Android Jetpack is a set of Android software components that aid in the development of outstanding Android apps. These software components aid in the following tasks:
- Adhering to best practices and creating boilerplate code
- Making complicated things simple.
Previously, there were several challenges, which are as follows:
- Managing the lifecycles of activities.
- Adapting to configuration changes.
- Keeping memory leaks at bay.
All of these key issues have been addressed by the software components of the Android Jetpack. So, Android Jetpack is the solution to all issues.
GeekTip: Another key feature of the Jetpack is that it is updated more regularly than the Android platform, ensuring that we always have the most recent version.
Jetpack consists of the androidx.* package libraries that have been unbundled from the platform APIs. This indicates that it is backward compatible.
Components of the Android Jetpack
Android Jetpack components are a set of libraries that may be used independently and are designed to operate together while making use of Kotlin language features that increase productivity. These software components have been classified into four groups, which are as follows:
Let’s go over them one by one:
1. Components of the Foundation
The following are provided by the foundation components:
- Compatibility with previous versions
- Kotlin language support is being tested.
The following are all of the foundation components:
- App Compatibility: Support for material design user interface implementation allows the app to gently degrade on earlier versions of Android.
- Android KTX: A collection of Kotlin extensions that allow you to create more succinct, idiomatic Kotlin code.
- Multidex: Allows applications to use several dex files.
- Test: A sort of testing framework, required for the most obvious reasons.
2. Components of Architecture
The architecture components assist us in the construction of:
- Apps that are robust and testable
- Apps that are easy to maintain
The following are all of the architectural components:
- Data Binding: Declaratively tie UI components in our layout to our app’s data sources.
- Lifecycles: Manages our app’s activity and fragment lifecycles.
- Notify views of any database updates with LiveData.
- Handle everything required for in-app navigation.
- Paging: Load information from your data source gradually and on-demand.
- SQLite database access is quick and easy in this room.
- ViewModel: This is required for the management of UI-related features.
- WorkManager: Manage all background jobs on Android based on the conditions we provide.
3. Components of Behavior
The behavior components aid in integrating with typical Android services such as
- Notifications
- Permissions
- Sharing
- Assistant
The following are all of the behavioral components:
- Download Manager: This allows you to schedule and handle big downloads in the background, with auto-retry support.
- Media and Playback: APIs for media playback and routing that are backward compatible (including Google Cast).
- Notifications: Backward compatibility for certain services which include the likes of Android Auto etc.
- Permissions: APIs for verifying and requesting permissions in the app.
- Create interactive settings panels for users to configure.
- Sharing: A share action suitable for an app’s action bar is provided.
- Slices: Create adaptable UI components that can display app data outside of the app and can be extended back to Android 4.4.
4. UI Elements
The UI components include widgets and tools that will make your program not only straightforward to use but also enjoyable. The following are all of the UI components:
- Transitions and animation: Move widgets and switch between displays.
- Components for developing Android Auto applications.
- Emoji: On older systems, enable the latest emoji font.
- Fragment: A basic unit of UI composition.
- Layout: Arrange widgets using various methods.
- Color palettes can be used to extract important information.
- TV: Components for creating Android TV applications.
- Wear Components for creating Wear applications.
In this scenario, the Android Jetpack comes in handy. It’s time to start utilizing it.