Attention: Here be dragons

This is the latest (unstable) version of this documentation, which may document features not available in or compatible with released stable versions of Redot.

Android Studio

Android Studio is a free IDE for Android development made by Google and JetBrains. It's based on IntelliJ IDEA and has a feature-rich editor which supports Java and C/C++. It can be used to work on Redot's core engine as well as the Android platform codebase.

Importing the project

  • From the Android Studio's welcome window select Open.

../../../_images/android_studio_setup_project_1.png

Android Studio's welcome window.

  • Navigate to <Redot root directory>/platform/android/java and select the settings.gradle file.

  • Android Studio will import and index the project.

Android Studio project layout

The project is organized using Android Studio's modules:

  • lib module:
    • Located under <Redot root directory>/platform/android/java/lib, this is a library module that organizes

      the Redot java and native code and make it available as a reusable dependency / artifact.

    • The artifact generated by this module is made available for other Android modules / projects to use as a dependency, via MavenCentral.

  • editor module:
    • Located under <Redot root directory>/platform/android/java/editor, this is an application module that holds

      the source code for the Android port of the Redot Editor.

    • This module has a dependency on the lib module.

  • app module:
    • Located under <Redot root directory>/platform/android/java/app, this is an application module that holds

      the source code for the Android build templates.

    • This module has a dependency on the lib module.

Building & debugging the editor module

  • To build the editor module:
    ../../../_images/android_studio_editor_configurations_drop_down.webp
  • To debug the editor module:
    • Open the Build Variants window using View > Tools Windows > Build Variants from the top menu.

    • In the Build Variants window, make sure that in the Active Build Variant column, the :editor entry is set to dev.

    ../../../_images/android_studio_editor_build_variant.webp
    • Open the Run/Debug Configurations window by clicking on Run > Edit Configurations... on the top menu.

    • In the Run/Debug Configurations window, select the editor entry, and under Debugger make sure the Debug Type is set to Dual (Java + Native)

    ../../../_images/android_studio_editor_debug_type_setup.webp

Building & debugging the app module

The app module requires the presence of a Redot project in its assets directory (<Redot root directory>/platform/android/java/app/assets) to run. This is usually handled by the Redot Editor during the export process. While developing in Android Studio, it's necessary to manually add a Redot project under that directory to replicate the export process. Once that's done, you can follow the instructions below to run/debug the app module:

  • To build the app module:
    ../../../_images/android_studio_app_configurations_drop_down.webp
  • To debug the app module:
    • Open the Build Variants window using View > Tools Windows > Build Variants from the top menu.

    • In the Build Variants window, make sure that in the Active Build Variant column, the :app entry is set to dev.

    ../../../_images/android_studio_app_build_variant.webp
    • Open the Run/Debug Configurations window by clicking on Run > Edit Configurations... on the top menu.

    • In the Run/Debug Configurations window, select the app entry, and under Debugger make sure the Debug Type is set to Dual (Java + Native)

    ../../../_images/android_studio_app_debug_type_setup.webp

If you run into any issues, ask for help in Redot's Android dev channel.