docs/html/guide/developing/other-ide.jd

page.title=Developing In Other IDEs
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">
  <h2>In this document</h2>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#CreatingAProject">Creating an Android Project</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Signing">Preparing to Sign Your Application</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Building">Building Your Application</a>
      <ol>
        <li><a href="#DebugMode">Building in debug mode</a></li>
        <li><a href="#ReleaseMode">Building in release mode</a></li>
      </ol>
    </li>
    <li><a href="#Running">Running Your Application</a></li>
    <li><a href="#AttachingADebugger">Attaching a Debugger to Your Application</a></li>
  </ol>

  <h2>See also</h2>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/othertools.html#android">android Tool</a></li>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/emulator.html">Android Emulator</a></li>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/adb.html">Android Debug Bridge</a></li>
  </ol>
</div>
</div>

<p>The recommended way to develop an Android application is to use 
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/eclipse-adt.html">Eclipse with the ADT plugin</a>.
The ADT plugin provides editing, building, debugging, and .apk packaging and signing functionality 
integrated right into the IDE.</p>

<p>However, if you'd rather develop your application in another IDE, such as IntelliJ,
or in a basic editor, such as Emacs, you can do that instead. The SDK
includes all the tools you need to set up an Android project, build it, debug it and then
package it for distribution. This document is your guide to using these tools.</p>


<h2 id="EssentialTools">Essential Tools</h2>

<p>When developing in IDEs or editors other than Eclipse, you'll require
familiarity with the following Android SDK tools:</p>

<dl>
  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/othertools.html#android">android</a></dt>
    <dd>To create/update Android projects and to create/move/delete AVDs.</dd>
  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/emulator.html">Android Emulator</a></dt>
    <dd>To run your Android applications on an emulated Android platform.</dd>
  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/adb.html">Android Debug Bridge</a></dt>
    <dd>To interface with your emulator or connected device (install apps,
    shell the device, issue commands, etc.).
    </dd>
</dl>

<p>In addition to the above tools, included with the SDK, you'll use the following
open source and third-party tools:</p>

<dl>
  <dt>Ant</dt>
    <dd>To compile and build your Android project into an installable .apk file.</dd>
  <dt>Keytool</dt>
    <dd>To generate a keystore and private key, used to sign your .apk file.</dd>
  <dt>Jarsigner (or similar signing tool)</dt>
    <dd>To sign your .apk file with a private key generated by keytool.</dd>
</dl>

<p>In the topics that follow, you'll be introduced to each of these tools as necessary.
For more advanced operations, please read the respective documentation for each tool.</p>


<h2 id="CreatingAProject">Creating an Android Project</h2>

<p>To create an Android project, you must use the <code>android</code> tool. When you create
a new project with <code>android</code>, it will generate a project directory
with some default application files, stub files, configuration files and a build file.</p>


<h3 id="CreatingANewProject">Creating a new Project</h3>

<p>If you're starting a new project, use the <code>android create project</code>
command to generate all the necessary files and folders.</p>

<p>To create a new Android project, open a command-line,
navigate to the <code>tools/</code> directory of your SDK and run:</p>
<pre>
android create project \
--target <em>&lt;target_ID&gt;</em> \
--name <em>&lt;your_project_name&gt;</em> \
--path <em>/path/to/your/project</em> \
--activity <em>&lt;your_activity_name&gt;</em> \
--package <em>&lt;your_package_namespace&gt;</em>
</pre>

<ul>
  <li><code>target</code> is the "build target" for your application. It corresponds
  to an Android platform library (including any add-ons, such as Google APIs) that you would like to
  build your project against. To see a list of available targets and their corresponding IDs, 
  execute: <code>android list targets</code>.</li>
  <li><code>name</code> is the name for your project. This is optional. If provided, this name will be used
  for your .apk filename when you build your application.</li>
  <li><code>path</code> is the location of your project directory. If the directory does not exist,
  it will be created for you.</li>
  <li><code>activity</code> is the name for your default {@link android.app.Activity} class. This class file
  will be created for you inside 
  <code><em>&lt;path_to_your_project&gt;</em>/src/<em>&lt;your_package_namespace_path&gt;</em>/</code>.
  This will also be used for your .apk filename unless you provide a the <code>name</code>.</li>
  <li><code>package</code> is the package namespace for your project, following the same rules as for
  packages in the Java programming language.</li>
</ul>

