Develop Reference

Running Emulators on Different Device for React Native Applications

Since Xcode and Android studio consume a lot, I am having storage and processing capacity issues on my Mac, while developing React Native Applications.
My Question is that is there any way to run emulators (in my case android emulator) on another PC, while I am coding on Mac?
Thank you

I tried once the solution below, it might also work for you. And the source is in this repo.
If you want to write and compile an Android application on one machine and debug it remotely on the emulator launched on another follow the instructions below:
Preparation
First of all you need to install SSH server on your remote machine.
Ubuntu
You can use OpenSSH.
sudo apt install openssh-server
Windows
You can install OpenSSH on Windows following this link.
Connection
Now you must connect local machine to remote server using SSH tunnel.
The emulator listens on two TCP ports per instance: 5554 for the telnet interface and 5555 for control communication with tools like DDMS. So you could probably get away with only forwarding port 5555. Each subsequent emulator takes the next available even+odd port number tuple.
Note that you need to enter the ip address of emulator running on remote server instead of emulator-ip and also remote machine username and hostname instead of myuser and remote-server.
Ubuntu
On the local machine try:
ssh -NL 5554:emulator-ip:5554 -L 5555:emulator-ip:5555 myuser#remote-server
Windows
Follow this link instructions and add two source ports and destinations below:
Source port: 5554
Destination: emulator-ip:5554
Source port: 5555
Destination: emulator-ip:5555
then connect to remote server.
ADB
The emulator tries to notify a local adb server at startup; hence you need to restart adb in order for it to probe the local 5554+ ports.
adb kill-server; adb devices
adb devices shows a new emulator — emulator-5554 — and you can use it as if it is running on your local machine.
Running
Finally run:
react-native run-android
the app should be installed on emulator, but you may face an error:
error: more than one device/emulator
Could not run adb reverse: Command failed: path/to/sdk/adb -s emulator-5554 reverse tcp:8081 tcp:8081
you need to specify your debug host IP and port in app's Developer menu -> Dev settings -> Debug server host & port, that is your local machine ip address and 8081 for port.
Note that after APK installation you don't need to do any of these steps. You can just start the npm server: npm start in the project directory of your local machine, run the app on the emulator in remote machine and then reload.
if there was another error:
Exception in thread "Device List Monitor" java.lang.NullPointerException
try:
react-native run-android --deviceId

Android ADB: Device unauthorized trying to connect to a port-forwarded remote emulator

Background:
I recently upgraded to an AMD processor and found that the Android device emulator was complaining about not having hardware acceleration. (This is an issue for another question). My old Intel computer worked fine, so I decided to run the emulator on the old Intel PC (emu-pc) and use my new AMD computer (dev-pc) to code.
Problem:
I wasn't able to directly have the emulator expose its ports on the emu-pc to connect to via adb on the dev-pc (again an issue for another question), so I installed the Windows 10 OpenSSH server (Microsoft instructions) and connected to it from my dev-pc, forwarding the proper ADB ports:
ssh {you}#<{remote ip} -L 5554:localhost:5554 -L 5555:localhost:5555
I then tried connecting to the remote emulator via adb:
adb connect localhost
I was met with
$ ./adb devices
List of devices attached
localhost:5555 unauthorized
I've tried a few of the posts stating you should disable and re-enable USB debugging or revoke all the USB debugging authorization or use the "Wipe Data" option in the AVD Manager. None of these worked. I also tried messing with the adbkeys on the emulator under /data/misc/adb/adbkeys but I get permission denied trying to do anything to that file. (I also can't ls it via an adb shell)
Any ideas?

I found something that worked for me. I was able to telnet to the emu-pc via port 5554, where I tried to auth on the Android console. The login message said:
Android Console: type 'auth <auth_token>' to authenticate
Android Console: you can find your <auth_token> in
'C:\Users\exile57\.emulator_console_auth_token'
I found that file and was able to log in. This made me think that the emulator thinks the connection is coming from the emu-pc, yet the keys that I was using were generated on the dev-pc. I found the keys on emu-pc in C:\Users\[your user]\.android as adbkey and adbkey.pub. I copied those to the dev-pc, killed the adb server, disconnected all devices, then tried reconnecting:
$ ./adb disconnect
./adb kill-server
./adb connect localhost
After a bit, I was able to connect and drive the device over adb:
$ ./adb devices
List of devices attached
localhost:5555 device
NOTE I'm not sure this is the whole story, as when testing this out for this answer, I deleted the dev-pc's adbkey and adbkey,pub and was still able to reconnect, so that seems a bit strange. It worked for me, but be aware, I'm not sure the mechanism.

In Android studio, Run menu > Run shows OFFLINE ... for the connected device.
Below is the procedure followed to solve it:
(Read the below note first) Delete the ~/.android/adbkey (or, rename to ~/.android/adbkey2, this is even better incase you want it back for some reason)
Note: I happened to do this step, but it didn't solve the problem, after doing all the below steps it worked, so unsure if this step is required.
Run locate platform-tools/adb
Note: use the path that comes from here in below commands
Kill adb server:
sudo ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb kill-server
You will get a Allow accept.. message popup on your device. Accept it. This is important, which solves the problem.
Start adb server:
sudo ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb start-server
In Android studio, do Run menu > Run again
It will show something like Samsung ... (your phone manufacture name).
Also installs the apk on device correctly this time without error.
Hope that helps.

