Android Studio OverviewIn this document1. Project and File
Structure2. Android Build System3. Debug and Performance4.
Installation, Setup, and Update Management5. Other HighlightsSee
also1. IntelliJ FAQ on migrating to IntelliJ IDEAAndroid Studio is
the official IDE for Android application development, based on
IntelliJ IDEA. On top of the capabilities you expect from IntelliJ,
Android Studio offers: Flexible Gradle-based build system Build
variants and multiple apk file generation Code templates to help
you build common app features Rich layout editor with support for
drag and drop theme editing Lint tools to catch performance,
usability, version compatibility, and other problems ProGuard and
app-signing capabilities Built-in support for Google Cloud
Platform, making it easy to integrate Google Cloud Messaging and
App Engine And much moreDownload Android Studio now. If you're new
to Android Studio or the IntelliJ IDEA interface, this page
provides an introduction to some key Android Studio features.For
specific Android Studio how-to documentation, see the pages in the
Workflow section, such as Managing Projects from Android Studio and
Building and Running from Android Studio.Project and File
Structure
Android Project ViewBy default, Android Studio displays your
profile files in the Android project view. This view shows a
flattened version of your project's structure that provides quick
access to the key source files of Android projects and helps you
work with the new Gradle-based build system. The Android project
view: Groups the build files for all modules at the top level of
the project hierarchy. Shows the most important source directories
at the top level of the module hierarchy. Groups all the manifest
files for each module. Shows resource files from all Gradle source
sets. Groups resource files for different locales, orientations,
and screen types in a single group per resource type.
Figure 1. Show the Android project view.
Figure 2. Project Build Files.The Android project view shows all
the build files at the top level of the project hierarchy under
Gradle Scripts. Each project module appears as a folder at the top
level of the project hierarchy and contains these three elements at
the top level: java/ - Source files for the module. manifests/ -
Manifest files for the module. res/ - Resource files for the
module.For example, Android project view groups all the instances
of the ic_launcher.png resource for different screen densities
under the same element.Note: The project structure on disk differs
from this flattened representation. To switch to back the
segregated project view, select Project from the Project New
Project and Directory StructureWhen you use the Project view of a
new project in Android Studio, you should notice that the project
structure appears different than you may be used to in Eclipse.
Each instance of Android Studio contains a project with one or more
application modules. Each application module folder contains the
complete source sets for that module, including src/main and
src/androidTest directories, resources, build file and the Android
manifest. For the most part, you will need to modify the files
under each module's src/main directory for source code updates, the
gradle.build file for build specification and the files under
src/androidTest directory for test case creation.
Figure 3. Android Studio project structureFor more information,
see IntelliJ project organization and Managing Projects.Creating
new filesYou can quickly add new code and resource files by
clicking the appropriate directory in the Project pane and pressing
ALT + INSERT on Windows and Linux or COMMAND + N on Mac. Based on
the type of directory selected, Android Studio offers to create the
appropriate file type.For example, if you select a layout
directory, press ALT + INSERT on Windows, and select Layout
resource file, a dialog opens so you can name the file (you can
exclude the .xml suffix) and choose a root view element. The editor
then switches to the layout design editor so you can begin
designing your layout.Android Build System
Android Build SystemThe Android build system is the toolkit you
use to build, test, run and package your apps. This build system
replaces the Ant system used with Eclipse ADT. It can run as an
integrated tool from the Android Studio menu and independently from
the command line. You can use the features of the build system to:
Customize, configure, and extend the build process. Create multiple
APKs for your app with different features using the same project
and modules. Reuse code and resources across source sets.The
flexibility of the Android build system enables you to achieve all
of this without modifying your app's core source files. To build an
Android Studio project, see Building and Running from Android
Studio. To configure custom build settings in an Android Studio
project, see Configuring Gradle Builds.Application ID for Package
Identification With the Android build system, the applicationId
attribute is used to uniquely identify application packages for
publishing. The application ID is set in the android section of the
build.gradle file. apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
android { compileSdkVersion 19 buildToolsVersion "19.1"
defaultConfig { applicationId "com.example.my.app" minSdkVersion
15 targetSdkVersion 19 versionCode 1 versionName "1.0" } ... Note:
The applicationId is specified only in your build.gradle file, and
not in the AndroidManifest.xml file.When using build variants, the
build system enables you to to uniquely identify different packages
for each product flavors and build types. The application ID in the
build type is added as a suffix to those specified for the product
flavors. productFlavors { pro { applicationId =
"com.example.my.pkg.pro" } free { applicationId =
"com.example.my.pkg.free" } }
buildTypes { debug { applicationIdSuffix ".debug" } } .... The
package name must still be specified in the manifest file. It is
used in your source code to refer to your R class and to resolve
any relative activity/service registrations.
package="com.example.app"> Note: If you have multiple manifests
(for exmample, a product flavor specific manifest and a build type
manifest), the package name is optional in those manifests. If it
is specified in those manifests, the package name must be identical
to the package name specified in the manifest in the src/main/
folder. For more information about the build files and process, see
Build System Overview.Debug and Performance
Android Virtual Device (AVD) ManagerAVD Manager has updated
screens with links to help you select the most popular device
configurations, screen sizes and resolutions for your app
previews.Click the Android Virtual Device Manager in the toolbar to
open it and create new virtual devices for running your app in the
emulator.The AVD Manager comes with emulators for Nexus 6 and Nexus
9 devices and also supports creating custom Android device skins
based on specific emulator properties and assigning those skins to
hardware profiles. Android Studio installs the Intel x86 Hardware
Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM) emulator accelerator and
creates a default emulator for quick app prototyping.For more
information, see Managing AVDs.Memory MonitorAndroid Studio
provides a memory monitor view so you can more easily monitor your
app's memory usage to find deallocated objects, locate memory leaks
and track the amount of memory the connected device is using. With
your app running on a device or emulator, click the Memory Monitor
tab in the lower right corner to launch the memory monitor.
Figure 4. Memory MonitorNew Lint inspectionsLint has several new
checks to ensure: Cipher.getInstance() is used with safe values In
custom Views, the associated declare-styleable for the custom view
uses the same base name as the class name. Security check for
fragment injection. Where ever property assignment no longer works
as expected. Gradle plugin version is compatible with the SDK.