<p>Here's an example:</p>
<pre>
android create project \
--target 1 \
--name MyAndroidApp \
--path ./MyAndroidAppProject \
--activity MyAndroidAppActivity \
--package com.example.myandroid
</pre>

<p>The tool generates the following files and directories:</p>

<ul>
  <li><code>AndroidManifest.xml</code> - The application manifest file, 
  synced to the specified Activity class for the project.</li>
  <li><code>build.xml</code> - Build file for Ant.</li>
  <li><code>default.properties</code> - Properties for the build system. <em>Do not modify 
  this file</em>.</li>
  <li><code>build.properties</code> - Customizable properties for the build system. You can edit this 
  file to override default build settings used by Ant and provide a pointer to your keystore and key alias
  so that the build tools can sign your application when built in release mode.</li>
  <li><code>src<em>/your/package/namespace/ActivityName</em>.java</code> - The Activity class 
  you specified during project creation.</li>
  <li><code>bin/</code>  - Output directory for the build script.</li>
  <li><code>gen/</code>  - Holds <code>Ant</code>-generated files, such as <code>R.java</code>. </li>
  <li><code>libs/</code>  - Holds private libraries.</li>
  <li><code>res/</code>  - Holds project resources.</li>
  <li><code>src/</code>  - Holds source code.</li>
  <li><code>tests/</code>  - Holds a duplicate of all-of-the-above, for testing purposes.</li>
</ul>

<p>Once you've created your project, you're ready to begin development.
You can move your project folder wherever you want for development, but keep in mind
that you must use the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/adb.html">Android Debug Bridge</a> 
(adb) &mdash; located in the SDK <code>tools/</code> directory &mdash; to send your application 
to the emulator (discussed later). So you need access between your project solution and 
the <code>tools/</code> folder.</p>

<p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong> You should refrain from moving the
location of the SDK directory, because this will break the build scripts. (They
will need to be manually updated to reflect the new SDK location before they will
work again.)</p>


<h3 id="UpdatingAProject">Updating a project</h3>

<p>If you're upgrading a project from an older version of the Android SDK or want to create
a new project from existing code, use the
<code>android update project</code> command to update the project to the new development
environment. You can also use this command to revise the build target of an existing project
(with the <code>--target</code> option) and the project name (with the <code>--name</code> 
option). The <code>android</code> tool will generate any files and 
folders (listed in the previous section) that are either missing or need to be updated, 
as needed for the Android project.</p>

<p>To update an existing Android project, open a command-line
and navigate to the <code>tools/</code> directory of your SDK. Now run:</p>
<pre>
android update project --name <em>&lt;project_name&gt;</em> --target <em>&lt;target_ID&gt;</em> --path <em>path/to/your/project/</em>
</pre>

<ul>
  <li><code>target</code> is the "build target" for your application. It corresponds to 
  an Android platform library (including any add-ons, such as Google APIs) that you would 
  like to build your project against. To see a list of available targets and their corresponding IDs, 
  execute: <code>android list targets</code>.</li>
  <li><code>path</code> is the location of your project directory.</li>
  <li><code>name</code> is the name for the project. This is optional&mdash;if you're not 
  changing the project name, you don't need this.</li>
</ul>

<p>Here's an example:</p>
<pre>
android update project --name MyApp --target 2 --path ./MyAppProject
</pre>


<h2 id="Signing">Preparing to Sign Your Application</h2>

<p>As you begin developing Android applications, understand that all
Android applications must be digitally signed before the system will install
them on an emulator or device. There are two ways to do this:
with a <em>debug key</em> (for immediate testing on an emulator or development device)
or with a <em>private key</em> (for application distribution).</p>

