Step by step guide to installing Java, Android SDK, and setting up Eclipse.

I see enough people with questions on setting up the sdk or eclipse or java or whatever so figured I'd make this its own post. Please note everything can be found here Android SDK | Android Developers and this is almost a copy/paste, but people keep asking so figured I'd answer :-)

This is everything you need to set up an environment to program Android apps. If any steps don't work or you still have problems feel free to ask questions.

JDK 6
Java JDK6

Google SDK (put it anywhere, i use C:\android-sdk\
http://dl.google.com/android/android...06-windows.zip

Eclipse (galileo distro, can use anyone you like really, just start here it's the most popular)
Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers | Eclipse Packages

ADT Plugin for Eclipse:
While in Eclipse go to "Help -> Install New Software". Click "Add" and copy in https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/ You should see Developer Tools pop in the the box. Check that and and click Next and go through the general install motions.

At this point you need to set up Eclipse to point to the Android SDK.
While in Eclipse go to "Window -> Preferences" and click on Android. Put in the location of where you unzipped the android SDK.

The last step should be setting up an emulator
While in Eclipse go to "Window -> Android SDK and AVD Manager". There's probably a device set up already, but you can click Add and add as many different devices as you want.

At this point you should have everything set up to start writing code and learning all the fun stuff like broadcast receivers and what the hell an adapter is.

If you don't know where to go from here check out the guides Google has.
Android FAQs | Android Developers

And buy some books on Java and Android: Wrox, Apress, and Commonsware put out excellent books. Commonsware has a yearly subscription ($40) where you get constant updates (and the entire book) in pdf form, with tons of sample code. Great resource.

You can also head over to the MotoDev site and download a whole kit. I did this yesterday and it looks as if the package might contain eclipse along with a whole lot of other additional goodies. I believe the only thing required was a quick sign up with email and a password.

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Originally Posted by MotoMike

You can also head over to the MotoDev site and download a whole kit. I did this yesterday and it looks as if the package might contain eclipse along with a whole lot of other additional goodies. I believe the only thing required was a quick sign up with email and a password.

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Yea the motodev suite is basically an eclipse package. I haven't installed it since I'm comfortable with Eclipse, but I haven't heard anything bad about it.

Eclipse is increasingly the standard for development so it's not a bad idea to get used to it. But nothing wrong with Moto's option.

The MotoDev package sets everything up for you, so you don't have to install everything separately. The one thing I didn't like is that you have to select your target version of the SDK, which can only be one SDK version. You can't install for instance the SDK for 2.1 and 2.2 and then create a new project for 2.1 and then another for 2.2. You can only select one SDK version to target.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CoolBreeze

The MotoDev package sets everything up for you, so you don't have to install everything separately. The one thing I didn't like is that you have to select your target version of the SDK, which can only be one SDK version. You can't install for instance the SDK for 2.1 and 2.2 and then create a new project for 2.1 and then another for 2.2. You can only select one SDK version to target.

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I guess ease of setup brings other drawbacks? :-) Eclipse is as versatile as it gets but does take a bit more to set up.

In the morning I'll add a peice about how to get set up for android dev on mac osx because I remember how hard it was for me originally. Lol I also remeber searching for a mac version of jdk and didn't know java came preinstalled. ;)

Not to steal glory, but you can also check out thenewboston's channel on youtube. He has like 10 videos explaining the installation of Java and teaches you it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by droid15

Lol I also remeber searching for a mac version of jdk and didn't know java came preinstalled. ;)

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:D It's preinstalled on out-of-the-box pc's too, if I remember correctly. Been A LONG time since I got a new computer.