Android – Environment Setup
Android supports java, c++, c# etc. language to develop android applications and Java is the officially supported language for android.
For creating android apps we need Java SDK and android studio to be installed in our system.
- Java SDK
- Android Studio
Java Development Kit(JDK)
Android SDK works on Java SE Development Kit(JDK). Therefore, first your system must have JDK installed if not download from oracle website from here.
www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-downloads.html
Android Studio
Next comes Android SDK and It contains libraries, debuggers, an emulator, sample codes and tutorials for each API level of the released versions of Android.
You can download the whole Android Development Environment bundle(Android Studio SDK) from the link given below.
https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads
Setup and Installation of Android Studio
Once you have finished installing JDK and it will downloading Android Studio IDE setup file, double click on the .exe file (setup file) of the Android Studio and it’ll prepare the file for setup, will ask you for the location where you want to install it as shown in image below.
Select an appropriate location and click on Next button.
Click on the Install button. It will start installing as shown below.
Click on Next button.
Android Studio has been installed directly and it is ready to use. Click on the finish button and then Android Studio will open.
Android Studio will automatically get the location of the Android SDK if it is in the same location as itself and if it fails to discover, then it’ll ask you to browse to the Android SDK’s location.
In the next tutorial, we will talk about the Android SDK manager and the additional packages required in the SDK manager to complete the android app development setup.
Android Software Development Kit (SDK) Manager – Download Required Tools & Packages
We talked about the required tools used for Android Application Development and also listed out steps to configure those tools onto our system. Now in this tutorial we’ll check on the Android SDK manager and how it is important for Android Application Development and what packages you require to download to start with android app development.
Generally when you launch an Android Studio for the very first time, it will open the Android SDK Manager window and then it will prompt you to install the required packages for android development. But if that does not happen, you can open the SDK Manager by going to Tools → Android → SDK Manager or click on the Open SDK Manager Icon icon in the Android Studio toolbar.
Launch your SDK Manager, it will get to see the list of currently installed items. It will also list all the new items & Updates available and some already installed for your system. From here, you can check the required Build tools, SDK Tools, Platform Tools, SDK Platforms, Samples for SDK, System Images (for AVD),, Sources for Android SDK and Extra Packages for your development and It requires internet connection to download the packages (most are of large size) so make sure you have one.
SDK Tools and Build-tools contain packages to build your Android Application and several updates/patches from Google for better Application Development and these are the important tools for app development.
This will open new window as shown in the image below, select the accept License radio button as shown below and then click on the Install Packages button in the lower right corner of the SDK Manager window, it will start download your selected packages. The installation will take some time, so request you to please be patient. You will be asked to restart the ADB when all packages get installed in your system.
This is all about the SDK Manager. In one line:
It lets you download your required Android Version Packages and Tools for Android App Development”.