Generating .aab files using wm-cordova-cli or AppChef
Android App Bundle (aab) is a new and an alternate to Android application package (apk). Google introduced this format mainly to reduce the size of installer for end users. Please check this post from Google to learn about aab. Starting from @wavemaker/wm-cordova-cli@2.0.0, generation of aab files from WaveMaker mobile projects is supported.
Bundle Tool
An aab file cannot be installed directly on a device. This is a format for publishing to Play Store. For development, apk can still be used. Incase if you want to install aab file, apk file has to be generated from aab file. Google released a tool called bundle tool to help developers in this regard. BundleTool is a jar file (requires Java8 or higher) that can be downloaded from here. After downloading the jar, create an alias (in Linux or MAC) as follows in bashrc.
alias bundletool="java -jar BUNDLE_TOOL_JAR_PATH"
Example command to generate apk file:
bundletool build-apks --bundle="./people_wavemaker(0.0.1).debug.aab" --output="./people_from_aab.apks"
Example command to install apk on a connected device
bundletool install-apks --apks="./people_from_aab.apks"
For more commands supported by bundletool, check this link.
wm-cordova-cli breaking change
Previously, packageType is an argument in the build command to specify the type of build (development or production). This argument is renamed to buildType in 2.0.0. Now, packageType is used to specify the type of package. For Android build, options available under packageType are bundle (for aab) and apk. Since, ipa is the only format available for ios apps, there is no packageType option for ios build.
Changes in AppChef
In the build step of creating a new cordova build, a new dropdown is introduced to capture User's choice of Android Package. This dropdown is only visible when a ceretificate for Android build is selected. This dropdown has only two options (aab and apk). If the build type is development, then Android package is set as apk. If the build type is production, then Android package is set as aab. Users can override the default behaviour with their choice.
Google Anouncement
Starting from August 1st 2021, Google Play Store will allow only new app submissions in aab format. Check the Google Anouncement here.