How to enable multidexing with the new Android Mul

Question

I want to use the new Multidex support library to break the method limit for one of my apps.

With Android Lollipop Google introduced a multidex support library that makes it easy to multidex.

What steps are needed to use this library and to build my app with multidex support?

Answer 1

Edit:

Android 5.0 (API level 21) and higher uses ART which natively supports multidexing. Therefore, if your minSdkVersion is 21 or higher, the multidex support library is not needed.

---

Modify your build.gradle:

android {
    compileSdkVersion 22
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.0"

         defaultConfig {
             minSdkVersion 14 //lower than 14 doesn't support multidex
             targetSdkVersion 22

             // Enabling multidex support.
             multiDexEnabled true
         }
}

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.3'
}

If you are running unit tests, you will want to include this in your Application class:

public class YouApplication extends Application {

    @Override
    protected void attachBaseContext(Context base) {
        super.attachBaseContext(base);
        MultiDex.install(this);
    }

}

For more info, this is a good guide.

Answer 2

Add to AndroidManifest.xml:

android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication" 

OR

MultiDex.install(this);

in your custom Application's attachBaseContext method

or your custom Application extend MultiDexApplication

add multiDexEnabled = true in your build.gradle

defaultConfig {
    multiDexEnabled true
}

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
    }
}

Answer 3

SIMPLY, in order to enable multidex, you need to ...

android {
compileSdkVersion 21
buildToolsVersion "21.1.0"

defaultConfig {
    ...
    minSdkVersion 14
    targetSdkVersion 21
    ...

    // Enabling multidex support.
    multiDexEnabled true
}
...
}

dependencies {
compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
}

also you must change your manifest file. In your manifest add the MultiDexApplication class from the multidex support library to the application element like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   package="com.example.android.multidex.myapplication">
   <application
       ...
       android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication">
       ...
   </application>
</manifest>

Answer 4

If you want to enable multi-dex in your project then just go to gradle.builder

and add this in your dependencie

 dependencies {
   compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'}

then you have to add

 defaultConfig {
...
minSdkVersion 14
targetSdkVersion 21
...

// Enabling multidex support.
multiDexEnabled true}

Then open a class and extand it to Application If your app uses extends the Application class, you can override the oncrete() method and call

   MultiDex.install(this) 

to enable multidex.

and finally add into your manifest

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.android.multidex.myapplication">
    <application
   ...
     android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication">
   ...
   </application>
 </manifest> 

Answer 5

just adding this snipped in the build.gradle also works fine

android {
   compileSdkVersion 22
   buildToolsVersion "23.0.0"

     defaultConfig {
         minSdkVersion 14 //lower than 14 doesn't support multidex
         targetSdkVersion 22

         **// Enabling multidex support.
         **multiDexEnabled true****
     }
}

Answer 6

First you should try with Proguard (This clean all code unused)

android {
    compileSdkVersion 25
    buildToolsVersion "25.0.2"

    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 16
        targetSdkVersion 25
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"

        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}