I've recently started android programming, and I'm extremely frustrated to say the least with a lot of things that to me seem simple but are totally holding me back from making any progress. The first of which is the "my first app" hello world that I started a tutorial from http://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/creating-project.html
This tutorial worked fine when I was originally looking into android a while ago. Then when I came back after learning a bunch of java this program will no longer work unless I change the target-sdk to version 10 (I found that solution after extensive searching on this site).
Then I moved on to starting tutorials by thenewboston
All of these work fine as long as I didn't use any new targetsdkversion, so I'm wondering what happened that everywhere I go looking for tutorials I can't find anything that will actually work on the current ADT(4.4W and L are what my eclipse automatically set up) and eclipse (indigo). I'll also get issues saying lint isn't working, or trouble with android SDK content loader when I'm not even doing anything.
I've also found snippets of code example on the developer website that I linked earlier that don't work when implemented either
So, am I missing something, is that just old documentation, or is something up with eclipse and ADT? I'm just so frustrated that everything wants to bug out on me when I'm just trying to follow simple introductory tutorials and I don't even know where to turn for tutorials that I can trust to work..
edit:removed code because it wasn't needed.
To not get blocked What you can do is continue to set "targetVersion as '19'" instead of setting it to 20 or so. Ensure that you've downloaded API19 through SDK Manager and create the AVDs with that targetSDK version for checking you apps.
That way you can proceed ahead with your coding and later when things get resolved by google for API20...you can always comeback to that new version. This way you can follow 'TheNewBoston' and start coding in Android.
I also recommend 'Slidenerd' tutorials over youtube as well for the beginner.
BTW, I've also selected 'Blank Activity / Empty Activity" during the project creation with API19 and been able to move ahead with my coding.
The Google Bug thread about this latest version issue can be tracked here : The google bug
As a beginning developer, I suggest you use API 19. It has been out for a while and is more stable than L or Google Wear.
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I have been using Eclipse for Android development and don't have a problem with it (I also use it for Web Service and C++ development under Linux) but I want to give IntelliJ IDEA a go as it appears to have favourable reviews. This is easily possibly now that IDEA 10 has been released with Android support enabled in the Community Edition.
I have looked at IDEA and it looks pretty good to me with the only downside being the lack of UI on .xml file editing (AndroidManifest.xml for example) and the user interface builder provided with ADT 9.0.
Has anyone got experience they can share on IntelliJ IDEA and Android development?
EDIT: Thanks all; I'm sticking with Eclipse as I know it pretty well and it allows me to do pretty much anything (Java-related) I like for free. I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth!
The only benefit for me: You code as fast as formula 1 :). Really. If you're used to Resharper in .NET programming, then you will code as fast as in .NET. Even faster.
Bad thing: lack of some Eclipse's tools (browse my questions for details) and it seems that Eclipse's compiler--which you can use from IntelliJ as well--is better. Because of the lack of some tools you are forced to use many 3rd party tools.
The bottom line is: if you don't have problems with Eclipse, then stick to it. I hated Eclipse's slowness and that's why I moved to IntelliJ.
EDIT 23 Jan 2013
IntelliJ has improved a lot. They now have UI visual editor, a great connection to Android SDK and at this moment I can't really think of any feature which Eclipse has and IDEA does not have. What's better, I will say again that IDEA has more features than Eclipse.
EDIT 11 Mar 2014
Again IntelliJ improved. With its visual UI editor for XML layouts and itself being used as the base for Google's Android Studio, its still the best IDE around.
The only flaws for Android developer are IMHO:
it still does not perfectly import dependencies (libraries) so you have to fix things manually
it does not perfectly recognizes other projects (modules) which sometimes you have to add those modules manually
a support for Google Glass does not exist
All this is referring to when importing projects made in Eclipse, which happens very often to anyone working on multiple Android projects.
I have used both, they aren't that different. A lot of it is just what you are used to. Personally, if you aren't having any problems with Eclipse, I would not suggest switching. There are no advantages that are worth the learning curve.
I switched to IDEA for my android development.
Intellisense actually works
IDEA is much faster
The refactoring is nicely done, and the "inspections" catch a lot of places where refactoring would make sense
Things I miss:
The new Layout viewer from Android 3.0. I always modify the layout xml, but it's nice to be able to switch over and get an idea of what it will look like without running the app. I do load up eclipse for this reason when I do heavy layout editing.
Hover documentation. In intelliJ, you have to press ctrl+Q to get the javaDoc of an existing method call (vs intellisense popping up as you code).
