Adding Google Play Services to non-gradle Android Studio project?

Question

I have an existing project that was built without gradle for Android Studio and I\'m trying to get Google Play Services imported to fix a java.lang.NoClassDefFoundErr

Answer 1

Copy the library from the SDK/Extras Directory

1. Use your SDK Manager to download the Google Play Services - it'll be found under the Extras directory.

2. Go to your Android SDK directory and find the google-play-services_lib directory, for me this was in the Android Studio package:

   /Applications/Android Studio.app/sdk/extras/google/google_play_services/libproject/google-play-services_lib/

3. Copy this entire directory to your project's libs directory.

4. Add this as a module dependency as you normally would. (For Android Studio, see below for step-by-step instructions.)

5. You'll need to add a meta-tag to your AndroidManifest.xml file as well, that looks like this:

   <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.version" android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version" />

6. Profit and Party?

Android Studio Steps

Steps to add the library project as a module dependency once it's already in your libs directory.

1. File > Import Module.

2. Select the google-play-services_lib directory under your libs directory.

3. Ensure Create module from existing sources is selected and click Next until you finish the wizard.

4. Project Structure > Modules (far left) > Select Your App > Dependencies tab > + > Module Dependency > google-play-services_lib.

5. Project Structure > Modules (far left) > Select google-play-services_lib > Dependencies tab > + > Jars or directories... > Find and select libs/google-play-services_lib/libs/google-play-services.jar.

   Make sure you click the Export checkbox for this dependency.

   

6. Profit and Party?

Many thanks to Adama Speakman's post for the specific Android Studio steps.

JP