Running "cordova build android" - unable to find attribute android:fontVariationSettings and android:ttcIndex

Question

When I run cordova build android --buildConfig xxxx --release, I get the following error:

ERROR: In <declare-styleable> FontFamilyFont, unable to find attribute android:fontVariationSettings
ERROR: In <declare-styleable> FontFamilyFont, unable to find attribute android:ttcIndex

The strange thing is I use two macOS machines for the compilation, and I get this error only on one of them for the same code.

Here is the output of ./gradlew cdvPrintProps I get on the two machines:

:cdvPrintProps
cdvCompileSdkVersion=26
cdvBuildToolsVersion=27.0.3
cdvVersionCode=null
cdvMinSdkVersion=21
cdvBuildMultipleApks=true
cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile=release-signing.properties
cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile=null
cdvBuildArch=null
computedVersionCode=152045989
computedArmv7VersionCode=1520459892
computedX86VersionCode=1520459894

Below is the list of plugins used:

$ cordova plugins list
cordova-custom-config 5.0.2 "cordova-custom-config"
cordova-fabric-plugin 1.1.10 "cordova-fabric-plugin"
cordova-open-native-settings 1.5.0 "Native settings"
cordova-plugin-app-event 1.2.1 "Application Events"
cordova-plugin-app-version 0.1.9 "AppVersion"
cordova-plugin-camera 2.4.1 "Camera"
cordova-plugin-compat 1.2.0 "Compat"
cordova-plugin-console 1.1.0 "Console"
cordova-plugin-crosswalk-webview 2.4.0 "Crosswalk WebView Engine"
cordova-plugin-datepicker 0.9.2 "DatePicker"
cordova-plugin-device 2.0.1 "Device"
cordova-plugin-email 1.2.7 "EmailComposer"
cordova-plugin-file 4.3.3 "File"
cordova-plugin-file-transfer 1.6.3 "File Transfer"
cordova-plugin-inappbrowser 1.7.2 "InAppBrowser"
cordova-plugin-network-information 1.3.4 "Network Information"
cordova-plugin-secure-storage 2.6.8 "SecureStorage"
cordova-plugin-splashscreen 4.1.0 "Splashscreen"
cordova-plugin-statusbar 2.4.1 "StatusBar"
cordova-plugin-whitelist 1.3.3 "Whitelist"
cordova.plugins.diagnostic 3.9.2 "Diagnostic"
de.appplant.cordova.plugin.local-notification 0.8.5 "LocalNotification"
ionic-plugin-keyboard 2.2.1 "Keyboard"

How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

Just put following in build-extras.gradle

configurations.all {
    resolutionStrategy {
        force 'com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0'
    }
}

Answer 2

Google released the new version 28.0.0-alpha1 of com.android.support:support-v4 which is adding 2 new attributes(android:fontVariationSettings and android:ttcIndex). Some of the plugins are using the latest android-support libraries which results in unwanted incompatibilities.

Option 1: Install cordova-android-support-gradle-release plugin.

Well documented plugin which "aligns various versions of the Android Support libraries specified by other plugins to a specific version". Tested without any destructive behavior.

cordova plugin add cordova-android-support-gradle-release --fetch

Read the documentation for a full set of options: Readme

Option 2: Add next code snippet in build.gradle under platforms/android

/** 
IMPORTANT - Manually added
Problem: 8 March 2018 - Google released version support-v4:28.0.0-alpha1 
which breaks the project with following error: unable to find attribute 
android:fontVariationSettings and android:ttcIndex

Effect: Force a specific version of the library
*/

configurations.all {
    resolutionStrategy.force 'com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0'
}

Warning: code in build.gradle will be overwritten if you remove/add the Android platform. If you don't want to use the plugin for some reason or somehow is not working for you, instead create a hook and overwrite the file every time. Check 2nd comment here.

If the problem is persistent you may try:

cordova platform rm android
cordova platform add android

OR

Make sure you don't have a previous version of the app installed on the device you test because you'll receive an ambiguous error when it tries to downgrade the existing version: "INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE" and "UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Unhandled promise rejection"

Answer 3

The same error is happening to me. Apparently, a new version of the com.android.support:support-v4 library was released, and the plugin I'm using defines com.android.support:support-v4:+ as dependency in plugin.xml. The + sign means that it will get the latest version (28.0.0), which seems seems to be incompatible with other plugins.

I was able to build a development version by changing all the plugin dependencies from com.android.support:support-v4:+ to com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0. Also, I executed ionic cordova platform remove android and ionic cordova platform add android. Hope it helps, at least for development.

Answer 4

I have just fixed this issue by going to the platform/android folder and edited the project.properties) file and replaced com.android.support:support-v4:+ with com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0.