Running “cordova build android” - unable to find a

Question

When I run cordova build android --buildConfig xxxx --release, I get the following error:

ERROR: In <declare-styleable> FontFamilyFont, unable to find attribute android:fontVariationSettings
ERROR: In <declare-styleable> FontFamilyFont, unable to find attribute android:ttcIndex

The strange thing is I use two macOS machines for the compilation, and I get this error only on one of them for the same code.

Here is the output of ./gradlew cdvPrintProps I get on the two machines:

:cdvPrintProps
cdvCompileSdkVersion=26
cdvBuildToolsVersion=27.0.3
cdvVersionCode=null
cdvMinSdkVersion=21
cdvBuildMultipleApks=true
cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile=release-signing.properties
cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile=null
cdvBuildArch=null
computedVersionCode=152045989
computedArmv7VersionCode=1520459892
computedX86VersionCode=1520459894

Below is the list of plugins used:

$ cordova plugins list
cordova-custom-config 5.0.2 "cordova-custom-config"
cordova-fabric-plugin 1.1.10 "cordova-fabric-plugin"
cordova-open-native-settings 1.5.0 "Native settings"
cordova-plugin-app-event 1.2.1 "Application Events"
cordova-plugin-app-version 0.1.9 "AppVersion"
cordova-plugin-camera 2.4.1 "Camera"
cordova-plugin-compat 1.2.0 "Compat"
cordova-plugin-console 1.1.0 "Console"
cordova-plugin-crosswalk-webview 2.4.0 "Crosswalk WebView Engine"
cordova-plugin-datepicker 0.9.2 "DatePicker"
cordova-plugin-device 2.0.1 "Device"
cordova-plugin-email 1.2.7 "EmailComposer"
cordova-plugin-file 4.3.3 "File"
cordova-plugin-file-transfer 1.6.3 "File Transfer"
cordova-plugin-inappbrowser 1.7.2 "InAppBrowser"
cordova-plugin-network-information 1.3.4 "Network Information"
cordova-plugin-secure-storage 2.6.8 "SecureStorage"
cordova-plugin-splashscreen 4.1.0 "Splashscreen"
cordova-plugin-statusbar 2.4.1 "StatusBar"
cordova-plugin-whitelist 1.3.3 "Whitelist"
cordova.plugins.diagnostic 3.9.2 "Diagnostic"
de.appplant.cordova.plugin.local-notification 0.8.5 "LocalNotification"
ionic-plugin-keyboard 2.2.1 "Keyboard"

How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

I had the same problem, and none of the given solutions worked for me. Installing the latest version of Android SDK Build-tools (27.0.3) resolved my problem.

Answer 2

Google released the new version 28.0.0-alpha1 of com.android.support:support-v4 which is adding 2 new attributes(android:fontVariationSettings and android:ttcIndex). Some of the plugins are using the latest android-support libraries which results in unwanted incompatibilities.

Option 1: Install cordova-android-support-gradle-release plugin.

Well documented plugin which "aligns various versions of the Android Support libraries specified by other plugins to a specific version". Tested without any destructive behavior.

cordova plugin add cordova-android-support-gradle-release --fetch

Read the documentation for a full set of options: Readme

Option 2: Add next code snippet in build.gradle under platforms/android

/** 
IMPORTANT - Manually added
Problem: 8 March 2018 - Google released version support-v4:28.0.0-alpha1 
which breaks the project with following error: unable to find attribute 
android:fontVariationSettings and android:ttcIndex

Effect: Force a specific version of the library
*/

configurations.all {
    resolutionStrategy.force 'com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0'
}

Warning: code in build.gradle will be overwritten if you remove/add the Android platform. If you don't want to use the plugin for some reason or somehow is not working for you, instead create a hook and overwrite the file every time. Check 2nd comment here.

If the problem is persistent you may try:

cordova platform rm android
cordova platform add android

OR

Make sure you don't have a previous version of the app installed on the device you test because you'll receive an ambiguous error when it tries to downgrade the existing version: "INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE" and "UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Unhandled promise rejection"

Answer 3

Some of your libraries should be using

com.android.support:support-v4:+

Find which one that is, with

gradlew -q dependencies app:dependencies --configuration debugAndroidTestCompileClasspath

And add that library as a module if it is not using a specific version in it's latest update (Also raise an issue in that library! ;) )

Thanks to @avmatte!

Answer 4

updates to @Brad Pitcher's answer:

hooks/copy_build_extras.js

#!/usr/bin/env node

var fs = require('fs');

module.exports = function (context) {
  var rootdir         = context.opts.projectRoot;
  var android_dir     = `${rootdir}/platforms/android`;
  var gradle_filename = 'build-extras.gradle';
  var gradle_file     = `${rootdir}/${gradle_filename}`;
  if (fs.existsSync(android_dir) && fs.existsSync(gradle_file)) {
    fs.createReadStream(gradle_file)
      .pipe(fs.createWriteStream(`${android_dir}/${gradle_filename}`));
  }
};

config.xml

<platform name="android">
    <allow-intent href="market:*" />
    <hook src="hooks/copy_build_extras.js" type="before_build" />
</platform>

build-extras.gradle in the root dir

configurations.all {
  resolutionStrategy {
    force 'com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0'
  }
}

Answer 5

Another aproach with same solution is create a hook. It's persistent (after platform reinstall), you can commit it and it don't require re-adding platform.

%project%\scripts\android\android-support-version.js

#!/usr/bin/env node

var fs = require('fs');

function replace_strings_in_file(filename, replacementsObject) {
  if (fs.existsSync(filename)) {
    var data = fs.readFileSync(filename, 'utf8');
    Object.keys(replacementsObject).forEach(function (to_replace) {
      var replace_with = replacementsObject[to_replace];
      data = data.replace(to_replace, replace_with);
    });
    console.log(data);
    fs.writeFileSync(filename, data, 'utf8');
  } else {
    console.log('file not found');
  }
}

module.exports = function (context) {
  var rootdir = process.argv[2];
  if (rootdir) {
    replace_strings_in_file("platforms/android/project.properties", {'com.android.support:support-v4:+': 'com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0'});
    console.log('com.android.support version fix');
  }
};

Init hook in config

%project%\config.xml

...
<platform name="android">
  <hook src="scripts/android/android-support-version.js" type="before_build" />
  ...

Install fs dependency to your project:

npm i fs --save-dev

Run build:

cordova build android

Answer 6

I was facing the same error. Did a complete research in the plugin-directory for com.android.support:support-v4:+ and replaced it with a static version code.

For me, com.android.support:support-v4:23.4.0 worked just fine. There was no need to remove and re-add the android platform then.