How to manually include external aar package using new Gradle Android Build System

Question

I\'ve been experimenting with the new android build system and I\'ve run into a small issue. I\'ve compiled my own aar package of ActionBarSherlock which I\'ve called \'act

Answer 1

Currently referencing a local .aar file is not supported (as confirmed by Xavier Ducrochet)

What you can do instead is set up a local Maven repository (much more simple than it sounds) and reference the .aar from there.

I've written a blogpost detailing how to get it working here:

http://www.flexlabs.org/2013/06/using-local-aar-android-library-packages-in-gradle-builds

Answer 2

For me, this was an issue with how Android Studio environment was configured.

When I updated the File -> Project Structure -> JDK Location to a later Java version (jdk1.8.0_192.jdk - for me), everything started working.

Answer 3

In my case I have some depencies in my library and when I create an aar from it I failed, because of missed depencies, so my solution is to add all depencies from my lib with an arr file.

So my project level build.gradle looks so:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.1.2'
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        //add it to be able to add depency to aar-files from libs folder in build.gradle(yoursAppModule)
        flatDir {
            dirs 'libs'
        }
    }
}

task clean(type: Delete) {
    delete rootProject.buildDir
}

build.gradle(modile app) so:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 23
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.3"

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.sampleapp"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    //your project depencies
    ...
    //add lib via aar-depency
    compile(name: 'aarLibFileNameHere', ext: 'aar')
    //add all its internal depencies, as arr don't have it
    ...
}

and library build.gradle:

apply plugin: 'com.android.library'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 23
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.3"

    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    //here goes library projects dependencies, which you must include
    //in yours build.gradle(modile app) too
    ...
}

Answer 4

I've also had this problem. This issue report: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=55863 seems to suggest that directly referencing the .AAR file is not supported.

Perhaps the alternative for now is to define the actionbarsherlock library as a Gradle library under the parent directory of your project and reference accordingly.

The syntax is defined here http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Referencing-a-Library

Answer 5

I've just succeeded!

1. Copy the mylib-0.1.aar file into the libs/ folder

2. Add these lines to the bottom of build.gradle (should be app, not project):

   repositories {
      flatDir {
          dirs 'libs'
      }
   }
   dependencies {
       compile 'com.example.lib:mylib:0.1@aar'
   }
   

3. So far so good. Here comes the most important point:

Gradle needs to access the network for dependencies unless offline mode is enabled.

Make sure that you have enabled Offline work via the checkbox in Project Structures/Gradle

-- OR --

Configure the proxy settings in order to access the network.

To configure the proxy settings you have to modify the project's gradle.properties file, configuring http and https separately as below:

systemProp.http.proxyHost=proxy.example.com
systemProp.http.proxyPort=8080
systemProp.http.proxyUser=user
systemProp.http.proxyPassword=pass
systemProp.http.nonProxyHosts=localhost
systemProp.http.auth.ntlm.domain=example <for NT auth>

systemProp.https.proxyHost=proxy.example.com
systemProp.https.proxyPort=8080
systemProp.https.proxyUser=user
systemProp.https.proxyPassword=pass
systemProp.https.nonProxyHosts=localhost
systemProp.https.auth.ntlm.domain=example <for NT auth>

Hope this works.

Answer 6

The below approach works with latest Android studio (> v0.8.x):

• Save the aar file under app module's libs folder (eg: <project>/<app>/libs/myaar.aar)

• Add the below to build.gradle of your "app" module folder (not your project root build.gradle). Note the name in compile line, it is myaar@aar not myaar.aar.

  dependencies {
      compile 'package.name.of.your.aar:myaar@aar'
  }
  
  repositories{
      flatDir{
          dirs 'libs'
      }
  }
  

• Click Tools -> Android -> Sync Project with Gradle Files