Debugging with Stetho in Android

Stetho is an open-source debug library developed by Facebook. It allows you to use chrome debugging tools to troubleshoot network traffic., thus it provides a rich, interactive debugging experience for android developers. Stetho easily and smoothly debug network calls. It is a Sophisticated Debug Bridge for Android Applications. When enabled, developers have a path to the Chrome Developer Tools feature natively part of the Chrome desktop browser. Developers can also prefer to allow the optional dumpApp tool which allows a powerful command-line interface to application internals. Without limiting its functionality to just network inspection, JavaScript console, database inspection, etc. We are going to implement this project using both Java and Kotlin Programming Language for Android.

Features of Stetho

1. Stetho is an open-source debugging platform.
2. It provides a rich and highly interactive experience.
3. With the help of Stetho native applications debugging is very simple.
4. It offers you to use Google Chrome debugging tool for various activities.
5. It provides hierarchy inspection during debugging.
6. Also, Stetho allows network, database management, and more interacting features.
7. Stetho uses an HTTP web socket to send data.

The Problem

The problem with debugging network traffic while developing android applications, debugger facing problems with traditional debugging tools get messed up and inspection got very complex while switching the devices.

The Solution Provided by Stetho

The debugging is more reliable and easy with the Stetho library because it uses the chrome debugging tool which supports web-socket and uses it for network debugging. Stetho automated the call inspection, so it becomes more important for android developers. 

How to Work with Chrome Dev Tool?

Stetho uses an HTTP web Socket server that sends all debugging information to the browser. It is accessible through:

chrome://inspect

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Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Adding Dependency to the build.gradle File

Go to Module build.gradle file and add this dependency and click on Sync Now button.

implementation 'com.facebook.stetho:stetho-okhttp3:1.5.1'

Step 2: Register the Class in AndroidManifest.xml, and Initialize it in the Application

OR

Initialize your Library with a Single Line of Code:

Updating the Manifest File in the Android Project:

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Step 3: Enable Network Inspection.

The following method is the easiest and simpler way to enable network inspection when you constructing the okHttpClient instance:

okHttpClient.Builder().addNetworkInterceptor(StethoInterceptor()).build()

How to Check?

Run the emulator on the device. Then open chrome://inspect on Chrome and your emulator device should appear, after that click inspects to launch a new window, and click the network tab to watch network traffics.

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