Summary of common open source frameworks on Android GitHub

Nowadays, the popular open source libraries on GitHub greatly save developers' time in development from scratch. Many companies and individuals are open-sourcing their projects on GitHub. Today we will sort out some very popular libraries in Android development, which we must master, so that we can find them quickly when we need them. The summary here is basically what I use in development, that is, some personal insights, for reference only, and is not authoritative.

1. Network Library

1. Retrofit

Retrofit is a network request library developed by Square. It is also one of the most popular HttpClient libraries for Android. More and more companies are starting to use this request library, and it can be combined with RxJava. As introduced on the official website, Retrofit is a type-safe network framework based on the HTTP protocol, serving Android and Java language.

GitHub address: Retrofit GitHub address

2. okhttp

Similarly, okhttp is also a network request library developed by Square. It is a network framework based on HTTP and HTTP2.0 protocols, serving Java and Android clients. okhttp ranks second in the android subtitle in GitHub with 21K stars. Many companies are using it. Starting from Retrofit 2.0, the okhttp framework is built in. Retrofit focuses on encapsulating interfaces to meet business needs, and okhttp focuses on the efficiency and security of network requests.

3. Volley

Google's Android development team also realized the need to further simplify HTTP communication operations, so they launched a new network communication framework, Volley, at the 2013 Google I/O conference. Volley has made significant adjustments in performance. Its design goal is to be suitable for network operations with small data volumes but frequent communications. It will perform poorly for network operations with large data volumes.

GitHub address: volley GitHub address

4. Fast Android Networking

Fast Android Networking based on OkHttp can make network communication concise (without boilerplate code), allowing developers to easily write communication code. It is a lightweight and fast network communication library. Try it, you will love it.

GitHub address: FastAndroidNetworking GitHub address

2. Image loading library

On Android devices, it is extremely important to display images quickly and efficiently. In the past, we have encountered many problems in how to store images efficiently. For example, the images are too large but the memory is relatively small. However, the use of more and more excellent open source frameworks has solved our problems in this regard. Next, let's take a look at these excellent open source frameworks.

1. glide

At the Google Developer Forum held in Thailand, Google introduced us to an image loading framework called Glide, created by bumptech. This library is widely used in Google open source projects, including the official App released at the 2014 Google I/O conference.

GitHub address: Glide GitHub address

2. fresco

A solution for managing image memory, it is one of the largest image loading frameworks currently. Its origin as Facebook proves that it is not a repetitive manufacturing wheel. It has unique features in managing image memory, progressive loading, and loading GIFs.

GitHub address: Fresco GitHub address

3. Picasso

A very powerful image downloading and caching framework, Picasso emphasizes more on image downloading. More importantly, it is also the work of the Square team. I believe that when it comes to the Square team, we are still very confident in using its products.

GitHub address: picasso GitHub address

4. Android-Universal-Image-Loader

Seeing this, I believe that experienced Android developers will be very familiar with it. It was once the king of image loading, and its 15.4k stars are enough to prove its popularity. Unlike Glide, UIL provides a large number of configuration methods, callbacks for image loading status, loading animations, etc., as well as caching ideas for the mobile image loading framework, three-level caching strategies, etc.

GitHub address: UIL GitHub address

5. PhotoView

An ImageView display framework that supports zooming and responding to gestures. It ranks fifth in the image rankings. The difference between PhotoView and the above is the image display function. It can achieve a zoom function similar to WeChat avatars. In addition, the image display of many Apps responds to gestures and presses. Here, PhotoView can easily achieve it.

GitHub address: PhotoView GitHub address

6. CircleImageView

Rounded corner ImageView is probably too common in our App. Maybe we can have countless ways to display rounded corner images, but CircleImageView is definitely the one we need to give priority to during development. If you don’t know CircleImageView yet, then you need to experience its power in processing rounded corner images as soon as possible. I believe you will definitely feel that you regret not meeting CircleImageView earlier. It should be noted that this is not an image loading library, so it is temporarily classified here.

GitHub address: CircleImageView GitHub address

We will introduce these 6 image loading libraries. You can choose to use them according to your specific situation.

3. UI

1. Material-dialogs

It is a custom View framework. If you are a newbie in custom View and are still a little unfamiliar with Dialog, you can improve your ability to use Dialog by using material-dialogs.

