Xamarin AndroidManifest.xml is different to the one in Visual Studio

Question

In Visual Studio, une the Properties/AndroidManifest.xml file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:versionCode="1" android:installLocation="auto" android:versionName="1.0">
    <uses-sdk />
    <application android:label="Aftermath" android:largeHeap="true">
        <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.version" android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version" />
        <activity android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.AdActivity" android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|uiMode|screenSize|smallestScreenSize" /></application>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
</manifest>

However, after installation on a device, when I check my application's manifest using the manifestViewer app (available on the playstore), the manifest is completly different and looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0"
    package="Aftermath.Aftermath">
    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="15"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15"/>
    <application
        android:icon="@2130837644"
        android:name="mono.android.app.Application"
        android:debuggable="true">
        <activity
            android:name="androclient.activities.AftermathActivity"
            android:screenOrientation="landscape"/>
        <activity
            android:label="Aftermath"
            android:icon="@2130837644"
            android:name="androclient.activities.TitleScreenActivity"
            android:screenOrientation="landscape">
            <intent-filter>
                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <provider
            android:name="mono.MonoRuntimeProvider"
            android:exported="false"
            android:authorities="Aftermath.Aftermath.mono.MonoRuntimeProvider.__mono_init__"
            android:initOrder="2147483647"/>
        <receiver
            android:name="mono.android.Seppuku">
            <intent-filter>
                <action
                    android:name="mono.android.intent.action.SEPPUKU"/>
                <category
                    android:name="mono.android.intent.category.SEPPUKU.Aftermath.Aftermath"/>
            </intent-filter>
        </receiver>
    </application>
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>
</manifest>

Is this normal ? How can I edit the manifest to include application attributes, meta-data and activities ?

Thanks

Answer 1

Xamarin uses Attributes in code to fill in the Android Manifest when building. You can use Attributes for Activity, Service, BroadcastReceiver, IntentFilter, Application, MetaData etc.

So if you have a BroadcastReceiver like this in Xamarin

[BroadcastReceiver]
[IntentFilter(new string[] { "com.example.filter" }]
public class BR : BroadcastReceiver {}

You'll get an addition to the generated manifest with your BroadcastReceiver and IntentFilter.

Or an Activity such as

[Activity(MainLauncher = true, ScreenOrientation = Android.Content.PM.ScreenOrientation.Portrait)]
public class MainActivity : Activity {}

Or in your Application class

[Application(Theme = "@style/AppTheme", Icon = "@drawable/icon")]
public class App : Application

All of these will be included in the generated Android Manifest