Stetho

Read more about the article Debugging JSON Files of Sample Events for Open Event Android using Stetho

Debugging JSON Files of Sample Events for Open Event Android using Stetho

In this blog, I will talk about data validation and debugging in Android using the Stetho-A debug bridge for Android by Facebook. Most Android applications have JSON files to populate the elements like RecyclerViews, ListViews and different types of Layouts. Stetho is a debug tool for Android which uses the well-known Chrome Developer tools as it’s User Interface. With Stetho, we can see all our incoming JSON data in spreadsheets making debugging much easier and fun. What’s more, it’s completely Open source.

Getting started with Stetho

To start with, we need to enable Stetho by adding it as one of the dependencies in the build.gradle file.

compile 'com.facebook.stetho:stetho:1.4.2'

It is already enabled in the Open Event Android app.

Now, you need to add the api endpoint for your sample in the config.json file in the project(if you are using the Android repo for debugging). The config.json file is at app/assets/

In case, you are using an Open Event generated app then there’s no need to do that.

Now connect your phone through the USB cable to your laptop and start your application.

Next, you have to browse to chrome://inspect where you will see your device in the window as shown below.

 

On clicking “Inspect”, you will be shown the Stetho debug tool interface. Something like this:

When you download the details by clicking “Yes” on the starting of the application, be sure to keep it connected to the Stetho tool in the ‘inspect’ mode.

Once the data has loaded, go to Web SQL-> default.realm. You will see tabs like:-

class_speaker, class_sponsor, class_session, class_track among others.

On clicking them, you will see well-organised tables that show all linked attributes of the class that you selected.

Sessions can be seen along with all the related information in a tabular format.

Stetho displays speakers of the event and their information in an easy-to-read tabular format.

Micro locations of the event along with related information in a tabular format.

This is how you can view all the attributes of your sample in a tabular layout and hence, debug them easily. Although, Stetho is about much more than this, this is all I will talk about in this blog.

You can read more about Stetho and it’s functionalities here.

The official repo for Stetho can be found here for the source code.

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Read more about the article Debugging Using Stetho in Open Event Android

Debugging Using Stetho in Open Event Android

The Open Event Android project helps event organizers to generator Apps (apk format) for their events/conferences by providing api end point or zip generated using Open Event server. In this android app data is fetched from the internet using network calls to the Open Event server and the data of the event is stored in a database. It is difficult to debug an app with so many network calls and database connectivity. A way to approach this is using  Stetho which is very helpful tool for debugging an app which deals with network calls and database.  

Stetho is Facebook’s open source project works as debug bridge for android applications which gives powerful Chrome Developers Tools for debugging android applications using Chrome desktop browser.

What can you do using stetho ?

  • Analyze network traffic
  • Inspect elements(layouts/views)  
  • View SQLite database in table format
  • Run queries on SQLite database
  • View shared preference and edit it
  • Manipulate android app from command line

Setup

1. Add Gradle dependency

To add stetho in your app add ‘com.facebook.stetho:stetho:1.5.0’ dependency in your app  module’s build.gradle file. This dependency is strictly required.

dependencies{
    compile 'com.facebook.stetho:stetho:1.5.0'
}

For network inspection add one of the following dependency according to which you will be using

'com.facebook.stetho:stetho-okhttp:1.5.0'
'com.facebook.stetho:stetho-okhttp3:1.5.0'
'com.facebook.stetho:stetho-urlconnection:1.5.0'

2. Initialize stetho

Initialize stetho in class MyApplication which extends Application class by overriding  onCreate() method. Make sure you have added MyAppication in manifest.

public class MyApplication extends Application {
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()
        Stetho.initializeWithDefaults(this);
    }
}

Stetho.initializeWithDefaults(this) initializes stetho with defaults configuration(without network inspection and more). It will be able to debug database.

Manifest file

<Application   android:name=”.MyApplication”    …   />

For enabling network inspection add StethoInterceptor  in OkHttpClient

new OkHttpClient.Builder()
    .addNetworkInterceptor(new StethoInterceptor())
    .build();

Using Chrome Developer Tools

1. Open Inspect window

Run stetho initialized app on device or emulator then start Google chrome and type chrome://inspect. You will see you device with your app’s package name. Click on “inspect”2. Network Inspection

Go to Network tab. It will show all network calls. With almost all info like url(path), method, returned status code, returned data type, size, time taken etc.

You can also see preview of image and preview, response of returned json data by clicking on Name.

3. SQLite Database

Go to “Resources”  tab and select “Web SQL”. You will see database file(.db). By clicking on database file you will see all tables in that database file. And by clicking on table name you will see data in row-column format for that table.

4. Run queries on SQLite database

Same as above go to “Resources”  tab and select “Web SQL”. You will see database file(.db). By clicking on database file you will see console on right side, where you can run queries on SQLite database. Example,

SELECT * FROM tracks ;

5. Shared Preferences Inspection

Go to “Resources”  tab and select “Local Storage”. You will show all files that your app used to save key-value pairs in shared preference and by clicking on file you will see all key-value pairs.

6. Element(View/Layout) Inspection

Go to “Elements” tab. You will see top layout/view in view hierarchy. By clicking it you will see child layout/view of that layout/view. On hover on layout/view you view will be inspected in your device/emulator.

 

In this blog the most important have been put forward, but there are still  some nice stuff available,like:

  • An integration with JavaScript Console : Enables JavaScript code execution that can interact with the application
  • Dumpapp  : It allows an integration higher than the Developer Tools, enabling the development of custom plugins.

By now, you must have realized that stetho can significantly improve your debugging experience. To learn more about stetho, refer to

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