How to build an android library with Android Studio and gradle?

Note: This answer is a pure Gradle answer, I use this in IntelliJ on a regular basis but I don't know how the integration is with Android Studio. I am a believer in knowing what is going on for me, so this is how I use Gradle and Android.

TL;DR Full Example - https://github.com/ethankhall/driving-time-tracker/

Disclaimer: This is a project I am/was working on.

Gradle has a defined structure ( that you can change, link at the bottom tells you how ) that is very similar to Maven if you have ever used it.

Project Root
+-- src
|   +-- main (your project)
|   |   +-- java (where your java code goes)
|   |   +-- res  (where your res go)
|   |   +-- assets (where your assets go)
|   |   \-- AndroidManifest.xml
|   \-- instrumentTest (test project)
|       \-- java (where your java code goes)
+-- build.gradle
\-- settings.gradle

If you only have the one project, the settings.gradle file isn't needed. However you want to add more projects, so we need it.

Now let's take a peek at that build.gradle file. You are going to need this in it (to add the android tools)

build.gradle

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.3'
    }
}

Now we need to tell Gradle about some of the Android parts. It's pretty simple. A basic one (that works in most of my cases) looks like the following. I have a comment in this block, it will allow me to specify the version name and code when generating the APK.

build.gradle

apply plugin: "android"
android {
        compileSdkVersion 17
        /*
        defaultConfig {
            versionCode = 1
            versionName = "0.0.0"
        }
        */
    }

Something we are going to want to add, to help out anyone that hasn't seen the light of Gradle yet, a way for them to use the project without installing it.

build.gradle

task wrapper(type: org.gradle.api.tasks.wrapper.Wrapper) {
    gradleVersion = '1.4'
}

So now we have one project to build. Now we are going to add the others. I put them in a directory, maybe call it deps, or subProjects. It doesn't really matter, but you will need to know where you put it. To tell Gradle where the projects are you are going to need to add them to the settings.gradle.

Directory Structure:

Project Root
+-- src (see above)
+-- subProjects (where projects are held)
|   +-- reallyCoolProject1 (your first included project)
|       \-- See project structure for a normal app
|   \-- reallyCoolProject2 (your second included project)
|       \-- See project structure for a normal app
+-- build.gradle
\-- settings.gradle

settings.gradle:

include ':subProjects:reallyCoolProject1'
include ':subProjects:reallyCoolProject2'

The last thing you should make sure of is the subProjects/reallyCoolProject1/build.gradle has apply plugin: "android-library" instead of apply plugin: "android".

Like every Gradle project (and Maven) we now need to tell the root project about it's dependency. This can also include any normal Java dependencies that you want.

build.gradle

dependencies{
    compile 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core:2.1.4'
    compile 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.1.4'
    compile project(":subProjects:reallyCoolProject1")
    compile project(':subProjects:reallyCoolProject2')
}

I know this seems like a lot of steps, but they are pretty easy once you do it once or twice. This way will also allow you to build on a CI server assuming you have the Android SDK installed there.

NDK Side Note: If you are going to use the NDK you are going to need something like below. Example build.gradle file can be found here: https://gist.github.com/khernyo/4226923

build.gradle

task copyNativeLibs(type: Copy) {
    from fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '**/*.so' )  into  'build/native-libs'
}
tasks.withType(Compile) { compileTask -> compileTask.dependsOn copyNativeLibs }

clean.dependsOn 'cleanCopyNativeLibs'

tasks.withType(com.android.build.gradle.tasks.PackageApplication) { pkgTask ->
  pkgTask.jniDir new File('build/native-libs')
}

Sources:

1. http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide
2. https://gist.github.com/khernyo/4226923
3. https://github.com/ethankhall/driving-time-tracker/

I just had a very similar issues with gradle builds / adding .jar library. I got it working by a combination of :

1. Moving the libs folder up to the root of the project (same directory as 'src'), and adding the library to this folder in finder (using Mac OS X)
2. In Android Studio, Right-clicking on the folder to add as library
3. Editing the dependencies in the build.gradle file, adding compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')}

BUT more importantly and annoyingly, only hours after I get it working, Android Studio have just released 0.3.7, which claims to have solved a lot of gradle issues such as adding .jar libraries

http://tools.android.com/recent

Hope this helps people!