[Devoxx Poland '19] My love-hate relationship with Android Studio

Android Studio is the tool of the trade hands down. When it comes to Android (app/library/IOT) development, the first thing that comes to mind is to install Android Studio and get going from there. However, it has not been a smooth road as expected for me. In my own experience, I talk about my love-hate relationship with Android Studio. I try to cover what Android Studio gets right and what it doesn't. The talk focuses on how to be embrace performance when Android Studio is the bottleneck in the workflow (slow build times and reduced productivity), how switching to a terminal and various tools that exist in the ecosystem can give Android developers the much-needed speed boost and in-depth view in their development workflow. By the end of this talk, you would have embraced a workflow that allows for increased productivity and faster development.

Event Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20190610115625/https://cfp.devoxx.pl/talk/JCI-4114/My_love-hate_relationship_with_Android_Studio
Google Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WFDszY4fSLu-tAJC-rw-gOKFOnRPo4SwRveAtVXgSq0/edit?usp=sharing

Transcript

2. The disclaimer. @nisrulz 2
3. The story. @nisrulz 3
4. What happened • April 4, 2018 • Trying to build a Android Project ◦ Typical project ◦ Multi module ◦ Native code (NDK) ◦ Common dependencies: Retrofit, Dagger, Rx, Support Libraries, etc 4 @nisrulz
5. What happened • April 4, 2018 • Trying to build a Android Project ◦ Typical project ◦ Multi module ◦ Native code (NDK) ◦ Common dependencies: Retrofit, Dagger, Rx, Support Libraries, etc • Laptop: Macbook Air (early 2014) Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD 5 @nisrulz
6. What happened 6 @nisrulz
7. What happened My build times: ~37 minutes 7 @nisrulz
8. What happened My build times: ~37 minutes Not just the first time, but every other build after that too. 8 @nisrulz
9. What I tried With a few gradle tweaks in the project Build times down to ~28 minutes 9 @nisrulz
10. What I tried After exhausting all possibilities 10 @nisrulz
11. What I tried After exhausting all possibilities Switched to Terminal builds and VS Code. 11 @nisrulz +
12. 12 @nisrulz +
13. What I tried The result 13 @nisrulz +
14. What I tried The result Build times down to ~3 minutes (89% reduction) 14 @nisrulz +
15. 15 @nisrulz How I reduced my Android build times by 89%
16. The experience. @nisrulz 16
17. The experience State of speed: Slow 17 @nisrulz
18. The experience State of reliability: Finicky 18 @nisrulz
19. The experience State of reliability: Finicky 19 @nisrulz
20. The experience State of choice selection: • Forced • Deviates from its base: IntelliJ IDE 20 @nisrulz
21. The experience State of new tools: Limited • Profilers 21 @nisrulz
22. The experience State of new tools: Limited • Profilers • Constraint Layout Editor 22 @nisrulz
23. The experience State of memory consumption: 23 @nisrulz
24. The experience State of memory consumption: 24 @nisrulz
25. The experience State of CPU consumption: 25 @nisrulz
26. The experience State of CPU consumption: 26 @nisrulz
27. The experience State of updates/versions: 27 @nisrulz
28. The experience To summarize, Android Studio is • Slow • Finicky • Forces its defaults and deviates from its base • New tools are limiting as in are Android Studio specific ◦ Profilers ◦ Constraint Layout Editor • Uses a lot of Memory and CPU • Has versioning problem (Stable, Beta, Alpha) 28 @nisrulz
29. is slow. @nisrulz 29
30. Slow, but why? • Gradle Configuration • Indexing changes in code • Plugins • Code Insight: Inplace analysis/inspections 30 @nisrulz
31. Configuring Gradle for speed Use the latest Gradle release. 31 @nisrulz Incremental compile 1000-module Java project https://gradle.org/whats-new/gradle-5/
32. Configuring Gradle for speed Use the latest Gradle release. Caveat: Update to latest Canary release of Android Studio, since the support for latest Gradle is tied to Android Studio. 32 @nisrulz
33. Configuring Gradle for speed Build Cache: Reuse outputs from any previous invocation of Gradle // Add this in your global gradle.properties file // at ~/.gradle/gradle.properties // Enable Build Cache android.enableBuildCache=true 33 @nisrulz
34. Configuring Gradle for speed Daemon: Dedicated background process to improve performance of Gradle // Add this in your global gradle.properties file // at ~/.gradle/gradle.properties // Enable Gradle Daemon org.gradle.daemon=true 34 @nisrulz
35. Configuring Gradle for speed Allocate memory: Increase the memory provided to JVM // Add this in your global gradle.properties file // at ~/.gradle/gradle.properties // Configure allocated memory org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx2048m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m 35 @nisrulz
