2

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

5. Android Device emulator and Android Virtual Devices

5.1. Android Device emulator and Android Virtual Devices 5.2. Google vs. Android AVD 5.3. Android devices emulator Shortcuts

6. Exercise: Create and Start Android Virtual Devices

6.1. Target 6.2. Create AVD 6.3. Start Your AVD
http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html 2

7. Conventions and API Level

7.1. API Version 7.2. Android project and package name

8. Exercise: Use the Android project Wizard

8.1. Android Project Wizard 8.2. Create Android Project

9. Exercise: Start the generated Android Application

9.1. Start AVD 9.2. Start Application

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

10. Android Developer Tools

10.1. DDMS Dalvik Debug Monitor Service 10.2. Emulator Control 10.3. File explorer

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

5.1. Android emulator and Android Virtual Device

The Android SDK contains an Android device emulator. This emulator can be used to run an Android virtual device (AVD). AVDs allow you to test your Android applications on different Android versions and configurations without access to the real hardware.
During the creation of your AVD you define the configuration for the virtual device. This includes, for example, the resolution, the Android API version and the density. You can define multiple AVDs with different configurations and start them in parallel. This allows you to test different device configurations.
http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html 5

5.2. Google vs. Android AVD

During the creation of an AVD you decide if you want to create an Android device or a Google device. An AVD created for Android contains the programs from the Android Open Source Project. An AVD created for the Google API's contains additional Google specific code. AVDs created with the Google API allow you to test applications which use Google Play services, e.g., the new Google maps API or the new location services.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

5.3. Android device emulator shortcuts

The following table lists useful shortcuts for working with an AVD.

Table 1. Android device emulator shortcuts

Shortcut
Alt+Enter Ctrl+F11 F8

Description
Maximizes the emulator. Changes the orientation of the emulator from landscape to portrait and vice versa. Turns the network on and off.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

6.Create and start Android Virtual Device

6.1. Target
In this exercise you create and start an AVD. Even if you have a real Android device available, you should get familiar with the creation and usage of AVDs. Virtual devices give you the possibility to test your application for selected Android versions and a specific configuration.

6.2. Create AVD

Define a new Android Virtual Device (AVD) by opening the AVD Manager via Window Android Virtual Device Manager and by pressing the New button.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

Enter values similar to the following screenshot : Afterwards press the OK button. This will create the AVD configuration and display it under the list of available virtual devices.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

10

6.3. Start your AVD

Select your new entry and press the Start button. Select Launch in the following dialog.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

11

7. Conventions and API level

7.1. API version
The tutorials of this document have been developed and tested with Android 4.3, API Level 18. Please use this version for all tutorials in this tutorial. Higher versions of the API level should also work. A lower version of the Android API might also work, but if you face issues, try the recommended version.

7.2. Android project and package name

The base package for the projects is always the same as the project name, e.g., if you are asked to create a project called com.vogella.android, then the corresponding package name is com.vogella.android.
http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html 12

8. Exercise: Use the Android project wizard

8.1. Android project wizard
The Android Developer Tools provide wizards for creating Android applications. In this exercise you use one of the wizards to create an Android application.

8.2. Create Android project

To create a new Android project select File New Other... Android Android Project from the menu.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

13

Press e Next button and ensure that you have enabled the checkboxes Create a launcher icon and Create activity.

On the wizard page for the launcher icon, create an application icon of your choosing. The following screenshot shows an example for a possible result.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

15

Press the Next button and select the BlankActivity template. Press the Next button to proceed.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

17

Enter the following data in the dialog for the BlankActivity template. The selection is depicted in the screenshot after the table.

Table 3. Values for the template

Parameter Activity Layout Navigation Type Value MainActivity activity_main none

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

18

Press the Finish button. The wizard may prompt you to install the support library. If so, select to install it.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

19

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

20

9. Exercise: Start the generated Android application

9.1. Start AVD

If you have not yet done so, create and start an Android virtual device (AVD) fitting for your selected API version.

(Once you AVD is ready, unlock your emulator.)

21

To build, install and run your application the Android application on the Android emulator, select your project, right click on it, and select Run-As Android Application.

22

You may be prompted if the Android Developer Tools should monitor messages. Select Yes in this case and press theOK button.

This starts your application on the AVD. The started application is a simple Hello, world. application.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

23

10. Android Developer Tools

10.1. DDMS - Dalvik Debug Monitor Service
Eclipse provides a perspective for interacting with your Android (virtual) device and your Android application program. Select Window Open Perspective Other... DDMS to open this perspective. It groups several Eclipse views which can also be used independently. On the left side it shows you the connected Android devices and the running processes on the device. The right side is a stack of views with different purposes. You can select processes and trigger actions from the toolbar, e.g., start a trace or stop the process. The following description highlights a few views in this perspective. Others are described once they are needed.

24

10.2. Emulator Control

The Emulator Control view allows you to simulate phone calls and SMS on the AVD. It also allows the application to set the current geo position.

10.3. File explorer

The file explorer allows you to browse the file system on your Android virtual device.

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

27

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

17

http://www.tops-int.com/live-project-training-android.html

29