Easy steps to prepare your workstation for Android development

Today I write How to prepare someone his workstation for android development.

Supported Operating Systems

• Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit)

  Supported Development Environments

  Eclipse IDE

  • Eclipse 3.6 (Helios) or greater

    Note: Eclipse 3.5 (Galileo) is no longer supported with the latest version of ADT.

  • Eclipse JDT plugin (included in most Eclipse IDE packages)
  • If you need to install or update Eclipse, you can download it from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/.

    Several types of Eclipse packages are available for each platform. For developing Android applications, we recommend that you install one of these packages:

    • Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
    • Eclipse Classic
    • Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
  • JDK 5 or JDK 6 (JRE alone is not sufficient)
  • Android Development Tools plugin (recommended)

    Hardware requirements

    The Android SDK requires disk storage for all of the components that you choose to install. The table below provides a rough idea of the disk-space requirements to expect, based on the components that you plan to use.

    Component type	Approximate size	Comments
    SDK Tools	35 MB	Required.
    SDK Platform-tools	6 MB	Required.
    Android platform (each)	150 MB	At least one platform is required.
    SDK Add-on (each)	100 MB	Optional.
    USB Driver for Windows	10 MB	Optional. For Windows only.
    Samples (per platform)	10M	Optional.
    Offline documentation	250 MB	Optional.

    Note that the disk-space requirements above are in addition to those of the Eclipse IDE, JDK, or other prerequisite tools that you may need to install on your development computer.

    Hardware requirements

    The Android SDK requires disk storage for all of the components that you choose to install. The table below provides a rough idea of the disk-space requirements to expect, based on the components that you plan to use.

    Component type	Approximate size	Comments
    SDK Tools	35 MB	Required.
    SDK Platform-tools	6 MB	Required.
    Android platform (each)	150 MB	At least one platform is required.
    SDK Add-on (each)	100 MB	Optional.
    USB Driver for Windows	10 MB	Optional. For Windows only.
    Samples (per platform)	10M	Optional.
    Offline documentation	250 MB	Optional.

    Note that the disk-space requirements above are in addition to those of the Eclipse IDE, JDK, or other prerequisite tools that you may need to install on your development computer.The "Eclipse Classic" version is recommended. Otherwise, a Java or RCP version of Eclipse is recommended.

    Step 2. Downloading the SDK Starter Package

    The SDK starter package is not a full development environment—it includes only the core SDK Tools, which you can use to download the rest of the SDK components (such as the latest Android platform).

    If you haven't already, get the latest version of the SDK starter package from the SDK download page.

    If you downloaded a .zip or .tgz package (instead of the SDK installer), unpack it to a safe location on your machine. By default, the SDK files are unpacked into a directory namedandroid-sdk-.

    If you downloaded the Windows installer (.exe file), run it now and it will check whether the proper Java SE Development Kit (JDK) is installed (installing it, if necessary), then install the SDK Tools into a default location (which you can modify).

    Step 3. Installing the ADT Plugin for Eclipse

    Android offers a custom plugin for the Eclipse IDE, called Android Development Tools (ADT), that is designed to give you a powerful, integrated environment in which to build Android applications. It extends the capabilites of Eclipse to let you quickly set up new Android projects, create an application UI, debug your applications using the Android SDK tools, and even export signed (or unsigned) APKs in order to distribute your application. In general, developing in Eclipse with ADT is a highly recommended approach and is the fastest way to get started with Android.

    If you'd like to use ADT for developing Android applications, install it now. Read Installing the ADT Plugin for step-by-step installation instructions, then return here to continue the last step in setting up your Android SDK.

    Step 4. Adding Platforms and Other Components

    The last step in setting up your SDK is using the Android SDK and AVD Manager (a tool included in the SDK starter package) to download essential SDK components into your development environment.

    The SDK uses a modular structure that separates the major parts of the SDK—Android platform versions, add-ons, tools, samples, and documentation—into a set of separately installable components. The SDK starter package, which you've already downloaded, includes only a single component: the latest version of the SDK Tools. To develop an Android application, you also need to download at least one Android platform and the associated platform tools. You can add other components and platforms as well, which is highly recommended.

    If you used the Windows installer, when you complete the installation wizard, it will launch the Android SDK and AVD Manager with a default set of platforms and other components selected for you to install. Simply click Install to accept the recommended set of components and install them. You can then skip to Step 5, but we recommend you first read the section about the Available Components to better understand the components available from the Android SDK and AVD Manager.

    You can launch the Android SDK and AVD Manager in one of the following ways:

    • From within Eclipse, select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.
    • On Windows, double-click the SDK Manager.exe file at the root of the Android SDK directory.
    • To download components, use the graphical UI of the Android SDK and AVD Manager to browse the SDK repository and select new or updated components (see figure 1). The Android SDK and AVD Manager installs the selected components in your SDK environment. For information about which components you should download, see Recommended Components.

    • Next Steps

      Once you have completed installation, you are ready to begin developing applications. Here are a few ways you can get started:

      Set up the Hello World application

      • If you have just installed the SDK for the first time, go to the Hello World tutorial. The tutorial takes you step-by-step through the process of setting up your first Android project, including setting up an Android Virtual Device (AVD) on which to run the application.

      Following the Hello World tutorial is an essential first step in getting started with Android development.

    Now Enjoy your Hello world Application on your machine,I hope this tutorial is beneficial for you .

    Thanks: