Migrating a Cordova Android project to AndroidX

Question

I am currently testing a hybrid Cordova/Android app with AdMob test ads. The app uses one custom - i.e. in-house - plugin from which I access the Google Play Services AdMob API. The relevant bits of the plugin.xml file are as follows

<platform name="android">
 <preference name="PLAY_SERVICES_VERSION" default="17.2.0"/>
 <preference name="ADMOB_APP_ID" default="ca-app-pub-...."/>

 <framework src="com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.1.0" />
 <framework src="com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:17.2.0"/>

The config.xml file for the app declares the following

 <preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="23" />
 <preference name="android-targetSdkVersion" value="28" />

The Java code to load and show rewarded video ads follows the discussion here.

While this works what bothers me here is that I am using a rather ancient play-services-ads API. The problem is that if I try to upgrade to the latest API according to the instructions shown here. My modified plugin.xml file reflecting the changes needed to use the latest APIs

<platform name="android">
  <preference name="PLAY_SERVICES_VERSION" default="18.3.0"/>
  <preference name="ADMOB_APP_ID" default="ca-app-pub-..."/>

  <framework src="com.android.support:appcompat-v7:28.0.0" />
  <framework src="com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:18.3.0"/>

The problem is that I am no longer able to compile the app. Cordova CLI reports a string of issues which I show below

iled with exit code 1 Error output: Note: path\to\app\platforms\android\CordovaLib\src\org\apache\cordova\engine\SystemCookieManager.java uses or overrides a deprecated API. Note: Recompile with -Xlint:deprecation for details. path\to\app\platforms\android\app\src\main\AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-86 Error: Attribute application@appComponentFactory value=(androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory) from [androidx.core:core:1.0.0] AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-86 is also present at [com.android.support:support-compat:28.0.0] AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-91 value=(android.support.v4.app.CoreComponentFactory). Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:appComponentFactory"' to element at AndroidManifest.xml:4:5-21:19 to override.

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

• What went wrong: Execution failed for task ':app:processDebugManifest'.

  Manifest merger failed : Attribute application@appComponentFactory value=(androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory) from [androidx.core:core:1.0.0] AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-86 is also present at [com.android.support:support-compat:28.0.0] AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-91 value=(android.support.v4.app.CoreComponentFactory). Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:appComponentFactory"' to element at AndroidManifest.xml:4:5-21:19 to override.

I narrowed down the problem to gms:play-services-ads which appears to pull in androidx libraries that are not compatible with the old style android libraries. The helpful suggestion from Gradle above - ** add tools:replace="android:appComponentFactory ** did not help since the tools:replace attribute of the application node was not recognized.

The solution I have implemented that has worked is as follows

• I created a build-extras.gradle file under path/to/myapp/platforms/android with the lines

  android.useAndroidX=true android.enableJetifier=true

• As a stopgap I used this plugin which deals with the incompatibilities between androidx and android libraries. While this works I am not too keen on using additional plugins. I suspect all this plugin does is ensure that the AndroidManifest.xml is correct but I am unable to see how. I'd be most grateful to anyone who might be able to explain what needs to be done to get things to work without additional plugins.

Answer 1

Just read that : https://cordova.apache.org/announcements/2020/06/29/cordova-android-9.0.0.html

To be sure :

• Clear your gradle cache directory (in home/.gradle/caches)
• Remove and add the android platform
• Check your requirement following the above article ones

Then :

Add the following in your config.xml :

<preference name="AndroidXEnabled" value="true" />
<preference name="GradlePluginKotlinEnabled" value="true" />
<preference name="GradlePluginKotlinCodeStyle" value="official" />
<preference name="GradlePluginKotlinVersion" value="1.3.50" />

(AndroidXEnabled preference add jetifyer and androidX in the gradle.properties)

• Add the https://www.npmjs.com/package/cordova-plugin-androidx-adapter plugin.
• Then prepare the android platform

And your build should now works