This is a short blog combining multiple resources I found on the internet in one place.

Problem

When we build apk in android by default the apk file is named based on the combination of the main application module name appending by buildType. For example app-debug.apk of app-release.apk

This works fine until QA teams are involved and they are testing multiple apk at the same time.

So when QA builds the apk locally or from CI, and testing multiple tasks, it’s hard to identify which apk is for which task.

Usually, in most project management tools, each task has a unique id which makes it easy to track or find that task.

Solution

Rename apk to task id in the build so that it is easy to identify the apk for that task.

So how do we get the task id?

The simplest solution is to create a branch name of that task id and use that branch name to rename the apk.

1. Rename apk file

We use gitBranch() function to return the current branch name and use the setProperty method in the android block to rename the apk.

android {
        ...
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.burhanrashid52.example"
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0.0"
        setProperty("archivesBaseName", gitBranch() + "-v" + versionCode + "(" + versionName + ")")
    }
}
def gitBranch() {
    def branch = ""
    def proc = "git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD".execute()
    proc.in.eachLine { line -> branch = line }
    proc.err.eachLine { line -> println line }
    proc.waitFor()
    branch
}

If the git branch name is 1021-rename-apk then the file name will be 1021-rename-apk-v1(1.0.0).apk in app/build/outputs/apk folder.

2. Show on UI

We can also use resValue property to show the git branch name in the app UI.

android {
        ...
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.burhanrashid52.example"
        resValue "string", "branch_name", gitBranch()
    }
}
def gitBranch() {
    def branch = ""
    def proc = "git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD".execute()
    proc.in.eachLine { line -> branch = line }
    proc.err.eachLine { line -> println line }
    proc.waitFor()
    branch
}

And use string resources to get the branch name like this.

context.getString(R.string.branch_name)

Complete code

android {
    compileSdkVersion 29
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.burhanrashid52.example"
        minSdkVersion 24
        targetSdkVersion 30
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0.0"
        resValue "string", "app_name", "Rock"
        testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
        setProperty("archivesBaseName", gitBranch() + "-v" + versionCode + "(" + versionName + ")")
        resValue "string", "branch_name", gitBranch()
    }
}
def gitBranch() {
    def branch = ""
    def proc = "git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD".execute()
    proc.in.eachLine { line -> branch = line }
    proc.err.eachLine { line -> println line }
    proc.waitFor()
    branch
}

That’s it

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

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Resources

1. https://www.generacodice.com/en/articolo/3054844/how-to-show-current-git-branch-in-an-android-application-programatically
2. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18332474/how-to-set-versionname-in-apk-filename-using-gradle/28992851#28992851

Photo by Ravi Roshan on Unsplash