Prepare for UI Migration from XML to Compose in Android

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

As the largest market value in smartphone sales, Android continues to take innovative steps to maintain its position in the industry. One of the latest innovations strengthening the Android ecosystem is the introduction of a modern UI toolkit called Jetpack Compose. Launched in March 2021, Jetpack Compose marks a significant leap forward in Android app development, offering a more declarative and functional approach.

Jetpack Compose is built with a focus on functional programming and leverages the Kotlin programming language. Google advocates for the use of Kotlin as the primary language for Android app development, and Jetpack Compose is a robust implementation of these concepts.

Creating a Compose Project in Android Studio

The process of creating a project with Jetpack Compose in Android Studio is relatively straightforward. Similar to creating a project in Android Studio in general, when initializing the project, choose Empty Activity with the Compose logo instead of Empty View Activity with XML layout support.

This allows users to configure the project by entering details such as project name, storage location, and other configuration options.

Migrating UI from XML to Compose

One challenge faced by developers is migrating the existing user interface (UI) from XML to Jetpack Compose. While Jetpack Compose offers development ease with its declarative approach, migrating from XML requires adjustments and an understanding of differences in structure and development paradigms.

For the migration from XML to Compose, you need to add libraries that support development using Compose. In the example provided, Android Studio Hedgehog version 2023.1.1 Patch 1 with build.gradle file support using Kotlin is used.

Read more:

Menggunakan buildSrc dan Kotlin DSL dalam Pengelolaan Dependensi di Gradle

If you are starting a project from scratch, the dependencies stored in the build.gradle.kts file (Module: app) look like this:

dependencies {

    implementation("androidx.core:core-ktx:1.10.1")
    implementation("androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.6.1")
    implementation("com.google.android.material:material:1.9.0")
    implementation("androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:2.1.4")
    testImplementation("junit:junit:4.13.2")
    androidTestImplementation("androidx.test.ext:junit:1.1.5")
    androidTestImplementation("androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.5.1")
}

To ease the project migration process, add some Compose dependencies to your project (adjust as needed):

implementation("androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-ktx:2.7.0")
implementation("androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.7.0")
implementation("androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.8.2")
implementation(platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2023.08.00"))
implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui")
implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-graphics")
implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling-preview")
implementation("androidx.compose.material3:material3")
implementation(platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2023.08.00"))
androidTestImplementation(platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2023.08.00"))
androidTestImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-junit4")
androidTestImplementation(platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2023.08.00"))
debugImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling")
debugImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-manifest")

After syncing your Gradle files, Android Studio will automatically download some build system files from Compose. Then, you can create an Empty Activity Compose by right-clicking on the kotlin+java package, selecting Compose, and clicking on Empty Activity. You have now successfully migrated from XML to Compose. For further migration processes, such as components from XML to Compose, refer to the official Jetpack Compose documentation or take their courses:

Android Basics with Compose course | Android Developers

Advantages of Compose over XML

Jetpack Compose offers several advantages over traditional development using XML. Some of these include:

1. Declarative and Functional: Jetpack Compose eliminates boilerplate code by using a declarative approach, allowing developers to describe the UI more intuitively.
2. Reactivity: Compose leverages reactivity, ensuring that the UI always reflects the latest data. Changes in data automatically trigger updates to the user interface.
3. Rapid Development: By reducing the amount of code needed to create UI, Jetpack Compose speeds up the development cycle, enabling developers to focus on core features and logic.
4. Integration with Kotlin: The use of Kotlin as the primary language supports expressive, secure development and excellent interoperability with other Android libraries.

In conclusion, Jetpack Compose brings significant changes to how developers build Android applications, providing ease of development and improved application performance. Continuously evolving, Jetpack Compose promises a bright future for UI development on the Android platform.

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