Develop Reference

Android Projects: Organize Artwork and Sound with Version control

I've been working with Android for quite some time, yet I have never seen any good explanations for this issue.
I'm working on an app with a number of artwork and sound files. Many of these files are temporary, are base files that future work will evolve from, or are large versions that will be split into multiple files later. I want to keep them under version control with this project, and I'd like to keep everything in the same place on my hard drive.
But I don't want these "work" files to end up in my apk. They are often huge and have nothing to do with the final product.
For most of my life (ie, before Android), I would simply have a subdirectory within my project called art_work_files. And this directory would be subdivided into all the various tasks. And git is fine with this, especially for SVG files (it even properly notes differences and changes).
But when I put these files in my Android Studio project, I get concerned that the AS will think these are somehow important and keep references to them--possibly even adding them to jar or apk files.
Yes, I realize that the final versions of the art needs to go in the res/drawing/ directories (and similar for sound and other resources). And I'm happy to do this final copy.
Am I over-thinking this, or is there a better way to organize and still keep Android Studio happy?

Since no one has answered this question in 7 months, I'll submit my solution.
I have created a directory under the main directectory (same level as java and res) called assets. Git recognizes this directory and will notice any files that are added, removed, or changed. I'm fine with using git to handle binaries btw.
For each type of asset, I make another subdirectory. Here's what it looks like:
app ->
libs
src ->
main ->
assets ->
font
ogg
png
svg
java
res
...
This seems to work fine and keeps everyone happy. I'm still curious how other people do this; I welcome your comments and answers.

How do I move files in Android IDE

I'm using Android IDE to develop, and I need to move source files from one folder to another, but I can't seem to find a way to actually MOVE a file (even copy and delete in two steps would work).
Am I blind? This seems like a required feature of any IDE, and given how good Android IDE is, I find it shocking if this feature was overlooked.
NOTE: This question is NOT about Android Studio!

You are right. The (essential) feature to move files around is missing from Android IDE.
Workaround:
You can manipulate the files in any explorer. Your project files are placed in /sdcard/AppProjects/YourProject.
You can count on the fact that such a feature will not be missing for long.

I would download a file manager (I like root browser) and switch between the two apps as a temporary work around. That app is updated fairly often so I would also just shoot the developers a feature request. I am sure they would consider it essential as you do.

PREFACE: Use a file manager; this hack renames Java classes.
Rename, with the relative path as the new name.
Let's say I wanted to move file from /sdcard/A to /sdcard/B. I'd long-press on file, chose rename, and type the new destination as ../B/file.
This doesn't seem like deliberate feature, rather a side effect of blindly passing path strings to the underlying framework. Can't say I don't like it, although, I'd recommend using a proper file explorer app.

Right-mouse click on any element (folder, Class, or XML file) the click = 'cut'.
Right-mouse click on the folder where you would like the files to be moved to, and then select 'paste'.
This works the same as moving files in the file-system.
For the most part (depending on where you are moving to and from) you can just drag-and-drop your files to move them as well.

I often achieve this goal by simply drag and drop. And the IDE also takes care of all the refactoring stuff.

Android Eclipse - How to share an assets folder?

I have a number of different Android applications building in Eclipse / ADT that share common code and assets. Sharing the common source code folder is easy as I can use Link Source in the Build Path set-up. This works great.
These programs also share the content that's in the assets folder. At the moment I'm duplicating, which is a bit inelegant and error-prone.
Is it trivially possible to tell Eclipse / ADT to use a common assets folder in a similar way that it is trivial to have it share a source code folder? I can't find any similar option or tool.
Notes:
I am not looking for a 'library' solution (indeed that seems
fraught with issues anyway, and I did try that previously and hit
issues like this one). In any case that's less relevant for
assets, and I'm looking for simplicity.
It doesn't matter if the shared assets folder has to contain a
superset of the needs of all the applications.
Assets. Not "resources".
I'm using ADT version 22.2
For many complex reasons, symbolically linking the folders will not suffice. (You do not want to know the details. You'd never believe them anyway.)

