Tutorial to implement App Center and Fastlane scripts to Android Project

First go to https://appcenter.ms/ and create an account

Follow sdk setup steps and implement app center to android project
(https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/sdk/getting-started/android)

 dependencies {
     def appCenterSdkVersion = '3.2.1'
     implementation "com.microsoft.appcenter:appcenter-analytics:${appCenterSdkVersion}"
     implementation "com.microsoft.appcenter:appcenter-crashes:${appCenterSdkVersion}"
 }
 // Add the line below to Application's onCreate() method
 AppCenter.start(getApplication(), "{Your App Secret}",
                   Analytics.class, Crashes.class);

When we launch the app, we should be able see current user on Analytics tab on the AppCenter console.
We can manage beta test versions via Distribute tab on the AppCenter console. Advantages and disadvantages are listed below:

Any build_type is acceptable.
Invitation to testers could be made on Groups tab.
Different package names are acceptable.
Unfortunately App Bundle’s are not welcome here.

Now its time to implement fastlane

Refer to this link

Run the commands below to download and setup Fastlane to project

 xcode-select --install

 #Using RubyGems
 sudo gem install fastlane -NV

 #Alternatively using Homebrew
 brew install fastlane

 #Navigate to projects root directory and run
 fastlane init

 #(Optional) Setting up supply - Fetches metadata from play store to upload app
 #supply is a fastlane tool that uploads app metadata, screenshots and binaries to Google Play. You can also select tracks for builds and promote builds to production!
 #Some configurations need to be made on Google Play Console in order to give access to read data to Fastlane
 #After configurations run the code below to check if the configuration is correct
 fastlane run validate_play_store_json_key json_key:/path/to/your/downloaded/file.json
 #Navigate to projects root directory and run
 fastlane supply init

 #Edit ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile in user home directory. (If none of them exist, create one)
 #Add the lines below to the file
 export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
 export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Fastlane setup is completed now we need to install app_center plugin

fastlane add_plugin appcenter
Obtain api token from app center and keep it to use later

Important : api token access type must be ‘Full Access’ in order to upload version to App center

All is ready, now we can run some actions
Open PROJECT_DIR -> fastlane -> Fastfile

in the file, write actions between
default_platform(:android)
platform :android do
write actions here
end

Define flavor based variables

 before_all do |lane, options|
      if options[:flavor] == "flavorTest"
         ENV["APP_IDENTIFIER"] = "com.example.naci.test"
      elsif options[:flavor] == "flavorProduction"
         ENV["APP_IDENTIFIER"] = "com.example.naci"
      end
 end

Define basic action

 desc "Generate Production Release Apk"
 lane :generate_my_apk do
     gradle(
        task: "clean assemble",
        flavor: "Production",
        build_type: "Release"
     )
 end
 #Usage on terminal => fastlane generate_my_apk

Define action with options

 desc "Generate Apk"
 lane :generate_apk do |options|
   UI.message("\n\n\n=====================================\n Generate "+ options[:flavor] +" "+ options[:build_type] +" apk \n=====================================")
     gradle(
        task: "clean assemble",
        flavor: options[:flavor],
        build_type: options[:build_type]
     )
 end
 #usage => fastlane generate_apk flavor:"flavorProduction" build_type:"Release"

(Optional) We can add env file to provide variables for fastlane actions
Create .env file (name doesn’t matter, you write create any file name) under project root directory

Create parameters inside this file like
APPCENTER_API_TOKEN=tokenvalue123

Read file from Fastfile
```
 #load variables from .env file in the root if it exists
 if File.exist?('../.env')
      open('../.env', 'r').readlines.each do |l|
        kv = l.split('=')
        ENV[kv[0]] = kv[1].chomp
      end
 end
```

Some important fastlane actions

Define generate_apk action

 desc "Generate Apk"
 lane :generate_apk do |options|

   gradle(
     task: "clean assemble",
     flavor: options[:flavor],
     build_type: options[:build_type])

   end

gradle action may give errors and didn’t run on some cases. You need to download and use JDK 8 inorder to complete
Reference link

Define app center action

 desc "Fetch Version Number"
 lane :fetch_version do
     UI.message("\n\n\n=====================================\n Fetch latest version: \n=====================================")
     version = appcenter_fetch_version_number(
         api_token: ENV["APPCENTER_API_TOKEN"],
         owner_name: "NaCI",
         app_name: "My-Distribution-Test-App"
     )
     UI.message(version.to_s)
 end
 #usage => fastlane fetch_version

App center distribute action

 desc "App Center Upload"
 lane :app_center_upload do
     appcenter_upload(
             api_token: ENV["APPCENTER_API_TOKEN"],
             owner_name: "NaCI",
             owner_type: "user",
             app_name: "My-Distribution-Test-App",
             file: "app/flavorProduction/release/app-flavorProduction-release.apk",
             release_notes: sh("cat ../CHANGELOG.md"),
             destinations: "Teta%20Testers",
             destination_type: "group",
             notify_testers: true
     )
 end
 #usage => fastlane app_center_upload

Thats all. We configured app center and fastlane successfully. Have a nice day :whale2: :fireworks:

Check the link to see all the examples for app center

To Show on Code, Refer to

Repository link

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