<p>The Android build tools help you get started by automatically signing your .apk
files with a debug key at build time. This means
that you can compile your application and install it on the emulator without
having to generate your own private key. However, please note that if you intend
to publish your application, you <strong>must</strong> sign the application with your
own private key, rather than the debug key generated by the SDK tools. </p>

<p>Please read <a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/app-signing.html">Signing Your
Applications</a>, which provides a thorough guide to application signing on Android
and what it means to you as an Android application developer.</p>



<h2 id="Building">Building Your Application</h2>

<p>There are two ways to build your application: one for testing/debugging your application
&mdash; <em>debug mode</em> &mdash; and one for building your final package for release &mdash; 
<em>release mode</em>. As described in the previous
section, your application must be signed before it can be installed on an emulator
or device.</p>

<p>Whether you're building in debug mode or release mode, you
need to use the Ant tool to compile and build your project. This will create the .apk file
that is installed onto the emulator or device. When you build in debug mode, the .apk
file is automatically signed by the SDK tools with a debug key, so it's instantly ready for installation
(but only onto an emulator or attached development device).
When you build in release mode, the .apk file is <em>unsigned</em>, so you must manually
sign it with your own private key, using Keytool and Jarsigner.</p>

<p>It's important that you read and understand 
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/app-signing.html">Signing Your Applications</a>, particularly
once you're ready to release your application and share it with end-users. That document describes
the procedure for generating a private key and then using it to sign your .apk file.
If you're just getting started, however, 
you can quickly run your applications on an emulator or your own development device by building in
debug mode.</p>

<p>If you don't have Ant, you can obtain it from the 
<a href="http://ant.apache.org/">Apache Ant home page</a>. Install it and make
sure it is in your executable PATH. Before calling Ant, you need to declare the JAVA_HOME 
environment variable to specify the path to where the JDK is installed.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> When installing JDK on Windows, the default is to install 
in the "Program Files" directory. This location will cause <code>ant</code> to fail, because of 
the space. To fix the problem, you can specify the JAVA_HOME variable like this: 
<code>set JAVA_HOME=c:\Prora~1\Java\<jdkdir></code>. The easiest solution, however, is to 
install JDK in a non-space directory, for example: <code>c:\java\jdk1.6.0_02</code>.</p>


<h3 id="DebugMode">Building in debug mode</h3>

<p>For immediate application testing and debugging, you can build your application 
in debug mode and immediately install it on an emulator. In debug mode, the build tools 
automatically sign your application with a debug key and optimize the package with 
{@code zipalign}. However, you can (and should) also test your
application in release mode. Debug mode simply allows you to run your application without
manually signing the application.</p>

<p>To build in debug mode:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open a command-line and navigate to the root of your project directory.</li>
  <li>Use Ant to compile your project in debug mode:
    <pre>ant debug</pre>
    <p>This creates your debug .apk file inside the project <code>bin/</code>
    directory, named <code><em>&lt;your_project_name&gt;</em>-debug.apk</code>. The file
    is already signed with the debug key and has been aligned with {@code zipalign}.</p>
  </li>
</ol>

<p>Each time you change a source file or resource, you must run Ant 
again in order to package up the latest version of the application.</p>

<p>To install and run your application on an emulator, see the following section
about <a href="#Running">Running Your Application</a>.</p>


<h3 id="ReleaseMode">Building in release mode</h3>

<p>When you're ready to release and distribute your application to end-users, you must build
your application in release mode. Once you have built in release mode, it's a good idea to perform 
additional testing and debugging with the final .apk.</p>

<p>Before you start building your application in release mode, be aware that you must sign
the resulting application package with your private key, and should then align it using the
{@code zipalign} tool. There are two approaches to building in release mode:
build an unsigned package in release mode and then manually sign and align 
the package, or allow the build script
to sign and align the package for you.</p>

