Hey im having issues with the `subprojects` section in the root gradle file. I cant seem to be able ...

# gradle

[Vincent Williams]

Hey im having issues with the subprojects section in the root gradle file. I cant seem to be able to use the android block inside the subprojects block when I use kts gradle files

[gildor]

Yes, it will not work, because you have type-safe accessors only in module which applied plugin using plugins DSL
Check official guide, it covered very well there
https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/kotlin_dsl.html#type-safe-accessors

[Vincent Williams]

yes, Ive actually tried applying the android library plugin

[Vincent Williams]

still wont recognize the android {} block

[Vincent Williams]

subprojects {
         apply(plugin = "com.android.library")

        android {}
}

[Vincent Williams]

this does not work

[gildor]

You probably didn't get documentation which I sent above

Plugin application is not enough to get type-safe accessors, you must use plugins{} block only

[gildor]

Please check, it covers such cases.

[gildor]

Essentially you cannot use this approach directly in KTS, there are a few other options, such as use dynamic syntax (using configure block) in this case, or apply this shared config as function on every module

[Vincent Williams]

How do you use the configure block? I read the documentation btw I just didnt see anything that helped with what I needed

[Vincent Williams]

So far its looking like kotlin dsl for gradle is not at all ideal for multi-module android projects as you cant re-use anything within the android {} block leading to a lot of boilerplate.

[Vincent Williams]

for me it seems this kind of outweighs the type safety of kotlin

[gildor]

There is a section exactly about this
https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/kotlin_dsl.html#sec:kotlin_using_standard_api

[gildor]

This is not something Android specific, Kotlin DSL requires different, type safe, approaches to share configuration, it also covered in official doc and there is special migration guide that covers different migration strategies:
https://guides.gradle.org/migrating-build-logic-from-groovy-to-kotlin/#migration_strategies

[gildor]

In general, there are 2 different ways: use dynamic syntax with configure<SomeExtension>() or use plugins and buildSrc to share common configs

[gildor]

But I don't want to say that you are wrong, not at all, if you not very familiar with Gradle or just don't see advantages to migrate to new type safe approach, for sure it easier to use Groovy

Migration to Kotlin DSL requires changing a way how most of projects are configured in Groovy (in general it's the good thing and recommended practices even for Groovy), but it has own learning curve

[Vincent Williams]

ok thank you for these resources! that actually helps a lot. I like the kts scripts but looks like I need to refactor some of it

[Vincent Williams]

@gildor I tried using configure<com.android.build.gradle.LibraryExtension> { in its own file to try to separate some of the duplicated module build scripts, however im running into the same issue. It says Unresolved Reference: Android

[gildor]

Unresolved reference Android, like that capitalized? Are you sure that it complains on this configure block?

[Vincent Williams]

sorry its not capitalized

[Vincent Williams]

and yes it points to the configure line

[Vincent Williams]

however I found something interesting

[Vincent Williams]

it does work correctly if I place that configure block inside the subprojects block in the root build file

[Vincent Williams]

I just cant seem to get it working when it is in its own file for some reason... I wanted to have a LibraryConfig.gradle.kts that I could then use in each module build file using
apply(from = "LibraryConfig.gradle.kts")