Dear Google, You are really cool and all. You must be working really hard on this Android thing because I see updates every few months. But every time you come out with a new update to the Android SDK, you break my app. In strange ways, too! A while back there was this new "feature" to the Marketplace where <uses-feature>'s default values would be different based on which API level you built it with. Not only did I found out, post release, that my app didn't show up on 3 out of the dozen or so phones I support, there was no warning that that was going to happen when I updated my SDK... I had to search for it after the fact.
Then you broke all my build files, not once, but twice, on the last two updates. Did you have to rename every variable in the Ant build tools? Did you have to do it AGAIN with the next subsequent version of the SDK tools? (Geesh, twice in a row.. API level 7 and API level 8) Well, I just got my build working with the latest version of the SDK tools yesterday, which was SDK Tools version 7. Now, you've come out with a new update today, API level 9 and SDK Tools level 8. But you've broken my app's build, AGAIN. You added a new attribute, "formatted", to the <string> element (a la strings.xml), and now my app doesn't build. Not only that, but you have presumed that I need positional formatters like %1d instead of just %d, and instead of being backwards compatible you've broken my build, again. I already knew that positional formatters were necessary SOMETIMES, but you have (for my own good, I'm sure) broken my build so that, if I ever translate my app into certain languages with certain string constructs, that I am sure to use positional formatters. I mean, I wouldn't have found that on my own or anything, because nobody QAs apps, so thank you for your kind help. And as is typical, the documentation mentions nothing about the new formatted attribute to the <string> element: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/string-resource.html Google, can we keep Android as a tool that is meant for professionals to use, instead of some whack-a-mole approach to features and compatibility? Can you keep future SDK Tools and API SDK Level from breaking older stuff, so that they remain backwards compatible? Thanks! Stay cool, -Matt P.S. Stop presuming all files are encoded in "ascii", that's just ridiculous, leave it as the default encoding or let us override it. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