Right to left validation Required API version many othersHovering
over a Lint error displays the full issue explanation inline for
easy error resolution. There is also a helpful hyperlink at the end
of the error message for additional error information.With Android
Studio, you can run Lint for a specific build variant, or for all
build variants. You can configure Lint by adding a lintOptions
property to the Android settings in the build.gradle file. android
{ lintOptions { // set to true to turn off analysis progress
reporting by lint quiet true // if true, stop the gradle build if
errors are found abortOnError false // if true, only report errors
ignoreWarnings true For more information, see Improving Your Code
with Lint.Dynamic layout previewAndroid Studio allows you to work
with layouts in both a Design View
Figure 5. Hello World App with Design Viewand a Text View.
Figure 6. Hello World App with Text ViewEasily select and preview
layout changes for different device images, display densities, UI
modes, locales, and Android versions (multi-API version
rendering).
Figure 7. API Version RenderingFrom the Design View, you can
drag and drop elements from the Palette to the Preview or Component
Tree. The Text View allows you to directly edit the XML settings,
while previewing the device display. Log messagesWhen you build and
run your app with Android Studio, you can view adb and device log
messages (logcat) in the DDMS pane by clicking Android at the
bottom of the window.If you want to debug your app with the Android
Debug Monitor, you can launch it by clicking Monitor in the
toolbar. The Debug Monitor is where you can find the complete set
of DDMS tools for profiling your app, controlling device behaviors,
and more. It also includes the Hierarchy Viewer tools to help
optimize your layouts.Installation, Setup, and Update
Management
Android Studio installation and setup wizardsAn updated
installation and setup wizards walk you through a step-by-step
installation and setup process as the wizard checks for system
requirements, such as the Java Development Kit (JDK) and available
RAM, and then prompts for optional installation options, such as
the Intel HAXM emulator accelerator.An updated setup wizard walks
you through the setup processes as the wizard updates your system
image and emulation requirements, such GPU, and then creates an
optimized default Android Virtual Device (AVD) based on Android 5
(Lollipop) for speedy and reliable emulation.
Figure 8. Setup WizardExpanded template and form factor
supportAndroid Studio supports new templates for Google Services
and expands the availabe device types. Android Wear and TV
supportFor easy cross-platform development, the Project Wizard
provides new templates for creating your apps for Android Wear and
TV.
Figure 9. New Form FactorsDuring app creation, the Project
Wizard also displays an API Level dialog to help you choose the
best minSdkVersion for your project.Google App Engine integration
(Google Cloud Platform/Messaging)Quick cloud integration. Using
Google App Engine to connect to the Google cloud and create a cloud
end-point is as easy as selecting File > New Module > App
Engine Java Servlet Module and specifying the module, package, and
client names.
Figure 10. Setup WizardUpdate channelsAndroid Studio provides
four update channels to keep Android Studio up-to-date based on
your code-level preference: Canary channel: Canary builds provide
bleeding edge releases, updated about weekly. While these builds do
get tested, they are still subject to bugs, as we want people to
see what's new as soon as possible. This is not recommended for
production. Dev channel: Dev builds are hand-picked older canary
builds that survived the test of time. They are updated roughly
bi-weekly or monthly. Beta channel: Beta builds are used for
beta-quality releases before a production release. Stable channel:
Used for stable, production-ready versions.By default, Android
Studio uses the Stable channel. Use File > Settings > Updates
to change your channel setting. Other Highlights
Translation EditorMulti-language support is enhanced with the
Translation Editor plugin so you can easily add locales to the
app's translation file. Color codes indicate whether a locale is
complete or still missing string translations. Also, you can use
the plugin to export your strings to the Google Play Developer
Console for translation, then download and import your translations
back into your project. To access the Translation Editor, open a
strings.xml file and click the Open Editor link.
Figure 11. Translation EditorEditor support for the latest
Android APIsAndroid Studio supports the new Material Design themes,
widgets, and graphics, such as shadow layers and API version
rendering (showing the layout across different UI versions). Also,
the new drawable XML tags and attributes, such as and , are
supported.Easy access to Android code samples on GitHubClicking
Import Samples from the File menu or Welcome page provides seamless
access to Google code samples on GitHub.
Figure 12. Code Sample AccessExcept as noted, this content is
licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5. For details and
restrictions, see the Content License. About Android| Legal|
Support
Android Studio Tips and TricksIn this document1. Productivity
Features2. Working with IntelliJ3. Key CommandsSee also1. Download
Android Studio2. IntelliJ IDEA Android Tutorials3. IntelliJ FAQ on
migrating to IntelliJ IDEAIf you're unfamiliar with using Android
Studio and the IntelliJ IDEA interface, this page provides some
tips to help you get started with some of the most common tasks and
productivity enhancements. Productivity Features
Android Studio includes a number of features to help you be more
productive in your coding. This section notes a few of the key
features to help you work quickly and efficiently. Smart
RenderingWith smart rendering, Android Studio displays links for
quick fixes to rendering errors. For example, if you add a button
to the layout without specifying the width and height atttributes,
Android Studio displays the rendering message Automatically add all
missing attributs. Clicking the message adds the missing attributes
to the layout.Bitmap rendering in the debuggerWhile debugging, you
can now right-click on bitmap variables in your app and invoke View
Bitmap. This fetches the associated data from the debugged process
and renders the bitmap in the debugger.
Figure 1. Bitmap RenderingOutput window message filteringWhen
checking build results, you can filter messages by message type to
quickly locate messages of interest.
Figure 2. Filter Build MessagesHierarchical parent settingThe
activity parent can now be set in the Activity Wizard when creating
a new activity. Setting a hierarchal parent sets the Up button to
automatically appear in the app's Action bar when viewing a child
activity, so the Up button no longer needs to be manually specified
in the menu.xml file.Creating layoutsAndroid Studio offers an
advanced layout editor that allows you to drag-and-drop widgets
into your layout and preview your layout while editing the
XML.While editing in the Text view, you can preview the layout on
devices by opening the Preview pane available on the right side of
the window. Within the Preview pane, you can modify the preview by
changing various options at the top of the pane, including the
preview device, layout theme, platform version and more. To preview
the layout on multiple devices simultaneously, select Preview All
Screen Sizes from the device drop-down.
