ClothingShop Android App

This repository contains the Jetpack Compose client for the ClothingShop platform. The Android app lets customers browse the catalogue, manage their cart, and complete checkout flows against the companion backend service.

Table of contents

• Overview
• Prerequisites
• Getting started
• Configuring API endpoints
• Project structure
• Running checks
• Environment tips
• Localization
• Troubleshooting

Overview

The app is written with the modern Android toolkit:

• Jetpack Compose for declarative UI
• Navigation Compose for in-app routing
• ViewModel + StateFlow for reactive state management
• Retrofit + Gson for networking and serialization
• Coil for efficient image loading
• DataStore for persisting authentication tokens and preferences

Core features

• Browse and search the product catalogue via /api/products, /api/categories, and /api/search
• Inspect product details, add items to the cart, and adjust quantities
• Register, sign in, and maintain authenticated sessions with JWT tokens
• Persist user-selected language settings across sessions

Prerequisites

Make sure the following tooling is installed locally:

• Android Studio Koala (2024.1.1) or newer with Compose support
• Android SDK 24+ (target SDK 35)
• JDK 11
• Access to a running instance of the ClothingShop backend API

Getting started

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/YanchikFox/ClothingShop-Android.git
   cd ClothingShop-Android

2. Open in Android Studio
   • Choose File → Open… and select the cloned project folder.
   • Allow Gradle to finish syncing before running the app.
3. Sync the backend
   • Start the ClothingShop API locally or expose it through a tunnel for devices.
   • Seed the database with the provided scripts so product data and translations match the mobile client expectations.
4. Run the app
   • Select an emulator or physical device with API level 24 or higher.
   • Press ▶ in Android Studio or run ./gradlew installDebug from the command line.

Configuring API endpoints

Endpoint URLs are supplied via Gradle build config fields. Update the values in app/build.gradle.kts under the buildConfigField declarations:

defaultConfig {
    buildConfigField("String", "API_BASE_URL", "\"http://10.0.2.2:3000/\"")
    buildConfigField("String", "IMAGES_BASE_URL", "\"http://10.0.2.2:3000/images/\"")
}

• Use 10.0.2.2 for local emulators, or the LAN/tunnel address for real devices.
• Sync Gradle after changes so the generated BuildConfig is updated.

Project structure

app/
├─ src/main/java/com/shop/app/
│  ├─ data/           # Retrofit services, repositories, DataStore
│  ├─ ui/components   # Reusable Compose widgets
│  ├─ ui/screens      # Feature screens (Home, Catalog, Cart, Auth, etc.)
│  ├─ ui/viewmodels   # ViewModels that expose StateFlow to the UI
│  └─ ui/theme        # Typography, colours, shapes
└─ build.gradle.kts   # Module configuration with Compose & Retrofit dependencies

Running checks

You can execute the most common checks from the command line:

./gradlew assembleDebug   # Build a debug APK
./gradlew lint            # Run Android Lint
./gradlew test            # Execute unit tests (add tests as needed)

Environment tips

• Align backend seed data with the mobile app so product translations and inventory are in sync.
• The client automatically sends the preferred language in the Accept-Language header; make sure the backend respects it.
• When testing on a physical device, expose the backend via ngrok or Cloudflare Tunnel and update the URLs accordingly.
• Clearing app storage removes persisted DataStore entries and forces a fresh login.

Localization

• Language preferences are stored in DataStore and propagated to both the UI and network layer.
• Switch between English, Russian, and Ukrainian within the in-app settings without restarting the app.
• If server responses stay in English, reseed the backend with translated data.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Network calls fail with ECONNREFUSED	Confirm the backend is running and the API_BASE_URL points to a reachable host/IP.
Images do not load	Ensure IMAGES_BASE_URL matches the server path that exposes product images.
JWT requests return 401	Log in again to refresh the token or reseed server-side accounts.