AndroidMobileDevelopment

Android Mobile Development
I am starting to write this post as I wait for a bunch of
new packages to download and install from the Android SDK and AVD Manager. I’ll let you know
now that so far I’ve really liked working on the Android Development Platform – especially with
Air.
The tricky part isn’t writing the application. That part is easy and we know that part. The tricky
part is building the .apk package and testing the application on an emulator or other valid device.
So that is what I am going to write about, the tricky parts.
 - Managing the Android Development Environment
 - Building the Hello World Application in Flash Professional
 - Building the Hello World Application in Flash Builder
Once you read through these posts you’ll have an up and going Air for Android development
environment and an initial application to kick you off.

Starting these posts off I will add a few disclosers:
1. 1. I am not a fan of command line.
2. 2. I am not a fan of messing with the paths in my computer.
I am not a fan of command line
I just don’t like memorizing a ton of commands or having to go back and reference a ton of
commands and paths. One small path issue and BAM nothing works and you have to read
through a ton of mixed code to see where your problem is. Not fun.
I am not a fan of messing with the paths in my computer
Seems like every programming language I get into requires a bunch of path changes and if I move
computers now nothing works till I set it up. Not fun. I also fear screwing up my computer.
In case you like setting up paths or want to know how there is a guide provided by Adobe called
Developing AIR Apps for Android in the prerelease site. That PDF includes a section Setting the
path environment variable. Follow that guide.
Solution
I like using ANT. I can set up all my paths in ANT and ANT works directly into your continuous
integration environment. So if I move computers I can just set up my properties I’ll be good to go.
Finally the amo unt of commands to memorize goes WAY down or you can just look into the ANT
build file and see the available possible commands.
Expert tip!
You can always view the available targets in an ANT file in the command line by running the
following command.