Android v3 SDK with support for Android 8.x (Oreo)

This article provides an overview of Gimbal's Android v3 SDK

What has changed?

The main change behind the Android SDK Version 3 release is support for Android 8.0 Oreo. In addition to structural changes required by Android 8.0, we added support for custom Notification Channels and greatly reduced the amount of setup required for new apps.

While the API itself does not break backwards compatibility, the way the SDK is integrated into your app has changed.

Changes that you need to make in your mobile app:

If your project Gradle build gets the Gimbal SDK dependencies from the Maven Central repository:

• Please follow the Migration Guide to update your App
• You will need to update dependency definitions as described in the guide

If you get copies of the Gimbal SDK from the Gimbal Manager SDK Download page:

• Please follow the Migration Guide to update your App
• You will need to replace Gimbal SDK AARs with the new version

If you are using Gimbal SDK in your app for the first time:

• Please follow the V3 Developer Guide

V2 to V3 Migration Guide

The V2 to V3 Migration Guide details the steps required to integrate the V3 SDK into an existing app that uses the V2 SDK. It is broken into sections for:

• Updating dependency definitions. If downloading the SDK into your project, simply replace the old AARs with the new ones.
• Invoking the SDK from the Application instead of a background Service
• Cleaning up AndroidManifest.xml
• Cleaning up Proguard rules
• Setting a Notification Channel for use by Communications (optional)

Notification Channel

Android 8.0 adds a Notification Channel feature to allow end users to have finer control over the notifications that are presented to them by apps. Each Notification on an 8.0 device in an app targeting API 26 or newer must be assigned to a channel or it will not post to the user. Please refer to the V3 Developer Guide or Migration Guide for further details.

Analytics and Gimbal Manager Changes

Please note that existing analytics and Gimbal Manager Application Setup continues to remain unchanged with no impact.