BuzzNews for Android Devs: Android Studio 3.0 RC1

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Android Studio 3.0RC1 Preview

Hi guys,With this blog post,I am going to write about brand new "Android Studio preview (3.0RC1)".
The latest version available is Android Studio 3.0,you can download it from here.So lets begin with some new features and improvements we gonna get with these preview:


#Note:The Android Studio Preview can run side-by-side with your stable version, so you can work on the same projects in both versions.

New Features in Android Studio 3.0:
There are much more to get in this new studio like parameter hints, semantic highlighting, instant results in search etc.Lets peek in:
  • Kotlin Language Support
  • Bye Bye!!!Jack
  • Android Profiler
  • Instant Apps are in
  • Apk Debugger
  • Device File Explorer
  • Android O developer preview Support
  • AoT-Templates for Android things
  • Improved Layout Editor
  • Maven Repository
  • Improved APK analyzer
  • New plugin for Gradle and CMake 3.7
  • Improved Emulator 
  1. Kotlin Language Support

    Android Studio 3.0 includes support for the Kotlin language. You can incorporate Kotlin into your project by converting a Java file to Kotlin (click Code > Convert Java File to Kotlin File) or by creating a new Kotlin-enabled project using the New Project wizard.
  2. Bye Bye!!!Jack

    android {
        ...
        defaultConfig {
            ...
            // Remove this block.
            jackOptions {
                enabled true
            }
        }

    }

The Jack toolchain is deprecated.Now default toolchain supports java8 features,So jack is no more needed.the default toolchain implements the new language features by performing bytecode transformations, called desugar, on the output of the javac compiler. Jack is no longer supported, and you should first disable Jack to use the improved Java 8 support built into the default toolchain.

3.New Android Profiler

The new Android Profiler in Android Studio 3.0 provides a realtime, unified view of your app's activity. The Android Profiler window replaces the Android Monitor window. To open the Android Profiler, follow these steps:
  1. Click View > Tool Windows > Android Profiler (you can also click Android Profiler in the toolbar).
  2. Select the device and app process you want to profile from the Android Profiler toolbar. If you've connected a device over USB but don't see it listed, ensure that you have enabled USB debugging.

Click on the NETWORK, CPU, or MEMORY timelines to open a more detailed view of each profiler.

4.Instant AppsAndroid Studio 3.0 allows you to create Instant Apps in your project using two new module types: Instant App modules and Feature modules.


5. Apk Debugger

The new APK Debugger in Android Studio 3.0 allows you to profile and debug APKs without having to build them from an Android Studio project, as long as they are debuggable.

6. New Device File Explorer

The new Device File Explorer tool window allows you to seamlessly interact with your connected device's filesystem.You can click to view various files inside Android Studio and copy the files to your computer.This feature replaces device filesystem interactions previously accomplished through DDMS.

7.Android O developer preview SupportAndroid Studio 3.0 adds support for Android O, including the following:
  • A new Adaptive Icon wizard that allows you to create new adaptive launcher icon assets and preview how they will appear on different devices. To launch the Adaptive Icon wizard, right click on the /res folder in your project, then click New > Image Asset > Launcher Icons (Adaptive and Legacy). For more information about adaptive launcher icons in Android O, see Adaptive Icons.
  • New XML fonts preview, font selection tools, and support for downloadable fonts. For more information about XML fonts and downloadable fonts in Android O, see Working With Fonts.

8.AoT-Templates for Android things
If you are not aware about AoT,then Read from here .Android Studio 3.0 includes a new set of templates in the New Project and New Module wizards, so you can start developing for Internet of Things devices with Android Things.

