Setup Android SDK With Eclipse

I started using Android SDK recently and I like it a lot. In this article I tell you how to setup the SDK to work in combination with the Eclipse ADT plugin. There are lots of websites which deal with this topic. I try to give you the complete overview in one single page so that you do not have to hop from one page to another.

Operating Systems

1. Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit)
2. Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later (x86 only)
3. Linux (tested on Ubuntu Linux, Lucid Lynx). GNU C Library (glibc) 2.7 or later is required. On Ubuntu Linux, version 8.04 or later is required. 64-bit distributions must be capable of running 32-bit applications.

Eclipse IDE

1. Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede) or greater
2. Eclipse JDT plugin (included in most Eclipse IDE packages)

If you want to download Eclipse you can download it from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/. Android SDK prefers that we select one of the following as our development environment:

1. Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
2. Eclipse Classic (versions 3.5.1 and higher)
3. Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers

You can download Android SDK for your system from

1. Windows : installer_r10-windows.exe or android-sdk_r10-windows.zip.
2. Mac OS (intel) : android-sdk_r10-mac_x86.zip.
3. Linux (i386) : android-sdk_r10-linux_x86.tgz.

You will need latest version of JDK to be able to use Android SDK with Eclipse. You can download the latest JDK from JAVA's website at http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.

Installing Android SDK

Windows .exe InstallerNow we are all set to talk about how to install the SDK. Since I use Windows I present here how it works in Windows, but it should be almost similar in other Operating Systems. The Android SDK we have just downloaded is not the complete software required to begin the development. It is just the core SDK tool which can be used to download the rest of the SDK components. Lets see how it works out when we click '.exe' installer for windows

1. When you click the '.exe' installer windows will ask you if you want to save the file or cancel download as seen in the figure below. Select Save File and wait for the file to download.

2. After the file has downloaded run the setup file. You will be shown the welcome screen. Press Next on this screen.

3. If Jave SE Development Kit (JDK) is not found on your system you will be asked to download it from the Java website. Click on Visit java.oracle.com to install the JDK. Without the JDK you cannot continue with the installation. If you already have JDK installed you can proceed to Step 4.

4. After Installing the JDK you can press the Back button and then click Next button on the Android SDK installer. Now you will see that the previously disabled 'Next' button is enabled. Click the Next button to proceed forward.

5. You will now be asked to choose the directory where you want to install Android SDK tools. Remember the name and location of the SDK directory on your system as you will need to refer to the SDK directory later, when setting up the ADT plugin and when using the SDK tools from command line. In this article we use the default SDK location C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk.

After choosing the location where the SDK will be installed press Next.

6. Next you will be asked to Choose if you want to make a Start Menu Folder. If you do not want to make a Start Menu Folder select the box Do not create shortcuts. If you want to create Start Menu Folder than just click Install.

The Installation will start and after installation you will be asked to press Next button to proceed to the Finish page where you can decide to Start SDK Manager. We will look at the SDK Manager later first lets install Android Development Tools in Eclipse.

Installing the ADT Plugin for Eclipse

Follow the steps below to install the ADT plugin in Eclipse:As stated on the Android's Developer website "Android offers a custom plugin for the Eclipse IDE, called Android Development Tools (ADT), that is designed to give you a powerful, integrated environment in which to build Android applications. It extends the capabilites of Eclipse to let you quickly set up new Android projects, create an application UI, debug your applications using the Android SDK tools, and even export signed (or unsigned) APKs in order to distribute your application. In general, developing in Eclipse with ADT is a highly recommended approach and is the fastest way to get started with Android."

1. Eclipse must be installed on your system to preoceed further from here. If Eclipse is installed then you can go to Step 2. Otherwise download and install Eclipse from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jspand go to Step 2.

2. I use Eclipse 3.6 (Helios). Start Eclipse and then select Help > Install New Software...

3. Click Add, on the top right corner. A small Add Repository Dialog appears. In this Dialog enter "ADT Plugin" for the Name and the following URL for the Location:

https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

If you have trouble downloading the plugin, try using 'http' in the Location URL, instead of 'https'. Now ClickOK.

4. Next you will be back in the Available Software dialog. In this dialog select the checkbox next to Developer Tools and click Next.

5. Eclipse will look for dependencies and then show you the next window. Here you can see a list of the tools to be downloaded. Click Next.

6. Next you will be shown the license agreements. Read and accept the license agreements, then clickFinish.

7. After the installation finishes, restart Eclipse.

Configuring the ADT Plugin

So till now we have been able to Install Android SDK tools and ADT for Eclipse. The next step is to modify the ADT preferences in Eclipse to point to the Android SDK. We follow the following steps to do this task:

1. Start Eclipse. Select Window > Preferences... to open the Preferences panel.

2. In the left panel you can see Android. Select Android. You can now click Browse... to locate the folder where you have downloaded the Android SDK. Select the folder which contains the tools folder.

3. Now you are all done to move to the final step before you can start development for Android SDK. ClickApply, then OK.

Adding Platforms and Other Components

This is the last step before you can start developing your apps for Android SDK. In this step we will see how to use Android SDK and AVD Manager to download the important SDK components for the development environment. The steps involved are

1. Start Eclipse, select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager or we can go to the root directory (in this tutorial 'C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk')where we have installed the Android SDK and double-click the 'SDK Manager.exe' file.

2. You can now use the graphical user interface to browse through the SDK repository and select new or updated components. The Android SDK and AVD manager then installs the selected components in your SDK environment. This can be seen as in the image below: