MDX Toolkit 18.12 wrapping failure: (1) using Gradle Plugin 3.3.0+ when containing <array> resources / (2) when compileSdkVersion=28

[Tilman Skobowsky]

Attached to this "Question" is a very simple sample project that I used to reproduce the following issue:

 

When using the Android Gradle Plugin 3.2.1, I can successfully wrap this sample application with either https://mdx.xm.cloud.com/ and MDX Toolkit 10.8.5 (23e3cd2427bd6ae67b38ba61a0ac0fdf8a91e55d.77786) as found in the Trial Download.

 

When using the Android Gradle Plugin 3.3.0 and above (also tested with 3.4.0), neither the web based wrapping (18.12) nor the mentioned toolkit will be able to wrap the app.

 

The old toolkit gave a hint on what went wrong:

I: Using Apktool 2.3.1 on app-release-unsigned.apk
[...]
C:\Users\xxxx\Apps\9b83a15e-15ba-4fe0-8285-c567ef90d4d4\res\values\public.xml:3: error: Public symbol array/test_strings declared here is not defined.

whereas the current toolkit only shows the following:

I: Using Apktool 2.3.4 on app-release.apk
[...]
I: Found Plugin: Lcom/citrix/mdx/plugins/PACPlugin;
I: Creating a new R.java
Failed to update the app manifest file.

When decompiling the test APK with Apktool 2.3.4, I found out, that <array>s won't be handled properly if the APK was build with Gradle Plugin 3.3.0+ enabled.

When decompiling the test APK with Apktool 2.4.0, arrays are decompiled properly regardless of the used Gradle Plugin version.

 

 

I also tested different "compileSdkVersion" values: Wrapping will fail if an API Level of 28+ is used. 

Since 'compileSdkVersion 28' is a requirement for using the new 'androidx' Jetpack libraries, it is currently not possible to use those libraries as well.

 

Does the MDX Toolkit 19.3.5 already use Apktool 2.40? When will that be available for web based wrapping?