is there a plugin for designing android layouts in photoshop? Creating android XML layouts is unnecessarily tedious (especially with having to type "android:" for every parameter, and typing out the layout parameters on every function when they might as well be auto-included when you begin the opening tag for that element), this is a factor of the tools available.
I'm sure people pride themselves in typing it out, but remember HTML elitists that brag about coding in notepad? Analogy: You CAN use a wrench a to drive a nail into wood, but there are better tools.
I imagine that photoshop's slice tool and html export tool could EASILY be configured to save for android XML, layers could be RelativeLayouts with the positioning intact. Has anybody done this already?
try this tool, not perfect, but usable:
http://www.droiddraw.org/
Why can't you use the ADT plugin in eclipse? The latest version released a few weeks ago includes a pretty good graphical editor.
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Regarding the upstream process of Android Apps Development, Wireframing, I am trying to find a way to export my wireframe (e.g. Mockplus) into usable items (xml) into my android studio.
Is it possible to do so with Mockplus or with other wireframing software(s)?
Unfortunately It is not possible But we can use css and java. These wireframe app reduce time for prototyping.
I am also looking for a design tool, where we can prototype and import as an android activity xml. Looks like there is no one as such. Tried mockplus, flinto, adobe xd none of these have that options. It is double the effort.
I wanted to create my own tool for android where i will change xml and that should reflect android ui side by side likewise what android studio and eclipse does.
Can someone tell me what android studio and eclipse uses to render ui from xml as shown in screenshot.
First off: it is not really clear what you want to achieve so I think I should ask some questions first.
- Do you want to create an add-on for an existing IDE?
- Do you want to create an Android Application?
- Do you want to create an IDE similar to Android Studio/ Eclipse?
Answer: If you want to create your own IDE then you need to implement the parsers and preview using 2D drawing. The tools AndroidStudio or Eclipse use to display the XML Views are part of the IDE. As far as I know there is no tool that will display your XML preview as they do. Follow the next instructions in order to implement that part.
But regardless of the answer to any of the questions above, here are some directions.
Since you need to know what kind of content you're using, you should start with an xml parser. How to do that can be found here.
Next step would be to actually draw the Views hierarchy somewhere. For that you need a basic 2D drawing knowledge, and you can start here
Access the resources for different platform and draw them to your window, using processed xml information and Android specific images. You can access the Android specific resources (images) for different platform, through the AOSP here
I hope i managed to point out some directions.
This is a complex thing to do:
One and only solution , Making the compiler for XML, If there are openSource XML parser for java Use them.
If there are not any I am afraid you have to make your own.
unity can do it for you its funny but you can do it with unity you can make android native views like button and ... in as objects in unity and load xml for adding views in right place,its so hard but possible and intresting
I'm just starting out in app development and have a board game concept that I would like to visualize before coding it.
Which free ware would you recommend that I use and then afterwards maybe even port assets and other resources to my Eclipse Android IDE?
The key thing for me right now is to have a tool I can use to make and see the game :-O
If it happens to generate simple java code,that'd be great ;-)
If it's a plugin editor for eclipse that'd be superb :-)
And lastly has anyone ever used Java Ascii Versatile Editor for this purpose?
BTW there's a fantastic eclipse free hand drawing resource called Sketch currently in development.
Have you tried Google's AppInventor?
I'm not quite sure what you mean with the term "visualize"
If you are refering to graphics - maybe with some animations - than inkscape might be a good tool. It creates vector graphics as SVG (which allows scripting for simple animations).
SVG also has the advantage that you can render it easily to PNG at various resolutions.
I am new to android.
As I know, an android app used xml to construct the gui.
Is there a tool to create the gui xml from a visual drag & drop editor?
Have a go with Google App Inventor.
App Inventor only output .apk file. Is there a way to output the XML layout?
DroidDraw you give some help. But not quite easy to use. It can only produce some basic structure.
Well, there's the gui builder in eclipse, which is useful in a few cases. Although, your better of just making the XML yourself, and doing the fine tweaking in the gui editor.
There is droid draw, but from my experience with relative layouts it fails to properly build the xml.
There is also app inventor, but I haven't tried it though so I don't know how well it works.
If your looking for something that is as nice as the iPhone's gui builder, from my experience anyway, your out of luck. Roll up your sleeves and start hacking out xml. (Or java code if you want to write 10x as much). Sorry to have to tell you that.
I'm not looking for a mock up tool, I'm looking for a reasonable GUI design tool for the final product in the style of Apple's Interface Builder. Droid Draw is buggy, out of date and inaccurate in my experience. Using the Eclipse plug in to do a complex layout makes going to the dentist seem fun. I'd even settle for hand-coding CSS pixel coordinates over the current model. Is the solution found here: http://andrdev.blogspot.com/2010/01/gui-designer.html the best, or have one of you ninjas found something else? If there is an actively developed project that isn't ready for show yet, I'd like to know that as well.
I don't see why you'd want something like this (especially the tool you posted a link to). That would mean learning a whole new language just to use that tool. Why not learn the XML definitions directly? Yes, it's a relatively steep learning curve but once you're up to speed you'll see it's great. Also, doing XML by hand will allow you to optimize your layouts a lot (there are a few articles out there on how to do that).
As to the Eclipse plugin, I find it quite awesome, although I never use it directly. I don't add/remove/edit elements with it. I write my XML code and then test it with the plugin so I don't have to recompile the app > upload it on the emulator > run the app > go through all the activities to get to the one I'm editing right now, just to see that I need to add a little more padding.
Also, in general, it's best to use the tools you are given. Third party tools are very likely to become outdated, discontinued, deprecated, ...
In conclusion: do it the right way. Write your XML by hand. Use the Eclipse plugin as a convenience tool.