Here is how I did it:
First you need to run the emulator on the host computer. I used Android Studio and I had to close it because I noticed that the adb process kept spawning.
Start port-forwarding using SSH in the development computer.
ssh -L 5554:localhost:5554 -L 5555:localhost:5555 user#emulator-host-ip
copy adbkey and adbkey.pub files found at: C:\Users\[your user]\.android from the host computer to the development computer. this step should get ride of the unauthorized problem
in the development computer kill the adb server and lookup connected devices:
$ ./adb kill-server
$ ./adb devices
List of devices attached
localhost:5555 device

Connect obdsim to Torque(android app) Ubuntu

Am trying to connect odbsim through bluetooth with my Samsung S4. After successfully pairing my devices with ubuntu, my results connecting obdsim with phone is never happened.
Whenever I tried running the command obdsim -b it always throwing error:
SimPort name: Not yet connected
I tried connecting it with windows too, with the help of com0com serial port, but couldn't succeded. And in windows, obdsim -b results in invalid options.
Please help me to connect the simulator with android device.
Thanks,
Boopathy.

I had the same problem on Linux and I resolved it installing some libraries and recompiling OBDSim.
I will put here the whole process to make a guide for new users like me.
Download OBDSim:
wget http://icculus.org/obdgpslogger/downloads/obdgpslogger-0.16.tar.gz
Or get the most recent version from: http://icculus.org/obdgpslogger/
Install OBDSim:
tar -zxvf obdgpslogger-0.16.tar.gz
cd obdgpslogger-0.16
mkdir build
cd build
I have to install only these libraries, but in your case keep attention to warning messages of cmake and install all that it ask you to install:
sudo apt-get install libbluetooth-dev libfltk1.1-dev libfltk1.1 fltk1.1-doc fluid fftw3-dev libgps-dev libftdi-dev
cmake ..
make obdsim
cd ../bin/
Run OBDSim:
./obdsim -b -g gui_fltk
Now you have OBDSim running, but you need a channel to communicate it with your app. You need a serial port working as a bluetooth interface.
Creating the serial->bluetooth interface:
sudo rfcomm bind 0 00:00:00:00:00:00 1 # Change this MAC address, putting the MAC of your device
sudo sdptool add SP
You can discover the MAC address of your device by using hcitool:
hcitool scan
It only works when the bluetooth configuration "Visible to all nearby Bluetooth devices" is on in your device.

I have used almost the same method described here and here and it worked. It worked without using com0com.
Pair the android device with the computer.
In Torque app, go to Settings -> OBD2 Adaptor Settings -> Choose Bluetooth Device. Select
your Computer Name.
Set the incoming COM Port of bluetooth as COM#Number . Assume it
is COM10 (Use https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-20605/)
Use obdsimwindows-2011-06-11 build. Can be downloaded from
http://icculus.org/obdgpslogger/downloads/obdsimwindows-latest.zip
Run obdsim.exe -w COM10
Run the Torque app and see whether it connects automatically.
-g option is used to give a generator type. By default it is gui_fltk which is the GUI interface.

Debugging using a virtual machine like VMWare/VirtualBox?

I am developing an Android application but fed-up of performance of My emulator
I do have a Android PC version installed in both VM-ware and Virtual Box
Can I use it as emulator? If so, how? How can I connect ADB to a virtual machine running PC Android?
I saw in some forum to use this but my VMs android having no specific IP.
How to i connect it??

Solution:
I would highly recommend to use Android x86 coz it many many times faster than Android emulator with Android x86 4.2 you can install and use any application with this and use "Google play" synch with your account as you do it with tablet
Working with latest Android X86 4.2 Jelly Bean and Virtual Box
I have found Different ways to connect with Internet and adb
Step: 1 Selection of Adapters
CASE 1: Only Internet {NAT Adapter}
The easiest solution is just use NAT adapter that will directly connect you to internet if host is connected to internet but you won't get the adb connection with this setup
Here you will get Public ip so you can't connect to Host computer
Case 2: Only adb {Host Only Adapter}
The easiest solution is just use Host Only Adapter
Note: The default Host Only adapter may not work due to DHCP server settings either create new HostOnlyAdapter or run DHCP server for existing Adapter()
Case 3: For both adb and Internet {Bridge Adapter}
You will have to take care in this case.
If you are using LAN for internet connection you shall use Bridge Adapter with your Ethernet card it will give you local ip and Virtual Machine will connect to Internet using host machine
Alternatively if you are with Wifi just do the same by selecting the Wifi adapter
For other type of connection you shall go with the same way
Step: 2 Connection with adb
to check the ip Address just press Alt+F1 {for console Window} [To switch back to Graphics view press Alt+F7 ]
you will see the console window type netcfg
it will show the ip address
Now move on to you host run command prompt move to adb directory
type
adb connect {your ip address}
Example
adb connect 192.168.1.51
Note: if adb is not running or responding you can do following
adb kill-server
adb start-server
you can check devices connected to adb
adb devices

