Build Your First Android App in Kotlin

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GETTING STARTED WITH KOTLIN ON ANDROID
- KUNSH TECHNOLOGIES
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OVERVIEW - KOTLIN
The Language - Kotlin is statistically typed
opensource language, just like Android under
Apache 2.0. It is fully supported in Android
studio 3.0 and the higher version of it. This
thing has widened, the task of developing a new
application with Kotlin files in an easy way. You
can write Android apps for Kotlin. Add Kotlin
files to your current project and convert Java
to Kotlin. Then you have privileges to utilize
all of the android studios existing tools with
your ongoing Kotlin code, for example, link
checking, debugging and so on.
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BUILD YOUR FIRST ANDROID APP IN KOTLIN
Few ensuing steps we are showing you, those are
the basic steps on how to get started with
Kotlin for your ongoing Java android project. It
depends on the project setup or business
requirements, it might be needed to keep your
running java source code working for as long as
it can. You might want to try it out The cool
thing that is boosting in the android app
development market. Then let us uncover the
announcement by Google I/O, that is, Kotlin is an
officially supported top computing language for
an Android ecosystem.
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STEPS FOR ANDROID ? KOTLIN
This tutorial will walk you through how to create
a basic Kotlin application for Android using
Android studio IDE from scratch.
Step 1 Setup the Kotlin Plugin in Android
Studio Step 2 Create a new android project Step
3 Apply Kotlin Plugin to the project Step 4
Convert your Activity java code to Kotlin.
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STEP 1 SETUP THE KOTLIN PLUGIN IN ANDROID STUDIO
The Kotlin plugin is embedded with your Android
studio IDE (Any version higher than 3.0). In case
youre using any version below than that, It
needs the manual installation of Kotlin plugins.
To do so, Navigate to Android Studio ?
Preferences ?Plugins ? Browse Repository ? type
Kotlin in search box ? Install. You need to
perform this action once per installation of
android IDE. For more visit https//www.youtube.
com/watch?v0v9qPiuOcIw
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Done with your installation? Now you might need
to restart the android studio.
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STEP - 2 CREATE A NEW ANDROID PROJECT
Now that your Android studio is already with the
Kotlin plugins, lets move to further step that
is - create a new android project in the same
exact way we that used to do. Navigate to File ?
New ? New project. Hit the Create empty
activity option in the end.
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Step - 3 Apply Kotlin Plugin to the project
Now let's integrate the Kotlin plugins to your
project. Albeit, there is an automated tool to
perform this, Sometimes the tools create the
clumsy situation. We will do the manual process
of applying the plugin to build.gradle file.   To
add Kotlin Gradle plugin For the configuration,
we need to add the plugin priory to root
projects, In a similar way you can do this for
Gradle plugin. By adding the plugins to
dependencies closure in the project that is in
build.gradlefile.It would look same as this
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We need to create a variable as shown above. This
is because you may have other places in the
project that needed a reference to the Kotlin
version. If in case we place variable outside the
closure, the variable will not be there before
the project is completely built, and it will be
the false alarm for built action. To apply the
Kotlin Android Plugin After adding the gradle
plugin, it is time to apply the plugin. To
achieve this, we need to add the apply plugin
Kotlin ? Kotlin-android to the app modules
build.gradle file.
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STEP 4 CONVERT YOUR ACTIVITY JAVA CODE TO
KOTLIN.
You are all prepared for whatever need to
complete this action, though your Empty
activity generated code is still in the Java
programming language. Wait a minute, for us, the
Kotlin plugins can help in terms converting the
java code to Kotlin.   Right now the java code
looks something like this
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Now, the final action you need to perform is,
Select the File and navigate it to Code ? Convert
Java file to Kotlin file, or else hit Command
Alt Shift K.   After the conversion of our
Java code to Kotlin, Our empty Activity will
look like the this
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Extra shot I recommend if youre really into
such an amazing thing about Android, stay updated
with your Kotlin versions.   Definitely, it is a
pretty much easy job to start and continue with
the Kotlin as it is still in trend to be worked
on. As the community and the usage is growing so
does Kotlin itself (You need to update with all
the frequent changes and updates). The Kotlin
Android studio IDE plugins help you manage the
Kotlin versions. For that navigate to Tools ?
Kotlin ? Configure Kotlin plugin Updates as shown
below
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Now you have to select the update channel -
Stable. Which is currently your edge
version.   To get the best out of it, or to be
fluent Reliability over minimized coding logic
is recommended. It is obviously a good thing to
establish a coding conversation that provides
ease to others. Kick start your journey with
Kotlin and give your Android programming skill a
new experience.
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Conclusion
Kotlin is crisp and expressive. It has safety
features for nullability and immutability, It
will make Android app much performant by default
- And that is the main requirement of any online
app services. Android APIs majority looks exactly
the same as the matching Java programming. Except
now you can combine those separate methods calls
with Kotlin's syntax features. As the market
facing dramatic changes, you might also want to
hit the ground? Then Kunsh Technologies a leading
Android App Development Company is the answer to
your all Android solutions. Hire us and give your
ideas a platform to rise above.
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