Issues with Android Studio
I don't know about you, but I've been having a spot of bother with Android Studio - the IDE we're using for your Mobile Development ACW in which we are building an app for Android. I thought I'd document some of the challenges I've encountered in the process of installing it and using version 3.0.1 on Linux - and issues I've seen in the University labs too.
Disclaimer: This is by no means a complete list. Take advice from this list at your own risk! Additionally, any issues with the University lab machines must be reported to ICTD, whose email address you can find on your desktop background when you login.
Android Studio can't find the SDK
This issue is fairly trivial - it means that the Android SDK is probably not installed. There are two solutions here - download it through Android Studio itself, or, if you're on Linux, install the appropriate SDK package using your package manager.
Using Ubuntu it's the android-sdk package - on Arch-based distributions you'll have to consult the Arch User Repository. Don't forget to point the IDE at the location that it installed it to in the settings! You might have to hunt around a bit, but it's nothing a sudo find / -mount -iname "*sdk*" or something similar won't fix :P
Android Studio doesn't have permission to download the SDK to disk
This issue is specific to multi-user machines upon which you are downloading the SDK that you don't have administrative privileges on. The solution? Create a new directory and specify that as the Android SDK path before asking it to download the SDK for you.
After downloading the SDK, the Gradle sync fails
This is probably because the SDK version specified in the Gradle file doesn't match the one you have installed. Updating this should resolve the issue.
If not, then check the build tools version too. You can find the version it should be by opening the root of the SDK in your favourite file manager, going into the build-tools folder, and observing the name of the only folder in that directory.
Android Studio claims that
abddoesn't exist
If you're on Linux, then it's likely that you don't have the Android Debugger installed. Find and install it with your package manager (it's probably called adb or similar).
If you're on Windows, check that you've set the SDK path correctly. adb can also be found in the platform-tools folder of the SDK. Also make sure that you have execute privileges on the drive you installed the adb to.
Other than that, I suspect that your installation of Android Studio might be broken, and require a re-install.
Android Studio claims that the emulator is out of date
I've has this one several times - simply press the update button when prompted (if you've got administrative privileges). I've found that the updates have made the emulator progressively more stable, so if you're experiencing issues, it's worth installing any updates it asks you about.
Android Studio claims that the "Google Maven repository" doesn't exist
Again, simply click the "add" button or whatever it is when prompted. Unlike the emulator update though, this is project-specific and doesn't require administrative privileges.
Intel HAXM errors
Another issue that I've heard of happening in the lab. I've heard that the following help:
- Make sure that Hyper-V is turned off, as it's mutually exclusive with Intel's HAXM.
- Delete the Intel folder in
C:\ProgramData
Other various compatibility issues with the Android Studio project
If you experience any random compatibility issues when trying to open an existing project that was for an older version of Android Studio, delete the .idea folder and then open Android Studio again. The .idea folder actually just contains auto-generated files - none of which can't be replaced based on the rest of your project. To that end, I'd avoid committing it to source code control too.
Pressing start next to a virtual device doesn't do anything
I've seen this a few times - and I think it might be an Intel HAXM issue. Try reading the solution above.
Android Studio claims that the module SDK is not defined
This only happens on startup. Wait it out, and it should disappear once the Gradle sync finishes. It'll prompt you to delete a Gradle project file because it's "not part of the project", but I haven't had the courage to allow it to delete it yet :P
Errors relating to the integrated source-code-control support
I've seen many of these, but I ignore them as the external tools I use to manage my repository work just fine - and I've no desire to allow a complicated and opinionated IDE to take control over how I commit my code. If anyone knows how to disable the integrated SVN/Git support, I'm all ears!
After updating Android Studio from 3.0.1 to 3.1, all the Android API calls in my code turn to unresolved references, despite dthe gradle build being successful!
I've just experienced this (~March 31st) with a Kotlin project. The solution, according to a nice person on stackoverflow, is to delete the following folders in your project whilst Android Studio is closed:
.idea/build/app/build/
Once done, open Android Studio again and the problem should be resolved - once it's rebuilt all it's cache files, of course.
That about concludes the list of issues I've seen and experienced. If you've experienced any of the above (or even a different issue) and found a different workaround, and then let me know below! Did a solution work / not work? Let me know too.
Another reminder: I take no responsibility for any damage that might happen to your computer / project / work as a result of following this suggestions. Always have backups! Additionally, as mentioned above, if you're having an issue with the machines in the University labs, you need to let ICTD know by emailing the address on your desktop background. If you don't, then they won't know about the issue!