docs/html/training/basics/firstapp/creating-project.jd

page.title=Creating an Android Project
parent.title=Building Your First App
parent.link=index.html

trainingnavtop=true
next.title=Running Your App
next.link=running-app.html

@jd:body


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<h2>This lesson teaches you to</h2>

<ol>
  <li><a href="#Eclipse">Create a Project with Eclipse</a></li>
  <li><a href="#CommandLine">Create a Project with Command Line Tools</a></li>
</ol>

<h2>You should also read</h2>

<ul>
  <li><a href="{@docRoot}sdk/installing/index.html">Installing the
SDK</a></li>
  <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/projects/index.html">Managing Projects</a></li>
</ul>
 
 
</div> 
</div> 

<p>An Android project contains all the files that comprise the source code for your Android
app. The Android SDK tools make it easy to start a new Android project with a set of
default project directories and files.</p>

<p>This lesson
shows how to create a new project either using Eclipse (with the ADT plugin) or using the
SDK tools from a command line.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> You should already have the Android SDK installed, and if
you're using Eclipse, you should also have the <a href="{@docRoot}tools/sdk/eclipse-adt.html">ADT
plugin</a> installed (version 21.0.0 or higher). If you don't have these, follow the guide to <a
href="{@docRoot}sdk/installing/index.html">Installing the Android SDK</a> before you start this
lesson.</p>


<h2 id="Eclipse">Create a Project with Eclipse</h2>

<ol>
  <li>Click <strong>New</strong> <img src="{@docRoot}images/tools/eclipse-new.png" 
  style="vertical-align:baseline;margin:0" /> in the toolbar.</li>
  <li>In the window that appears, open the <strong>Android</strong> folder,
  select <strong>Android Application Project</strong>, and click <strong>Next</strong>.</li>

<div class="figure" style="width:420px">
<img src="{@docRoot}images/training/firstapp/adt-firstapp-setup.png" alt="" />
<p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 1.</strong> The New Android App Project wizard in Eclipse.</p>
</div>

  <li>Fill in the form that appears:
    <ul>
      <li><strong>Application Name</strong> is the app name that appears to users.
          For this project, use "My First App."</p></li>
      <li><strong>Project Name</strong> is the name of your project directory and the name visible in Eclipse.</li>
      <li><strong>Package Name</strong> is the package namespace for your app (following the same
rules as packages in the Java programming language). Your package name
must be unique across all packages installed on the Android system. For this reason, it's generally
best if you use a name that begins with the reverse domain name of your organization or
publisher entity. For this project, you can use something like "com.example.myfirstapp."
However, you cannot publish your app on Google Play using the "com.example" namespace.</li>
      <li><strong>Minimum Required SDK</strong> is the lowest version of Android that your app supports,
      indicated using the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html#ApiLevels"
      >API level</a>.
        To support as many devices as possible, you should set this to the lowest version available
        that allows your app to provide its core feature set. If any feature of your app is possible
        only on newer versions of Android and it's not critical to the app's core feature set, you
        can enable the feature only when running on the versions that support it (as
        discussed in <a href="{@docRoot}training/basics/supporting-devices/platforms.html"
        >Supporting Different Platform Versions</a>).
        Leave this set to the default value for this project.
      </li>
      <li><strong>Target SDK</strong> indicates the highest version of Android (also using the
      <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html#ApiLevels"
      >API level</a>) with which you
      have tested with your application.
        <p>As new versions of Android become available, you should
      test your app on the new version and update this value to match the latest API level
      in order to take advantage of new platform features.</p>
      </li>
      <li><strong>Compile With</strong> is the platform version against which you will compile your app.
        By default, this is set to the latest version of Android available in your SDK. (It should
        be Android 4.1 or greater; if you don't have such a version available, you must install one
        using the <a href="{@docRoot}sdk/installing/adding-packages.html">SDK Manager</a>).
        You can still build your app to
support older versions, but setting the build target to the latest version allows you to
enable new features and optimize your app for a great user experience on the latest
devices.</li>
       <li><strong>Theme</strong> specifies the Android UI style to apply for your app. You can leave
       this alone.</li>
    </ul>
    <p>Click <strong>Next</strong>.</p>
  </li>
  <li>On the next screen to configure the project, leave the default selections and click
  <strong>Next</strong>.</li>
  <li>The next screen can help you create a launcher icon for your app.
    <p>You can customize an icon in several ways and the tool generates an icon for all
    screen densities. Before you publish your app, you should be sure your icon meets
    the specifications defined in the <a
    href="{@docRoot}design/style/iconography.html">Iconography</a>
    design guide.</p>
    <p>Click <strong>Next</strong>.</p>
  </li>
  <li>Now you can select an activity template from which to begin building your app.
    <p>For this project, select <strong>BlankActivity</strong> and click <strong>Next</strong>.</p>
  </li>
  <li>Leave all the details for the activity in their default state and click 
    <strong>Finish</strong>.</li>
</ol>

<p>Your Android project is now set up with some default files and you’re ready to begin
building the app. Continue to the <a href="running-app.html">next lesson</a>.</p>



<h2 id="CommandLine">Create a Project with Command Line Tools</h2>

<p>If you're not using the Eclipse IDE with the ADT plugin, you can instead create your project
using the SDK tools from a command line:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Change directories into the Android SDK’s <code>tools/</code> path.</li>
  <li>Execute:
<pre class="no-pretty-print">android list targets</pre>
<p>This prints a list of the available Android platforms that you’ve downloaded for your SDK. Find
the platform against which you want to compile your app. Make a note of the target id. We
recommend that you select the highest version possible. You can still build your app to
support older versions, but setting the build target to the latest version allows you to optimize
your app for the latest devices.</p>
<p>If you don't see any targets listed, you need to
install some using the Android SDK
Manager tool. See <a href="{@docRoot}sdk/installing/adding-packages.html">Adding Platforms
  and Packages</a>.</p></li>
  <li>Execute:
<pre class="no-pretty-print">
android create project --target &lt;target-id> --name MyFirstApp \
--path &lt;path-to-workspace>/MyFirstApp --activity MainActivity \
--package com.example.myfirstapp
</pre>
<p>Replace <code>&lt;target-id></code> with an id from the list of targets (from the previous step)
and replace
<code>&lt;path-to-workspace></code> with the location in which you want to save your Android
projects.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Your Android project is now set up with several default configurations and you’re ready to begin
building the app. Continue to the <a href="running-app.html">next lesson</a>.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Tip:</strong> Add the <code>platform-tools/</code> as well as the
<code>tools/</code> directory to your <code>PATH</code> environment variable.</p>