GitHub address: material-dialogs GitHub address

2. flexbox-layout

It is an elastic and retractable layout. As a substitute for LinearLayout and RelativeLayout, FlexboxLayout is worth trying in project development. After all, it is a product of Google.

GitHub address: flexbox-layout GitHub address

3. AndroidSwipeLayout

A very powerful sliding layout. Slide to delete is a common requirement in our app. We also often encounter the requirement of sliding up and down for product details in actual development. AndroidSwipeLayout has 8,300 stars on GitHub, proving that it is worth using.

GitHub address: AndroidSwipeLayout GitHub address

4. BaseRecyclerViewAdapterHelper

A powerful universal RecyclerView adapter, ranked *** on GitHub Android adapter rankings.

GitHub address: BaseRecyclerViewAdapterHelper GitHub address

5. MaterialDrawer

A strong material style drawer frame that is extremely flexible and easy to use.

GitHub address: MaterialDrawer GitHub address

6. Android-ObservableScrollView

A sliding framework that makes view sliding more visually appealing. It provides 12 sliding effects on GitHub that can be used to enhance the sliding experience of the App.

GitHub address: Android-ObservableScrollView GitHub address

7. AppIntro

A framework that provides quick creation of welcome pages. In domestic App development, ViewPager is already a standard requirement for developing App welcome pages, but AppIntro is definitely worth a look.

GitHub address: AppIntro GitHub address

8. ViewPagerIndicator

An open source framework for page indicators based on ViewPager. The author is Android master Jake Wharton. It has not been updated for a long time. You can refer to it for use.

GitHub address: ViewPagerIndicator GitHub address

Well, that’s all the UI related libraries introduced. I will add more useful ones in the future for easy reference.

4. Animation

1. lottie-android

Ranked first in the animation framework rankings, it is a framework that can quickly display the animation made by Adobe Afeter Effect (AE) tool on the Android side. Its greatest convenience is to use json files to quickly realize animation effects. This json file is also made by the AE tool provided by Adobe. Install a Bodymovin plug-in in AE, and use this plug-in to finally generate a json file from the animation effect. This json file can be parsed by LottieAnimationView and generate gorgeous animation effects. It also supports cross-platform.

GitHub address: lottie-android GitHub address

2. Material-Animations

An animation framework that provides scene transition capabilities. Unlike lottie-android, Material-Animations provides scene switching animation effects.

GitHub address: Material-Animations GitHub address

3. AndroidViewAnimations

An animation framework that provides a set of cute animations. It ranks third after lottie-android and Material-Animations, two animation framework overlords. It can be seen that it is also very powerful.

GitHub address: AndroidViewAnimations GitHub address

4. recyclerview-animators

A framework that provides expansion animation for recyclerview. Recyclerview has been launched for a long time. If you are still using ListView, it means you are old.

GitHub address: recyclerview-animators GitHub address

5. JSON parsing framework

1. fastjson

A framework based on JSON parsing and generation, produced by Alibaba, which ensures the quality of the code. It is widely used in network requests and is worth trying.

GitHub address: fastjson GitHub address

2. GSON

A library that provides Java object serialization/deserialization to JSON format.

GitHub address: gson GitHub address

6. Memory Leak Detection

1. leakcanary

A memory detection framework that serves Java and Andorid clients. Convenience and simplicity are the biggest features of leakcanary. You only need to integrate it in the application's apllication to use it directly. 15.9k stars are enough to show how powerful it is. The most important thing is that it is also the work of the square team. I believe everyone understands this point without saying it.

GitHub address: leakcanary GitHub address

7. Page Routing

1. ARouter

A routing framework that provides services and page jumps, produced by Alibaba. The framework provides the following capabilities: mapping from external URLs to internal pages, cross-module page jumps (modularization is essential, page decoupling), interception of jump processes, etc. It is definitely an enterprise-level development framework.

GitHub address: ARouter GitHub address

8. Database Framework

1. realm-java

Realm is a database framework designed specifically for mobile devices. It is faster than ordinary databases and surpasses greenDAO.

GitHub address: Realm GitHub address

2. greenDAO

greenDAO is an efficient and fast SQLite database with the same number of stars as Realm. It is developed and maintained by the greenrobot team, which also has a great framework called EventBus.

