BuildConfig variable. Error: cannot find symbol

Question

In project I have several flavors, several buildTypes and several folders for combinations

Build combinations:

Folder structure

In each folder I have custom Application class + AndroidManifest to register this Application class

Sometime, but just sometimes build fails with cannot find symbol error:

\app\src\main\java\ru\my\package\app\environment\MyApp.java:35: error: cannot find symbol
            .core(new CrashlyticsCore.Builder().disabled(!BuildConfig.ANALYTICS).build())

or App class independent but the same error

\app\src\main\java\ru\my\package\presentation\presenter\impl\MainPresenterImpl.java:104: error: cannot find symbol
    if (!BuildConfig.ANALYTICS) return;

But the very next build could be successful, so the possible flow is

1. Build (successful)
2. Some chagnes in the code
3. Build (error)
4. Build-retry (successful) <-- without any changes in code

Note

• It's not a sync problem and sync/invalidate cache is not the answer
• It's not a wrong import problem

Disclaimer: there are questions that looks like this one, but they're different, e.g.

Gradle buildConfigField BuildConfig cannot resolve symbol

UPDATE

Gradle dependencies:

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    implementation project(path: ':OVSALibrary')
    implementation project(path: ':YaMapProject')
    implementation 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:8.8.1'
    implementation 'com.google.dagger:dagger:2.14.1'
    kapt 'com.google.dagger:dagger-compiler:2.14.1'
    implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.8.2'
    implementation 'eu.davidea:flexible-adapter:5.0.0-rc3'
    kapt 'com.jakewharton:butterknife-compiler:8.8.1'
    implementation "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:$support_lib_version"
    implementation "com.android.support:design:$support_lib_version"
    implementation "com.android.support:support-v4:$support_lib_version"
    implementation "com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:$support_lib_version"
    implementation "com.android.support:support-emoji:$support_lib_version"
    implementation "com.android.support:support-emoji-appcompat:$support_lib_version"
    implementation "com.android.support:support-emoji-bundled:$support_lib_version"
    implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.1.2'
    implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.3.0'
    implementation 'com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:3.10.0'
    implementation 'io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxandroid:2.0.1'
    implementation 'io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.1.7'
    implementation 'ru.egslava:MaskedEditText:1.0.5'
    implementation 'nl.big-o:liqp:0.7.3'
    implementation 'org.jsoup:jsoup:1.7.2'
    implementation 'me.everything:overscroll-decor-android:1.0.4'
    implementation 'com.squareup.picasso:picasso:2.6.0-SNAPSHOT'
    implementation 'com.squareup.okhttp3:logging-interceptor:3.10.0'
    implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.3.0'
    compile ('com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-simplexml:2.3.0') {
        exclude group: 'stax', module: 'stax-api'
        exclude group: 'stax', module: 'stax'
        exclude group: 'xpp3', module: 'xpp3'
    }
    implementation 'com.makeramen:roundedimageview:2.3.0'
    implementation ('com.github.revern:socket.io-client-java:master-SNAPSHOT') {
        exclude group: 'org.json', module: 'json'
    }
    implementation 'com.tbruyelle.rxpermissions2:rxpermissions:0.9.5@aar'
    implementation 'com.luckycatlabs:SunriseSunsetCalculator:1.2'
    implementation ('com.github.developer-shivam:Crescento:1.2.1') {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'appcompat-v7'
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'palette-v7'
    }
    implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jdk7:$kotlin_version"
    implementation 'com.tbruyelle.rxpermissions2:rxpermissions:0.9.5@aar'
    implementation('com.crashlytics.sdk.android:crashlytics:2.9.0@aar') {
        transitive = true;
    }
    implementation 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:27.1.1'
    implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:adapter-rxjava2:2.3.0'

    implementation 'com.malinskiy:superrecyclerview:1.1.4'

    // Yandex.Map things
    implementation 'com.yandex.android:mapkit:3.0.0'

    // Yandex ads. Adfox.
    rcImplementation 'com.yandex.android:mobmetricalib:3.0.0'
    debugWithAnalyticsImplementation 'com.yandex.android:mobmetricalib:3.0.0'
    releaseImplementation 'com.yandex.android:mobmetricalib:3.0.0'
    implementation 'com.yandex.android:mobileads:2.71'


    // Waiting for https://github.com/SundeepK/CompactCalendarView/pull/287
    // Waiting for https://github.com/SundeepK/CompactCalendarView/pull/288
    implementation 'com.github.dryaz:CompactCalendarView:master-SNAPSHOT'

    // Waiting for https://github.com/opacapp/multiline-collapsingtoolbar/pull/57
    implementation 'com.github.dryaz:multiline-collapsingtoolbar:master-SNAPSHOT'

    implementation 'com.github.clans:fab:1.6.4'

    implementation 'org.greenrobot:eventbus:3.1.1'

    testImplementation "org.robolectric:robolectric:3.8"
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
    testImplementation "com.android.support.test:monitor:1.0.2"
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.2'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.2'

