Getting Started

Maven Repository

• Update: We deploy to Maven Central, so you don't need any repository configuration!

Setup your development environment

1. Install Sun JDK 1.5+
2. Install Android SDK 1.5_r2:

http://developer.android.com/sdk/1.5_r2/

3. Set environment variable ANDROID_SDK_15 to the path of your installed Android SDK.
4. If you look in the pom.xml of the samples* project you will find the following dependency.

  <dependency>
    <groupId>android</groupId>
    <artifactId>android</artifactId>
    <version>1.5_r2</version>
    <scope>provided</scope>
  </dependency>

This corresponds to the android.jar file in the Android SDK which is needed to compile all Android applications. Install this file to your local repository with the following command.

mvn install:install-file -DgroupId=android -DartifactId=android -Dversion=1.5_r2 -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=$ANDROID_SDK_15/platforms/android-1.5/android.jar

On Windows, that would be:

mvn install:install-file -DgroupId=android -DartifactId=android -Dversion=1.5_r2 -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=%ANDROID_SDK_15%/platforms/android-1.5/android.jar

Optional: Test your development environment

If you want to test your environment, download and run the Samples*.

Create your own Android application (apk)

1. Create a project using the android tool:
• http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/other-ide.html#CreatingAProject
2. Create a pom.xml in your project, using the sample apidemos-15/apidemos-15-app/pom.xml as template. (See Samples*.)
• Make these changes:
• Remove the entire <parent> tag.
• Change <groupId>, <artifactId> and <name> to your own. (Some tips: Maven - Guide to Naming Conventions)
3. Rename, and move the source directory to where Maven expects it:

     mv src java
     mkdir -p src/main
     mv java src/main/

or if you don't want to change the directory structure, just add "sourceDirectory

    <build>
    ......
    <sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory> 
    </build>

to pom.xml.

1. You won't need these files/directories with Maven Android Plugin, so you can remove them:

     rm -r bin build.xml build.properties libs

The default.properties file is currently not used by Maven Android Plugin, but will be, so leave that in place for now. default.properties and the gen folder are used by the ADT plugin in Eclipse, if you use that.

(Also leave the "test" folder for now. You can later move it out to its own project. If you want, you can then look at the apidemos-15-instrumentationtest sample project.)

2. To build your apk, simply:

     mvn install

3. To deploy your apk to the connected device:

     mvn com.jayway.maven.plugins.android.generation2:maven-android-plugin:deploy

^{Do you think that last Maven command was long? It was. Check out TipsAndTricks.}

Run instrumentation tests on device

Check out the apidemos-15-instrumentationtest project in Samples*.

You can create a project like that, by moving your "test" folder out and renaming it to for example "myproject-instrumentationtest". Then rearrange the folders within it like above, and use the pom.xml from apidemos-15-instrumentationtest as template.

More documentation

There is some more documentation on the Documentation page.

(*) Samples

Always use the version of samples linked from the Samples page, so that you get a usable version of its configuration.