I know eclipse is free, but come on, I don’t know how people actually use it to build software. I like open source as much as the next guy, I just like “high quality open source” which may be an oxymoron.
I want to get work done and not fight the tool no matter how free it is.
After 2 years of Android Development on Eclipse I finally give up. I hate it because:
1. Eclipse is slow.
2. Search and autocomplete is poor.
3. Require big among of memory.
4. Crashing and hanging constantly.
5. Correct or incorrect way of closing Eclipse may cause workspace and settings crash.
Eclipse: reminding me every time I use why I normally don't use it. -
Romain Guy
You can check some of interesting IntelliJ IDEA features here
Google has introduced new intellij-based IDE for android development (if you dont want to pay for intellij), you can find more info here http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/studio.html
I am interested in this question too. For me, eclipse starts to be slow as more plugins installed: CDT, aptana, pydev, ADT....
IDEA seems like a light-weighted and interesting alternative. For the lacking of layout xml editing, you may do it with http://www.droiddraw.org/, or its desktop version. Pretty amazingly easy after reading the droiddraw tutorials.
I haven't got enough experience with IDEA, so cannot help a lot. Hope more people cast light on this issue.
Thanks,
Frank
I think Eclipse has all the features that an IDE should have these days.
But from my point of view it does everything on the wrong way (I am a Visual Studio fan).
After I tried IDEA, I had to realize that it can be customized to act nearly the same as VS, so it IS a very good IDE.
And the version 12 has UI editor for Android.
I can say that try to compare their IntelliSense (or whatever you call it), the debugger (including watches) and the editor. Much more better, smarter, faster for a daily use.
IDEA ultimate is not free, but if you would like to make money with programming I think you can make it easier with professional tools.
I would never pay for Eclipse.
As a new IDEA user I found the IDE to be somewhat overwhelming at first. The IDE contains more options than I thought possible and can bring into question - "Just how many checkboxes can you fit on a screen". Once the shock passed and I was able to complete a small project, I'm in love. Sorry Eclipse, but you were kind of flakey and would have unpredictable behavior. IDEA is rock solid.
As a programmer I want rock solid tools and sometimes the phrase "you get what you pay for" is valid.
Google's Android Studio is built on top of IDEA, assuming that it will be the "Official" developer tool when it reaches 1.0, it might be worth getting up to speed by learning IDEA.
It also has a "dark" theme built in so you don't have to mess around with Eclipse plugins.
Quick comparison
between eclipse 4.3.2 and intellij 13.0.2:
I will refer to intellij idea as I as an abbreviation below (e.g. I12 means intellij idea version 12)
Both are fine .
Pro Intellij are:
Faster compiler mode:(introduced in I12) exactly as with eclipse, now Intellij compiles everything continuously in the background and shows you files that doesn't compile with red zigzag. Exactly as Eclipse but less heavier and more responsive .
Android UI editor: (introduced in I11) even better than the one in eclipse ADT plugin: it shows more properties as android:layout_span ,i.e. Advanced properties that are hidden in Eclipse UI editor forcing you to edit them from Layout XML , can be easily editted from Intellij UI editor. Also while Eclipse UI editor hangs when selecting multiple components then editting one common property , this is extremely fast and easy in Intellij UI editor. It also can show you a preview while editing XML code, which you can't do in eclipse.
Best content assist : it auto completes when you enter next limiter (space or semicolon or brackets or dot ) you don't have to press enter then press the next limiter, exactly as Visual Studio Intellisense. Also Intellij puts most relevant result on top. another feature introduced in I12 is that it searches if matches are available from the middle not from start.
Fast: intellij is much faster than Eclipse. Eclipse 3.8 is slow and Eclipse 4.2 is even slower due some bugs, that were fixed gradually in Eclipse 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 releases .
more stable than eclipse. In Eclipse, A row of Layout properties editor may stick on screen while you scroll, a very bad UI glitch. Also Eclipse x64 crashes very frequently as compared with eclipse x86 or Intellij, may be because of bugs in JDK x64.
Add framework support:( New in I13) a wizard to add framework support
As of intellij 13, it has wizard like (New->Android-> Android Activity) as that in eclipse adt plugin , maybe the only difference is the intellij wizard may force you to a higher minimum SDK version, while eclipse doesn't .
Con Intellij:
Gradle: Android project wizard: (New in I13) when you create an app you can define in a gui wizerd : min sdk , target sdk , icons and theme (all these fills in the gap between eclipse and previous Is) and support mode ( an advantage over eclipse). Although this might be considered an advantage, gradle added so many errors to managing an android project, that intellij became not usable as before in intellij 12. most errors require either changing configuration and updating a maven repo from internet , or navigating to a folder and running a command from terminal.
