Free Shipping

Secure Payment

easy returns

24/7 support

  • Home
  • Blog
  • What’s New in Android Studio 2.2

What’s New in Android Studio 2.2

 July 20  | 0 Comments

Android Studio is a free IDE for Android development, which is based on the IntelliJ Java IDE. It is the quickest way to get started with Android N. Recently, It has been an exciting time for Android Studio, as they have come with another latest release in Android Studio, version 2.2.

Initially, they came up with their first release, version 2.1, with adequate support for Android N. Then, Google I/O released a preview of the next major release, Android Studio 2.2 Preview 1. This was quickly replaced by Preview 2, which contained important bug fixes and improvements.

Here’s an overview of what’s new in Android Studio 2.2:

  • IDE is redesigned to enable faster coding and contain new and smarter built-in tool features.

  • Another prominent addition is the layout designer with new constraint layout.

  • The new tools allows you to easily design for numerous and varied Android devices.

  • It automatically calculates the constraint once the layout is finalized.

  • The new layout designer, constraint layout and Espresso test recording allows faster build.

  • The new version is equipped with smarter APK analyzer, Layout inspector, expanded Android code analysis and IntelliJ 2016.1

  • Android Studio 2.2 has enhanced Jack compiler or Java 8 support, extended C++ support along with CMake and NDK-Build, Firebase support and greater accessibility.

Now, look at some of the latest features in details.

Layout Editor

 

Android Studio 2.2 has a new user interface designer. It has many enhancements like:

  • Drag-and-drop widgets from the palette to the design surface

  • The design surface has a blueprint mode to preview the spacing and arrangement of the layout.

  • Properties panel now has a well-organized set of properties for quick widget edits, and with a full list of advanced properties is just a click away.

  • UI builder can now manage menu and system preference files.

    Constraint Layout:

     

The new layout has a flexible layout manager that allows you to build dynamic user interfaces without nesting multiple layouts. This particular feature is distributed as a support library linked to Android Studio and backwards compatible to API Level 9.

Layout Inspector:

With the help of the new Layout Inspector, you can dig deeper and preview the view hierarchy of your app, and analyze the features of each component of UI.

Firebase Plugin:

Firebase is a new suite of services meant for developers. With this plugin, you can develop high-quality apps, widen your user base, and make monetary gains. You can add Firebase to a new or existing Android app with the new Assistant window.

Code Sample Browser:

The Code Sample Browser is a menu option within Android Studio 2.2 Preview that lets you find high-quality, Google-provided Android code samples, based on the highlighted symbol in your project.

CMake and NDK-Build: 

Android Studio now supports building CMake and NDK-Build Android app projects by pointing Gradle at your existing build files. Once the cmake or ndk-build project have been added to Gradle, the Android Studio will automatically open the applicable Android code files for editing and debugging.

CMake users need to add the path to the CMList.txt file in the externalNativeBuild section of your Gradle file, as shown below.

NDK-Build users need to add the path to the *.mk file in the section of Gradle file, as shown below.

Espresso Test Recorder:

Writing UI tests is a time consuming and boring task. With Record Espresso UI tests feature, you can now easily create apps. Android Studio captures all the UI interactions and converts them into a fully reusable Espresso Test that can run locally or even on Firebase Test lab.

Here’s the video of the Google I/O 2016, where more information of what’s latest in Android Studio 2.2 had been discussed.

>