Figure 3. Preview All ScreensYou can switch to the graphical
editor by clicking Design at the bottom of the window. While
editing in the Design view, you can show and hide the widgets
available to drag-and-drop by clicking Palette on the left side of
the window. Clicking Designer on the right side of the window
reveals a panel with a layout hierarchy and a list of properties
for each view in the layout.Working with IntelliJ
This section list just a few of the code editing practices you
should consider using when creating Android Studio apps. For
complete user documentation for the IntelliJ IDEA interface (upon
which Android Studio is based), refer to the IntelliJ IDEA
documentation.External annotationsSpecify annotations within the
code or from an external annotation file. The Android Studio IDE
keeps track of the restrictions and validates compliance, for
example setting the data type of a string as not null.Alt + Enter
key bindingFor quick fixes to coding errors, the IntelliJ powered
IDE implements the Alt + Enter key binding to fix errors (missing
imports, variable assignments, missing references, etc) when
possible, and if not, suggest the most probable solution. Ctrl + D
key bindingThe Ctrl + D key binding is great for quickly
duplicating code lines or fragments. Simply select the desired line
or fragment and enter this key binding. Navigate menuIn case you're
not familiar with an API class, file or symbol, the Navigate menu
lets you jump directly to the class of a method or field name
without having to search through individual classes. Inspection
scopesScopes set the color of code segments for easy code
identification and location. For example, you can set a scope to
identify all code related to a specific action bar. External
annotationsSpecify annotations within the code or from an external
annotation file. The Android Studio IDE keeps track of the
restrictions and validates compliance, for example setting the data
type of a string as not null.Injecting languagesWith language
injection, the Android Studio IDE allows you to work with islands
of different languages embedded in the source code. This extends
the syntax, error highlighting and coding assistance to the
embedded language. This can be especially useful for checking
regular expression values inline, and validating XML and SQL
statments.Code foldingThis allows you to selectively hide and
display sections of the code for readability. For example, resource
expressions or code for a nested class can be folded or hidden in
to one line to make the outer class structure easier to read. The
inner clas can be later expanded for updates. Image and color
previewWhen referencing images and icons in your code, a preview of
the image or icon appears (in actual size at different densities)
in the code margin to help you verify the image or icon reference.
Pressing F1 with the preview image or icon selected displays
resource asset details, such as the dp settings. Quick F1
documentationYou can now inspect theme attributes using View >
Quick Documentation (F1), see the theme inheritance hierarchy, and
resolve values for the various attributes.If you invoke View >
Quick Documentation (usually bound to F1) on the theme attribute
?android:textAppearanceLarge, you will see the theme inheritance
hierarchy and resolved values for the various attributes that are
pulled in.New Allocation Tracker integration in the Android/DDMS
windowYou can now inspect theme attributes using View > Quick
Documentation F1, see the theme inheritance hierarchy, and resolved
values for the various attributes.
Figure 4. Allocation TrackerKeyboard CommandsThe following
tables list keyboard shortcuts for common operations.Note: This
section lists Android Studio keyboard shortcuts for the default
keymap. To change the default keymap on Windows and Linux, go to
File > Settings > Keymap. To change the default keymap on Mac
OS X, go to Android Studio > Preferences > Keymap.Note: If
you're using Mac OS X, update your keymap to use the Mac OS X 10.5+
version keymaps under Android Studio > Preferences >
Keymap.Table 1. Programming key commandsActionAndroid Studio Key
Command
Command look-up (autocomplete command name)CTRL + SHIFT + A
Project quick fixALT + ENTER
Reformat codeCTRL + ALT + L (Win)OPTION + CMD + L (Mac)
Show docs for selected APICTRL + Q (Win)F1 (Mac)
Show parameters for selected methodCTRL + P
Generate methodALT + Insert (Win)CMD + N (Mac)
Jump to sourceF4 (Win)CMD + down-arrow (Mac)
Delete lineCTRL + Y (Win)CMD + Backspace (Mac)
Search by symbol nameCTRL + ALT + SHIFT + N (Win)OPTION + CMD +
O (Mac)
Table 2. Project and editor key commandsActionAndroid Studio Key
Command
BuildCTRL + F9 (Win)CMD + F9 (Mac)
Build and runSHIFT + F10 (Win)CTRL + R (Mac)
Toggle project visibilityALT + 1 (Win)CMD + 1 (Mac)
Navigate open tabsALT + left-arrow; ALT + right-arrow (Win)CTRL
+ left-arrow; CTRL + right-arrow (Mac)
For a complete keymap reference guide, see the IntelliJ IDEA
documentation.Except as noted, this content is licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5. For details and restrictions, see
the Content License. About Android| Legal| Support
Developer WorkflowTo develop apps for Android, you use a set of
tools that are included in Android Studio. In addition to using the
tools from Android Studio, you can also access most of the SDK
tools from the command line. Developing with Android Studio is the
preferred method because it can directly invoke the tools that you
need while developing applications.However, you may choose to
develop with another IDE or a simple text editor and invoke the
tools on the command line or with scripts. This is a less
streamlined way to develop because you will sometimes have to call
command line tools manually, but you will have access to the same
number of features that you would have in Android Studio.
Figure 1. The development process for Android applications. App
Workflow
The basic steps for developing applications (with or without
Android Studio) are shown in figure 1. The development steps
encompass four development phases, which include: Environment Setup
During this phase you install and set up your development
environment. You also create Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) and
connect hardware devices on which you can install your
applications.See Managing Virtual Devices and Using Hardware
Devices for more information. Project Setup and Development During
this phase you set up and develop your Android Studio project and
application modules, which contain all of the source code and
resource files for your application. For more information, see
Create an Android project. Building, Debugging and Testing During
this phase you build your project into a debuggable .apk package(s)
that you can install and run on the emulator or an Android-powered
device. Android Studio uses a build system based on Gradle that
provides flexibility, customized build variants, dependency
resolution, and much more. If you're using another IDE, you can
build your project using Gradle and install it on a device using
adb. For more information, see Build and run your application.Next,
with Android Studio you debug your application using the Android
Debug Monitor and device log messages (logact) along with the
IntelliJ IDEA intelligent coding features. You can also use a
JDWP-compliant debugger along with the debugging and logging tools
that are provided with the Android SDK. For more information see
Debug your application with the SDK debugging and logging
tools.Last, you test your application using various Android SDK
testing tools. For more information, see Test your application with
the Testing and Instrumentation framework. Publishing During this
phase you configure and build your application for release and
distribute your application to users. For more information, see
Publishing Overview.Essential command line tools
When developing in IDEs or editors other than Android Studio, be
familiar with all of the tools below, because you will have to run
them from the command line or script.androidCreate and update
Android projects and create, move, and delete AVDs.Android
EmulatorRun your Android applications on an emulated Android
platform.Android Debug BridgeInterface with your emulator or
connected device (install apps, shell the device, issue commands,
etc.).In addition to the above tools that are included with the
SDK, you need the following open source and third-party