9.Improved Layout EditorThe Layout Editor in Android Studio 3.0 contains a number of new feature enhancements, including the following:
  • Updated component tree with improved drag-and-drop view insertions
  • New error panel
  • New support for view Barriers and Groups
  • Enhanced Chain creation
10.Maven Repository
The Android Support Library Maven dependencies are now available outside of the Android SDK Manager in a new Maven repository. In combination with the command line sdkmanager tool and Gradle, this new distribution method simplifies Maven dependency management for those using continuous integration systems. To use the new Maven repository, add the URL to the repositories block of your build.gradle file as follows:
repositories {
  maven {
    url "https://maven.google.com"
  }
}

11.Apk Analyzer

Android Studio 3.0 includes the following improvements for the APK Analyzer:


  • Shows fields in addition to the packages, classes, and methods that were previously available
  • New filtering options at the top that show and hide fields and methods
  • In the tree view, nodes that are shown in italics are references not defined in the DEX file
  • For APKs built with Proguard enabled, you can load Proguard mapping files that add capabilities to the DEX viewer, including:
    • Bolded nodes to indicate that the nodes should not be removed when shrinking code
    • Enables a button that makes nodes that were removed during the shrinking process visible
    • Enables a button that restores the original names of nodes in the tree view that were obfuscated by Proguard

12.New plugin for gradle

Android plugin 3.0.0-alpha1 and higher aims to address build performance issues for Android projects with a large number of modules. When using the new plugin with these projects, you should experience the following:

  • Faster configuration times due to delayed dependency resolution.
  • Variant-aware dependency resolution only for the projects and variants you are building.
  • Faster incremental build times when applying simple changes to code or resources.
In order to bring about these improvements, there are some breaking changes in the plugin behavior, DSL, and APIs. This impacts both build files and Gradle plugins.


13.Improved EmulatorThe Android Emulator also includes a number of new features, including the following:
  • New API Level 24 system images and Android O Beta system images that include the Google Play Store to facilitate end-to-end testing for your app and help you keep Google Play Services up to date for your AVDs.
  • Support on Windows and Linux machines for OpenGL ES 3.0 on system images for API level 24 and higher and significant improvements for OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics performance on older emulator system images.
    Note: We currently make a best effort to automatically enable OpenGL ES 3.0 for all modern GPUs from Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD. If you experience problems running OpenGL ES 3.x apps, your system may not yet be automatically enabled. You can manually enable OpenGL ES 3.0 by adding the following line to your ~/.android/advancedFeatures.ini file: 
    repositories {
      maven {
        url "https://maven.google.com"
      }
    }

  • A new, easier way to generate a bug report for your app from the Android Emulator.
  • A new link to quickly file an emulator-related bug for the Android team on the Android Issue Tracker (click Emulator Tool Bar > Extended Controls > Help > Emulator Help > File a Bug).
  • A new UI to configure the proxy settings used by the Android Emulator. To configure proxy settings for the Android Emulator, click Extended Controls > Settings > Proxy.
  • New support for rotary input for Android Wear devices on the emulator.

14.Use CMake 3.7 or higher
By default, when using CMake to build native libraries for your app, the Android plugin for Gradle asks you to download and install CMake using the SDK Manager. The SDK Manager uses a forked version of CMake 3.6.4.
If you instead want to use CMake version 3.7 or higher, you need to follow these steps:
  • Update the Android plugin for Gradle to 3.0.0-beta6 or higher. Be aware that this version of the plugin includes some breaking changes that you should first consider. To learn more, read Migrate to Android Plugin for Gradle 3.0.0.
  • Download and install CMake 3.7 or higher from the official CMake website.
  • Include the path to the CMake installation in your project's local.properties file:

cmake.dir="path-to-cmake"
  • Alternatively, you can add the path to the CMake installation to your PATH environment variable and specify the CMake version in your module's build.gradle file:
android {
    ...
    externalNativeBuild {
        cmake {
            ...
            // When you specify a version of CMake, as shown below,
            // the Android plugin searches for its binary within your
            // PATH environmental variable.
            version "3.7.1"
        }
    }
}




That's all for 3.0RC1.I hope it may prove helpful to all the dear readers.Thanks and don't forget to share your feedback.

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