First Application in Android Studio
Android
Studio:
Android
Studio is a new Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. Similar
to Eclipse with the ADT Plugin, Android Studio provides integrated Android
developer tools for development and debugging. On top of the capabilities you
expect from IntelliJ, Android Studio offers:
- Gradle-based build support.
- Android-specific refactoring and
quick fixes.
- Lint tools to catch performance,
usability, version compatibility and other problems.
- ProGuard and app-signing
capabilities.
- Template-based wizards to create
common Android designs and components.
- A rich layout editor that allows
you to drag-and-drop UI components, preview layouts on multiple screen
configurations, and much more.
Android
Studio Installation:
You can download Android
Studio from Google’s Developers’ following site.
Have
Execution Problem?
After following all the necessary steps to install Android Studio, you
are facing problem to run it? I faced problem and find solution which I wrote
at Android Studio not Starting Up After
Installation.
First step
towards Application
Open
Android Studio. Which will display following after initialization.
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You can see there are 6 tabs there.
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<![endif]>New Project
Use to create a new project which
android parameters
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<![endif]>Import
Project
Import Android projects from same or other work space.
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<![endif]>Open
Project
Open Projects from Directory
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<![endif]>Check out
from Version Control
If your Android Studio has configured with Sub-version, you can check-out it.
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<![endif]>Configure
Here you can do settings of plug-ins, import-export
settings and many more.
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<![endif]>Docs and
How-Tos
You will get help related Studio, tips, key map
reference etc.
Step 1:
Click on “New Project”
This will
open following screen. I have filled it with required information. So do so.
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When you fill your Application name, package name will be
like com.example.anstudapp in your
case, which I changed it with com.anstud.
You can change package name as per your requirement.
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<![endif]>Application
Name
The application name is shown in Play store, as well
as Manage Application list in settings.
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<![endif]>Module Name
Module name is used by only Android Studio IDE.
Generally module name is same as Application name.
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<![endif]>Package
name
Package name is unique identifier of your application.
Carefully choose while defining package name for real time application which
will uploaded to play store. Play Store will not accept different application
with same package name (which is defined in AndroidManifest.xml
file).
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<![endif]>Project
location
Select your work space where you want to put this
project inside.
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<![endif]>Minimum SDK
version
Choose lowest version of Android SDK supported by your
application.
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<![endif]>Target SDK
Version
Choose highest version of Android SDK supported by
your application. Target version is that Application is known to work with.
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<![endif]>Compile
with
Choose API to compile your Target SDK.
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<![endif]>Theme
Select Base theme of your application.
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<![endif]>Create
Custom Launcher Icon
If you like to define custom launcher icon in this
wizard, select this option
<![if !supportLists]>10) <![endif]>Create an Activity
If you like to create activity from default selection,
check this option.
<![if !supportLists]>11) <![endif]>Mark this project as a Library
If you are creating a library, you need to select this
option. This project will allow you to refer itself to other project.
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Step 2:
Click Next to Create custom launcher icon
If you have not selected this option in previous screen, you
are not able to define custom launcher icon and text in this wizard. Still you
can define manually after project creation.
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You can
also select “custom image” from Clipart.
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You can also select option “Text” to set launcher text
icon like following
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Step 3:
Click Next to Define Activity
This screen will let you select default sample activity like
Blank Activity, Full Screen Activity, and Master/Detail Activity etc. If you have
not selected this option in main screen, you are not able to select this
default activity. You need to define new activity in your package yourself.
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Step 4:
Click Next to Create Main Activity
Now, you are
at the last step to project creation. Give an Activity name in field, give
layout name and if you like to select navigation like “Fixed Tab + Swipe” etc
select option from drop down list.
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Now, click on “Finish”
button to complete this project wizard. This will next configure your new
project settings. If “Gradle” is not
installed in your disk, this will download all the dependencies before this. So
wait until set up is finished. If package can’t be downloaded, go to “Configuration” screen, and find “HTTP Proxy” and check whether your
internet connection is okay or not.
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Next
screen, after successfully configuration, will look like this.
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Here, you
can see that, our “MainActivity” is resided in “src/main/java/com.<package>/”. You can also see our resources structure. The layout file
which we defined in “wizard” is here in “src/main/res/layout”
directory.
When I open
this layout file, following screen will open. I have made some changes in
layout file.
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When you go
to “text view” of layout, you are
able to view the changes you are making in text file, and output will
immediately reflect to your design.
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This
Android Studio has one good facility called “Preview all screen Sizes”, which allow user to see the output of
current layout file with all the supported devices simulate output.
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You are
almost done with all the things. Now, as you code in Eclipse, same do here. Run
your project by selecting AVD or real device.
There are
so many features in this IDE, will explore in my next article.
Summary
In this
article, we learn how to create a new project using Android Studio’s Project
wizard with different parameters. We learn new feature about layout and project
structure.