tools:Gradle To compile and build your Android project into an
installable .apk file(s).KeytoolTo generate a keystore and private
key, used to sign your .apk file. Keytool is part of the
JDK.Jarsigner (or similar signing tool)To sign your .apk file with
a private key generated by Keytool. Jarsigner is part of the JDK.If
you are using Android Studio, tools such as adb and android are
automatically called by Android Studio so you don't have to
manually invoke these tools. You need to be familiar with adb,
however, because certain functions are not accessible from Android
Studio, such as the adb shell commands. You might also need to call
Keytool and Jarsigner to sign your applications, but you can set up
Android Studio to do this automatically as well.For more
information on the tools provided with the Android SDK, see the
Tools section of the documentation.Except as noted, this content is
licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5. For details and
restrictions, see the Content License. About Android| Legal|
Support
Managing Virtual DevicesAn Android Virtual Device (AVD) is an
emulator configuration that lets you model an actual device by
defining hardware and software options to be emulated by the
Android Emulator.The easiest way to create an AVD is to use the
graphical AVD Manager, which you launch from Eclipse by clicking
Window > AVD Manager. You can also start the AVD Manager from
the command line by calling the android tool with the avd options,
from the /tools/ directory.You can also create AVDs on the command
line by passing the android tool options. For more information on
how to create AVDs in this manner, see Managing Virtual Devices
from the Command Line.An AVD consists of: A hardware profile:
Defines the hardware features of the virtual device. For example,
you can define whether the device has a camera, whether it uses a
physical QWERTY keyboard or a dialing pad, how much memory it has,
and so on. A mapping to a system image: You can define what version
of the Android platform will run on the virtual device. You can
choose a version of the standard Android platform or the system
image packaged with an SDK add-on. Other options: You can specify
the emulator skin you want to use with the AVD, which lets you
control the screen dimensions, appearance, and so on. You can also
specify the emulated SD card to use with the AVD. A dedicated
storage area on your development machine: the device's user data
(installed applications, settings, and so on) and emulated SD card
are stored in this area.You can create as many AVDs as you need,
based on the types of device you want to model. To thoroughly test
your application, you should create an AVD for each general device
configuration (for example, different screen sizes and platform
versions) with which your application is compatible and test your
application on each one.Keep these points in mind when you are
selecting a system image target for your AVD: The API Level of the
target is important, because your application will not be able to
run on a system image whose API Level is less than that required by
your application, as specified in the minSdkVersion attribute of
the application's manifest file. For more information about the
relationship between system API Level and application
minSdkVersion, see Specifying Minimum System API Version. You
should create at least one AVD that uses a target whose API Level
is greater than that required by your application, because it
allows you to test the forward-compatibility of your application.
Forward-compatibility testing ensures that, when users who have
downloaded your application receive a system update, your
application will continue to function normally. If your application
declares a uses-library element in its manifest file, the
application can only run on a system image in which that external
library is present. If you want to run your application on an
emulator, create an AVD that includes the required library.
Usually, you must create such an AVD using an Add-on component for
the AVD's platform (for example, the Google APIs Add-on contains
the Google Maps library).To learn how to manage AVDs using a
graphical tool, read Managing AVDs with AVD Manager. To learn how
to manage AVDs on the command line, read Managing AVDs from the
Command Line.Managing AVDs with AVD ManagerIn this document1.
Creating an AVD 1. Creating a device definition2. Hardware
options2. Creating Emulator SkinsThe AVD Manager is a tool you can
use to create and manage Android virtual devices (AVDs), which
define device configurations for the Android Emulator.To launch the
AVD Manager: In Android Studio, select Tools > Android > AVD
Manager, or click the AVD Manager icon in the toolbar. Or, use the
command line to navigate to your SDK's tools/ directory and
execute: $ android avdThe AVD Manager main screen shows your
current virtual devices, as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1. The AVD Manager main screen shows your current virtual
devices.Note: If you launch the AVD Manager from the command line,
the UI is different than how it appears in Android Studio, as
documented here. Most of the same functionality is available, but
the command-line version of the AVD Manager is currently not
documented.Creating an AVD
You can create as many AVDs as you would like to use with the
Android Emulator. To effectively test your app, you should create
an AVD that models each device type for which you have designed
your app to support. For instance, you should create an AVD for
each API level equal to and higher than the minimum version you've
specified in your manifest tag.To create an AVD based on an
existing device definition:1. From the main screen (figure 1),
click Create Virtual Device.2. In the Select Hardware window,
select a device configuration, such as Nexus 6, then click
Next.
Figure 2. The Select Hardware window.3. Select the desired
system version for the AVD and click Next. 4. Verify the
configuration settings, then click Finish. If necessary, click Show
Advanced Settings to select a custom skin for the hardware profile
and adjust other hardware settings.To launch the AVD in the Android
Emulator, click the launch button in the list of AVDs.Creating a
device definitionIn case the available device definitions do not
match the device type you'd like to emulate, you can create a
custom device definition for your AVD:1. From the main screen
(figure 1), click Create Virtual Device.2. To begin you custom
device by using an existing device profile as a template, select a
device profile then click Clone Device. Or, to start from scratch,
click New Hardware Profile.3. The following Configure Hardware
Profile window (figure 3) allows you to specify various
configurations such as the screen size, memory options, input type,
and sensors.When you're done configuring the device, click
Finish.
Figure 3. The Configure Hardware window when creating a custom
device configuration.4. Your custom device configuration is now
available in the list of device definitions (shown after you click
Create Virtual Device). To continue preparing an AVD with your
custom device configuration, select the new configuration and
follow the instructions above to create an AVD with an existing
device definition (and select your new definition).Hardware
optionsIf you are creating a new AVD, you can specify the following
hardware options for the AVD to
emulate:CharacteristicDescriptionProperty
Device ram sizeThe amount of physical RAM on the device, in
megabytes. Default value is "96".hw.ramSize
Touch-screen supportWhether there is a touch screen or not on
the device. Default value is "yes".hw.touchScreen
Trackball supportWhether there is a trackball on the device.
Default value is "yes".hw.trackBall
Keyboard supportWhether the device has a QWERTY keyboard.
Default value is "yes".hw.keyboard
DPad supportWhether the device has DPad keys. Default value is
"yes".hw.dPad
GSM modem supportWhether there is a GSM modem in the device.
Default value is "yes".hw.gsmModem
Camera supportWhether the device has a camera. Default value is
"no".hw.camera
Maximum horizontal camera pixelsDefault value is
"640".hw.camera.maxHorizontalPixels
Maximum vertical camera pixelsDefault value is
"480".hw.camera.maxVerticalPixels
GPS supportWhether there is a GPS in the device. Default value
is "yes".hw.gps
Battery supportWhether the device can run on a battery. Default
value is "yes".hw.battery
AccelerometerWhether there is an accelerometer in the device.
