Develop Reference

Doing an Android sliding drawer without the support APIs

I'd like to add a sliding drawer to my app which is using the min sdk version of 16 and a target sdk of 21 and should allow it to use the most recent features of the platform.
I looked around on how to implement a sliding drawer, and all the articles I found talk about using some support APIs to do just that.
My app is not yet using these support APIs.
I wonder if implementing the sliding drawer is possible without any support APIs, and if so, if there is any resources showing just that.

DrawerLayout, the basis for Creating a Navigation Drawer is only found in the Android Support Library (along with many other Support Library only APIs). There is nothing in the Android framework that provides this same functionality.
To provide the most consistent experience to users, you should just use the Support Library.

You should consider using support APIs, but if you really dont want to, you can use user-created library.
Here's one I used for one of my projects:
https://github.com/mikepenz/MaterialDrawer

Yes, it is always possible. However, the DrawerLayout class is available only in support libraries.
When I first realized that, it made no sense to me. But now I see support libraries as an extension of the core libraries (android.*).
Anyway, I recommend using the support libraries or you will have to create the logic to do exactly the same from scratch.

You can use android design support library, it's working on all devices in android and it's open source so you can edit it as you like with custom element.
Here's a reference how to implement Navigation drawer using new android support library

Why am i using support.v4 package when I am using Android v 17?

I think I'm missing something, but don't really understand the reasoning behind the support packages for objects like ViewPager and Fragment etc and how do I know which one to use?
I'm writing an app with min sdk 16, why are the objects not included somewhere in the API without the "support.v4" (some appear to be support v.13) qualification?
Can somebody shed a bit of light?

The support library is for the following reason:
for backwards compatibility
for functionality that is not included in the standard SDK's such as ViewPager
Here, ViewPager isn't included in the standard SDK. So, if you want to use Viewpager API then you have to use support library.
Fragment in the support library is mainly for backwards compatibility. If you are implementing something using support library which required to use Fragment then you will need to use Fragment from support library.

Fragment or Support Fragment?

I am developing an app that supports Android >= 4.0. It uses fragments from the android.app package. As I am facing problems with the older fragment implementation in 4.0, like this one, that are already fixed in the support library, I am considering switching back to the fragment implementation from the support library to get a more reliable and consistent implementation.
What is your opinion on this? Are you using fragments from the support library, even though they are already available, when developing for Android 4?

From my experience, using the same fragment implementation on all Android devices is a great advantage. I could not get rid of all NullPointerExceptions when state is saved on Android 4.0 using native fragments, with the support library they are all gone. Also I could not see any disadvantage so far with this approach.
So my answer to my own question is now: When developing for Android 4.x, using the fragments from the support library is a good idea. The support library has bugs fixed that are still present in older fragment implementations and is frequently updated with more bug fixes.

One big reason to stick with the SupportFragment for a while is that you do not have access to the ChildFragmentManager until API 17. The support library will give you a support version of the child fragment manager.
This becomes a big deal if you have fragments that contain other fragments. This is common in tablet applications with a good deal of complexity and/or your overall architecture is based on either a tabbed layout or uses the navigation drawer.

I was also getting frustrated at having to include the support libraries, despite targeting Android 4.0+ - but it seems it is officially recommended:
The Android Support Library package contains several libraries that
can be included in your application. Each of these libraries supports
a specific range of Android platform versions and set of features.
This guide explains the important features and version support
provided by the Support Libraries to help you decide which of them you
should include in your application. In general, we recommend including
the v4 support and v7 appcompat libraries, because they support a wide
range of Android versions and provide APIs for recommended user
interface patterns.
http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/features.html

IMHO if you are planning to develop for 4.0 only, I would recommend going with the native libraries since the executable will get smaller. It is true that you might run into problems of bugs in early versions, but I think most of these should be fairly trivial to work around. Also the compatibility library is supposed to map to the native fragments in case you are running on 4.0 and higher anyway. So you might end up having to struggle with these kinds of problems anyway.
The problem with the support libraries is that you have a lot of the classes appear 2x (once in the support package structure and once in the "native" package structure) which makes development a bit more cumbersome.
However, if you want to also release your app pre 4.0 then there is no way around the support library. Also since there are about 38% of all users on 2.3 it might make business sense to include this OS version. In such a case you can use the support library in combination with Jake Wartons ActionBarSherlock (or with googles support ActionBar Library once it is finally released).

It seems that it is better to use Support Library now because I saw the statement here https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Fragment.html
This class was deprecated in API level P. Use the Support Library
Fragment for consistent behavior across all devices and access to
Lifecycle.

Android: Setup App with ActionBar, Tabs, Fragments, Swipe compatible with SDK 8 (Android 2.2)

I'm planning an Android app that should make use of lots of UI features that later SDK versions bring with them incl. ActionBar, ActionBar.Tabs, Swipe navigation and use of Fragments (with replace, add, FragmentTransaction etc). The app should support SDK 8 (2.2) and later.
I'm a 'bit' at a loss here on how to set this up: will I be able to use all these features with the official Android compatibility library? Or will I have to use ActionBarSherlock? Will ABS give me advantages/ be easier to implement compared to the official comp. library?
Can I use the Eclipse/ ADT navigation templates with those two librarys? Can I use them alongside each other or do I have to comit to one of them?
Lot's of questions, I know :)

will I be able to use all these features with the official Android compatibility library?
No.
Or will I have to use ActionBarSherlock?
Yes.
Will ABS give me advantages/ be easier to implement compared to the official comp. library?
It will give you a backwards-compatible action bar. The Android Support Library does not.
Can I use the Eclipse/ ADT navigation templates with those two librarys?
You can do whatever you want. You will need to replace some stuff generated by those templates.

I think using using ActionBarSherlock is the best.
Have a look at this link

Implementing recently introduced Android design and UI guidelines on 2.x versions

Considering Android Design Guidelines announcement what is the best way to make apps which are compliant with them on Android 2.x phones? E.g. what is the best way to implement the ActionBar pattern?

ActionbarSherlock is a starting point. It includes the compatibility libraries from Google and comes provided as a project rather than JAR offering greater flexibility, should you need to alter anything. Version 4 is on the way which will also include ICS stuff.
As far as I am aware I believe ABS is backward compatible to 1.6, and makes use of the minSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion. It uses an extended version of the holo theme to create a light and dark version that includes the extra ActionBar goodness, which in turn you can extend to style your app.
I recorded a tutorial on YouTube to get people started.

I think it's better to use the compatibilty libraries directly, instead of another library based on those. Additionally, refer to the Google I/O App as stated at the bottom of the first link I gave. You can find the best practices about implementing a UI for several devices with compatibility libraries.

I found ActionBarSherlock to be pretty good. It will emulate ActionBar on older devices and use the native one on modern ones. It's an extension to Android compatibility library - so you will also get fragments and other ICS stuff.