How to integrate Android Development Tools and Maven

With the Maven Android Plugin it is possible to build and deploy/undeploy your android app and start/stop the emulator – if you’re used to maven you won’t be going without it ;)

If you’re interested in signing your apk using maven – take a look at this article

Project Setup

Create an android project using the android tool

We need some dependencies – so create a pom.xml in the project’s root directory – I took this from the plugin samples and modified it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
 Copyright (C) 2009 Jayway AB

 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 You may obtain a copy of the License at

 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
-->
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>com.hascode.android.app</groupId>
     <artifactId>demo</artifactId>
     <packaging>apk</packaging>
     <name>hasCode.com - Sample Android App using the Maven Android Plugin</name>
     <version>0.1</version>
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>android</groupId>
             <artifactId>android</artifactId>
             <version>2.1</version>
             <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>

         <dependency>
             <groupId>junit</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
             <version>4.8.1</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>

     <build>
         <!--<finalName>${artifactId}</finalName>-->
         <plugins>
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>com.jayway.maven.plugins.android.generation2</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-android-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
                     <sdk>
                         <path>${env.ANDROID_HOME}</path>
                         <platform>3</platform>
                     </sdk>
                     <deleteConflictingFiles>true</deleteConflictingFiles>
                 </configuration>
                 <extensions>true</extensions>
             </plugin>

             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
                 <source>1.5</source>
                 <target>1.5</target>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>

         </plugins>
     </build>

</project>

Manually change the directory structure – hopeful there will be some archetype stuff in the future
```
mv src java &&mkdir-p src/main &&mv java src/main/
```
Another way is to tell Maven where the source directory is:
```
<build><sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory></build>
```
We won’t need some directories – delete them if they exist
```
rm-r bin build.xml build.properties libs
```

Build and install the app

mvn install
mvn maven-android-plugin:deploy

Maven Dependencies for Android

update

<dependency>
	<groupId>com.google.android</groupId>
	<artifactId>android</artifactId>
	<version>1.6_r2</version>
	<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

How to shorten the ultra-mega-thousand-miles-long command line

Avoid bleeding fingers by adding the pluginGroup to your Maven config ~/.m2/settings.xml:

<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd">
 <pluginGroups>
 <pluginGroup>com.jayway.maven.plugins.android.generation2</pluginGroup>
 </pluginGroups>
</settings>

So instead of this command:

mvn com.jayway.maven.plugins.android.generation2:maven-android-plugin:deploy -Dandroid.file=demo.apk

We are able to type this stuff:

mvn android:deploy -Dandroid.file=demo.apk

More Information here: Maven Android Plugin – Tips & Tricks

Useful Plugin Goals

android:apk – creates a new apk file
android:deploy – deploys the apk to a connected device
android:emulator-start - starts the emulator with a specified android virtual device
android:emulator-stop – stops the emulator
android:pull/android:push – copies files/dirs from/to device
android:undeploy – undeploys the apk from a connected device
A list of all supported goals can be found here

Resources

Article Updates

2015-03-03: Table of contents added.

Project Setup#

Maven Dependencies for Android#

How to shorten the ultra-mega-thousand-miles-long command line#

Useful Plugin Goals#

Resources#

Article Updates#