Currently, the app is maintained in two branches, namely v1+ and v2+. The v1+ is maintained in the develop branch and the v2+ is maintained in the develop-2.x branch. The older version is written partially in java and kotlin, but we intend to write the latest version completely in kotlin.

Clone the repository by running git clone https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat.Android.git in your terminal. To build the v1.0+ of the app, run git checkout develop and to build the v2.0+, run git checkout develop-2.x. Since both the versions use kotlin for some or all of their classes, following are the common prerequisites for both versions:

• Android Studio 3.0+ comes with built in kotlin support, so install the latest version (3.0+) of Android Studio (recommended). For older versions, you need to manually install kotlin plugin. Go to File > Settings > Plugins and search for kotlin and install it. You'll need to restart the IDE in order to see the changes.
• Make sure that you have the latest gradle and the android plugin versions installed. Go to File > Project Structure > Project and make sure that you have the latest versions installed. Refer this to see the compatible versions.
• Kotlin is already configured in the project. To check, go to Tools > Kotlin > Configure Kotlin in project. A message saying kotlin is already configured in the project pops up. You can update kotlin to the latest version by going to Tools > Kotlin > Configure Kotlin updates and download the latest version of kotlin.

• After checking out to develop branch as mentioned above, simply import the project in Android Studio.

• This version requires the Kotlin SDK for Rocket.Chat. Clone the Kotlin SDK in the same directory as the android repository by running git clone https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat.Kotlin.SDK.git. Make sure that the android repository and the kotlin sdk have the same immediate parent directory.
• First, a build is required for the SDK. Change your directory to the SDK directory by running cd Rocket.Chat.Kotlin.SDK/ in your terminal. Any of the following approaches can be followed to successfully build the SDK.
  • Command Line - (Within the kotlin SDK directory) Run ./gradlew clean && ./gradlew assemble to successfully build the project.
  • Android Studio - Import the project in Android Studio. Go to Build > Make Project to build the SDK successfully. After following the above methods, follow the following steps in your terminal window:

cd ..
cd Rocket.Chat.Android/app/libs
ls

Two jar files will be found in this directory (the common and core jar files), this indicates that the SDK was built correctly.

• After the SDK has been built successfully, import the project in Android Studio and build it by following Build > Make Project.

• Connect your physical device to your pc via USB or start an emulator. Run adb devices in terminal. You should see your device in the list of devices.
• In order to build the debug apk, run ./gradlew assembleDebug. This would generate a debug apk which can be found under Rocket.Chat.Android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug folder with the name app-debug.apk.
• In order to build and install the apk directly to the connected device, run ./gradlew installDebug.

• After importing the project in android studio, go to Run > Run app and then select your device, or create a new virtual device by following the wizard.

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