36. Configuring Gradle for speed Parallel builds: Force Gradle to execute tasks in parallel as long as those tasks are in different projects. // Add this in your global gradle.properties file // at ~/.gradle/gradle.properties // Enable Parallel builds org.gradle.parallel=true 36 @nisrulz
37. Reducing Indexing If your codebase has files changing on each build, it will trigger indexing. Suggestions: • Avoid using annotation processors • Using implementation as much as possible, instead of api. • Use static build config values i.e version code, version name, resources 37 @nisrulz
38. Plugins: Inspect what you use Android Studio comes with a lot of Plugins enabled, which contribute to its sluggishness. 38 @nisrulz
39. Plugins: Inspect what you use Android Studio comes with a lot of Plugins enabled, which contribute to its sluggishness. Solution: Check and disable what you don’t need. 39 @nisrulz
40. Code Insight Although required, it does make Android Studio slow. Solution: Enable Power Save Mode 40 @nisrulz
41. Terminal to the rescue. @nisrulz 41
42. ADB: Android Debug Bridge • Command Line tool • Shipped with Android SDK • Allows interacting with debuggable Android devices • Client-Server program • Available as: adb <param> 42 @nisrulz
43. ADB: Android Debug Bridge • Install App adb install path_to_apk • Uninstall App adb uninstall com.package.name • Copy a file from System to Android device adb push path_to_file /path_to_dir_on_device • Copy a file from Android device to System adb pull /path_to_dir_on_device/file.png ~/path_on_system/ 43 @nisrulz
44. Other tools via ADB shell • Activity Manager: am • Emulator: emulator • Package Manager: pm • Device Policy Manager: dpm • Logcat: logcat • Dumpsys: dumpsys and many more. 44 @nisrulz
45. Gradle Android projects use Gradle as the build system. Each Android project has a gradle wrapper, which is a proxy to local Gradle binary. Android Studio invokes Gradle to execute tasks The same can be done via terminal: ./gradlew assembleDebug > is equivalent to Make in Android studio 45 @nisrulz
46. Lint This is part of the gradle tasks, which checks the code for structural inconsistencies, thus allowing to write more maintainable code. // Execute lint in project ./gradlew lint > Similar to executing via Android Studio 46 @nisrulz
47. Lint 47 @nisrulz
48. Scrcpy https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy Command-line tool for mirroring and controlling your device. // Start mirroring the device scrcpy //Record while mirroring scrcpy --record file.mp4 // Show touches scrcpy --show-touches // Switch off screen scrcpy --turn-screen-off 48 @nisrulz
49. Classyshark https://github.com/google/android-classyshark Tool for decompiling and analyzing internals of an APK such as dex Count. Works with .apk, .jar, .aar, .class, .dex or .so files. Execute: java -jar ClassyShark.jar 49 @nisrulz
50. Classyshark 50 @nisrulz
51. Classyshark 51 @nisrulz
52. Detekt https://github.com/arturbosch/detekt • Static code analyzer for Kotlin language. • Helps to detect code smell in kotlin codebase • Highly configurable • Enables complexity analysis of the code • Also has a gradle plugin to setup in the project // Execute at the root of the project java -jar /path_to/detekt-cli.jar --debug 52 @nisrulz
53. Detekt // Execute at the root of the project java -jar /path_to/detekt-cli.jar --debug // Output Complexity Report: - 686 lines of code (loc) - 563 source lines of code (sloc) - 425 logical lines of code (lloc) - 32 comment lines of code (cloc) ... - 218 code smells per 1000 lloc Project Statistics: - number of properties: 73 - number of functions: 22 - number of classes: 5 - number of packages: 3 - number of kt files: 5 53 @nisrulz
54. AVD Manager • Command line tool to create and manage Android Virtual Devices (AVD) • Located in android_sdk/tools/bin/ // List all avd avdmanager list // Create a new avd avdmanager create avd -n myavd -k "system-images;android-29;google_apis;x86" // Remove avd avdmanager delete avd -n myavd 54 @nisrulz
55. SDK Manager • Command line tool to manage Android SDK • Used to view, install, remove packages in Android SDK • Located in android_sdk/tools/bin/ // List all available packages sdkmanager --list // Install packages sdkmanager packages // Remove packages sdkmanager --uninstall packages // Update all packages sdkmanager --update 55 @nisrulz
56. Battery Historian https://github.com/google/battery-historian • Python based tool • Used to inspect battery related information and events, while the device was not plugged in • For Android device running Android 5.0 Lollipop (API level 21) and later. • Useful since the new Energy Profilers are Android Studio only. 56 @nisrulz