Doesn't support NDK (Native Development Kit for development in C/C++)
I have been using IDEA for professional Android development for almost a year, it is much better than Eclipse because:
The IDE is much faster and stable
Excellent interface designer
Other good enhancements such color picker in XML, creating resource directories and creating String resources.
IDEA is much better for Android development and you will increase your productivity for sure, Google knows this, that is why Android Studio is built on top of IDEA
Greetings all,
I realize this issue has been posed before in other forms, and believe me, I have been searching the net for days trying to find the answer. However, I'm fairly new to Android and Java, and I need a little guidance please.
I presently have two version of my app, one for Android 1.5 and 1.6, and another for 2.0 and beyond. As you probably guessed, it's because the Contacts API is different.
I recently became aware that it was possible to combine both methods into a single app, by using dynamically loadable classes. Very cool! After days of attempts, I still haven't been able to do it successfully... or at least, it won't run.
I have come across 3 examples of how to do this - one by Google, called "Business Card", another that had something to do with Spinners, and a 3rd was something someone here created. My problem is that each one seems to me to have a showstopper.
I'm using Eclipse on Windows 7. My app was first created for A1.5, so that's the one I'm upgrading. What's happening is that my ContactsAccessorNewApi class needs to import the ContactContracts, and according to Eclipse, that won't work because my project was originally built without support for it. Hence, it won't run. I've tried adding the android.jar for SDK level 5 into the project, but that creates a whole mess of other problems.
My code for this pat of my app is exactly like the Google example "Business Card" - so if someone could help me cross this hurdle, I'd be very grateful. I'll be happy to post any code that you need to answer my question.
Thank you!
another that had something to do with Spinners
If you mean this sample project, that's mine.
I'm using Eclipse on Windows 7. My app was first created for A1.5, so that's the one I'm upgrading. What's happening is that my ContactsAccessorNewApi class needs to import the ContactContracts, and according to Eclipse, that won't work because my project was originally built without support for it.
You need to set your build target (Project Properties > Android) to be high enough that ContactsContract exists (android-5 or higher).
So long as your android:minSdkVersion in your manifest is set to support earlier versions of Android (e.g., 3 for Android 1.5), your app will still install on older emulator AVDs and devices.
I've tried adding the android.jar for SDK level 5 into the project, but that creates a whole mess of other problems.
Yeah, don't do that.
I'm a newbie Android App Developer, also new with xml. I was just wondering if there is an easier way to view xml output other than using eclipse to compile the android application (java + xml) and then see output in the android emulator. Just asking because it takes forever to check my UI through eclipse IDE to turn on android emulator then open my application, and I feel that there must be an easier way. I have searched for solutions but either I'm wording it incorrectly or I just do not know the correct terminology or there is no other way(hopefully not this option). Please help me figure out to how to run XML code to check and see the proper UI output (its layout, widgets in correct places etc.) without having to compile my application code every time.
I have already looked into DroidDraw - it provides one output within the the application and another output in android emulator. I find it quite inconsistent.
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Thank you
It's not very great, but Eclipse with the android plugin has a visual mode where you can see a preview of your xml immediately. It won't give you 100% accuracy but it does definitely help with simple mistakes. Just open your layout xml in eclipse, and notice the two tabs at the bottom: one is for the xml text, the other for the visual representation of it. You have dropdown menus at the top to try your layout on different screen sizes and orientations.
I am in the process of putting together a little Android app. I have created a couple of widgets by extending the ImageView and ScrollView widgets. The problem that I am having is not with the code itself (i.e. everything runs wonderfully) but rather with the Eclipse "intellisense" in an XML layout. If I am using the native android widgets, I get the normal eclipse suggestions and all is well. However, as soon as I add a reference to my widget (i.e. ) I lose intellisense on my widget AND (more painfully) on all widgets below my widget. In other words, I don't get intellisense on a if it exists below my widget. Again....everything runs, there is no error anywhere, it just becomes insanely slow to program this way.
This is very frustrating as I don't remember all the attributes of the various controls.
Has anyone encountered this or have any suggestions on where to begin trying to solve this? I don't even know what the correct term in Eclipse to start looking at this. After 3 days looking off and on, I am at my wits end.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Try the new ADT 9.0.0 plugin. It has many improvements of the "visual editor". See the changelog here