Can I still use Eclipse for Android projects?
I
prefer Eclipse to Android Studio, and my question is whether I can still use it to build projects for future development — such as the RecycleView library. Eclipse also supports it, but will Future’s Google Library continue to support it?
My second question is if I make an app with Eclipse, can it also run on a new device, as the project structure is different in Eclipse and Android Studio.
My last question is, if I don’t use Android Studio (all libraries for Maven and Gradle), how do I use the libraries in Android Arsenal?
Solution
I prefer eclipse over android studio, my question is if I can still use it to build projects for future development – for example the recycleview library. It is supported in eclipse too, but will future google libraries continue to support it?
Ultimately, it’s just Java, XML, and other such resources. The RecyclerView library is also not an exception – it is just a library that can be used in any IDE.
The IDE you use to develop is simply a tool for viewing and editing these project files. In addition, you use a build system to build your application. Your IDE, build system, and project files are completely independent, and one does not depend on the other to create a functioning application. In fact, you can build Android apps without an IDE.
The biggest problem you might encounter here is the format of the library, such as RecyclerView. In the Eclipse era (note that Eclipse Android projects were often built with Ant), most libraries came in the form of JAR files or Android libraries (source code). With the release of Android Studio and the Android Gradle plugin, everything is moving to Gradle dependencies.
Please also note that Google will not continue to support Eclipse development. Tools that build Android apps in Eclipse will not continue to receive updates, so errors may occur in the future that prevent you from continuing to use it effectively.
My second question is, if I’m using eclipse to make an app, will it be run on new devices too, as the project structure is different in eclipse and android studio.
The output of building an Android app is the same no matter how or where it is built – you will get an APK with the same file structure. The structure of the built APK is independent of the structure of the source code.
My final question is how can I use libraries from android arsenal if I don’t use android studio (all the libraries there are for maven and gradle)?
Eclipse can be built using both Gradle and Maven. If you want to use the library as a Gradle or Maven dependency, you need to set up your project to build using Maven or Gradle instead of Ant. Otherwise, you can still find JARs for most projects that don’t rely on the Android framework, or you need to take the source code for the library and set it as a project dependency yourself.