Lesson 1 android app craters

Creating an Android
Project PREVIOUS NEXT
An Android project contains all the
files that comprise the source code
for your Android app. The Android
SDK tools make it easy to start a new
Android project with a set of default
project directories and files.
This lesson shows how to create a
new project either using Eclipse
(with the ADT plugin) or using the
SDK tools from a command line.
Note: You should already have the
Android SDK installed, and if you're
using Eclipse, you should also have
the ADT plugin installed (version
21.0.0 or higher). If you don't have
these, follow the guide to Installing
the Android SDK before you start
this lesson.
Create a Project with Eclipse
1. Click New in the toolbar.
2. In the window that appears, open
the Android folder, select Android
Application Project, and click Next .
3. Fill in the form that appears:
Application Name is the app name
that appears to users. For this
project, use "My First App."
Project Name is the name of your
project directory and the name
visible in Eclipse.
Package Name is the package
namespace for your app (following
the same rules as packages in the
Java programming language). Your
package name must be unique
across all packages installed on the
Android system. For this reason, it's
generally best if you use a name
that begins with the reverse domain
name of your organization or
publisher entity. For this project,
you can use something like
"com.example.myfirstapp." However,
you cannot publish your app on
Google Play using the "com.example"
namespace.
Minimum Required SDK is the
lowest version of Android that your
app supports, indicated using the
API level . To support as many
devices as possible, you should set
this to the lowest version available
that allows your app to provide its
core feature set. If any feature of
your app is possible only on newer
versions of Android and it's not
critical to the app's core feature set,
you can enable the feature only
when running on the versions that
support it (as discussed in
Supporting Different Platform
Versions ). Leave this set to the
default value for this project.
Target SDK indicates the highest
version of Android (also using the
API level ) with which you have
tested with your application.
As new versions of Android become
available, you should test your app
on the new version and update this
value to match the latest API level
in order to take advantage of new
platform features.
Compile With is the platform
version against which you will
compile your app. By default, this is
set to the latest version of Android
available in your SDK. (It should be
Android 4.1 or greater; if you don't
have such a version available, you
must install one using the SDK
Manager ). You can still build your
app to support older versions, but
setting the build target to the latest
version allows you to enable new
features and optimize your app for a
great user experience on the latest
devices.
Theme specifies the Android UI style
to apply for your app. You can leave
this alone.
Click Next .
4. On the next screen to configure the
project, leave the default selections
and click Next.
5. The next screen can help you create
a launcher icon for your app.
You can customize an icon in several
ways and the tool generates an icon
for all screen densities. Before you
publish your app, you should be
sure your icon meets the
specifications defined in the
Iconography design guide.
Click Next .
6. Now you can select an activity
template from which to begin
building your app.
For this project, select BlankActivity
and click Next.
7. Leave all the details for the activity
in their default state and click
Finish .
Your Android project is now set up
with some default files and you’re
ready to begin building the app.
Continue to the next lesson.
Create a Project with
Command Line Tools
If you're not using the Eclipse IDE
with the ADT plugin, you can
instead create your project using the
SDK tools from a command line:
1. Change directories into the Android
SDK’s tools/ path.
2. Execute:
android list targets
This prints a list of the available
Android platforms that you’ve
downloaded for your SDK. Find the
platform against which you want to
compile your app. Make a note of
the target id. We recommend that
you select the highest version
possible. You can still build your
app to support older versions, but
setting the build target to the latest
version allows you to optimize your
app for the latest devices.
If you don't see any targets listed,
you need to install some using the
Android SDK Manager tool. See
Adding Platforms and Packages .
3. Execute:
android create project --target <target-id> --name MyFirstApp \
--path <path-to-workspace>/MyFirstApp --activity MainActivity \
--package com.example.myfirstapp
Replace <target-id> with an id
from the list of targets (from the
previous step) and replace <path-
to-workspace> with the location
in which you want to save your
Android projects.
Your Android project is now set up
with several default configurations
and you’re ready to begin building
the app. Continue to the next
lesson.
Tip: Add the platform-tools/ as
well as the tools/ directory to your
PATH environment variable.