Kite

Android Resource Wrapper Library.

TLDR

Fed up with typing ContextCompat, resources and context all over your apps to access your resources? Say no more.

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.github.cioccarellia:kite:1.1.2'
}

dependencies {
    implementation("com.github.cioccarellia:kite:1.1.2")
}

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.github.cioccarellia</groupId>
    <artifactId>kite</artifactId>
    <version>1.1.2</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

• :kite: Access all app resources with one unified syntax.
• :dna: Null safe layer between the Android framework java code and your app.
• :ice_cube: Transparent and lightweight wrapper.
• 🔒 Extensive built-in checks.
• ⚡️ Easy to implement in existing apps.
• ❤️ Kotlin powered, 100%.

val text = Kite.string[R.string.welcome_back]

Usage

Kite is a handy and lightweight android library which aims at reducing redundancy and decreasing android code complexity. It encloses and simplifies resource access within the Kite domain, and abstracts away the implementation logic needed to fetch the desired value, making interactions with the android framework smooth and frictionless. To get started initialize kite (ideally inside your Application class) and pass to it the application context.

class App : Application() {
    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()
        Kite.fly(this)
    }
}

You're all set. You can now import the Kite object, select whichever resource category you want to access and fetch it using the resource id and the bracket notation [].

Beware: kite can not and will not save you from the mess that is dealing with Android Context. After all, kite is some cleverly placed syntactic sugar over those same android methods you are used to: kite itself holds a reference to Context. It will, however, unify and thoroughly uniform your experience with dealing with all android related resource extraction operations, which can turn to be extremely practical. It may also save you from typing again ContextCompat in your life. That's the precise reason kite was created.

Samples

// 🪁 Kite
fab.rippleColor =         Kite.color[R.color.md_light_lime]
fab.backgroundTintList =  Kite.colorStateList[R.color.md_lime]
fab.text =                Kite.string[R.string.unread_notifications, "69"]
fab.isVisible =           Kite.bools[R.bool.show_fab]

// Standard
fab.rippleColor =         ContextCompat.getColor(context, R.color.md_light_lime)
fab.backgroundTintList =  ColorStateList.valueOf(R.color.md_lime)
fab.text =                appContext.getString(R.string.unread_notifications, "69")
fab.isVisible =           resources.getBoolean(R.bool.show_fab)

Context Switching

One clear disadvantage to using kite with respect to doing things the old way is choosing which context to use. That's why Kite comes packed with extension functions for permanent change / temporary switch the in-use context, so that you have full control over which context is used to do what.

• changeContext can be invoked on Kite and on any KiteFetcher, it is chainable and it permanently changes the context reference kite holds.

Kite.changeContext(this)
Kite.integer.changeContext(this)[R.integer.threads]

• runWith can be invoked on any KiteFetcher, it is chainable and it temporarily runs the passed lambda in the desired context.

Kite.color.runWith(this) { color ->
    button.setBackground(
        color[R.color.colorAccent]
    )
}

Supported Resources

Kite delegates resource collection to KiteFetchers. Those classes contain a well defined implementation of the actual process of converting the given id to the output type.

⚠️ Known Issues

• Annotation checks over resource function parameters (functions which take as argument some annotated value, like @ColorRes, @StringRes) are not extensively performed by Android Studio, when using kotlin operator functions. I created a bug report @ google issue tracker here. Hope to see it fixed soon. By 2030 hopefully.

Kite Puns

• A kite usually comes with different colors
• A kite is flown and controlled with strings