Installing the Guestbook Mobile SDK and Liferay Screens for Android

For your Android app to interact with the Guestbook portlet, you must install the following libraries in your Android project:

  • Liferay’s pre-built Mobile SDK: This Mobile SDK contains the classes that call Liferay DXP’s core remotes services. It also contains the framework necessary for any Mobile SDK to make server calls.

  • The Guestbook Mobile SDK: This Mobile SDK contains only the classes that call the Guestbook portlet’s remote services.

  • Liferay Screens: Screens contains the Screenlet framework and several built-in Screenlets like Login Screenlet. Because these built-in Screenlets interact with Liferay DXP’s core apps, they make their server calls with Liferay’s pre-built Mobile SDK. Note that all Screenlets, including those that make server calls with a custom-built Mobile SDK, must use the framework in Liferay’s pre-built Mobile SDK to issue their calls.

Since Liferay’s pre-built Mobile SDK is a dependency of Liferay Screens, installing Screens automatically installs this Mobile SDK. You must, however, install the Guestbook Mobile SDK manually.

This article walks you through the installation of the Guestbook Mobile SDK and Liferay Screens. When you finish, you’ll be ready to start developing the app.

Installing the Guestbook Mobile SDK

The Mobile SDK Builder generated two separate JAR files in your liferay-mobile-sdk-android-7.0.6 folder:

  1. modules/gb/build/libs/liferay-gb-android-sdk-1.0.jar

  2. android/build/libs/liferay-android-sdk-7.0.6.jar

The first JAR file is the Guestbook Mobile SDK. The second JAR file is a custom built version of Liferay’s pre-built Mobile SDK. Because Screens includes the pre-built Mobile SDK, you don’t need to install the second JAR file. You must, however, install the first JAR file. To do so, copy liferay-gb-android-sdk-1.0.jar into your app’s app/libs folder (the default location for your Android app is AndroidStudioProjects/LiferayGuestbook). That’s it! Next, you’ll install Liferay Screens.

Installing Liferay Screens

To install Liferay Screens, you must edit your app’s build.gradle file. Note that your project has two build.gradle files: one for the project, and another for the app module. You can find them under Gradle Scripts in your Android Studio project. This screenshot highlights the app module’s build.gradle file:

Figure 1: The app modules build.gradle file.

Figure 1: The app module's `build.gradle` file.

In the app module’s build.gradle file, add the following lines of code inside the dependencies element:

compile 'com.liferay.mobile:liferay-screens:2.1.1'
compile 'com.liferay.mobile:liferay-material-viewset:2.1.1'

This adds the liferay-screens and liferay-material-viewset dependencies. Although only the liferay-screens dependency is necessary to install Screens, adding other View Sets, like the Material View Set, gives you flexibility when designing your app’s look and feel. Click here for more information on Views in Liferay Screens.

Once you edit build.gradle, a message appears at the top of the file that asks you to sync your app with its Gradle files. Syncing with the Gradle files is required to incorporate any changes you make to them. Syncing also downloads and installs any new dependencies, like those you just added. Sync the Gradle files now by clicking the Sync Now link in the message.

Note that after syncing, your build.gradle may show an error similar to this:

All com.android.support libraries must use the exact same version specification...

If this occurs, you must manually add the correct version of the com.android.support dependencies. For example, the app in this Learning Path currently uses version 25.3.1 of the com.android.support libraries. This requires that you manually add the following dependencies to the app’s build.gradle:

compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:transition:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:design:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:exifinterface:25.3.1'

After adding these inside the dependencies element, click Sync Now again. The error message should be gone once the sync completes.

Figure 2: After editing the app modules build.gradle file, click Sync Now to incorporate the changes in your app.

Figure 2: After editing the app module's `build.gradle` file, click *Sync Now* to incorporate the changes in your app.

Great! Now you’re ready to test your Screens and Mobile SDK installations.

Verifying the Installations

To check your Screens and Mobile SDK installations, first open your project’s MainActivity class in Android Studio. It’s in the java folder’s com.liferay.docs.liferayguestbook package. Then add the following imports to this file:

import com.liferay.mobile.android.service.Session;
import com.liferay.mobile.android.v7.entry.EntryService;
import com.liferay.mobile.android.v7.guestbook.GuestbookService;
import com.liferay.mobile.screens.auth.login.LoginScreenlet;

If Android Studio recognizes these imports, then you’re good to go! Remove them once you’ve verified that they’re valid. Next, there’s one final small but important task to complete: point your app at the correct Liferay DXP instance.

Configuring Communication with Liferay DXP

For Screens to work properly with your app, you must point it to your Liferay DXP instance. You do this by adding a server_context.xml file in your project’s res/values directory. Create this file and add the following code to it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <!-- Change these values for your portal instance -->

    <string name="liferay_server">http://10.0.2.2:8080</string>

    <integer name="liferay_company_id">20116</integer>
    <integer name="liferay_group_id">20147</integer>

    <integer name="liferay_portal_version">70</integer>

</resources>

As the comment indicates, change the values to match those of your Liferay DXP instance. The server address http://10.0.2.2:8080 is suitable for testing with Android Studio’s emulator, because it corresponds to localhost:8080 through the emulator. The Liferay DXP instance you set up earlier should be running on localhost:8080.

The liferay_company_id value is your Liferay DXP instance’s ID. You can find it in your Liferay DXP instance at Control PanelConfigurationVirtual Instances. The instance’s ID is in the Instance ID column. Copy and paste this value into the liferay_company_id value in server_context.xml.

The liferay_group_id value is the ID of the site your app needs to communicate with. Since the app needs to communicate with the Guestbook portlet, navigate to the site you put the Guestbook portlet on. In the Site Administration menu, select ConfigurationSite Settings. The site ID is listed at the top of the General tab. Copy and paste this value from your portal to the liferay_group_id value in server_context.xml.

Awesome! Next, you’ll learn the app’s basic design.

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