Default value is "yes".hw.accelerometer
Audio recording supportWhether the device can record audio.
Default value is "yes".hw.audioInput
Audio playback supportWhether the device can play audio. Default
value is "yes".hw.audioOutput
SD Card supportWhether the device supports insertion/removal of
virtual SD Cards. Default value is "yes".hw.sdCard
Cache partition supportWhether we use a /cache partition on the
device. Default value is "yes".disk.cachePartition
Cache partition sizeDefault value is
"66MB".disk.cachePartition.size
Abstracted LCD densitySets the generalized density
characteristic used by the AVD's screen. Default value is
"160".hw.lcd.density
Creating Emulator Skins
An Android emulator skin is a collection of files that define
the visual and control elements of an emulator display. If the skin
definitions available in the AVD settings don't meet your needs,
you can create your own custom skin definition, then apply it to
your AVD from the advanced settings on the Verify Configuration
screen.Each emulator skin contains: A hardware.ini file Layout
files for supported orientations (landscape, portrait) and physical
configuration Image files for display elements, such as background,
keys and buttonsTo create and use a custom skin:1. Create a new
directory where you will save your skin configuration files. 2.
Define the visual appearance of the skin in a text file named
layout. This file defines many characteristics of the skin, such as
the size and image assets for specific buttons. For example: parts
{ device { display { width 320 height 480 x 0 y 0 } }
portrait { background { image background_port.png }
buttons { power { image button_vertical.png x 1229 y 616 } } }
...}3. Add the bitmap files of the device images in the same
directory.4. Specify additional hardware-specific device
configurations an hardware.ini file for the device settings, such
as hw.keyboard and hw.lcd.density.5. Archive the files in the skin
folder and select the archive file as a custom skin. For more
detailed information about creating emulator skins, see the Android
Emulator Skin File Specification in the tools source code.Managing
AVDs from the Command LineIn this document1. Listing Targets2.
Creating AVDs 1. Customize the device resolution or density2.
Default location of AVD files3. Setting hardware emulation
options3. Moving an AVD4. Updating an AVD5. Deleting an AVDSee
also1. Building and Running from the Command Line2. Using the
Android EmulatorThe android tool lets you manage AVDs on the
command line. For a complete reference of the command line options
that you can use, see the reference for the android tool.Listing
Targets
To generate a list of system image targets, use this command:
android list targetsThe android tool scans the /platforms/ and
/add-ons/ directories looking for valid system images and then
generates the list of targets. Here's an example of the command
output: Available Android targets:id: 1 or "android-3" Name:
Android 1.5 Type: Platform API level: 3 Revision: 4 Skins: QVGA-L,
HVGA-L, HVGA (default), HVGA-P, QVGA-Pid: 2 or "android-4" Name:
Android 1.6 Type: Platform API level: 4 Revision: 3 Skins: QVGA,
HVGA (default), WVGA800, WVGA854id: 3 or "android-7" Name: Android
2.1-update1 Type: Platform API level: 7 Revision: 2 Skins: QVGA,
WQVGA400, HVGA (default), WVGA854, WQVGA432, WVGA800id: 4 or
"android-8" Name: Android 2.2 Type: Platform API level: 8 Revision:
2 Skins: WQVGA400, QVGA, WVGA854, HVGA (default), WVGA800,
WQVGA432id: 5 or "android-9" Name: Android 2.3 Type: Platform API
level: 9 Revision: 1 Skins: HVGA (default), WVGA800, WQVGA432,
QVGA, WVGA854, WQVGA400Creating AVDs
In addition to creating AVDs with the AVD Manager user
interface, you can also create them by passing in command line
arguments to the android tool. Open a terminal window and change to
the /tools/ directory, if needed.To create each AVD, you issue the
command android create avd, with options that specify a name for
the new AVD and the system image you want to run on the emulator
when the AVD is invoked. You can specify other options on the
command line also, such as the emulated SD card size, the emulator
skin, or a custom location for the user data files.Here's the
command-line usage for creating an AVD: android create avd -n -t [-
] ... You can use any name you want for the AVD, but since you are
likely to be creating multiple AVDs, you should choose a name that
lets you recognize the general characteristics offered by the AVD.
The target ID is an integer assigned by the android tool. The
target ID is not derived from the system image name, version, or
API Level, or other attribute, so you need to run the android list
targets command to list the target ID of each system image. You
should do this before you run the android create avd command. See
the android tool documentation for more information on the command
line options.When you've selected the target you want to use and
made a note of its ID, use the android create avd command to create
the AVD, supplying the target ID as the -t argument. Here's an
example that creates an AVD with name "my_android1.5" and target ID
"2" (the standard Android 1.5 system image in the list above):
android create avd -n my_android1.5 -t 2If the target you selected
was a standard Android system image ("Type: platform"), the android
tool next asks you whether you want to create a custom hardware
profile. Android 1.5 is a basic Android platform.Do you wish to
create a custom hardware profile [no]If you want to set custom
hardware emulation options for the AVD, enter "yes" and set values
as needed. If you want to use the default hardware emulation
options for the AVD, just press the return key (the default is
"no"). The android tool creates the AVD with name and system image
mapping you requested, with the options you specified. For more
information, see Setting Hardware Emulation Options. Note: If you
are creating an AVD whose target is an SDK add-on, the android tool
does not allow you to set hardware emulation options. It assumes
that the provider of the add-on has set emulation options
appropriately for the device that the add-on is modeling, and so
prevents you from resetting the options. Customize the device
resolution or densityWhen testing your application, we recommend
that you test your application in several different AVDs, using
different screen configurations (different combinations of size and
density). In addition, you should set up the AVDs to run at a
physical size that closely matches an actual device.To set up your
AVDs for a specific resolution or density, follow these steps:1.
Use the create avd command to create a new AVD, specifying the
--skin option with a value that references either a default skin
name (such as "WVGA800") or a custom skin resolution (such as
240x432). Here's an example: android create avd -n -t --skin
WVGA8002. To specify a custom density for the skin, answer "yes"
when asked whether you want to create a custom hardware profile for
the new AVD.3. Continue through the various profile settings until
the tool asks you to specify "Abstracted LCD density"
(hw.lcd.density). Enter an appropriate value, such as "120" for a
low-density screen, "160" for a medium density screen, or "240" for
a high-density screen.4. Set any other hardware options and
complete the AVD creation.In the example above (WVGA medium
density), the new AVD will emulate a 5.8" WVGA screen.As an
alternative to adjusting the emulator skin configuration, you can
use the emulator skin's default density and add the -dpi-device
option to the emulator command line when starting the AVD. For
example:emulator -avd WVGA800 -scale 96dpi -dpi-device 160Default
location of AVD filesWhen you create an AVD, the android tool
creates a dedicated directory for it on your development computer.
