Deprecated Classess on Android

Question

I have been making a project on Android 4.0 and I have faced some deprecated types for the newer versions of Android. A black line has occured on the name of the deprecated things. However, in spite of the black line and the deprecation warnings, I can still use those deprecated classes and project is running successfully. I got confused about the deprecation. If they are deprecated how can I still use them and what does deprecation mean exactly? If I use the deprecated classes in my project, what can be the possible disadvantages that the project users can encounter?

Thanks for reading.

Answer 1

Deprecated means that they are likely to be removed in a future version of the platform and so you should begin looking at replacing their use in your code.

If they just removed the types then builds would break and people wouldn't be happy!

In terms of the effect they will have on your application's users, there shouldn't be any effects at all. However, when you come to update your software to the next version of Android you may find that the deprecated types are no longer there and your build will break.

Wikipedia has a good article on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation

Answer 2

Long story short only use the deprecated method on systems running too low of an API to support the updated method. This way you can support a wider range of devices while only using the deprecated methods when you have to to support the older devices. Code example below.

    int sdk = android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT;
    if(sdk < android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN) {
        setBackgroundDrawable(); // deprecated method for older devices
    } else {
        setBackground();  // updated method for newer devices
    }

CHEERS :)