Android Application Development 101: Setting Up a Device Emulator
So if you are looking to make Android apps, you’re going to need to test them as you develop them, right? Well, the easiest way to do that is to use the Android SDK’s built in Emulator (also called AVD, Android Virtual Device). Here’s how to set that up.
I. Before You Begin
1. We are assuming you have done our Getting Started procedure in this series before doing this one. If not, head there now, do it, then come back here to continue.
Android Application Development 101: Getting Setup
II. Setting Up the AVD
1. In Eclipse, select SDK Manager.
2. Then click on Virtual Devices in the left pane then click New and a new dialog box will open up.
3. Fill out the fields as appropriate:
Name – This is whatever you want to call this version of the emulator. A good practice is to put the version of Android first, then the resolution next and any other identifying info you might want to include (i.e. 2_3_HVGA)
Target – Select what version of Android you want to run.
SD Card – You can leave this blank UNLESS your application requires an SD card to function, if it does then put a size (measured in megabytes) that you want the SD card to be.
Skin – This is the resolution, generally just leave it as default unless you want to change it for a specific reason.
Hardware – This section is for if your app requires certain hardware components to be present (GPS, specific amount of RAM, etc.)
4. After you have filled all that out, select Create AVD at the bottom.
5. Close the SDK Manager dialog box.
III. Setting Up the Configuration
1. To run the emulator and test your app, you must have an app ready for testing. Once you do select Run Configuration under Run at the top of Eclipse.
2. Then select Android Application in the left pane and click the New button right about the left pane.
3. Now fill in name field with whatever you want to name the configuration.
4. Then under the Android tab, click Browse and select the app you want to run in the emulator (make sure the app project is currently open in Eclipse or it won’t display anything for you to select).
5. You can leave everything else as is.
IV. Running the Emulator
1. After all that, you can run the emulator by clicking Run at the bottom of that configuration window.
2. If you ever want to run it again, you don’t need to go through all these steps, just go to Run > Run Configuration, select the configuration you made, select the app you want it to run and then click Run. That’s it!
3. You can also find some common commands for controlling the emulator here.
You can view the rest of our posts in the Android App Development Series here.
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