The directory contains the AVD configuration file, the user data
image and SD card image (if available), and any other files
associated with the device. Note that the directory does not
contain a system image instead, the AVD configuration file contains
a mapping to the system image, which it loads when the AVD is
launched. The android tool also creates an .ini file for the AVD at
the root of the .android/avd/ directory on your computer. The file
specifies the location of the AVD directory and always remains at
the root the .android directory.By default, the android tool
creates the AVD directory inside ~/.android/avd/ (on Linux/Mac),
C:\Documents and Settings\\.android\ on Windows XP, and
C:\Users\\.android\ on Windows 7 and Vista. If you want to use a
custom location for the AVD directory, you can do so by using the
-p option when you create the AVD: android create avd -n
my_android1.5 -t 2 -p path/to/my/avdIf the .android directory is
hosted on a network drive, we recommend using the -p option to
place the AVD directory in another location. The AVD's .ini file
remains in the .android directory on the network drive, regardless
of the location of the AVD directory. Setting hardware emulation
optionsWhen you are creating a new AVD that uses a standard Android
system image ("Type: platform"), the android tool lets you set
hardware emulation options for virtual device. The table below
lists the options available and the default values, as well as the
names of properties that store the emulated hardware options in the
AVD's configuration file (the config.ini file in the AVD's local
directory). Table 1. Available hardware profile options for AVDs
and the default values CharacteristicDescriptionProperty
Device ram sizeThe amount of physical RAM on the device, in
megabytes. Default value is "96". hw.ramSize
Touch-screen supportWhether there is a touch screen or not on
the device. Default value is "yes".hw.touchScreen
Trackball support Whether there is a trackball on the device.
Default value is "yes".hw.trackBall
Keyboard supportWhether the device has a QWERTY keyboard.
Default value is "yes".hw.keyboard
DPad supportWhether the device has DPad keys. Default value is
"yes".hw.dPad
GSM modem supportWhether there is a GSM modem in the device.
Default value is "yes".hw.gsmModem
Camera supportWhether the device has a camera. Default value is
"no".hw.camera
Maximum horizontal camera pixelsDefault value is
"640".hw.camera.maxHorizontalPixels
Maximum vertical camera pixelsDefault value is
"480".hw.camera.maxVerticalPixels
GPS supportWhether there is a GPS in the device. Default value
is "yes".hw.gps
Battery supportWhether the device can run on a battery. Default
value is "yes".hw.battery
AccelerometerWhether there is an accelerometer in the device.
Default value is "yes".hw.accelerometer
Audio recording supportWhether the device can record audio.
Default value is "yes".hw.audioInput
Audio playback supportWhether the device can play audio. Default
value is "yes".hw.audioOutput
SD Card supportWhether the device supports insertion/removal of
virtual SD Cards. Default value is "yes".hw.sdCard
Cache partition supportWhether we use a /cache partition on the
device. Default value is "yes".disk.cachePartition
Cache partition sizeDefault value is
"66MB".disk.cachePartition.size
Abstracted LCD densitySets the generalized density
characteristic used by the AVD's screen. Default value is
"160".hw.lcd.density
Trackball supportWhether there is a trackball
present.hw.trackBall
Moving an AVD
If you want to move or rename an AVD, you can do so using this
command:android move avd -n [- ] ...Updating an AVD
If, for any reason, the platform/add-on root folder has its name
changed (maybe because the user has installed an update of the
platform/add-on) then the AVD will not be able to load the system
image that it is mapped to. In this case, the android list targets
command will produce this output: The following Android Virtual
Devices could not be loaded: Name: foo Path: /.android/avd/foo.avd
Error: Invalid value in image.sysdir. Run 'android update avd -n
foo' To fix this error, use the android update avd command to
recompute the path to the system images.Deleting an AVD
You can use the android tool to delete an AVD. Here is the
command usage:android delete avd -n When you issue the command, the
android tool looks for an AVD matching the specified name deletes
the AVD's directory and files. Using the EmulatorIn this document1.
Overview2. Android Virtual Devices and the Emulator3. Starting and
Stopping the Emulator4. Installing Applications on the Emulator5.
Using Hardware Acceleration 1. Configuring Graphics Acceleration2.
Configuring Virtual Machine Acceleration6. SD Card Emulation 1.
Creating an SD card image2. Copying files to an SD card image3.
Loading an SD card image7. Working with Emulator Disk Images 1.
Default image files2. Runtime images: user data and SD card3.
Temporary images8. Emulator Networking 1. Network Address Space2.
Local Networking Limitations3. Using Network Redirection4.
Configuring the Emulator's DNS Settings5. Using the Emulator with a
Proxy6. Interconnecting Emulator Instances7. Sending a Voice Call
or SMS to Another Emulator Instance9. Using the Emulator Console 1.
Port Redirection2. Geo Location Provider Emulation3. Hardware
Events Emulation4. Device Power Characteristics5. Network Status6.
Network Delay Emulation7. Network Speed Emulation8. Telephony
Emulation9. SMS Emulation10. VM State11. Emulator Window12.
Terminating an Emulator Instance10. Emulator Limitations11.
Troubleshooting Emulator ProblemsSee also1. Android Emulator2.
Managing AVDs with AVD ManagerThe Android SDK includes a virtual
mobile device emulator that runs on your computer. The emulator
lets you prototype, develop and test Android applications without
using a physical device. The Android emulator mimics all of the
hardware and software features of a typical mobile device, except
that it cannot place actual phone calls. It provides a variety of
navigation and control keys, which you can "press" using your mouse
or keyboard to generate events for your application. It also
provides a screen in which your application is displayed, together
with any other active Android applications.
To let you model and test your application more easily, the
emulator utilizes Android Virtual Device (AVD) configurations. AVDs
let you define certain hardware aspects of your emulated phone and
allow you to create many configurations to test many Android
platforms and hardware permutations. Once your application is
running on the emulator, it can use the services of the Android
platform to invoke other applications, access the network, play
audio and video, store and retrieve data, notify the user, and
render graphical transitions and themes. The emulator also includes
a variety of debug capabilities, such as a console from which you
can log kernel output, simulate application interrupts (such as
arriving SMS messages or phone calls), and simulate latency effects
and dropouts on the data network.Overview
The Android emulator is an application that provides a virtual
mobile device on which you can run your Android applications. It
runs a full Android system stack, down to the kernel level, that
includes a set of preinstalled applications (such as the dialer)
that you can access from your applications. You can choose what
version of the Android system you want to run in the emulator by
configuring AVDs, and you can also customize the mobile device skin
and key mappings. When launching the emulator and at runtime, you
can use a variety of commands and options to control its behavior.
