Toggle between Application for debug build and MultiDexApplication for release build

Question

One of my test phone does not able to install app with ADB when the application class is extending MultiDex application.

I attempted implement this on build.gradle with my app application class extending MultiDexApplication but cannot compile.

buildTypes {
 release {
    multiDexEnabled false
 }
 debug {
    multiDexEnabled true
 }
}

References: 1. https://developer.android.com/studio/build/multidex.html 2. Can I enable multidex in Android debug build only? 3. Conditionally inherit from class

Nope, it simply does not able to install in that phone (ZTE Blade A610) via ADB as long as my application class extends MultiDexApplication. My current work around is to manually let it extend Application class when debug. — Lee Chun Hoe, Jul 28 '17 at 03:20
No log. What happened is, when I attempt to run it, Android Studio just redirect me to my application class. — Lee Chun Hoe, Jul 28 '17 at 03:23

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 28 '17 at 03:27

0

Keep your Application class extend MultidexApplication, but add this line into your attachBaseContext

if (BuildConfig.DEBUG) {
    MultiDex.install(this);
}

answered Jul 28 '17 at 03:27

phatnhse

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 28 '17 at 03:42

Maybe I can suggest a different approach. I assume you are using proguard on your release build and this is why you don't need to use multidex for release

If you set minifyEnabled true and useProguard false on debug, this will strip out all the dead code in your debug build but wont use any of the proguard optimizations like obfuscation.

You will need to move your proguard rule settings into default config so minify knows which files to keep.

This method can help you avoid using multidex on your debug builds.

defaultConfig {
    ...
    proguardFile 'proguard-rules.pro'
    proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt')
}

debug {
    ...
    minifyEnabled true
    useProguard false
}

release {
    ...
    minifyEnabled true
}

Toggle between Application for debug build and MultiDexApplication for release build

2 Answers2