Android Development - with Android SDK and Eclipse

Working with Android SDK with Eclipse.

So now that i started doing my first android PAD project for one of my clients. We need to submit a POC which will showcase a work flow. A login screen, a screen with tab controls, a grid view with menu and a table layout with details.

Before I start the work i need to set my DEV environment. Being a C# developer for most of my life I am taking baby steps towards Java programming and that too with android. Interesting....

What we need ?
1) Android SDK
2) Eclipse
3) ADT Plugin for Java.


There is an excellent tutorial at the android developer community for setting up the environment, but I found my self stuck at a couple of places....so thought i should blog it myself...

1) Download the SDK from the location
http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r08-windows.zip

• Unzip the contents of the SDK (I choose to unzip the contents inside Program Files\AndroidSDK directory, so that I dont accidentally delete the contents by placing it somewhere else)
• and execute the SDK Manager.exe, it will start downloading the platform(which takes around 2 hrs with a 150 KBPS actual download speed)
•  after installation the SDK folder will be populated with the platform details, you can see the various supported platforms inside the PLATFORM folder.

2) Download and Install Eclipse latest release - Eclipse website has detailed information on the installation. http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ (download the one which says "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers)

After successful installation
Go to  Help --> Software updates -->(or Help Install New Software in Eclipse - Gallileo) add the site "https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/" to the updates directory and click the ADD software button, it will list down the details available to install and click NEXT & finish the installation...it will install the ADT plugin.

3) After installation the menu Android will appear in Window --> Preference menu, Navigate to it and Click the Browse button and set the path of the SDK folder --> click ok and apply --> restart Eclipse.

4) create a new AVD image - This is the Emulator that will open when you execute your android APP
select window --> Android SDK and AVD Manager and create a new device. Make sure that you choose the right version for your project.

Now we are ready to start a project
After create a new android project , set the target of Run configuration (Run-->run configuration --> android --> new configuration) to the AVD you just created.

when you RUN you app, the Emulator will start and you are ready to roll on...