Android Application Development 101: Getting Setup
Looking to make Android apps but don’t know where to start? Well, in this series of posts, we’ll go over the basics of making Android apps and hopefully get you on your way to making your own awesome apps! So first thing is first, how to setup the tools you’ll need to make an app. You’ll need 3 things:
- The JDK (Java Development Kit) – Java is the coding language that Android uses for it’s apps so we need this in order to program in Java.
- The Android SDK (Software Development Kit) – This allows us to use Android’s files and systems when writing in Java.
- Eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment) – This is a program that creates a workspace for us and allows us to write code in a much more organized and easier fashion.
I. Before You Begin
1. Please read the computer requirements from Google and make sure your computer exceeds these requirements (if it doesn’t you’ll have a very annoying time when the development program freezes on you and you forgot to save your 3 hours worth of coding…)
2. A great optional tool to use while greating Android apps is the Android App Inventor. It can use dragging and dropping to add features to your app (unlike the traditional coding methods). The downside is it can’t create apps to submit to the Market (if you try it gives you an error). So what I recommend is learning the real coding method that we’ll go through here and you can use the App Inventor to add features then copy and past the raw code to save you some time with typing it all up manually. Again though this is optional. Here is how to setup App Inventor.
II. Installing the Java Development Kit
1. Go here to download the JDK
2. Under Java Platform (JDK) click the JDK link.
3. Choose your platform.
4. Download the file and save it to your computer.
5. Once downloaded, double click the file to install the JDK.
III. Installing the Android SDK
1. Head to our how to setup ADB procedure and follow Section I to setup the SDK then come back here to continue.
IV. Installing the Eclipse IDE
1. Go here to download Eclipse.
2. Select the Eclipse IDE for Java developers and download it.
3. Take the .zip file that downloaded and right click it and select Extract All.
4. Extract the folder to C:\Program Files (so it will extract and become C:\Program Files\Eclipse).
V. Add the Android ADT to Eclipse
1. Start Eclipse and click on the Arrow at the right to open the Workbench.
2. Select Help then Install New Software.
3. Click the Add button.
4. Type the following into the appropriate fields: Name: Android ADT Location: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
5. Then hit OK.
6. Select the check box next to Developer Tools then click Next.
7. Continue with the installation.
8. When it asks you to restart Eclipse, say yes and Eclipse will restart.
VI. Tell Eclipse Where the Android SDK Is
1. In Eclipse, click on Window then Preferences.
2. Select Android on the left.
3. Set the SDK Location to where your SDK is located (i.e. C:\android-sdk-windows\). And there you go! You are now ready to get started!
Head to the next post in this series for what comes next.
You can view the rest of our posts in the Android App Development Series here.
You might want to specify that these instructions are for string up a Windows machine as Linux based machines and Macs have specific steps.
Pretty nice..!! simple i like
Holy smokes, I’m just a house wife and this was super great instructions and I was able to follow them all successfully. Wow, that’s amazing to me. Thanks for the play by play for us simpletons. 🙂
 Hi there ;o)
I got a lot of encouragement from you comment..and the simpleton bit…I’m bit new to all this and this has been really helpful…I wondered how your getting on with all this? Maybe what inspired you to have a go and do you have any tips from anything you may have learned…I’m watching Java vids and learning to make web pages a bit to get started but I have some ideas….it’s a bot late in the day as you posted 8 months ago but hey if you want to say hi….cool
Have a great day….
Nic
Im having a problem at step 6 where i set the sdk location none of the files show up as they do in the video its at 7:55
Thanx a lot my friend
it was great and very easy step by step process clearly explained
Sanjul Gupta
Friend from INDIA
A more updated and awesome tutorial can be seen herehttp://thetechdown.blogspot.com/2011/06/android-development-in-linuxwindows.html
WARNING: Spyware/Malware at the ADB link in Step III
Too good man, just what I was looking for, much better than any other step by step tutorial out there, this is the best !! Great job !
I get an error in Step V when trying to continue with installation after selecting the check box next to Development Tools.
Here is the error detail.
“Cannot complete the install because one or more required items could not be found. Software currently installed: Shared profile 1.0.0.1316138547364 (SharedProfile_epp.package.java 1.0.0.1316138547364) Missing requirement: Shared profile 1.0.0.1316138547364 (SharedProfile_epp.package.java 1.0.0.1316138547364) requires ‘org.maven.ide.eclipse [1.0.100.20110804-1717]’ but it could not be found”
What do I do?