android-libs: An Internal Android SDK for Rapid App Development

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Overview

This repository contains android-libs, an internal SDK I architected and developed to standardize core functionalities and accelerate the development of native Android applications at PT G.I.T. By providing a suite of pre-built, reusable components for features like analytics, networking, and UI, this library became the architectural foundation for major apps like Mamikos and Jakpat, ensuring consistency and dramatically reducing boilerplate code.

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The Problem: Scaling Mobile Development

As we developed and maintained multiple applications simultaneously (Mamikos, Jakpat), we faced significant challenges that hampered our velocity and scalability:

• Code Duplication: Core features like analytics, networking, and user notifications were being built from scratch for each project, leading to inconsistent implementations and wasted development time.
• Inconsistent Architecture: Without a shared foundation, each application had a slightly different architecture, making it difficult for developers to switch between projects.
• Slow Onboarding: New developers had a steep learning curve, as they needed to understand the unique quirks of each separate codebase.

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The Solution: A Centralized Core Library

To solve these challenges, I developed android-libs to provide a centralized, easy-to-use API for all common application needs.

Key Features

🏗️ Base Components

• BaseActivity - Foundation activity with toolbar, progress bar, and fragment management.
• BaseDrawerActivity - Activity with built-in navigation drawer support.
• BaseSupportFragment - Base fragment with lifecycle management.
• BaseDialog - Simplified dialog fragment implementation.
• BaseApplication - Application class with integrated Firebase Analytics.

🌐 Networking

• BaseAPI - Abstract API client built on the Fuel HTTP library with automatic JSON serialization (GSON), configurable headers, built-in error handling, and multipart form data support.

📱 UI Components

• RecyclerAdapter - Generic RecyclerView adapter with automatic pagination, load-more functionality, and support for multiple layout managers.

🛠️ Utilities

• GSONManager - Centralized GSON configuration for consistent JSON handling.

📊 Extensions

• AnyExtension - Debug logging extension that only logs in debug builds.
• ButtonExtension - Simple button click tracking with Firebase Analytics.

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Impact & Results

Adopting android-libs as the foundation for our new projects had a direct and positive impact on the team and business.

• Accelerated Development: Reduced the time to implement core features in new projects by an estimated 40-50%.
• Standardized Architecture: Ensured a consistent technical implementation and user experience across both the Jakpat and Mamikos applications, making it easier for developers to contribute to either project.
• Improved Maintainability: Allowed our team to roll out updates and bug fixes to core features (like a new analytics event) in one central place, benefiting all projects simultaneously.

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How to Use (API Examples)

The primary goal of the library was to be powerful yet simple to use, requiring minimal code to implement complex features.

BaseActivity

class MainActivity : BaseActivity() {
    override val layoutResource: Int = R.layout.activity_main
    
    override fun viewDidLoad() {
        // Initialize your views and setup logic here
        showLoadingBar()
        
        // Your code...
        
        hideLoadingBar()
    }
}

BaseAPI

class UserAPI(private val userId: String) : BaseAPI() {
    override val headers: Map<String, String>? = mapOf("Authorization" to "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN")
    override val basePath: String = "https://api.example.com"
    override val method: APIMethod = APIMethod.GET
    override val path: String = "users/$userId"
    override val params: String = ""
    
    fun fetchUser(callback: (User?, String?) -> Unit) {
        execute(User::class.java, callback)
    }
}

// Usage
UserAPI("123").fetchUser { user, error ->
    if (error != null) {
        // Handle error
    } else {
        // Use user data
    }
}

RecyclerAdapter

class MyAdapter(context: Context, items: MutableList<Item>) 
    : RecyclerAdapter<Item, MyAdapter.ViewHolder>(context, items) {
    
    override fun onCreateViewHolder(parent: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): ViewHolder {
        val view = LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(R.layout.item_layout, parent, false)
        return ViewHolder(view)
    }
    
    override fun loadMore() {
        // Load more items from API
        // ... fetch data ...
        addItems(newItems)
    }
    
    inner class ViewHolder(itemView: View) : BaseViewHolder(itemView) {
        override fun bind(item: Item) {
            // Bind item data to views
        }
    }
}

Extensions

// Debug logging
this.logIfDebug("User logged in successfully")

// Button with automatic analytics tracking
myButton.onTrackedClick("login_button_tapped") {
    // Button click action
}

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Installation & Technical Specifications

Installation

Add this library module to your project's build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation project(':android-libs')
}

Requirements

• Min SDK: 16
• Target SDK: 29
• Compile SDK: 29

Dependencies

• AndroidX - AppCompat, RecyclerView, Material Design
• Kotlin - Standard library
• Fuel - HTTP networking library
• GSON - JSON serialization/deserialization
• Firebase - Analytics and Cloud Messaging
• Anko - Kotlin Android extensions

Permissions

The library requires the following permissions, which are declared in its AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

ProGuard

The library is configured to work with ProGuard/R8 out of the box.

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Project Status

This was an internal library developed at PT G.I.T. and has since been archived. The code is provided for portfolio and demonstration purposes.