Upgrading Flutter projects to build with gradle

Introduction

Prior to Pull Request 7902 -- which was merged to master on February 6th 2017 -- we used a custom build process when building for Android. We now build for Android using the same standard 'gradle-based' build process that Android Studio project uses. This makes it easier to edit the native Android code; after the upgrade you can open the android folder in Android Studio, and it will know how to build the project, and will allow you to add java code.

If you have a project that was created prior to this date, please follow these steps to switch to building with gradle. This is required as we will be removing the custom build support shortly.

Note: These steps apply to projects created with flutter create prior to February 6th 2017. If your project was based on a copy of /examples/hello_services/, then you just need to synchronize the contents of your build.gradle files from steps 4. and 5.

Upgrading an existing project

The steps below use <existing-app-dir> as a placeholder for the directory containing your existing app, e.g. ~/dev/flutter/awesomeapp.

Step 0: Ensure flutter is up to date

Make sure you flutter SDK is up to date. You need a recent (March 1st, 2017 later) SDK from the master branch of https://github.com/flutter/flutter.

You can upgrade by running flutter upgrade in a terminal.

Step 1: Create a new project with the new template

flutter create <appname>
mv <appname>/lib <appname>/lib.old

Step 2: Merge over your Flutter UI code

Main Dart UI code:

cp -r <existing-app-dir>/lib <appname>/

If <existing-app-dir>/assets exists:

cp -r <existing-app-dir>/assets <appname>/

Step 3: Synchronize AndroidManifest.xml

Note: This step is only required if you made any changes to
<existing-app-dir>android/AndroidManifest.xml

If that is the case, apply those changes to the new manifest,
<appname>/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

Step 4: Synchronize pubspec.yaml

Note: This step is only required if you made any changes to
<existing-app-dir>/pubspec.yaml

If that is the case, apply those changes to the new manifest,
<appname>/pubspec.yaml

Step 5: Move icon resources, and other resources as applicable

Note: This step is only required if your app has custom launcher icons.

cp -r <existing-app-dir>/android/res <appname>android/app/src/main/

Repeat this for any other resources you may have.

Step 6: Move over iOS code if applicable

Note: This step is only required if your app has any custom iOS code.

mv <appname>/ios <appname>/ios.old
cp -r <existing-app-dir>/ios/ <appname>

Step 7: Validate you can build, and clean-up

When you are done, the structure of your android folder should match that of a new flutter project created with flutter create using a recent framework.

Validate that you can build for both Android and iOS. Note: The first build will take a little longer (as it will download and then cache a few gradle files).

cd <appname>
flutter build apk
flutter build ios

Finally, once you are sure everything is working as intended, consider removing the .old folders.

Working with the project after upgrading

You can still build with flutter build apk and run with flutter run.

In addition, you can edit and build from Android Studio:

1. Start Android Studio
2. Invoke File > Open...
3. Select the android folder inside your folder, and press OK
4. Press the Run button, or use the Run > Run menu item to build and run the app
5. Edit java code by locating the .java file in the file tree on the right hand side.