As per your edited question, if you want to connect it to ADB you need to check what the IP of the VM is: Assuming you use VMWare's player;
Hit ALT-F1 in the VM and use the ifconfig command to know the IP address given to your network device (usually eth0). You can then hit ALT-F7 to go back to the Android UI.
Then, in your host PC, execute the adb connect [ANDROID_X86_IP] to connect the SDK debugger to your Android x86 VM; for example: adb connect 192.168.1.100:5555.
You should then see the list of devices connected and then it will be enabled to use for debugging.
ADB is typically located on your computer in a subfolder to your user folder in: ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools. It is recommended to add it to your path so you can access it using the terminal wherever. I personally use this in ~/.bash_profile:
#add Android platform-tools directory
PATH=~/android-sdks/platform-tools:$PATH
export PATH
In case ADB fails the first time, you can try adb kill-server ; adb start-server to reset ADB.
If you want to read further, check out the Android-x86 website. It also has a lot of disc images available for download.

This is not a direct answer to your question, but did you see tricks to increase performance of emulator (read Why is the Android emulator so slow? How can we speed up the Android emulator?)
a) Use Intel Atom x86 instead of ARM
b) Use hw.gpu.enabled
I would say this makes emulator quite comparable in performance to a real device.
Update 1
Generally speaking, the idea is to configure Android PC to use tcp/ip for adb connection. And you may need to play around with network settings on VMWare or VirtualBox.
Useful links (which try to accomplish what you want
No network connection - Android-x86 on VMWare Fusion
http://lkubaski.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/running-android-on-vmware-player-with-networking-enabled/
http://www.transdroid.org/2011/01/26/techpost-debugging-against-a-virtual-machine-android/

install android x86 on vmware
run android terminal write command "ifconfig eth0"
windows user make Environment C:\Users\user- name\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools
"adb connect IP address of the VM":5555
now run app on vmware

To save some time:
http://aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/Android-vm/Android-VMwarePlayer-Win.pdf
Good link to get started in VMWARE
Where in the case you installed in the following directory /opt/android-sdk-linux
Set path variables
export ANDROID_HOME=/opt/android-sdk-linux
export PATH=${PATH}:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
After performing path if you see the application from typing "android" in the console your path setting is good.
create a hello world application (get the sdk installed correctly here if you have questions)
Run the hello world app
Hit ALT-F1 in the VM and use the netcfg command to know the IP address given to your eth0 device. You can then hit ALT-F7 to go back to the Android UI. Then, in your host PC, execute the adb connect [ANDROID_X86_IP] to connect the SDK debugger to your Android x86 VM; for example: adb connect 192.168.1.100:5555. If problems bounce the service adb kill-server ; adb start-server
at console change directory to /android-sdks/platform-tools
then type
./adb connect 192.168.1.100
(note the 192.168.1.100 is what is required it defaults to port 5555)
I had to use the ./adb prefix and then I was configuring the VMWARE instance.
I feel allot less greasy avoiding XAML :-)

Access a virtual host from the Android emulator

I'm developing a simple app that connects to a webservice configured as a virtualhost in Apache, so its URL is myapp.localhost
In my development machine (Mac OS X) I can access it, and also from the iPhone emulator.
But I'm having problems from the Android emulator, it just cannot reach that URL, because it's not using my /etc/hosts file to resolve the "myapp.localhost" domain name.
Since I'm using Appcelerator Titanium (appcelerator.com), I cannot use "adb" to inject a custom hosts file to the Android emulator.
Is there a DNS server or something similar I can install in my Mac OS X system to translate that virtual host for the Android emulator?

I suppose you eventually found how to solve the problem. Still, I will give a possible answer for those who seek around, struggling with the same problem we had once.
Since android devices are emulated and not simulated (as opposed to iOS devices), they indeed have their own kernels, configuration files... and their own /system/etc/hosts. But you can actually use adb with Titanium. You just need to be careful. Since Titanium use a custom-generated virtual device, based on tiapp.xml, you will have to run your application at least once before the virtual device shows up in the device list.
If you have more than on virtual device you first need to get the name of the device generated by Titanium (typically emulator-XXXX).
adb devices
Then you can mount it and use adb push and pull commands to get the /system/etc/hosts out of the emulator's system, edit it and push it back. -s emulator-XXXX specifies on which device these commands are meant to be executed. If there is only one device, you can skip this option. See adb doc for more informations.
adb -s emulator-XXXX remount
adb -s emulator-XXXX pull /system/etc/hosts /whatever/directory/
You can now edit /whatever/directory/hosts with you favorite editor and add the necessary host. If you need to access the localhost interface of your development machine, 10.0.2.2 is a link to the computer's loopback interface. Simply add 10.0.2.2 myapp.localhost to the host and push it back to the virtual device.
adb -s emulator-XXXX push /whatever/directory/hosts /system/etc/hosts
Relaunch the simulator with Titanium and it should do the trick!