Troubleshooting AndroidX Migration - Common Errors and Fixes

AndroidX is a significant advancement in the world of Android development, providing improved performance and a more modular approach to Android app development. However, upgrading your Android project to AndroidX can sometimes be a challenging task. This can affect your project not compiling at all or after compiling, it can fail to launch. After going through some challenges myself, I thought it would be better to share notes of some few fixes that I used during the upgrade. In this article, we will explore some common errors that you may encounter during the migration process and their corresponding solutions.

Duplicate Class Error

One of the most common errors during AndroidX migration is the "Duplicate class" error. It typically appears as follows:

Duplicate class kotlin.collections.jdk8.CollectionsJDK8Kt found in modules...

This error occurs due to conflicts between Kotlin libraries. To fix it, update your app's build.gradle file by adding this:

dependencies {

    implementation(platform("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-bom:1.8.0"))

}        

This ensures that you are using a consistent version of Kotlin throughout your project.

String Literal Package Reference Error

Another error you may encounter is a "String literal package reference" error. It usually appears with a message suggesting that libraries using reflection need to be updated manually. To address this, modify your app's build.gradle file:

android {

    compileOptions {

        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8

        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8

    }

}        

This change sets the source and target compatibility to Java 1.8, which is required for AndroidX.

Together with the following code in your gradle.properties .

android.jetifier.blacklist = butterknife-compiler        

Without fixing this the project will not compile.

InitializationProvider Error

Sometimes, you may face an error related to the "InitializationProvider" when launching your app:

Unable to get provider androidx.startup.InitializationProvider: androidx.startup.StartupException: java.lang.BootstrapMethodError: Exception from call site...

To solve that Include the following dependency in your app's build.gradle file:

implementation "androidx.startup:startup-runtime:1.0.0"        

I successfully fixed all the errors and got my app working after some time. It was tiring, but that's just how coding is. You have to put in the effort to get the best results. I also shared some links for additional reading and fixes. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Reference:

https://lnkd.in/gByUHnPg

https://lnkd.in/gPuPHgsQ

https://lnkd.in/gWfCMygV

https://lnkd.in/gzCU7dQt

https://lnkd.in/gPXrjqgT