AndroidMavenLibrary

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Note: This feature is only available in .NET 9+.

Description

<AndroidMavenLibrary> allows a Maven artifact to be specified which will automatically be downloaded and added to a .NET for Android binding project. This can be useful to simplify maintenance of .NET for Android bindings for artifacts hosted in Maven.

Specification

A basic use of <AndroidMavenLibrary> looks like:

<!-- Include format is {GroupId}:{ArtifactId} -->
<ItemGroup>
  <AndroidMavenLibrary Include="com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp" Version="4.9.3" />
</ItemGroup>

This will do several things at build time:

  • Download the Java artifact with group id com.squareup.okhttp3, artifact id okhttp, and version 4.9.3 from Maven Central to a local cache (if not already cached).
  • Add the cached package to the .NET for Android bindings build as an <AndroidLibrary>.
  • Download the Java artifact's POM file (and any needed parent/imported POM files) to enable Java Dependency Verification. To opt out of this feature, add VerifyDependencies="false" to the <AndroidMavenLibrary> item.

Note that only the requested Java artifact is added to the .NET for Android bindings build. Any artifact dependencies are not added. If the requested artifact has dependencies, they must be fulfilled individually.

Options

<AndroidMavenLibrary> defaults to using Maven Central, however it should support any Maven repository that does not require authentication. This can be controlled with the Repository attribute.

Supported values are Central (default), Google, or a URL to another Maven repository.

<ItemGroup>
  <AndroidMavenLibrary 
    Include="androidx.core:core" 
    Version="1.9.0" 
    Repository="Google" />
</ItemGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <AndroidMavenLibrary 
    Include="com.github.chrisbanes:PhotoView" 
    Version="2.3.0" 
    Repository="https://repository.mulesoft.org/nexus/content/repositories/public" />
</ItemGroup>

Additionally, any attributes applied to the <AndroidMavenLibrary> element will be copied to the <AndroidLibrary> it creates internally. Thus, attributes like Bind and Pack can be used to control the binding process. (Both default to true.)

<ItemGroup>
  <AndroidMavenLibrary 
    Include="androidx.core:core" 
    Version="1.9.0" 
    Repository="Google"
    Bind="false"
    Pack="false" />
</ItemGroup>