GitHub address: greenDAO GitHub address

9. Asynchronous

1. RxJava

RxJava is a Java VM implementation of ReactiveExtensions: a library for composing asynchronous and event-based programs by using observable sequences, which extends the observer pattern to support sequences of data/events and adds operators that allow you to compose sequences declaratively while abstracting away concerns about low-level threading, synchronization, thread safety, and concurrent data structures.

GitHub address: RxJava GitHub address

2. RxAndroid

An asynchronous communication framework between Android client components, it ranks second in the communication framework rankings, only after EventBus. The difference between the two is that EventBus is used to replace the cumbersome Interface between components, while RxAndroid is used to replace AnsyTask. The two do not conflict.

GitHub address: RxAndroid GitHub address

3. agera

Agera is a set of classes and interfaces that can help write functional, asynchronous and invalid applications for Android. It requires Android SDK version 9 or higher and is an official product of Google.

GitHub address: Agera GitHub address

4. RxBinding

A framework that provides UI component event response capabilities. Through RxBinding, you can understand the joy of responsive programming and make the event flow of the project clearer.

GitHub address: RxBinding GitHub address

10. Event Message

1. EventBus

Stars ***, an event communication framework, has usage scenarios in Activities, Fragments, Threads, and Services of large projects. Although EventBus has some limitations in delivering events to uncreated components and is only suitable for delivering messages between living components, it still does not prevent its use in scenarios of various large projects.

GitHub address: EventBus GitHub address

11. Charts

1. MPAndroidChart

MPAndroidChart is a chart framework that is fast, simple and powerful. It supports line, pie, bubble and candlestick charts, as well as zooming, dragging and animation.

GitHub address: MPAndroidChart GitHub address

12. Generate template code

1. butterknife

Use annotations to generate template code, bind view to methods and parameters, and cooperate with the ButterKnife plug-in provided by Android Studio to help developers avoid the trouble of frequent findViewById. The latest ButterKnife also provides onclick binding and string initialization. Beginners can refer to ButterKnife and ButterKnife for further study. The author is JakeWharton, a member of the famous square team.

GitHub address: butterknife GitHub address

13. Others

1.Device Year Class

Device Year Class tells you which year's product line the device's memory, CPU cores, and clock frequency are high-end. It allows developers to make apps behave differently based on the phone's hardware performance.

GitHub address: DeviceYearClass GitHub address

2.Network Connection Class

Network Connection Class can query the quality of the current user's network connection. It is divided into several "Connection Classes" according to the network quality to make development easier. This library monitors the existing network traffic of the app and notifies the user when the communication speed changes. Developers can adjust the behavior of the app based on the network connection (such as using lower quality audio and video, stopping the use of input prompts, etc.).

GitHub address: NetworkConnection GitHub address

3.Android Debug Database

Android Debug Database is a powerful library for debugging Android databases and shared preferences. It is an easy-to-use tool for browsing databases and shared preferences in a browser.

GitHub address: DebugDatabase GitHub address

4.LeakCanary

LeakCanary is a library for detecting memory leaks on Android and Java.

GitHub address: Leakcanary GitHub address

5.Dagger

A fast dependency injection library for Android and Java. It simplifies reading and writing shared instances, making complex dependency setups simpler and making unit and integration testing easier.

GitHub address: Dagger GitHub address

6. Realm

Simple storage, high-speed query, save a lot of development time. Realm Mobile Database is a replacement for SQLite, an ORM solution framework.

GitHub address: Realm GitHub address

7.Timber

A Logger with a small, extensible API on top of Android's native Log class.

GitHub address: Timber GitHub address

8.Hugo

Automatically log method calls for your debug builds by triggering annotations. As a programmer, you often need to add logging functions to print out the function calls in your program, as well as the parameters and return values, and the execution time. This is not a problem, everyone does it. But can it be made simpler? Just add @DebugLog to the function header and you will get all the information we just talked about.

GitHub address: Hugo GitHub address

9.Android GPU Image

A library that provides efficient OpenGL-based filters on Android.

GitHub address: GPU Image GitHub address

10.ExoPlayer

ExoPlayer is an application-level Android media player. It provides an API that supports playing local or network audio. ExoPlayer supports features that are not supported by the current Android media player API, such as DASH and Smooth Streaming adaptive playbacks (automatically adjusting the playback resolution in real time according to bandwidth).

GitHub address: ExoPlayer GitHub address