apkjs

This command line interface enables you to build very fast and lightweight Android Applications from your JS/TS Frontend.

Usage

npm install -g apkjs

After installing it, run apkjs --help to see list of options:

apkjs: Build frontend into Android APK

usage: apkjs -h|--help|help

usage: apkjs -v|--version|version

usage: apkjs init [appdata?]
  appdata          Path to create APK building info file
                   [Default: 'appdata.json']
 - Create APK building info file with default values

usage: apkjs cc|clear-cache
 - Clear cache from previous compilation

usage: apkjs clear-logs
 - Clear error.log and info.log. (.../node_modules/apkjs/)

usage: apkjs b|build [appdata?]
  appdata          Build APK with building info located in appdata
                   [Default: 'appdata.json']
 - Build APK from building info file
 + Requires: JAVA

usage: apkjs s|sign
 - Instructions to generate custom Keystore file

usage: apkjs s|sign [apk] [keystore?] [password?]
  apk              Already built APK to be signed
  keystore         Keystore file. [Default: debug.keystore (.../node_modules/apkjs/)]
  password         Keystore Password. [Default: 123456 (debug.keystore password)]
 - Sign APK with custom keystore

usage: apkjs s|sign [apk]
 - Sign APK with a debug keystore
 + Intended for testing

 ? First time will ask for SDK location
 ! Requires: SDK

Type a command followed by 'help' to get specific information.
Ex.:  apkjs init help


  Examples:

  – Create appdata.json in cwd
    $ apkjs init
  – Build APK (apk cannot be installed without signing)
    $ apkjs b appdata.json
  – Sign APK for testing/debugging
    $ apkjs s my-app.apk
  – Sign APK for release
    $ apkjs s my-apk release-keystore.jks passwd
  – Get specific help for clear-cache
    $ apkjs cc help
  – Clear cache
    $ apkjs cc

How does it work

apkjs has a prebuilt APK (base.apk) ready to be decompiled, with an empty HTML and a JSInterface (for native purposes).

Build process:

• Decompile base.apk
• Copy project (HTML, JS, ...) to base.apk
• Change data of base.apk (package, icon, color, version, etc)
• Rebuild base.apk and move it to output.apk

Cache?

Since the decompilation process is very long, it is being saved (cached) for not decompile again.

If there is some issue with the cached base.apk you can type apkjs clear-cache or apkjs cc to remove this saved instance of invalid base apk.

Appdata.json

This file describes how apkjs will build your application.

{
	"include": "src",
	"output": "release/my-app.apk",
	"appinfo": {
		"package": "com.example.helloworld",
		"appname": "Hello World",
		"color": "#FF0000",
		"versionCode": 1,
		"versionName": "1.0",
		"icon": "res/icon.png"
	}
}

When building this appdata.json, apkjs will include everything from src/ into base.apk and build it to release/my-app.apk

Important base.apk entry point is index.html, so there must be inside src/ a file named index.html

JSInterface

apkjs come along with a prebuilt interface to perform native Android functions (show a toast, message, notification, etc)

This example shows how to make a toast:

Android.showToast("Hello World", Android.TOAST_SHORT);

See all in @types/apkjs

Build Source

Build Android Studio project

• Build APK for Release using /android-studio/app/release.jks for signing

./gradlew clean
./gradlew :app:assembleRelease

• Copy the built apk to /assets/base.apk

cp -fv android-studio/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release-unsigned.apk assets/base.apk

• Build the typescript source

npm run build

(use tsc if you dont want to copy the assets to dist/)