Install Eclipse SDK and create the Virtual Device

Now let's see where to find the tools listed in the previous chapter, how to install and how to perform the necessary configuration in order to test our applications on the simulator.

Download and install Eclipse

First we go to download the Eclipse development IDE available at the following page: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ . As we can see, the linked page, there are several versions of Eclipse. This is because there is, for example, an Eclipse IDE for software development in C + + or to develop web applications in PHP. For our purposes it is necessary to download the version of Eclipse for the Java language called Eclipse IDE for Java Developers.

Given that the site recognizes that we are using the operating system will automatically display the version of the software we need. Have downloaded the software, you must unzip the downloaded folder and launch the Eclipse executable without being prompted to install anything.

Download and install the SDK

At this point aside for a moment Eclipse and go to download the Android SDK at the following link: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html . As we can see, the linked page, there is an SDK for Windows, a Linux and a Mac at this point simply choose the appropriate SDK for your operating system to start the download package.

Downloading the SDK will run rather quickly as the size of the zipped folder is around 20 megs.

After the download you need to unzip the folder and open it to go to install the SDK. If you are working on Windows have to click on the Setup.exe file, and if we are using Linux or Mac tools we need to access the folder and then click on the file Android.
At this point you will get a screen and the menu on the left side, click Avaible Packages. At this point, in the center window will appear with a link on the left ckeckbox. Before you check the box and install the packages we understand what we're going to install by clicking on the triangle next to the link.

As you can see there are both SDK and API for versions older than the current one. And 'possible to avoid installing previous versions, but as we said before, these are very useful to test the compatibility of our applications and therefore it is advisable to install them.

Ticked all the checkboxes, simply click on the Install Selected to start the actual installation.

The installation of all packages will require a little 'time and once completed, simply click on the item to find Installed Packages, the list of installed packages, the ones we had previously selected.

Create the Virtual Device

When properly installed the SDK we can do is create a virtual device to enable Eclipse, when we launch our application, the simulator to load correctly for a virtual device created.
So we click on the item Virtual Device: of course then there is no virtual device, it is therefore necessary to create one by clicking on New. In the window that opens you will be asked to enter a name for the virtual device and select the target field, the version of Android (select the most recent, ie 2.2).
We finish the creation process by clicking on AVD created.

• <<Previous Lesson
• Help Index
• Next Lesson>>