In the previous article, I gave you an introduction about Android platform and also gave you an idea about developing Android apps with Eclipse. In this article I will discuss with you some steps required in installing Eclipse with Android Development Toolkit (ADT) plug-in for developing android applications.
- Based on your platform, Mac OS X, Windows or Linux, firstly, you should download the Android Software Development Kit or SDK.
- You should then extract the downloaded file to a memorable location on your hard drive.
- If Eclipse is not installed before hand, then download the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers package and install it. Google recommends Eclipse 3.5 to Android apps developers for programming
- Run Eclipse and select Help—> Install New Software
- You will get a ‘Available Software’ window and also an option called ‘Add’. Click on ADD.
- In the Name field you should specify Android app Development Tools and in the Location field enter this dl-ssl.google. com/android/eclipse/.
- After clicking OK, you can find Developer Tools listed in the Available Software list. This leads to the installation of Android Development Tools as well as DDMS, which is Android’s debugging tool.
- To complete the installation process of the plugin click on Next and Finish. After everything is installed, restart Eclipse.
- On restart of Eclipse, select Window–> Preferences. You will find Android in the categories list.
- Eclipse should now be informed about the location of Android SDK. For this click the option Android that appears on the left hand side of the window and then click on Browse which lets you select the location on the hard drive where the SDK files have been stored.
- Then Click OK so that Eclipse can save this location.
The Android Open Source Project platforms are open source. However, Google’s proprietary extensions such as Google Maps are not included on it. If you decide not to use Google APIs then you cannot use Google’s mapping functionality in your application. You should target one of the Google platforms as it will help you to utilize Google’s proprietary extensions.
- Select Window->Android SDK and AVD Manager.
- Click Available Packages present on the left side and look at the repository which shows the list of the available Android platforms.
- You can select the platforms you want to download apk download site from the list or keep everything checked to download all the available platforms. After you’re done selecting, click on Install Selected and follow the installation instructions.
After completing all downloads you can start developing the application.
Beginning a New Android Project
You can use Eclipse’s New Project Wizard to create a new application for Android. It generates files and codes that are ready to run. It serves as a good starting point to develop your application.
- Select File->New->Project…
- Choose Android Project
- In the New Project dialog, enter the required settings.
Once you click on Finish, Eclipse will create a new Android project that you can run instantly. I will give more additional information about it in the next article.