Switching between run configurations of two modules without Clean when one of them uses Multidex

Question

In my Android Studio project, I have several modules, of which only two are application modules (let's call them A and B), and the others are library modules, some used by both A and B.
For the module A, the multidex is enabled, while for the B it's not.

The issue I'm having is that when switching from one configuration (the dropdown next to the Run button), and running the other, I always get some errors. The only way to make it work is to do a full project clean.

When switching from A to B without clean, I get the following error:

    UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
java.util.zip.ZipException: error in opening zip file
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.open(Native Method)
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(ZipFile.java:215)
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(ZipFile.java:145)
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(ZipFile.java:159)
    at com.android.dx.cf.direct.ClassPathOpener.processArchive(ClassPathOpener.java:244)
    at com.android.dx.cf.direct.ClassPathOpener.processOne(ClassPathOpener.java:166)
    at com.android.dx.cf.direct.ClassPathOpener.process(ClassPathOpener.java:144)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.processOne(Main.java:672)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.processAllFiles(Main.java:574)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.runMonoDex(Main.java:311)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:277)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:245)
    at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:106)
8 errors; aborting (all are similar to the one above, so I omitted them)
Error:Execution failed for task ':Bapp'.
> com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: org.gradle.process.internal.ExecException: Process 'command '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_79.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java'' finished with non-zero exit value 1

When switching from B to A, the A app then runs, but fails immediately at runtime, saying that it can't find my custom Application class in the APK :

E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
              Process: com.kushtrim.mobile, PID: 3457
              java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate application com.kushtrim.application.MyAApplication: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.kushtrim.application.MyAApplication" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.kushtrim.mobile-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.kushtrim.mobile-1/lib/x86, /data/app/com.kushtrim.mobile-1/base.apk!/lib/x86, /vendor/lib, /system/lib]]
                  at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:578)
                  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:4680)
                  at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap1(ActivityThread.java)
                  at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1405)
                  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
                  at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
                  at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5417)
                  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
                  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726)
                  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616)

I specified the Multidex usage because I strongly believe that that's where the problem lies, because If I turn it on for both projects, no errors pop up, and no clean is needed.

So to summarize, is there a way to fix this, so that the clean step can be avoided ?

Answer 1

In android studio, there was problem in multidex. But from gradle 1.4.0-beta this issue get solve. See this official release note from here.

Issue was that, projects was generating different mockable android.jar. Which conflict multidex build.

But from gradle 1.4.0 : Multiple modules (e.g. app and lib) now share the same mockable android.jar (for unit testing) which is generated only once. Delete $rootDir/build to regenerate it.

Just for your information, Android studio 2.1.0 have some serious security issue. So new version of android studio is recommended.