Sharing the common source code folder is easy as I can use Link Source in the Build Path set-up
I would not count on that working over the long haul.
At the moment I'm duplicating, which is a bit inelegant and error-prone.
Alas, given your other restrictions, I suspect that it is your only option, though you could take some steps to reduce the error-prone aspect (e.g., script that synchronized the contents).
Long-term, Gradle for Android will be The One True Answer for all builds, Eclipse included. At that point, I expect your "Link Source" will break. However, at that time, you should be able to cut over to Gradle for your builds.
Gradle allows developers to override the default locations of all sorts of directories, including the assets directory. You should be able to set up a build.gradle file that points to some common location for the assets directory, overriding the default location that looks inside the project itself.
It's unclear why you think that symlinks/hardlinks will not work for you as a stopgap measure. You might wish to consider asking a separate StackOverflow question, explaining what you have tried and what problems you encountered with that technique, whether you think we will believe them or not.
Bear in mind that while Eclipse handles the javac step for the Android build, everything else is largely handled by external tools (e.g., aapt). Those will be oblivious to things that exist solely in Eclipse-land. Conversely, that's why symlinks/hardlinks should work, as from the standpoint of those tools, such items should be treated the same as actual files in the filesystem. Hence, the reason why "Link Source" works is not because Android really supports it, but that Android presently delegates that one piece of the build to Eclipse itself. Once Google adds Gradle for Android support for Eclipse (which I hope will be before the end of 2014), then I would expect Eclipse to be completely cut out of the build process, and I expect "Link Source" to fail at that point.

NetBeans and Android image

New to Android development and have decided to use NetBeans 6.9.1 as my IDE. So far the process has been somewhat painful, but I'm getting things rolling. However, I am creating an ImageView subclass for my first custom View and I can't figure out how to add my Box.png file to the project. Drag and Drop doesn't work, there are no right-click options to add a file to the Resources folder, no dropdown menus to add images, no way to add the image to a package. Could use some insight, thanks!

Just go to the project folder and copy the images you want into the res/drawable folder. The IDE helps you a lot with code completion, error checking, etc... but that simple task can be done by hand.
Then, you can reference your resources by using something like: R.drawable.image Notice that I'm not using the image extension. If you wonder what R is, let me give you a brief explanation:
Each resource that is saved in the resources directory is referenced in the R class. That's a file that is autogenerated by Android and it's used to reference those resources from your code. In this case, it will be in R.drawable.* since it's a drawable resource. There are other kind of resources, like layouts: R.layout.something or strings R.string.whatever. That's essential for the android development, so you better read some tutorials (or buy books) in order for you to get started.
So, in your case will be something like setImageDrawable(R.layout.wood); However, I highly recommend to read first a couple of tutorials. Google about it, you will find tons of them.

How to reference R.java of other apps in Android, like com.android.music?

I am trying to develop an app to supplement the built-in music player. I've used git to download the com.android.music package and looked around at its code. I can launch the music player by copying some of its code and launching activities with intents.
Now what I need to do is get a handle to its current view. In the MusicUtils.java file, I see a line that says
View nowPlayingView = a.findViewById(R.id.nowplaying);
I'd like to do the same thing. Only I don't have access to the R.java file, so I can't write e.g. R.id.nowplaying. How do I do this? How do I reference the music players R.java? I do know the R.java stuff is declared public so that shouldn't be a problem. Right?
Is it even possible? I saw this related question and am now wondering: How to load com.android.music code into Eclipse and compile?
Btw, I'm working against the Android 2.2 SDK, but it'd be helpful to know if the answer is different for older versions such as 1.5. Thanks.

You cannot get a handle on a View that is not in your process, even if you have access to the R class.

The R class is code generated by the Android plateform from the XML's resources files found in the /res directory of the project. It means you want to use the git repo where you got the MusicUtils.java and go to the root dir of the related project to look out in /res/layout/. You then have to find an XML layout file declaring the View having the id "nowplaying".
Copy this file into your own project 'res/layout' directory, and Android will compile a R class for you to access the R.id.nowplaying you miss so much.

You have the source code, so take the resources and build your own R file. Also, you can access android system resources by android.R.<type>.<name> as well.