Based on this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/27908019/5156317 I have a follow up question: What makes an app different that speaks for product flavours? I am trying to compare this with my XCode setup which is as follows:
- Dev App that uses test backend
- Dev App that uses production backend
- Test App that uses test backend (enterprise distribution)
- Test App that uses production backend (enterprise distribution
- Live App that uses production backend (app store distribution)
My thoughts for the android setup:
buildTypes: debug_test debug_production // no need of enterprise apps since it is possible unsigned apps on any device release
flavors: myApp
Thanks for your support!
Well, I wouldn't specify more build types than
debug
andrelease
in order to use different backend. Instead, I would use some of these techniques:You can access build types, build flavors and custom fields in the application code using
BuildConfig
class.Approach with simple flavors
Build types:
debug
release
Flavors:
dev
test
live
Which would result in these build variants (you don't have to use all of them):
devDebug
devRelease
testDebug
testRelease
liveDebug
liveRelease
Approach with combining multiple flavors using dimensions
Flavor dimensions:
backend
target
Build types:
debug
release
Flavors:
target
dimension:dev
test
live
backend
dimension:production
test
Which would result in these build variants (again, you don't have to use all of them):
productionDevDebug
productionDevRelease
productionTestDebug
productionTestRelease
productionLiveDebug
productionLiveRelease
testDevDebug
testDevRelease
testTestDebug
testTestRelease
testLiveDebug
testLiveRelease
Using build field
Use additional value in build types and build flavors declarations, for example:
buildConfigField "boolean", "production_backend", "false"
or
buildConfigField "String", "backend", "\"production\""
build.gradle
The approach of this solution allows to have multiple client compilations and backend environments for multiple product flavors.
What I did was to associate the development environment of the backend with the compilation of debug android, staging of the backend with qa of android and production of the backend with release of android. Bear in mind that there will be cases in which you need to debug the production environment or obfuscate the development environment, this solution allows it.
An example when compiling firstproductFP_devDebug:
BuildConfig.java
It should be noted that within the scope of variantFilter{} you cannot use
buildConfigField()
to compile values based on the build type and product flavor. This forces us to use flavorDimensions and a larger quantity productsFlavors. Nor can the active build variant be renamed.GL
Sources: