Custom fields for a build type in gradle

Question

I am trying to embed a few server addresses in my build.gradle file but I am unsure about how to do this. I know that in maven, you can write

Answer 1

Gradle for Android offers buildConfigField, allowing you to add arbitrary data members to the code-generated BuildConfig class:

  buildTypes {
    debug {
      buildConfigField "String", "SERVER_URL", '"http://test.this-is-so-fake.com"'
    }

    release {
      buildConfigField "String", "SERVER_URL", '"http://prod.this-is-so-fake.com"'
    }

    mezzanine.initWith(buildTypes.release)

    mezzanine {
        buildConfigField "String", "SERVER_URL", '"http://stage.this-is-so-fake.com"'
    }
}

In your Java code, you can refer to BuildConfig.SERVER_URL, and it will be populated with the string based on the build type you choose at compile time.

Answer 2

To just use a field independently from build types and product flavors, you could add it to your defaultConfig by:

defaultConfig {
    ...
    buildConfigField "String", "OS", '"android"'
}

Then the BuildConfig looks like this:

public final class BuildConfig {
    public static final boolean DEBUG = Boolean.parseBoolean("true");
    public static final String APPLICATION_ID = "com.example.app";
    public static final String BUILD_TYPE = "debug";
    public static final String FLAVOR = "";
    public static final int VERSION_CODE = 1;
    public static final String VERSION_NAME = "1.0";
    // Fields from default config.
    public static final String OS = "android";

}