<h4 id="ManualReleaseMode">Build unsigned</h4>

<p>If you build your application <em>unsigned</em>, then you will need to
manually sign and align the package.</p>

<p>To build an <em>unsigned</em> .apk in release mode:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open a command-line and navigate to the root of your project directory.</li>
  <li>Use Ant to compile your project in release mode:
    <pre>ant release</pre>
  </li>
</ol>

<p>This creates your Android application .apk file inside the project <code>bin/</code>
directory, named <code><em>&lt;your_project_name&gt;</em>-unsigned.apk</code>.</p>
    
<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The .apk file is <em>unsigned</em> at this point 
and can't be installed until signed with your private key.</p>

<p>Once you have created the unsigned .apk, your next step is to sign the .apk
with your private key and then align it with {@code zipalign}. To complete this procedure, 
read <a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/app-signing.html">Signing Your Applications</a>.</p>

<p>When your .apk has been signed and aligned, it's ready to be distributed to end-users.</p>

<h4 id="AutoReleaseMode">Build signed and aligned</h4>

<p>If you would like, you can configure the Android build script to automatically
sign and align your application package. To do so, you must provide the path to your keystore 
and the name of your key alias in your project's {@code build.properties} file. With this
information provided, the build script will prompt you for your keystore and alias password
when you build in release mode and produce your final application package, which will be ready
for distribution.</p>

<p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong> Due to the way Ant handles input, the password that
you enter during the build process <strong>will be visible</strong>. If you are
concerned about your keystore and alias password being visible on screen, then you
may prefer to perform the application signing manually, via Jarsigner (or a similar tool). To instead 
perform the signing procedure manually, <a href="#ManualReleaseMode">buid unsigned</a> and then continue 
with <a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/app-signing.html">Signing Your Applications</a>.</p>

<p>To specify your keystore and alias, open the project {@code build.properties} file (found in the
root of the project directory) and add entries for {@code key.store} and {@code key.alias}. 
For example:</p>

<pre>
key.store=/path/to/my.keystore
key.alias=mykeystore
</pre>

<p>Save your changes. Now you can build a <em>signed</em> .apk in release mode:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open a command-line and navigate to the root of your project directory.</li>
  <li>Use Ant to compile your project in release mode:
    <pre>ant release</pre>
  </li>
  <li>When prompted, enter you keystore and alias passwords.
    <p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong> As described above, 
    your password will be visible on the screen.</p>
  </li>
</ol>

<p>This creates your Android application .apk file inside the project <code>bin/</code>
directory, named <code><em>&lt;your_project_name&gt;</em>-release.apk</code>.
This .apk file has been signed with the private key specified in
{@code build.properties} and aligned with {@code zipalign}. It's ready for 
installation and distribution.</p>


<h4>Once built and signed in release mode</h4>

<p>Once you have signed your application with a private key, you can install it on an 
emulator or device as discussed in the following section about 
<a href="#Running">Running Your Application</a>.
You can also try installing it onto a device from a web server.
Simply upload the signed APK to a web site, then load the .apk URL in your Android web browser to 
download the application and begin installation.
(On your device, be sure you have enabled <em>Settings > Applications > Unknown sources</em>.)</p>


<h2 id="Running">Running Your Application</h2>

<p>Unless you'll be running your application on device hardware, 
you need to launch an emulator upon which you will install your application.
An instance of the Android emulator runs a specific Android platform with specific device configuration
settings. The platform and configuration is defined with an Android Virtual Device (AVD). 
So before you can launch your emulator, you must define an AVD.</p>

<p>If you'll be running your application on device hardware, please read about
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/device.html">Developing On a Device</a> instead.</p>

