There are two mainstream Android development environments:
1. Android Studio by Google
The first one sounds very professional just from the name, and it’s made by Google. It’s fairly stable now. However, due to certain conditions in our country, *.google.com is very hard to access, and it’s been getting worse recently. Android Studio is heavily dependent on network access. After downloading and using it, I found it inconvenient. For users with easy internet access, I recommend considering it. Domestic download link: http://www.android-studio.org/
2. Eclipse
Eclipse is currently a very popular IDE for Android development.
I recommend a very professional domestic website: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/
This website covers all the Android-related resources you’ll need.
The required setup is as follows:
Java
Official site: http://www.java.com/zh_CN/
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> JDK
Eclipse
Official site: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
Recommended: IDE For Java EE. Eclipse has different versions; I downloaded the latest one at the time, Mars.
ADT (Android Development Tools): Eclipse Plugin
Eclipse is a powerful, extensible, open-source IDE with many plugins. ADT is one of them.
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> ADT Plugin
How to install ADT:
- Download the latest rar archive to your local machine.
- Open Eclipse, go to Help -> Install New Software
- Click Archive, select the local archive, and set the Name to ADT.
After installing ADT, if these two icons don’t appear in Eclipse’s toolbar, go to Eclipse -> Window -> Perspective -> Customize Perspective and check the boxes. One icon manages the SDK and the other manages AVDs. AVD stands for Android Virtual Device - a simulated Android device.
- Select All, click Finish.
Android SDK-Tools
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> SDK Tools
Download and install to your chosen directory. The final directory size can be quite large, so make sure you have enough space.
In Eclipse -> Preferences, specify the SDK Location.
Android SDK
You can see my Location shows Android 4.3.1, but yours might not have anything. That’s because you need to install specific SDK packages.
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> SDK
Download the packages. I recommend downloading version 4.0.0 or later.
Copy the extracted folder into the Platforms folder inside your Android SDK-Tools directory. Create the folder if it doesn’t exist.
Android Build-Tools
These are the Build-Tools needed for Android development. Download and extract, then copy or move the entire extracted folder to your-sdk-path/build-tools.
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> Build-Tools
Android Platform-Tools
This is the package containing adb, fastboot, and other tools. Place the extracted platform-tools folder in the android sdk root directory, and add the directory containing adb to your system PATH so you can access adb, fastboot, and other tools directly from the command line.
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> Platform-Tools
Android SDK System-Images
These are the system images needed when creating emulators - they’re what you select for the CPU/ABI option when creating an emulator. Download and extract, then copy or move the entire extracted folder to your-sdk-path/system-images. If the system-images directory doesn’t exist, create it first. Then open SDK Manager, go to the Tools menu, select Options to open the Android SDK Manager Settings dialog, click Clear Cache, and restart Eclipse (or Android Studio) and SDK Manager.
Androiddevtools link: http://www.androiddevtools.cn/ Select Android SDK Tools -> System-Images
AVD
Create an AVD for debugging.
Click the AVD icon, then click Create. Configure it according to your needs.
Create a New HelloWorld Project
In Eclipse: File -> New -> Other -> Android Application Project, then keep clicking Next and Finish.
Here’s the result:
