Fix for #599

[amritk]

This is my attempted fix for the new android 7.0.0 update. Not sure if this works for all cases but its working for me.

[fredgalvao]

@amritk Thanks for helping!

So, looking at the push plugin + docs + blog post, and even though I haven't really tested it myself recently or talked to @macdonst specifically about it, I think there's something not matching or still unclear.

You see, at the plugin.xml file over at the push plugin (which was recently updated with the same goal as this, which is to support cordova-android@7.0) we didn't have to change the target on the AndroidManifest.xml config-file tag to the "full path" with target="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml".
Another confusing point is that the v7 announcement post doesn't really touch the config-file tag per se, only saying that the edit-config tag needs changing to be compatible.
The last confusing point is that the docs on both of them still use the old simple ="AndroidManifest.xml" attribute value.

So, my point is (and @macdonst could help us on this one):

• based on the disagreement between the blog post and the docs, does edit-config really need changing to work with cordova-android@7.0?
• based on everything, does config-file also need changing to work with cordova-android@7.0?
• do all the options still work for compatibility? (this would invalidate a major sentence on the blog post about it not being possible to support all versions)

We could summon the boss Joe Bowser in here if needed, but I think we can test and solve this ourselves.

[amritk]

Yea I wasn't 100% sure if I was doing it right. But I did get it working for my own case. Definitely needs to be checked by someone more knowledgeable.

[macdonst]

@amritk @fredgalvao yeah, the new project structure for Android Studio 3.0.0 compatibility released in cordova-android 7.0.0 is a bit of a pain but it lines us up with Google going forward. Any plugin that relies on paths to config files will need to be updated and a new version released.

This is one of the reasons why it is cordova-android 7.0.0. When major version numbers change then you can expect some breaking changes.

My suggestion would be for the maintainer to pull in this change, bump the version to 2.0.0 and add and engine section to plugin.xml & package.json so that if you are running cordova-android 7 or higher it installs version 2.0.0 but if cordova-android is less then 7 it installs the 1.x stream.

[fredgalvao]

@macdonst
I understand all of those points, and they weren't my main point in here.

My question is regarding the actual need to change the config-file and/or edit-config tags. We have evidence that it works without changing it (phonegap-plugin-push) and that it works when changed (facebook4, this PR). I'm okay with stuff changing and breaking, I'm just trying to understand the actual changes involved, because there is no global agreement as of right now.

[macdonst]

@fredgalvao in this case there is a mapping in cordova-android for AndroidManifest.xml and I just checked with Joe and apparently there is one for res/values as well. So the change is probably not needed but I am having trouble building it as the Facebook SDK includes the ZXing library that sets min sdk to 15 when cordova-android 7 sets it to 16 so everything is screwed up right now.

[fredgalvao]

I was about to bet there to be a specific mapping for AndroidManifest.xml, glad to know it's now explained, thanks!

I'll have to test the build on my app with this update, but it'll require a lot of upgrades on my part, so it might take a while. Regardless, facebook-sdk asking for a minSdk=15 shouldn't be an issue, it's just a "minimum", isn't it? It shouldn't conflict, but then again, I'll have to test it myself and see what you're going through.

Thanks for clarifying anyway, @macdonst.

@amritk I'd say now that it's preferable to leave the old raw AndroidManifest.xml value and see if it works on both versions using the custom inner mappings. If that works, it's the best option, as it'll work on all versions we want to support. If that doesn't work, then I'll merge this and we can ask help to do a release on npm.

[amritk]

@fredgalvao cool yea if you can get it working on both then that would be ideal

[peterpeterparker]

@fredgalvao @amritk guyz, had you had time to work on this compatibility with cordova-Android 7.0.0? could I help with some tests or something? or should it be merged?

[amritk]

I'm just using the pull request, working fine for me at the moment in production.

[fredgalvao]

@peterpeterparker I am waiting on a few releases on the cordova world to be able to fully test this and all the new stuff on platforms on my project, so it's a "not yet" for me.

[peterpeterparker]

@amritk @fredgalvao thx for your feedback, appreciated!

today I noticed that I wasn't able to update any plugins of the last cordova release (https://cordova.apache.org/news/2017/12/20/plugins-release.html) because I wasn't able to upgrade yet to cordova-android@7.0.0, that's why I asked to know the status of this PR

if you need any beta tester, just ping me, I would like to help there

[rfreis]

How is it going guys ?
Have you worked this PR already ? I'm still having the same issue here...

[peterpeterparker]

@rfreis in the meantime, to solve the issue, you could use the workaround described by @ChrisHSandN in #599 it works just fine

[rfreis]

@peterpeterparker thanks for reply.
Compilation is working now though it seems not to into ionic's-pro package build

[peterpeterparker]

@rfreis can't help you there unfortunately, I don't use pro

[rfreis]

@peterpeterparker no problem buddy. Thank you very much for your reply!

[fredgalvao]

@amritk @peterpeterparker @rfreis FYI I'll be migrating/upgrading platforms on my project soon (this week/weekend) and I'll then have time to play with this a bit. We might have a merge then, if all goes well and if I can clarify the doubts I mentioned before. We'll still need help from someone with permission to publish to npm after that.

[peterpeterparker]

@fredgalvao thx in advance for all the effort, kudos

[kevin-lot]

config-file seems to correct automaticaly paths only with 'AndroidManifest.xml', files ended with 'config.xml' files ended with 'strings.xml' or files matched with "res/xml'.

This PR modifies "res/values/facebookconnect.xml" too and I think the building issue comes from here.

https://github.com/apache/cordova-common/blob/fe21952b492dd9f90b7de07c256064626cdb8d5b/src/ConfigChanges/ConfigFile.js#L191

Am I wrong ?

[fredgalvao]

@kevin-lot You seem very much correct. It's close to confirmed that we won't need the change on the AndroidManifest.xml tag (but we could leave it in to be explicit). However, I couldn't find a mapping for anything too generic regarding res/values, so I'd keep the change for res/values/facebookconnect.xml as it is.

As Simon mentioned, we'll need to update plugin.xml on the engines tag too, to specify that it's aimed at cordova-android@7.0.0, and bump the plugin version to 2.0.0 to make it clear.

What do you think, @amritk ?

[peterpeterparker]

@fredgalvao I've to be honest, I don't get all the subtlety of this PR, but just wanted to ask, do you think we should merge it/include it in next version (in the same time as Fb SDK/iOS 11 PR #634) or it's not mergeable?

[fredgalvao]

Considering what @kevin-lot found with #621, and with the final simpler solution suggested by @ChrisHSandN here I'd say we're safer going on that route instead. It's simpler, delegates configuration to user > cordova > app instead of user > cordova > plugin > cordova > app, and reduces code to be maintained. The only downside being a higher cordova version requirement, which is acceptable imho.

It's independent from the SDK issues, but we should aim to get them both if we want a pristine version working with modern libs.

[fredgalvao]

If we all agree on that, we can close a bunch of issues with a single release.

[peterpeterparker]

@fredgalvao I'm agree with you, I like @ChrisHSandN solution 👍

I have now merged the iOS11 branch into master. Could you take care of merging and/or closing the PRs related to this cordova-android improvements? I would feel more comfortable to let you do it, you know way better than me this topic

Afterwards I suggest that we bump up the plugin version to v2.0.0, agree? If so, I could do it and open a CHANGELOG to document it

[fredgalvao]

@peterpeterparker Agreed on all topics. It'll be important for the one writing the breaking changes and updating plugin.xml to review cordova and cordova-android version requirements, as I'm sure we'll have to bump some of them (thus my agreement on the major bump). I will take some time tonight or tomorrow to do some chore on this repo and clean it up a bit.

[peterpeterparker]

@fredgalvao awesome, thx in advance for everything and for your time!!!

[peterpeterparker]

@fredgalvao any news from your side?
do you think you will have time in the next days/weeks?
or you rather like me to go on and release a version 1.10 only with the iOS SDK?

no pressure at all, just a question

thx in advance for your feedback

[quedicesebas]

Please!

[peterpeterparker]

I have release v1.10.0 with out this improvement, I hope it's ok for you @fredgalvao

I have added a note in the Android Guide about how to config the config.xml in order to be compatible with cordova-android >= 7

[GuillaumeRemyCSI]

This PR solves the issue with this plugin even for cordova-android v7.1.0

[amritk]

Just merged in the latest changes from upstream. Still seems to be working for me. I did have to re-add the platform though.

[peterpeterparker]

I gonna close this PR as I merged #716 which solves the same issue

Note: I merged the other PR as it offers the backwards compatibility with cordova-android < v7