<ol>
  <li><strong>Create an AVD</strong>
    <ol>
      <li>Open a command-line and navigate to your SDK package's 
      <code>tools/</code> directory.</li>
      <li>First, you need to select a "deployment target." To view available targets, execute:
        <pre>android list targets</pre>
        <p>This will output a list of available Android targets, such as:</p>
<pre>
id:1
    Name: Android 1.1
    Type: platform
    API level: 2
    Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, HVGA-P, QVGA-L, QVGA-P
id:2
    Name: Android 1.5
    Type: platform
    API level: 3
    Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, HVGA-P, QVGA-L, QVGA-P
</pre>
        <p>Find the target that matches the Android platform upon which you'd like
        to run your application. Note the integer value of the <code>id</code> &mdash;
        you'll use this in the next step.</p>
      </li>
      <li>Create a new AVD using your selected deployment target:
        <pre>android create avd --name <em>&lt;your_avd_name&gt;</em> --target <em>&lt;target_ID&gt;</em></pre>
      <li>Next, you'll be asked whether you'd like to create a custom hardware profile.
      If you respond "yes," you'll be presented with a series of prompts to define various aspects of the
      device hardware (leave entries blank to use default values, which are shown in brackets). Otherwise,
      press return to use all default values ("no" is the default).</li>
      </li>
    </ol>
  </li>

  <li><strong>Launch an emulator</strong></li>
    <p>From your SDK's <code>tools/</code> directory, launch an emulator 
      using an existing AVD (created above):
    <pre>emulator -avd <em>&lt;your_avd_name&gt;</em></pre>
    <p>An instance of the emulator will now launch, running the target and configuration 
      defined by your AVD.</p>
  </li>
  
  <li><strong>Install your application</strong>
    <p>From your SDK's <code>tools/</code> directory, install the .apk on the emulator:
    <pre>adb install <em>/path/to/your/application</em>.apk</pre>
    <p>If there is more than one emulator running, you must specify the emulator upon which to install
    the application, by its serial number, with the <code>-s</code> option. For example:</p>
    <pre>adb -s emulator-5554 install /my/project/path/myapp.apk</pre>
  </li>
  <li><strong>Open your application</strong>
    <p>In the emulator, open the list of available applications to find 
    and open your application.</p>
  </li>
</ol>

<p>If you don't see your application on the emulator. Try restarting the emulator
(with the same AVD). Sometimes when you install an Activity for the
first time, it won't show up in the application launcher or be accessible by other 
applications. This is because the package manager usually examines manifests 
completely only on emulator startup.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Tip:</strong> If you have only one emulator running, 
you can build your application and install it on the emulator in one simple step. 
Navigate to the root of your project directory and use Ant to compile the project 
with <em>install mode</em>:
<code>ant install</code>. This will build your application, sign it with the debug key, 
and install it on the currently running emulator.
If there is more than one emulator currently running
when using the <code>install</code> command, it will fail &mdash; it can't select between the 
multiple emulators.</p>

<p>For more information on the tools used above, please see the following documents:</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/othertools.html#android">android Tool</a></li>
  <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/emulator.html">Android Emulator</a></li>
  <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/adb.html">Android Debug Bridge</a> (ADB)</li>
</ul>


<h2 id="AttachingADebugger">Attaching a Debugger to Your Application</h2>

<p>This section describes how to display debug information on the screen (such
    as CPU usage), as well as how to hook up your IDE to debug running applications
    on the emulator. </p>

<p>Attaching a debugger is automated using the Eclipse plugin,
    but you can configure other IDEs to listen on a debugging port to receive debugging
    information:</p>
<ol>
    <li><strong>Start the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/ddms.html">Dalvik Debug Monitor 
      Server (DDMS)</a> tool, </strong> which
        acts as a port forwarding service between your IDE and the emulator.</li>
    <li><strong>Set 
        optional debugging configurations on
        your emulator</strong>, such as blocking application startup for an Activity
        until a debugger is attached. Note that many of these debugging options
        can be used without DDMS, such as displaying CPU usage or screen refresh
        rate on the emulator.</li>
    <li><strong>Configure your IDE to attach to port 8700 for debugging.</strong> Read
        about <a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/debug-tasks.html#ide-debug-port">
        Configuring Your IDE to Attach to the Debugging Port</a>. </li>
</ol>