Wow. Trying out KMM Plugin in Intellij. I didn’t realize it would be so bad

# multiplatform

[kevindmoore]

Wow. Trying out KMM Plugin in Intellij. I didn’t realize it would be so bad

[CLOVIS]

Explain?

[kpgalligan]

I think the KMM plugin is only available in Android Studio?

[kpgalligan]

So, there's a "KMM plugin" for Android studio, but that's kind of additional stuff. For editing source you just need the Kotlin plugin for AS or Intellij. Once the gradle plugin is set up it's generally pretty good, but YMMV

[kevindmoore]

Just shocked at how poorly the new project wizard worked. I got a project that wouldn't compile, 1 extra compose plugin entry

[kevindmoore]

Kind of like, do they test these things before it goes out?

[kevindmoore]

(Sorry for being grumpy. Just tried of things not working 🙂 )

[kpgalligan]

No comment on the new project wizard, but that's why we built our starter project. Everything is moving fast so all the parts aren't always at the same place: https://github.com/touchlab/KaMPKit/

[louiscad]

Kind of like, do they test these things before it goes out?

I think they do, but maybe they're not testing every single combination of new project and Kotlin IDE plugin for every single release of IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio.

Can you take a bit extra time to report the issue on kotl.in/issue to tell how you got that not compiling project, with the details on the IDE version and the Kotlin IDE plugin?

[kevindmoore]

I think I tried the issue page but it took so long to load (I'm behind a VPN), that it failed

[kevindmoore]

I'll try the touch lab project. I'm interested in 2 different types of projects: 1 that is just a straight Android/iOS mobile project and another that is a full blown Desktop/Compose project

[louiscad]

@kevindmoore Your VPN is likely to blame, it loads in maybe one second on my side, unless it was a temporary issue?

[kevindmoore]

I was able to create an issue this morning. May have been temporary

[kpgalligan]

The TL project was really kind of a "see, it works!" thing to start from. Back when we made it, the "getting started" process first involved learning all about the gradle plugin for KMP, which is for sure not the best place to start. The process has improved considerably since then, but I've always been wary of project templates in the IDE.

[kevindmoore]

Now that I've been working with a few more frameworks, I really think that Kotlin/Androids main pain-point is Gradle.

[kevindmoore]

I thought that the Kotlin version of Gradle would be the savior but it has it's own issues

[CLOVIS]

Honestly I think it's fine. Not amazing, but fine. Much better than NPM and much more useful than PIP.
The only bad thing I see is that it's slow. Even when doing almost everything I can do, parallel modules and everything, the first run takes minutes, and regular every few minutes runs still takes at least 30 seconds. Compared to that, CMake has the same kind of powerful features, and everything is instant.