Android: Is it possible to read package name inside AndroidManifest.xml file

Question

I have a question, is it possible to read package name inside AndroidManifest.xml

I mean

I have a AndroidManifest.xml as below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.mypackagename"
    android:installLocation="auto"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

....

</manifest>

Now I have to add a permission (used for GCM)

<permission
        android:name="MYPACKAGENAME.permission.C2D_MESSAGE"
        android:protectionLevel="signature" />

Is it possible to replace MYPACKAGENAME with com.mypackagename dynamically in the above permission tag.

Answer 1

You can drop the package name part of the name:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.mypackagename">
    ...

    <permission
        android:name=".permission.C2D_MESSAGE"
        android:protectionLevel="signature" />

    ...
</manifest>

When you start your permission name with . it gets prefixed with package name automatically.

You cannot change package name dynamically, but you can do certain things by defining applicationId in build.gradle and then prefixing names in android manifest with ${applicationId}.

in build.gradle:

android {
    compileSdkVersion 19
    buildToolsVersion "19.0.2"
    productFlavors {
       development {
           applicationId = "com.mypackage.development"
       }
    }
}

And then in your AndroidManifest.xml have:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.mypackagename">
    ...

    <permission
        android:name="${applicationId}.permission.C2D_MESSAGE"
        android:protectionLevel="signature" />

    ...
</manifest>

You can find a bit more from here: http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide/manifest-merger

Later approach will allow you to run development flavor of your app side by side your production version. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

You can use ${applicationId} to substitute your package name, eg.

<permission
        android:name="${applicationId}.permission.C2D_MESSAGE"
        android:protectionLevel="signature" />