The official Android programming IDE now has a new stable version available: Android Studio 4.2. There aren’t as many new visual tools this time around as in previous updates, but several new utilities and improvements are included to make some common tasks more bearable.
For starters, Android Studio 4.2 is based on IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition 2020.2, receiving the news attached to this version, in addition to refresh a new project wizard, a wizard for updating Gradle and other changes.
New assistant for a new project
One of the first interactions any developer has with Android Studio when building an app is with the New Project Assistant. In Android Studio 4.2, said assistant receives a new design
Each template in the New Project Wizard is also ViewBinding compatible. Another window that has had a makeover is that of new module, which receives a similar redesign, with the different types of modules on the left side of the interface.
Database inspector improvements
Android Studio Database Inspector receives some improvements in the latest version. Included is a offline mode, which allows you to continue to analyze a database after disconnecting from the process. In addition, a history of recent searches is included.
Gradle Update Assistant
A recurring and sometimes unpleasant process is updating the Gradle plugin version of a project. To help you, Android Studio 4.2 helps you update Gradle with a new wizard, designed to make the transition to Android Gradle Plugin 7.0 more bearable.
This Gradle update wizard allows you to choose which commands to run when upgrading to a higher version of the Gradle plugin, view files that will change, and update outdated settings.
Testing on multiple devices
Why test an application on a single device, be able to do it on several? With Android Studio 4.2 and from the menu Select multiple devices, you can install your app on multiple devices at the same time, instead of having to go through it one by one.
Other changes
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IntelliJ update. Android Studio 4.2 is based on IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition 2020.2, including a new interface for extracting GitHub and other modifications.
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Support for Safe Args. Android Studio 4.2 AutoComplete supports data encapsulation in the navigation component of Jetpack.
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Retrace command line tool. New tool to remove blur from R8 method names.
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Improvements in applying changes. In Android Studio 4.2, the number of changes supported by Apply Changes is increased, including the addition of resources and new static fields, as long as an Android 11 device or emulator is used.
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Android Gradle 4.2 plugin. With version 4.2 of the Android Gradle plugin comes a new resource compiler which should mean better performance on Windows. The version of Java is also upgraded to Java 8 and support is included for signing APK v3 and APK v4.
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System Trace improvements. The performance monitor included with Android Studio includes a new event table.
As always you can update Android Studio directly from the application in Help> Check for updates, in addition to being able to download the latest version from its website, available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS.
More information | Google
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