103
votes

I am trying to open existing android project in android studio and it gradle cannot build the app without the error

Error android studio keeps on throwing

Error:(74, 1) A problem occurred evaluating project ':app'.
> Could not find method implementation() for arguments 
[com.android.support:appcompat-v7:26.0.0] on object of type 
org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.dsl.dependencies.DefaultDependencyHandler.

My Code in build.gradle Which can help to understand my issue My dependencies

dependencies {
compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')

// google & support
implementation "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:$supportVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:cardview-v7:$supportVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:$supportVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:design:$supportVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:palette-v7:$supportVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:customtabs:$supportVersion"
implementation "com.android.support:support-v4:$supportVersion"
implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer:r2.0.4'

// utils
implementation 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:4.0.0'
annotationProcessor 'com.github.bumptech.glide:compiler:4.0.0'
implementation 'com.koushikdutta.ion:ion:2.1.7'
implementation 'com.github.Commit451:bypasses:1.0.4'
implementation 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:8.8.0'
annotationProcessor 'com.jakewharton:butterknife-compiler:8.8.0'
implementation 'com.drewnoakes:metadata-extractor:2.9.1'
implementation "com.orhanobut:hawk:2.0.1"

}

Please help to solve the issue

14
Are you using Android Studio 3.0?Saurabh Thorat
I am new to android. But Yes, I updated to 3.0 as previous error was complaining about it.cole
Nope android studio 2.3.3cole
Try replacing implementation with compileSaurabh Thorat
Yup it works.. Thankscole

14 Answers

89
votes

Replace implementation with compile.

compile was recently deprecated and replaced by implementation or api

53
votes

Make sure your Gradle version is 3.*.* or higher before using "implementation".

Open the project level Gradle file under dependencies:

dependencies{
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.1.2'
}

Open the 'gradle-wrapper.properties' file and set the distributionUrl:

distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-4.4-all.zip

or latest version.

Sync the project. I Hope this solves your problem.

50
votes

Make sure you're adding these dependencies in android/app/build.gradle, not android/build.gradle

26
votes

You need to use at least Gradle 3.4 or newer to be able to use implementation. It is not recommended to keep using the deprecated compile since this can result in slower build times. For more details see the official android developer guide:

When your module configures an implementation dependency, it's letting Gradle know that the module does not want to leak the dependency to other modules at compile time. That is, the dependency is available to other modules only at runtime. Using this dependency configuration instead of api or compile can result in significant build time improvements because it reduces the amount of projects that the build system needs to recompile. For example, if an implementation dependency changes its API, Gradle recompiles only that dependency and the modules that directly depend on it. Most app and test modules should use this configuration.

https://developer.android.com/studio/build/gradle-plugin-3-0-0-migration.html#new_configurations

Update: compile will be removed by end of 2018, so make sure that you use only implementation now:

Warning:Configuration 'compile' is obsolete and has been replaced with 'implementation'. It will be removed at the end of 2018

9
votes

change apply plugin: 'java' to apply plugin: 'java-library'

java-library-plugin

5
votes

So ridiculous, but I still wanna share my experience in case of that someone falls into the situation like me.

Please check if you changed: compileSdkVersion --> implementationSdkVersion by mistake

4
votes

For me I put my dependencies in the wrong spot.

buildscript {
  dependencies {
    //Don't put dependencies here.
  }
}

dependencies {
 //Put them here
}
3
votes

Your Code

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')

Replace it By

dependencies {
implementation fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
2
votes

As mentioned here, https://stackoverflow.com/a/50941562/2186220, use gradle plugin version 3 or higher while using 'implementation'.

Also, use the google() repository in buildscript.

buildscript {
    repositories {
        google()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.1.2'
    }
}

These changes should solve the issue.

2
votes

Replace your implementation with classpath. That should work.

2
votes

I moved implementation to module-level build.gradle from root-level build.gradle. It solves the issue.

1
votes

In my case it was because I used Implementation instead of implementation.

0
votes

If implementation is not defined, you are writing on a wrong file. On Unity 2019+ the correct file is main template grandle and not some of the others.

0
votes

As suggested in official docs you need add these :

buildscript {
    repositories {
        // Gradle 4.1 and higher include support for Google's Maven repo using
        // the google() method. And you need to include this repo to download
        // Android Gradle plugin 3.0.0 or higher.
        google()
        ...
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.0'
    }
}

adding these remove my error. Also use implementation instead of compile.