How to build Android Application natively in Visual Studio

Question

How to build Android Application natively in Visual Studio

Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui 175

We are building a cross-platform application using Visual Studio 2022. C++ is our primary programming language as bulk of the application logic is in C++. We use other native languages too for different platforms - like Kotlin for Android, Swift for iOS etc.

We want to understand if VS 2022 supports native Android projects i.e. projects that DO NOT USE Xamarin/MAUI, and is built using C++ and Kotlin/Java ? Can such a project be natively built and run in VS ?

We desire to be able to use a common IDE for all our development and have been using VS since many years. To felicitate usage of VS and cross-platform builds, we use CMake for our build for cross-platform. For Apple family, we use the Xcode generator and things work well for us. For Windows, we use MSBuild. However, for Android, we dont see any standard way of doing things. What should be the right way to go ahead for building for Android in the right manner using Visual Studio ?

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Answer 1

Zhengye Xu-MSFT 95 Microsoft External Staff

Hello @Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

We want to understand if VS 2022 supports native Android projects i.e. projects that DO NOT USE Xamarin/MAUI, and is built using C++ and Kotlin/Java ? Can such a project be natively built and run in VS ?

Yes, we can build Android projects in Visual Studio that use C++ and Java. You need to install mobile development with C++ in Visual Studio. (Open Visual Studio Installer and click Modify, find Mobile Development with C++ in Workload and select it, click Modify to install)

9.11 workload

After installation, you can open Visual Studio to create a project.

9.11 project template

Then You can then add .java files to your project

9.11 java file

Have a nice day.

Best Regards,

Zhengye

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Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui 175 Reputation points

2023-09-12T03:39:21.9533333+00:00
Hi @Zhengye Xu-MSFT ,

I was not able to add C++ files into a sample application created by the steps you have mentioned.

Its failing with some license error

I have created a CMakeLists.txt file

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.22.1)

project("androidsample")

add_library( twandroidsample SHARED file.cpp)

find_library (log-lib log)

target_link_libraries (androidsample ${log-lib})

and in my build.gradle (module) added this so I can add cpp files.

externalNativeBuild { cmake { path file('src/main/cpp/CMakeLists.txt') version '3.22.1' } }

Error facing:

If I am missing something, please let me know and can you please tell how can I resolve this?
Zhengye Xu-MSFT 95 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-09-12T06:38:44.32+00:00

Hi @Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui ,

According to the error message, the problem may be due to the lack of some licenses. You can try to download the components mentioned in the installation error message. (ndk 21.4.7075529)

Download Android Studio and find your missing license in Android SDK Manager to install it. (https://developer.android.com/tools)
Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui 175 Reputation points

2023-09-20T04:32:25.8366667+00:00

Hi @Zhengye Xu-MSFT We will try this and let you know.
Zhengye Xu-MSFT 95 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-09-21T09:54:36.3366667+00:00

Hi @Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui , good to know.

If you have any updates, feel free to contact me.
Zhengye Xu-MSFT 95 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-10-06T06:29:56.69+00:00

Hi @Mohammad Mohsin Siddiqui ,

Since I haven't heard back from you for a long time, I want to check with you to see if the problem has been solved, and whether my suggestions will help you.

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How to build Android Application natively in Visual Studio

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