The Android system images available through the Android SDK Manager
contain code for the Android Linux kernel, the native libraries,
the Dalvik VM, and the various Android packages (such as the
Android framework and preinstalled applications). The emulator
provides dynamic binary translation of device machine code to the
OS and processor architecture of your development machine.The
Android emulator supports many hardware features likely to be found
on mobile devices, including: An ARMv5 CPU and the corresponding
memory-management unit (MMU) A 16-bit LCD display One or more
keyboards (a Qwerty-based keyboard and associated Dpad/Phone
buttons) A sound chip with output and input capabilities Flash
memory partitions (emulated through disk image files on the
development machine) A GSM modem, including a simulated SIM Card A
camera, using a webcam connected to your development computer.
Sensors like an accelerometer, using data from a USB-connected
Android device.The following sections describe the emulator and its
use for development of Android applications in more detail.Android
Virtual Devices and the Emulator
To use the emulator, you first must create one or more AVD
configurations. In each configuration, you specify an Android
platform to run in the emulator and the set of hardware options and
emulator skin you want to use. Then, when you launch the emulator,
you specify the AVD configuration that you want to load. Each AVD
functions as an independent device, with its own private storage
for user data, SD card, and so on. When you launch the emulator
with an AVD configuration, it automatically loads the user data and
SD card data from the AVD directory. By default, the emulator
stores the user data, SD card data, and cache in the AVD
directory.To create and manage AVDs you use the AVD Manager UI or
the android tool that is included in the SDK. For complete
information about how to set up AVDs, see Managing Virtual
Devices.Starting and Stopping the Emulator
During development and testing of your application, you install
and run your application in the Android emulator. You can launch
the emulator as a standalone application from a command line, or
you can run it from within your Android Studio development
environment. In either case, you specify the AVD configuration to
load and any startup options you want to use, as described in this
document. You can run your application on a single instance of the
emulator or, depending on your needs, you can start multiple
emulator instances and run your application in more than one
emulated device. You can use the emulator's built-in commands to
simulate GSM phone calling or SMS between emulator instances, and
you can set up network redirection that allows emulators to send
data to one another. For more information, see Telephony Emulation,
SMS Emulation, and Emulator NetworkingTo start an instance of the
emulator from the command line, navigate to the tools/ folder of
the SDK. Enter emulator command like this: emulator -avd []This
initializes the emulator, loads an AVD configuration and displays
the emulator window. For more information about command line
options for the emulator, see the Android Emulator tool
reference.Note: You can run multiple instances of the emulator
concurrently, each with its own AVD configuration and storage area
for user data, SD card, and so on.When you run your app from
Android Studio, it installs and launches the app on your connected
device or emulator (launching the emulator, if necessary). You can
specify emulator startup options in the Run/Debug dialog, in the
Target tab. When the emulator is running, you can issue console
commands as described later in this document.If you are not working
in Android Studio, see Installing Applications on the Emulator for
information about how to install your application.To stop an
emulator instance, just close the emulator's window.For a reference
of the emulator's startup commands and keyboard mapping, see the
Android Emulator tool reference.Installing Applications on the
Emulator
If you don't have access to Android Studio, you can install your
application on the emulator using the adb utility. Before
installing the application, you need to build and package it into
an .apk as described in Building and Running Apps. Once the
application is installed, you can start the emulator from the
command line as described previously, using any startup options
necessary. When the emulator is running, you can also connect to
the emulator instance's console to issue commands as needed.As you
update your code, you periodically package and install it on the
emulator. The emulator preserves the application and its state data
across restarts, in a user-data disk partition. To ensure that the
application runs properly as you update it, you may need to delete
the emulator's user-data partition. To do so, start the emulator
with the -wipe-data option. For more information about the
user-data partition and other emulator storage, see Working with
Emulator Disk Images.Using Hardware Acceleration
In order to make the Android emulator run faster and be more
responsive, you can configure it to take advantage of hardware
acceleration, using a combination of configuration options,
specific Android system images and hardware drivers.Configuring
Graphics AccelerationCaution: As of SDK Tools Revision 17, the
graphics acceleration feature for the emulator is experimental; be
alert for incompatibilities and errors when using this feature.
Graphics acceleration for the emulator takes advantage of your
development computer's graphics hardware, specifically its graphics
processing unit (GPU), to make screen drawing faster. To use the
graphics acceleration feature, you must have the following versions
of the Android development tools installed: Android SDK Tools,
Revision 17 or higher Android SDK Platform API 15, Revision 3 or
higherUse the Android SDK Manager to install these components:Note:
Not all applications are compatible with graphics hardware
acceleration. In particular, the Browser application and
applications using the WebView component are not compatible with
graphics acceleration.To configure an AVD to use graphics
acceleration:1. Make sure you have the required SDK components
installed (listed above).2. Start the AVD Manager and create a new
AVD with the Target value of Android 4.0.3 (API Level 15), revision
3 or higher.3. If you want to have graphics acceleration enabled by
default for this AVD, in the Hardware section, click New, select
GPU emulation and set the value to Yes. Note: You can also enable
graphics acceleration when you start an emulator using command line
options as describe in the next section.4. Name the AVD instance
and select any other configuration options. Caution: Do not select
the Snapshot: Enabled option. Snapshots are not supported for
emulators with graphics acceleration enabled.5. Click Create AVD to
save the emulator configuration.If you set GPU emulation to Yes for
your AVD, then graphics acceleration is automatically enabled when
you run it. If you did not enable GPU emulation when you created
the AVD, you can still enable it at runtime.To enable graphics
acceleration at runtime for an AVD: If you are running the emulator
from the command line, just include the -gpu on option: emulator
-avd -gpu onNote: You must specify an AVD configuration that uses
Android 4.0.3 (API Level 15, revision 3) or higher system image
target. Graphics acceleration is not available for earlier system
images. If you are running the emulator from Android Studio, run
your Android application using an AVD with the -gpu on option
enabled: 1. In Android Studio, click your Android application
module folder and then select Run > Edit Configurations...2. In
the left panel of the Run/Debug Configurations dialog, select your
Android run configuration or create a new configuration.3. Under
the Target Device options, select the AVD you created in the
previous procedure.4. In the Emulator tab, in the Additional
command line options field, enter:-gpu on5. Run your Android
project using this run configuration.Configuring Virtual Machine
AccelerationCaution: As of SDK Tools Revision 17, the virtual
