
  shift
else
  old='Min'
fi
old="$(echo "$old" | sed -E 's/\/$//')"
new="$(echo "$new" | sed -E 's/\/$//')"
new_lower="$(echo "$new" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z')"
old_lower="$(echo "$old" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z')"
cp -r "$old" "$new"
cd "$new"
find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i "s/${old}/${new}/g"
find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i "s/${old_lower}/${new_lower}/g"
cd 'app/src/main/java/com/cirosantilli/android_cheat'

GitHub upstream: https://github.com/cirosantilli/android-cheat/blob/0e6b7462705179658b48d0e2e27f0dbce308393c/gradle/template

Yes it is not perfect. But CLI support appears secondary to Google, so what can you do :-(

Answer 3

Similar to How to create Java gradle project suggest to create Android project with android create project than add build.gradle template for classic Android project gh.c/N/n-1/b/m/o.n.e.e.g/docs/android/build.gradle. (That would allow to develop in any IDE, as old structure is more widely adopted)

Of course there will be some gradle init options or android create (from SDK) in the future.

UPDATE:

Android SDK 19 has android CLI -g option that allows to use gradle template. You might also need to specify android gradle plugin version with CLI -v option, check android gradle plugin compatibility table. Example command to create the project that uses android gradle plugin (v 0.10) to add gradle support.

android create project \
    --gradle \
    --gradle-version 0.10 \
    --activity Main \
    --package com.example.app \
    --target android-19 \
    --path AppWithGradleTemplate

or for buildTools 19.1+, use a newer version of the Gradle Android plugin via --gradle-version:

android create project \
    --gradle \
    --gradle-version 0.11.+ \
    --activity Main \
    --package com.example.app \
    --target android-25 \
    --path AppWithGradleTemplate

check android create project -h for help

However Android Studio 0.6.1 failed to open it correctly (no sources shown), because it took first project folder (that is gradle) as module folder -> you need to Import, not just open.

In Eclipse it was with a trick of regarding src folder as root of the project.

.classpath is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<classpath>
    <classpathentry kind="src" path="java"/><!--ADJUSTED HERE -->
    <classpathentry kind="src" path="gen"/>
    <classpathentry kind="con" path="com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.ANDROID_FRAMEWORK"/>
    <classpathentry exported="true" kind="con" path="com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.LIBRARIES"/>
    <classpathentry exported="true" kind="con" path="com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.DEPENDENCIES"/>
    <classpathentry kind="output" path="bin/classes"/>
</classpath>

And build.gradle

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.10.+'
    }
}
apply plugin: 'android'

android {
   //{ for Android Gradle as Eclipse project
    sourceSets {
        main {
            manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
            java.srcDirs = ['java']
            resources.srcDirs = ['java']
            aidl.srcDirs = ['java']
            renderscript.srcDirs = ['java']
            res.srcDirs = ['res']
            assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
        }

        // Move the tests to tests/java, tests/res, etc...
        androidTest.setRoot('../tests')

        // Move the build types to build-types/<type>
        // For instance, build-types/debug/java, build-types/debug/AndroidManifest.xml, ...
        // This moves them out of them default location under src/<type>/... which would
        // conflict with src/ being used by the main source set.
        // Adding new build types or product flavors should be accompanied
        // by a similar customization.
        debug.setRoot('build-types/debug')
        release.setRoot('build-types/release')
    }
    //}
    compileSdkVersion 'Google Inc.:Google APIs:10'
    buildToolsVersion '19.0.3'

    buildTypes {
        release {
            runProguard false
            proguardFile getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt')
        }
    }
    lintOptions {
        abortOnError false
    }
}

http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/gradle

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