Unable to switch to debug build variant in Android Studio

Question

I've switched to release build variant and configured signingConfigs. Now when I try to check the debug build variant from the drop down menu it switches immediately back to the release build variant. So I'm not able to run my app in debug mode any more.

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-android'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-android-extensions'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-kapt'
apply plugin: 'realm-android'

android {
    signingConfigs {
        config {
            ...
        }
    }

    compileSdkVersion rootProject.compileSdkVersion
    buildToolsVersion rootProject.buildToolsVersion

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.kost.foo"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 2
        versionName "1.1"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
        ndk {
            abiFilters 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a', 'x86', 'x86_64'
        }
        externalNativeBuild {
            cmake {
               ...
            }
        }
    }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
            debuggable true
            signingConfig signingConfigs.config
        }
    }

    sourceSets {
        main.java.srcDirs += 'src/main/kotlin'
        main {
            jniLibs.srcDirs = ['src/main/jni']
        }
    }

    externalNativeBuild {
        cmake {
            path 'src/main/jni/CMakeLists.txt'
        }
    }
}

kapt {
    generateStubs = true
}

repositories {
    maven { url 'https://github.com/linchaolong/stetho-realm/raw/master/maven-repo' }
    mavenCentral()

}

I've tried to revert all changes in build.gradle as it was before configuring, but with no luck.

Any ideas how to fix the issue?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42650731/unable-to-switch-to-debug-build-variant-in-android-studio

Answer 1

I had a similar problem where most of the Build menu items were greyed out.

'Sync project with Gradle files' didn't fix.

I noticed a 'Build Variants' toggle button on the bottom left of Android Studio (v 3.1.2) and with this was finally able to choose the variant I needed.

Maybe this will work for you too.