what is the version of android from which further on there is no concept of incompatibility(no need of support libs). I am a newbie and this supporting and non supporting thing is making it so boring. I just want to know of a stable version from which I should take start and do not use support libraries (like appcompat, sherlock, etc). Also tell me if I am doing a wrong thing doing this I mean anything that will help me. Thanks
Any relevant help is appreciated.
As an app developer, you'd like your app to run on as many devices as possible. Generally, developers give support from API level 8 (Android 2.2) and upwards.
Most of the compatibility libraries are for pre-API 11 (HoneyComb).
So basically, it depends upon what you want to aim for.
Edit
You might be interested in checking out Choosing the right API Level for my android application.
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Iam an android beginner. I couldn't understand when we have to use imports statements starting with android.support.content and android.content?
I used content as an example.
The Support Library is generally used when you want to easily support a wider range of OS versions with less version specific source - with it you can use features introduced in higher version of the OS on older platforms without having to worry and check whether this platform has that feature and do something in case it doesn't.
For more information: it has already been discussed and this was a part of the answer, there are many more and they are useful so read them if you want to know in depth how,why and when. Hope this helps. Support library android
For some reason the original Aviary framework has stopped working and this has forced me to migrate our code to use the new CreativeSDK instead.
Unfortunately this new SDK has a minSdkVersion of 14 = Android 4.0, but a lot of our customers still use older versions (a little over 20 % according to Googles statistics for our app).
We cannot release an app update that cuts away that many users, but is there a way to compile the app with a lower api level and then just disable the image editing for the "old api" users?
is there a way to compile the app with a lower api level and then just disable the image editing for the "old api" users?
Tricky question. You can try build the app with api lv < 14 but then the creativeSDK will not be able to compile, resulting in a build error, so no.
Android 4.0 is already ~4 years old. It happens more and more that libraries drop support for older android versions (for good reason I think. Just update already!), as is the case with the creativeSDK. The minSDK requirement went from 2.3 in the aviary framework to 4.0 in the creativeSDK.
Adobe has to have done this for a reason. It is too much of a hassle to provide compatibility for 'old' versions of android, especially for complex functionality.
It is mentioned here, here and here that the creativeSDK now really requires api 14, and compatibility for older versions is not mentioned anywhere, meaning it very much likely doesn't exist.
To come back to your question, I think what would be a solution for you is to create multiple APKs for different API levels. There is some work to be done, but it is officially supported by Android, and the steps on how to achieve it are described clearly in the documentation I linked to.
Other than that, you have two options:
Drop the SDK and use another library.
Contact support and ask if they had forseen this issue and how they suggest you go about solving it.
As noted by Tim, the Adobe Creative SDK supports Android API 14 and up. It won't work for anything lower than that.
If you're using the Image Editor UI component, it's also worth noting that for APIs 14 and 15, the AviaryIntent.Builder will not work.
There is a workaround for that issue documented here.
Update: Note that starting in version 0.9.7 of the Creative SDK, the Image Editor supports Android API 16 and up only. This is noted in the Getting Started guide.
I was wondering, lets assume I want to develope some android app and I need new API specifics but supporting some older versions aswell. The question is: do I build everything with support lib or do I check for sdk version everytime and according to this I run selected piece of code?
Best regards,
Robert
If all the functionality that you need is available in support library, I would go for support library.
It will simplify your code, layouts, etc. a lot if you won't have to check for API version all the time. This means maintenance of your code will be much easier and number of bugs should also be lower.
Support library classes and usage are very similar to the actual classes so when you decide to drop support for older Android versions later on, the job of removing the support library will be fairly easy.
I want to start programming for android devices and I have 1 question for you. I heard that Android is forward compatible. So, if I use 2.1, can I, at a later stage, update the app so it works with 4.0.3? What do you suggest me to do? Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.
Ofcourse always start with lower version 2.1
2.1 is great for starters, but I would strongly advise to use Android Support Package for learning and implementing Fragments since Fragment based apps are the general direction in which Android is heading.
If you want to start Android Development i would Advice you to learn some Java Basics First if you are not familiar with the java envirnment.
Concerning The Android Api that you should start with, I will advice you to start with the 2.2 Froyo it's one of the most stable Api.
The choice of the android platform depends also on the fact that developer want to target the Larger Number of devices that's why google provide a chart's, that show wich platform are the most used. you can find this chart in this link.
Also in this link you can find the difference ore improvement on each platform, you can refer to the android developer site to see differences
I currently have a application targeted at android 2.3 (api level 10), but went thinking that probably people using android 2.1/2.2 or older won't even be able to see the application in the market.
So I thought that using api level 3 would be the best to use, but I don't know if this will maybe make certain elements in my app work less good, and probably buggier, since it actually uses old android code. Is there a good way to find out which API level I should use, and also, how do I convert my application to that level?
You can find a breakdown of the different versions of Android in use here. Currently, if you target 2.1 (API 7) you'll only miss out on about 3% of the market. Targeting 2.2 will miss just under 20%, or a fifth of the market.
As for converting your app, you can check what API level things are available for in the Android Reference. You'll note a checkbox and dropdown menu on the top right of the browsing area that allows you to filter by API level - that's one way to help converting. The other is to set the target and minimum SDK versions which will help Eclipse know what to complain about in your code. The easiest way to see if something needs conversion, however, is to emulate and test.
EDIT: The API level dropdown moved from the top right to the top left, over the list of APIs.
This graph may help you make up your mind.
It is good to look at backward compatibility and in general, you should compile your application against the lowest possible version of the platform that your application can support.
You can determine the lowest possible platform version by compiling the application against successively lower build targets. After you determine the lowest version, you should create an AVD using the corresponding platform version (and API Level) and fully test your application. Make sure to declare a android:minSdkVersion attribute in the application's manifest and set its value to the API Level of the platform version. Good luck!
If you have
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" android:targetSdkVersion="10"/>
then it will appear right down to 1.6, but make sure you don't use antyhing that they don't have in their API
edit: Don't bother with 3! :)
I started out developing for 1.5, but soon realized that only a small percentage of people still run 1.5. I generally develop at the 2.1 level, and leave it at that (unless you need features at a higher level). To change it, open your project properties, and while I don't have my environment open, there is an Android option where you will select what API level you want to target.
The Best API Level is contains follows
1) The best API covers 100% market but all are not prefect so our app should be covered at least 90% with all devices .
2)We have to care about backward compatibility issues and our code would adapt itself for upcoming versions.
3) Using the new Android SDK is a requirement to use any of the new APIs added in that level. It should be emphasized ... It is ultimately a business decision on whether supporting an additional 3% of devices is worth the development and testing .
4) check out this link https://developer.android.com/guide/practices/compatibility.html#defined
5) Finally choose the best API you will find best API