New Development Tools for Android Developers

New Release for Android Developers ADT 20.0.0

Android SDK r20 and ADT Plugin 20.0.0 is released for the developers to develop the new applications with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).


This post will list the features of the ADT 20.0.0 Plugin for eclipse for developers.


The following dependencies for the ADT 20.0.0 is required to install


Java 1.6+
Eclipse Helios (Version 3.6.2) +

New Features

The new and improved features in Android ADT Plugin for Eclipse.

Application Templates

Added new application templates by which you can create the specific type of applications faster using the Android-recommended best practices.

Performance

The performance is improved in ADT 20.0.0 now the SDK data should be up to 30% faster.

Tracer for Open GLES 2.0

New tracing support for OpenGL calls for an application and track the visual results for each call.

Lint Enhancements

Defined new Lint rules for manifest registrations,duplicate activity registrations,security checks,Fragment class initialization and handler leaks. Created a tighter integration of lint with the layout editor.Added execution of Lint tool on save option for java files.

Layout Editor

Improved Layout editor with highlighting of important attributes (in bold) , inline preview of colors and images,display attribute tips,better categorization of layout param and much more.

XML Editing

Added go to declaration support for theme references. The version descriptions are displayed for each

of the API levels.Code completion in XML editor is enhanced.

Build System

The build system is improved with following features

Added automatic merging of library project manifest files into the including project's manifest. This feature could be enable using the manifestmerger.enabled property.

Added automatic ProGuard support for the aapt -G flag. This will reduce the overall size of APK file.

Added support for building and debugging the NDK projects.

Added a new Asset Studio Wizard for padding and turning off background shapes.

Added color support in LogCat.

Support the application run for multiple devices in single launch. The target tab in the launch configuration dialog includes an option to allow launching on all connected devices.

Now boost your development using the new plugin. You can update or install the ADT Plugin from the steps defined on http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html

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Creative Android Apps

Setup the Android Development Environment on Windows

This post explain how to quickly setup the development environment for the android application development on windows

Welcome Creative App Developers you can start your creative world of apps here

You should have following operating system versions
Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit),Windows 2003 (32 bit)

The system must have JDK 6 installed.

• For development environment you can use the Eclipse 3.6.2+ version. The Eclipse could be download 

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

• Now you can download and install the Android SDK manager. you can download from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
• Once you setup the Android SDK Manager you can choose the installation packages from the manager window and SDK manager will automatically download and install the various packages.
• Now you need an Eclipse Plugin for Android Development.

        Open Eclipse, then go to Help > Install New Software. and click Add, in the top-right corner.

        Now In Add Repository Dialog enter the "ADT Plugin" for the Name and put the following URL 

        for the Location  http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/.

        Now the available software dialog will appear where you can check for Developer Tools and click

        Next to download the tools.

        Once the installation complete restart the Eclipse.

       Now you need a small configuration for ADT Plugin. In Eclipse go to Window->Preferences and open

       the preferences panel. select Android from left panel and choose the option to send usage data to 

       Google. (If you wish to send)

      

      Now in the main panel point your installed SDK to the SDK Location.

Done!. Now you are ready to develop your creative apps for Android.