Android AutoValue

Port of Google AutoValue for the Android platform.

Why AutoValue?

Because it's awesome. If you read the rationale you'll be convinced as well.

Ok then why an Android port?

Two main reasons:

Google Auto is a monolithic dependency that comes with a lot of libraries, some of them quite big (I'm looking at you Guava) potentially polluting your namespace and increasing apk size. Android AutoValue splits the project in two libraries, one to be included in your apk (which just contains the interface) and one only used during compilation.
Android AutoValue supports Parcelable generation. That's right. One of the most verbose implementation in Android is now made as quick implementing Serializable. Even quicker because you don't have to generate a serialVersionUID. Just add implements Parcelable to your value objects and you're done. This is by far the simplest and fastest way to generate Parcelables on Android with zero reflection and completely transparent to the rest of your application.

Fine, how do I use it?

@AutoValue
abstract class SomeModel implements Parcelable {
  abstract String name();
  abstract List<SomeSubModel> subModels();
  abstract Map<String, OtherSubModel> modelsMap();

  static SomeModel create(String name, List<SomeSubModel> subModels, Map<String, OtherSubModel> modelsMap) {
    return new AutoValue_SomeModel(name, subModels, modelsMap);
  }
}

That's that simple. And you get Parcelable, hashCode, equals and toString implementations for free. As your models evolve you don't need to worry about keeping all the boilerplate in sync with the new implementation, it's already taken care of.

Sounds great, where can I download it?

The easy way is to use Gradle.

buildscript {
  repositories {
    mavenCentral()
  }
  dependencies {
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:+'
    classpath 'com.neenbedankt.gradle.plugins:android-apt:+'
  }
}

apply plugin: 'android'
apply plugin: 'android-apt'

dependencies {
  compile 'com.github.frankiesardo:android-auto-value:+'
  apt 'com.github.frankiesardo:android-auto-value-processor:+'
}

I recommend using the android-apt plugin so that Android Studio picks up the generated files. Check out the sample project for a working example.

License