Android Studio does not build nRF Blinky correctly

[jerry]

Hi,

I want to use the blinky code to develop a product using a nRF52832

I download the latest nRF Blinky app code from Github and try to run it with the latest version of Android Studio(Dolphin).

I get an error saying the codeVersion is a -1 but should be a positive integer, I have seen this error before, but dont recall if I ever solved the issue. 

What should I do??

Thank You,

Jerry

[Aleksander Nowakowski]

Hello,

Seems like you have downloaded the nRF Blinky app as ZIP, not using git. I did not think about this case.

Here is the root cause of your issue.

The :app module in nRF Blinky uses libs.plugins.nordic.application.compose plugin (here), defined here.

This plugin includes here another plugin, libs.plugins.nordic.gradle.application, defgined here. That plugin sets versionCode here by calling a method defined here. The latest version should throw an exception if git is not used, but the version you had (3.0.0) had different implementation, which indeed returned -1 if git tag --list failed.

Solution for you is to use git to clone the repository by calling 

git clone https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/Android-nRF-Blinky

in your console. Git needs to be installed to make it work.

I'll fix the build script to return 1 if git fails in the next version.

[jerry]

Thank You. That worked. I have one other question as I am not very familiar with debugging using AS. Where and in one file can I put the very first breakpoint so I can kind of walk through the program to see what's going on and start to modify it.

Thanks Again

[Aleksander Nowakowski]

Let's start in MainActivity, which defines 2 destinations: scanner and the blinky screen.

The scanner destination is defined here. It declares a scanner screen with UUID filter. We use our standard component for scanning, which is defined in our Common Library. When a device is selected the callback navigates to Blinky destination.

During navigation, the input parameter is given to using Hilt to SavedStateHandle, where it is accessible using Hilt. We make use of it in the BlinkyModule (a Hilt module), which exposes the device parameter (also using Hilt) to other components. For example, the repository can use the device id, name and the device thanks to that mechanism. As you see, it also exposes the API of the device using bound BlinkyManager.

If you want to modify the app, let's continue here: How to add different device · Issue #77 · NordicSemiconductor/Android-nRF-Blinky (github.com)

[jerry]

eFantastic... Thank you so much!