Hi friends :wave: I have an Android SDK with no UI...

# android

[Mez Pahlan]

Hi friends 👋 I have an Android SDK with no UI logic that at the moment I use the com.android.library gradle plugin to help build. I have a very small sliver of Android dependencies and would now like to convert this to an SDK that can run on our Java backend but still be written in Kotlin, of course.

Has anyone had experience with something doing something like this? Where should I start?

I think that all of my library dependencies will happily function outside of Android in an in a pure JVM apart from these:

1. com.android.tools:desugar_jdk_libs
2. androidx.annotation:annotation
3. androidx.datastore:datastore-preferences
Should I create two SDKs one of which is -core and the other a slim -android add on? Or can I get away with a single SDK?

[Mez Pahlan]

Thanks for the 😶 emoji @Chrimaeon. Do you mean to say that I'm not allowed to ask this question here? Many apologies, those is my first time posting. I assumed that since I have an Android SDK to start with this Android channel would be a good place to begin. Again apologies if not.

Are you able to let me know where I should post this question?

[DINESH S]

Hi , as of my idea you can create as a separate sdk for core and android components related libs. Its better understand, if someone not using in android.

Suppose the usecase is only android you can make it with single sdk.

[Chrimaeon]

The whole workspace is from Jetbrains about their programming language Kotlin and this is not a channel to ask general Android question. In the channel description you can find link to resources where you can ask those questions.

[Mez Pahlan]

Thank you @DINESH S that's a great idea 😊

[Mez Pahlan]

I take your point @Chrimaeon, however perhaps you can find a better way of advertising this? It's pretty hostile and not very welcoming to new users at the moment and I know that's not your intention 😉.

Most new users joining this channel will expect that in a channel named #android you can talk about Android topics. Building a Kotlin SDK in the Android ecosystem feels, to me, within this remit.

The channel description is hidden away (especially on mobile) and not all users read it before asking a question. You can't expect everyone to behave the same way that you behave. If it's obvious to you it might not be obvious to someone else. That's just a fundamental point of interacting with people from around the world.

So as a suggestion if you are going to enforce a strict list of allowable topics maybe explain this in a comment rather than an emoji. Or better yet create a Slack bot that automatically replies with guidance for new users. After all, you don't want to alienate new users from using this resource which I'm sure is not your intention.

Anyway, thanks for your help 👍.

[Chrimaeon]

But when you joined the workspace it is clearly stated that this is workspace for the Kotlin programming language. Also when joining the workspace you agreed to https://kotlinlang.org/community/slackccugl.html#common-channels where it’s also very clearly written what their channel is for.
Not sure where else it should be shown 😅

[Mez Pahlan]

But when you joined the workspace it is clearly stated that this is workspace for the Kotlin programming language.

Kotlin programming language is an incredibly broad term. If you want to restrict what that term means then that's fine. But be very clear about that. For example it doesn't sound unreasonable to say programming on the Android platform in Kotlin fits that remit. Especially on a channel that calls itself #android. Do you see the point of confusion there for other users even if it's clear to you? In most cases users are programming in Kotlin on the Android platform. What questions given that would you say are out of bounds?

Also when joining the workspace you agreed to https://kotlinlang.org/community/slackccugl.html#common-channels where it’s also very clearly written what their channel is for.

I'm not sure that is at all useful. It's like burying the information in an EULA and then saying "But you clicked accept"😂. Have you done any user research as to how valuable that page is or how many new onboarding users read that in full? Or how many read channel descriptions prior to posting their first question? If so I'd love to see the output from that research and how it informed the current strategy of adding an emoji to an offending post.

Not sure where else it should be shown 😅

Well, again, you could post an auto reply first that reminds new users what the expectations are for this channel. Or a daily recurring message in the channel to remind users what the topic is.

Judging by how often you say the same thing to new users this doesn't look like it is the first time this happened nor will it be the last. So it might be time to be open to new suggestions?

Anyways hopefully that makes sense. Thanks for your help 🙏.