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TechSales uses Gradle with Kotlin DSL for building the Android application. This guide covers building from the command line and understanding build configurations.

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Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have:
  • Android SDK installed
  • Java Development Kit (JDK) 11 or higher
  • Environment variables set (ANDROID_HOME)

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Building with Gradle

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Basic Build Command

To build the app from the command line: 
./gradlew build
This command compiles the source code, processes resources, and generates APK files for all build variants.

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Build Specific Variants

1

Debug Build

Build the debug variant (includes debugging symbols, not optimized):
./gradlew assembleDebug
Output location: app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
2

Release Build

Build the release variant (optimized, ready for distribution):
./gradlew assembleRelease
Output location: app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release-unsigned.apk

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Clean Build

To remove all build artifacts and start fresh: 
./gradlew clean
To clean and rebuild: 
./gradlew clean build

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Build Configuration

The build configuration is defined in app/build.gradle.kts: 
plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.android.application)
}

android {
    namespace = "com.teamtech.techsales"
    compileSdk {
        version = release(36) {
            minorApiLevel = 1
        }
    }

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId = "com.teamtech.techsales"
        minSdk = 29
        targetSdk = 36
        versionCode = 1
        versionName = "1.0"

        testInstrumentationRunner = "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            isMinifyEnabled = false
            proguardFiles(
                getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android-optimize.txt"),
                "proguard-rules.pro"
            )
        }
    }
    
    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11
        targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11
    }
}

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Key Configuration Values

  • Application ID: com.teamtech.techsales
  • Namespace: com.teamtech.techsales
  • Compile SDK: 36 (Android API level 36)
  • Min SDK: 29 (Android 10)
  • Target SDK: 36
  • Version Code: 1
  • Version Name: 1.0
  • Java Version: 11

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Build Variants

TechSales has two build types configured:

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Debug Variant

  • Purpose: Development and testing
  • Minification: Disabled
  • Debugging: Enabled
  • Signing: Uses debug keystore automatically
  • Output: app-debug.apk

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Release Variant

  • Purpose: Production distribution
  • Minification: Currently disabled (isMinifyEnabled = false)
  • ProGuard: Configured but not enabled
  • Signing: Requires release keystore configuration
  • Output: app-release-unsigned.apk
Minification is currently disabled for release builds. To enable code shrinking and obfuscation, set isMinifyEnabled = true in the release build type.

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ProGuard Configuration

ProGuard rules are defined in app/proguard-rules.pro. While minification is currently disabled, the configuration file is ready for use: 
# Add project specific ProGuard rules here.
# You can control the set of applied configuration files using the
# proguardFiles setting in build.gradle.

# If your project uses WebView with JS, uncomment the following
# and specify the fully qualified class name to the JavaScript interface
# class:
#-keepclassmembers class fqcn.of.javascript.interface.for.webview {
#   public *;
#}

# Uncomment this to preserve the line number information for
# debugging stack traces.
#-keepattributes SourceFile,LineNumberTable

# If you keep the line number information, uncomment this to
# hide the original source file name.
#-renamesourcefileattribute SourceFile
The release build also uses the default optimized ProGuard configuration:
  • proguard-android-optimize.txt (from Android SDK)
  • proguard-rules.pro (project-specific rules)

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Enabling ProGuard

To enable code shrinking and obfuscation:
  1. Edit app/build.gradle.kts
  2. Change isMinifyEnabled = false to isMinifyEnabled = true
  3. Add any necessary keep rules to proguard-rules.pro
  4. Rebuild the release variant

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Build Output Locations

After building, artifacts are generated in the following locations:

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APK Files

app/build/outputs/apk/
├── debug/
│   └── app-debug.apk
└── release/
    └── app-release-unsigned.apk

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Build Intermediates

app/build/intermediates/
Contains intermediate build files (compiled classes, processed resources, etc.)

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Build Logs

app/build/outputs/logs/

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Gradle Tasks

Useful Gradle tasks for building: 
# List all available tasks
./gradlew tasks

# List app module tasks
./gradlew app:tasks

# Build and install debug APK on connected device
./gradlew installDebug

# Build and install release APK
./gradlew installRelease

# Generate build reports
./gradlew assembleDebug --scan

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Build Performance

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Gradle Daemon

The Gradle daemon improves build performance by keeping build components in memory. It’s enabled by default.

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Parallel Builds

Gradle can build independent modules in parallel. Check gradle.properties for parallel execution settings.

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Build Cache

Gradle’s build cache reuses outputs from previous builds: 
# Build with build cache
./gradlew build --build-cache

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Troubleshooting

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Clean Build

If you encounter build issues, try cleaning: 
./gradlew clean build

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Gradle Wrapper Update

Ensure you’re using the correct Gradle version: 
./gradlew wrapper --gradle-version=latest

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Dependency Issues

Refresh dependencies: 
./gradlew build --refresh-dependencies

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Next Steps

Running

Learn how to run the built APK

Testing

Run tests before building release

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