57. Battery Historian 57 @nisrulz
58. Battery Historian 58 @nisrulz
59. IntelliJ Idea • Android Studio is based on IntelliJ Idea ◦ IntelliJ Idea can be used for Android Development • Faster for development • Consumes less memory/CPU than Android Studio • Full plugin support • More frequent updates • Doesn’t have the Android Studio specific tools ◦ Constraint Layout Editor ◦ Profilers ◦ New project structure dialog 59 @nisrulz
60. Automation • Alias creation enables executing complex tool configuration as a simple command. Example: // Create alias to push release apk to Downloads folder in Device alias pushReleaseToDevice="adb push ./apk-release.apk /sdcard/Downloads" // Execute pushReleaseToDevice ↵ 60 @nisrulz
61. Automation • Command line tools enable ability to include in scripts. Using alias simplify the process. # Install APK to device # Use as: apkinstall app-debug.apk alias apkinstall="adb devices | tail -n +2 | cut -sf 1 | xargs -I X adb -s X install -r $1" # As an alternative to apkinstall, you can also do just ./gradlew installDebug # Alias for building and installing the apk to connected device # Run at the root of your project # $ buildAndInstallApk alias buildAndInstallApk='./gradlew assembleDebug && apkinstall ./app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk' 61 @nisrulz
62. Automation • Command line tools enable ability to include in scripts. Using alias simplify the process. # Launch your debug apk on your connected device # Execute at the root of your android project # Usage: launchDebugApk alias launchDebugApk="adb shell monkey -p `aapt dump badging ./app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk | grep -e 'package: name' | cut -d \' -f 2` 1" # ------------- Single command to build+install+launch apk------------# # Execute at the root of your android project # Use as: buildInstallLaunchDebugApk alias buildInstallLaunchDebugApk="buildAndInstallApk && launchDebugApk" 62 @nisrulz
63. Automation • Command line tools enable ability to include in scripts. Using alias simplify the process. # Take screenshot alias screenshot="adb exec-out screencap -p > screen-$(date -j "+%s").png" # Remove app alias rmapp="adb devices | tail -n +2 | cut -sf 1 | xargs -I X adb -s X uninstall $1" # Clear data for app alias clearapp="adb devices | tail -n +2 | cut -sf 1 | xargs -I X adb -s X shell pm clear $1" More automation aliases: https://gist.github.com/nisrulz/b0e79f2b3e27f99ca8b5dba9db6281ec 63 @nisrulz
64. Automation • Use gradle plugin to setup all the automation commands Novoda’s Gradle Android command plugin creates handy gradle tasks in the project itself. https://github.com/novoda/gradle-android-command-plugin Some commands available: • installDevice<Variant> - installs the app on a specific device. • uninstallDevice<Variant> - uninstalls the app from a specific device. • run<Variant> - installs and launches the app on a specific device. and many more. Execute: ./gradlew installDeviceDebug 64 @nisrulz
65. The experience. @nisrulz 65
66. The experience • Project Marble Project Marble is a multi-release and focused effort on making fundamental features of the IDE rock-solid and polished. It is ongoing effort. Already made improvements under: 1. UX and performance in Layout Editor 2. Instant Run has been replaced by Apply Changes 3. Emulator performance, Snapshots 4. Lint performance 66 @nisrulz
67. The experience • APK Analyzer GUI in Android Studio 67 @nisrulz
68. The experience • APK Analyzer GUI in Android Studio + Command-line tool Enables anyone to use it outside Android Studio // To print the file size of the apk in a human readable format; Output: 1.7MB 68 @nisrulz
69. The experience • APK Analyzer // Prints the application ID, version code, and version name. // Output: in.excogitation.deviceinfo 17 2.0.1 apkanalyzer apk summary myapp.apk // Prints an estimate of the download size of the APK. // Output: 1.4MB apkanalyzer -h apk download-size myapp.apk • More info: https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/apkanalyzer 69 @nisrulz
70. Links/References Gradle Performance Tips: https://guides.gradle.org/performance/ Project Marble: https://medium.com/androiddevelopers/tagged/project-marble Blog Post: https://android.jlelse.eu/how-i-reduced-my-android-build-times-by-89-4242e51ce946 Disable Plugins: https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/7sxhig/android_studio_slower_when_using_kotlin/dt88 pgn/ Battery Historian: https://developer.android.com/studio/profile/battery-historian 70 @nisrulz
71. Credits Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com 71 @nisrulz
72. twitter.com/nisrulz github.com/nisrulz www.nisrulz.com 72
73. twitter.com/nisrulz github.com/nisrulz www.nisrulz.com 73