Android Hidden API is a modified jar file which combining android.jar from Android SDK with framework.jar from real device. This jar makes you able to use Android internal/hidden APIs in development.

What is Android internal and hidden APIs? Internal API is located in com.android.internal package which available in the framework.jar file from real Android device, while hidden API is located in android.jar file with @hide javadoc attribute. Although the classes & methods are public, but you cannot access it directly. There are pretty methods and resources you can use from this package. I will assume this is one API and will refer to it as to hidden API. Learn more about hidden API here.

What's the advantage? You don't need to create new classes, constants, methods or resources which you want to use the similar function in your project. For example, if you want to create a new String resource that contains 'accept' word. Then you want create a new translation to other language, e.g. Arabic, Indonesian, even with all languages in this world. This is too exhausting and waste your time. Why don't use com.android.internal.R.string.accept which is retrieved via InternalAccessor.getString(context, "accept")?

If you plan to use only Android internal resources rather than internal classes or methods, do:

dependencies {
    compile 'com.anggrayudi:android-hidden-api:0.0.4'
}
repositories {
    maven { url 'https://dl.bintray.com/anggrayudi/maven/' }
    // Or, you can use jCenter instead
    jcenter()
}

Here's some example of accessing internal resources:

import com.anggrayudi.hiddenapi.r.Rc;


// put them into 'holder' to avoid re-reflection in the future
ResourcesHolder holder = new ResourcesHolder()
            .put("my_string", InternalAccessor.getString(context, Rc.string.accept))
            .put("my_dimen", InternalAccessor.getDimension(context, Rc.dimen.status_bar_height))
            .put("my_color", InternalAccessor.getColor(context, "config_defaultNotificationColor"))
            .put("my_int", 700);

// get the saved String value
String str = holder.getAsString("my_string");
// get the saved dimension value
float dimen = holder.getAsFloat("my_dimen");

// If you do not plan to retrieve the same value for the second times with InternalAccessor utility class,
// or you want to use it once, do like this without saving to 'holder':
String accept = InternalAccessor.getString(context, "accept");

// sometimes, you want to send all values we just saved in 'holder', you can send them with:
holder.sendBroadcast(context, "holderKey");
// or via
holder.sendViaLocalBroadcastManager(context, "holderKey");
// do not forget to register BroadcastReceiver with ResourcesHolder.ACTION_SEND_RESOURCES_HOLDER

If you also want to include the internal classes or methods, do the following:

1. Go to <SDK location>/platforms/.
2. Copy, paste and replace the downloaded hidden API file into this directory, e.g. android-23/android.jar.
3. Change compileSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion to 23 (for example).
4. Finally, rebuild your project.

Note: Higher compileSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion will be better.

Currently, there's no limitation. Previous limitation was fixed for Android 6.0. See issue #9.

Copyright 2015-2016 Anggrayudi Hardiannicko A.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.