    // PAY SDK
    implementation(name:'mos-pay-sdk-1.0.9', ext:'aar')
    implementation 'io.card:android-sdk:5.5.1'
    implementation ('eu.livotov.labs.android:3DSView:1.1.2@aar') {transitive=true}

    // Android Architecture Components
    implementation "android.arch.lifecycle:runtime:$androidArch"
    implementation "android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:$androidArch"
    annotationProcessor "android.arch.lifecycle:compiler:$androidArch"

    compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-core:16.0.0'
    compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:17.0.0'
}

** UPDATE ** Here's the list of buildTypes and productFlavors

flavorDimensions("devbeta", "mainmirror")
    productFlavors {
        // Beta API enviroment
        beta {
            dimension = "devbeta"
            buildConfigField "String", "SOCKET_REMOTE_PATH", "\"/api-beta/socket.io\""
        }

        // Dev API enviroment
        dev {
            dimension = "devbeta"
            buildConfigField "String", "SOCKET_REMOTE_PATH", "\"/api-dev/socket.io\""
        }

        // Prod API enviroment
        prod {
            dimension = "devbeta"
            buildConfigField "String", "SOCKET_REMOTE_PATH", "\"/socket.io\""
        }

        mainhost {
            dimension = "mainmirror"
            buildConfigField "String", "CONFIG_REMOTE_HOSTNAME", "\"some.host.url\""
        }

        mirrorhost {
            dimension = "mainmirror"
            buildConfigField "String", "CONFIG_REMOTE_HOSTNAME", "\"some.host.url\""
        }
    }

    buildTypes {
        debug {
            minifyEnabled false
            shrinkResources false
            buildConfigField "boolean", "ANALYTICS", "false"
            signingConfig signingConfigs.customDebug
            ext.enableCrashlytics = false
            manifestPlaceholders = [
                    firebaseAnalyticsDeactivated: "true",
                    appIcon: "@mipmap/ic_launcher_debug",
            ]
        }

        debugWithAnalytics.initWith(buildTypes.debug)
        debugWithAnalytics {
            ext.betaDistributionGroupAliases = "group-internal"
            ext.betaDistributionReleaseNotes = "$getReleaseNotes"
            ext.enableCrashlytics = true
            buildConfigField "boolean", "ANALYTICS", "true"
            matchingFallbacks = ['debug', 'release']
        }

        debugWithProguard.initWith(buildTypes.debug)
        debugWithProguard {
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
            proguardFiles(file('./proguard').listFiles())
            matchingFallbacks = ['release', 'debug']
        }

        // RC build for inner testers that has analytics, signed with debug key.
        rc {
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
            proguardFiles(file('./proguard').listFiles())
            buildConfigField "boolean", "ANALYTICS", "true"
            // Fields for fabric beta distribution
            ext.betaDistributionGroupAliases = "group-internal"
            ext.betaDistributionReleaseNotes = "$getReleaseNotes"

            signingConfig signingConfigs.customDebug

            manifestPlaceholders = [
                    firebaseAnalyticsDeactivated: "false",
                    appIcon: "@mipmap/ic_launcher_rc",
            ]
            matchingFallbacks = ['debug', 'release']
        }

        release.initWith(buildTypes.rc)
        release {
            buildConfigField "boolean", "ANALYTICS", "true"
            ext.betaDistributionGroupAliases = "group-customer"
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
            manifestPlaceholders = [
                    firebaseAnalyticsDeactivated: "false",
                    appIcon: "@mipmap/ic_launcher",
            ]
        }
    }

Solution 1

Finally looks like I've found a reason, I have the library project exactly with the same package ID as the main app, so the inner BuildConfig for library project doesn't contain variable.

Solution 2

Rebuild Project if you have still problem on importing Package Name and then .BuildConfig

Solution 3

Might be complete nonsense, but have you ever tested it with putting a default value directly in your defaultConfig?

defaultConfig {
    buildConfigField "boolean", "ANALYTICS", "false"
}

Solution 4

I also have flavors in my app and I got to know that if I use debugVariant than BuildConfig creates and works well but if I try to use releaseVariant to work on than it can't create BuildConfig file.

Solution 5

I have similar error, i.e. can't resolve BuildConfig.FOO , it's because of some other places has red mark error, e.g. you might unnoticed AndroidManifest.xml contains non-existent service class marked in red color. Fixed the service class first, then rebuild, the red color on BuildConfig.FOO are gone.

The lesson learned was don't focus at fixing specific red color which you don't see anything wrong, instead try look at other file and fix that first.

View more solutions

Comments

[dilix]

Nice idea but it doesn't help :(

[Norbert]

Sorry to hear that. In my projects all custom values are mostly in my productFlavors instead of in the buildTypes, but that won't help either I assume.

[FabioR]

Another tip: I kept invalidating cache and cleaning project to see if I could import the right BuildConfig, but nothing worked. I even deleted .idea and .gradle folders to see if regenerating them would solve it, but still it wouldn't work. I also reimported the project, nothing. Then I decided to rebuild the project just for the sake of it and it worked.