Android Question How to handle the chaos in Additional Libraries folder?

[Sandman]

I try out a lot of the things posted in the forum, which over time means that the Additional Libraries folder gets more and more cluttered. This bothers me for several reasons:

1. The naming of files are not always consistent so it's difficult to know which ones go together in a single "pack"
   
   
2. The naming of the files don't always reflect what the library is actually called in B4A or the forum
   
   
3. It's often difficult to know who in the forum did what so it tends to be a little bit of investigation figuring that out when I want to give credit in my app
   
   
4. I worry that I might not be able to update an old project because I don't have the correct libraries installed any longer (assume I've stored it at GitHub and revisit it in a couple of years or so)

So I'm wondering how the people in the forum handle this? Do you just happily throw everything into the folder and don't worry about it? Or do you have some sort of system to keep things in order?

 

[Erel]

The naming of the files don't always reflect what the library is actually called in B4A or the forum

The file name is the library name in the IDE.

 

[Sandman]

The file name is the library name in the IDE.

Yep, seems you're right - for the xml files. Then there's the jar files that apparently can be named something completely different.

 

[Erel]

The main jar file must be named exactly like the xml file. It can reference other jars or aar files.

 

[Sandman]

I should also mention that the clutter in there has made me very hesitant to try out new things. I often download something, unzip it, and look at the files and think to myself "how on earth will I be able to remove all of that if I decide it wasn't for me?". All too often I decide to not try it out and instead solve my problems in a logistically cleaner way.

 

[KMatle]

I often download something

Yep, same here but now I'm wiser So safe the libs folder AND the additional libs folder, delete all files in both (I mixed them up a bit )

Reinstall B4A (libs folder has then the up to date libs coming with B4A (note: my B4A version is the newest).
Additional libs folder: I will see what is missing and then download the newest versions.

 

[Sandman]

Yep, same here but now I'm wiser

It's good to know I'm not alone in this.

It sounds as if you might have some input to share in these threads?
Wish: Add a project specific libraries folder
Wish: Support subfolders in Libraries folder