Uninstall/Reinstall App Every Time When Debugging Using Android Emulator

Question

Uninstall/Reinstall App Every Time When Debugging Using Android Emulator

Nathan Sokalski 4,111

When debugging my Xamarin.Android app using an Android emulator on Visual Studio 2019, I am trying to figure out how to control whether the app is completely reinstalled (any appdata or app files from the previous installation are removed). I can, of course, manually uninstall the app before starting the debugger, but that is very inefficient. I know that there is a way to do this, but I cannot seem to find it. How do I control whether data & files from the previous installation are retained between debugging sessions? If there is a good site with documentation on how to do this it would also be nice to know. Thanks.

zyz629 6 Reputation points

2021-04-22T08:38:13.74+00:00

Have you got any solution?

1 answer

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zyz629 6 Reputation points

2021-04-22T08:38:13.74+00:00

Have you got any solution?

Answer 1

JessieZhang-MSFT 7,716 Microsoft External Staff

Hello,

Welcome to our Microsoft Q&A platform!

I am trying to figure out how to control whether the app is completely reinstalled (any appdata or app files from the previous installation are removed)

For this ,we can check the official document Back up user data with Auto Backup .

Auto Backup for Apps automatically backs up a user's data from apps that target and run on Android 6.0 (API level 23) or later. Android preserves app data by uploading it to the user's Google Drive—where it's protected by the user's Google Account credentials. The amount of data is limited to 25MB per user of your app and there's no charge for storing backup data. Your app can customize the backup process or opt out by disabling backups.

By default, Auto Backup includes files in most of the directories that are assigned to your app by the system:

Shared preferences files.
Files saved to your app's internal storage, accessed by getFilesDir() or getDir(String, int).
Files in the directory returned by getDatabasePath(String), which also includes files created with the SQLiteOpenHelper class.
Files on external storage in the directory returned by getExternalFilesDir(String).

Auto Backup excludes files in directories returned by getCacheDir(), getCodeCacheDir(), or getNoBackupFilesDir(). The files saved in these locations are only needed temporarily, or are intentionally excluded from backup operations.

For more detais, you can check document: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/autobackup

Best Regards,

Jessie Zhang

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Nathan Sokalski 4,111 Reputation points

2021-03-25T21:20:23.893+00:00

That still doesn't work. I need the debugger to act as if I had never previously installed the app. If I manually uninstall the app, it is great, but that can be tedious to do every time I run the debugger. What does the "Tools -> Options -> Xamarin -> Android Settings -> Preserve application data cache on device between deploys" option do? I thought that unchecking this would cause the debugger to do a complete reinstall each time, but that does not seem to be the case. Is there another option anywhere? Thanks.
JessieZhang-MSFT 7,716 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-03-29T06:30:23.107+00:00

Have you set the android:allowBackup="false" for your application in manifest file?
Nathan Sokalski 4,111 Reputation points

2021-03-29T15:40:57.063+00:00

Yes. However, that does not clear things such as xml files created by the app. My app creates several xml files in Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData, and I would like these to be deleted as well.
RedShanks 11 Reputation points

2021-03-31T09:40:18.707+00:00

Why not just uninstall it? It's just a matter of moving your fingers.
Nathan Sokalski 4,111 Reputation points

2021-03-31T14:49:32.197+00:00

I am aware of that. But so are many other things we do on our computers. Why do we have all the shortcuts in VS? Convenience. Why do we have so many choices in Add New Item, most of them code text files, so why don't we just pick one and edit the name & text? It's convenience, not to mention human error (what if I forget to uninstall it before each debug?). If you went by the philosophy of "It's just a matter of moving your fingers" there would hardly be a need for development software, because most of it CAN be done using a text editor & command line, we just don't like doing it that way because it's inconvenient.

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Uninstall/Reinstall App Every Time When Debugging Using Android Emulator

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