machine acceleration feature for the emulator is experimental; be
alert for incompatibilities and errors when using this feature.Many
modern CPUs provide extensions for running virtual machines (VMs)
more efficiently. Taking advantage of these extensions with the
Android emulator requires some additional configuration of your
development system, but can significantly improve the execution
speed. Before attempting to use this type of acceleration, you
should first determine if your development systems CPU supports one
of the following virtualization extensions technologies: Intel
Virtualization Technology (VT, VT-x, vmx) extensions AMD
Virtualization (AMD-V, SVM) extensions (only supported for
Linux)The specifications from the manufacturer of your CPU should
indicate if it supports virtualization extensions. If your CPU does
not support one of these virtualization technologies, then you
cannot use virtual machine acceleration.Note: Virtualization
extensions are typically enabled through your computer's BIOS and
are frequently turned off by default. Check the documentation for
your system's motherboard to find out how to enable virtualization
extensions.Once you have determined that your CPU supports
virtualization extensions, make sure you can work within these
additional requirements of running an emulator inside an
accelerated virtual machine: x86 AVD Only - You must use an AVD
that is uses an x86 system image target. AVDs that use ARM-based
system images cannot be accelerated using the emulator
configurations described here. Not Inside a VM - You cannot run a
VM-accelerated emulator inside another virtual machine, such as a
VirtualBox or VMWare-hosted virtual machine. You must run the
emulator directly on your system hardware. Other VM Drivers - If
you are running another virtualization technology on your system
such as VirtualBox or VMWare, you may need to unload the driver for
that virtual machine hosting software before running an accelerated
emulator. OpenGL Graphics - Emulation of OpenGL ES graphics may not
perform at the same level as an actual device.To use virtual
machine acceleration with the emulator, you need the following
version of Android development tools. Use the Android SDK Manager
to install these components: Android SDK Tools, Revision 17 or
higher Android x86-based system imageIf your development
environment meets all of the requirements for running a
VM-accelerated emulator, you can use the AVD Manager to create an
x86-based AVD configuration:1. In the Android SDK Manager, make
sure you have an x86-based System Image installed for your target
Android version. If you do not have an x86 System Image installed,
select one in the Android SDK Manager and install it. Tip: System
images are listed under each API Level in the SDK Manager. An x86
system image may not be available for all API levels.2. Start the
AVD Manager and create a new AVD with an x86 value for the CPU/ABI
field. You may need to select a specific Target value, or select a
Target value and then select a specific CPU/ABI option.3. Name the
emulator instance and select any other configuration options.4.
Click Create AVD to save the emulator configuration.Configuring VM
Acceleration on WindowsVirtual machine acceleration for Windows
requires the installation of the Intel Hardware Accelerated
Execution Manager (Intel HAXM). The software requires an Intel CPU
with Virtualization Technology (VT) support and one of the
following operating systems: Windows 7 (32/64-bit) Windows Vista
(32/64-bit) Windows XP (32-bit only)To install the virtualization
driver:1. Start the Android SDK Manager, select Extras and then
select Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager.2. After the
download completes, execute
/extras/intel/Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager/IntelHAXM.exe.3.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation.4. After
installation completes, confirm that the virtualization driver is
operating correctly by opening a command prompt window and running
the following command: sc query intelhaxmYou should see a status
message including the following information:SERVICE_NAME: intelhaxm
... STATE : 4 RUNNING ...To run an x86-based emulator with VM
acceleration: If you are running the emulator from the command
line, just specify an x86-based AVD: emulator -avd Note: You must
provide an x86-based AVD configuration name, otherwise VM
acceleration will not be enabled. If you are running the emulator
from Android Studio, run your Android application with an x86-based
AVD: 1. In Android Studio, click your Android project folder and
then select Run > Edit Configurations...2. In the left panel of
the Run/Debug Configurations dialog, select your Android run
configuration or create a new configuration.3. Under the Target
Device options, select the x86-based AVD you created previously.4.
Run your Android project using this run configuration.You can
adjust the amount of memory available to the Intel HAXM kernel
extension by re-running its installer.You can stop using the
virtualization driver by uninstalling it. Re-run the installer or
use the Control Panel to remove the software.Configuring VM
Acceleration on MacVirtual machine acceleration on a Mac requires
the installation of the Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution
Manager (Intel HAXM) kernel extension to allow the Android emulator
to make use of CPU virtualization extensions. The kernel extension
is compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6.0) and
higher.To install the Intel HAXM kernel extension:1. Start the
Android SDK Manager, select Extras and then select Intel Hardware
Accelerated Execution Manager. 2. After the download completes,
execute
/extras/intel/Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager/IntelHAXM.dmg.3.
Double click the IntelHAXM.mpkg icon to begin installation.4.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation.5. After
installation completes, confirm that the new kernel extension is
operating correctly by opening a terminal window and running the
following command: kextstat | grep intelYou should see a status
message containing the following extension name, indicating that
the kernel extension is loaded:com.intel.kext.intelhaxmTo run an
x86-based emulator with VM acceleration: If you are running the
emulator from the command line, just specify an x86-based AVD:
emulator -avd Note: You must provide an x86-based AVD configuration
name, otherwise VM acceleration will not be enabled. If you are
running the emulator from Andriod Studio, run your Android
application with an x86-based AVD: 1. In Android Studio, click your
Android module folder and then select Run > Edit
Configurations...2. In the left panel of the Run/Debug
Configurations dialog, select your Android run configuration or
create a new configuration.3. Under the Target Device options,
select the x86-based AVD you created previously.4. Run your Android
project using this run configuration.You can adjust the amount of
memory available to the Intel HAXM kernel extension by re-running
the installer.You can stop using the virtualization kernel driver
by uninstalling it. Before removing it, shut down any running x86
emulators. To unload the virtualization kernel driver, run the
following command in a terminal window:sudo
/System/Library/Extensions/intelhaxm.kext/Contents/Resources/uninstall.shConfiguring
VM Acceleration on LinuxLinux-based systems support virtual machine
acceleration through the KVM software package. Follow instructions
for installing KVM on your Linux system, and verify that KVM is
enabled. In addition to following the installation instructions, be
aware of these configuration requirements: Running KVM requires
specific user permissions, make sure you have sufficient
permissions according to the KVM installation instructions. If you
use another virtualization technology in your Linux platform,
unload its kernel driver before running the x86 emulator. For
example, the VirtualBox driver program is vboxdrv.To run an
x86-based emulator with VM acceleration: If you are running the
emulator from the command line, start the emulator with an
x86-based AVD and include the KVM options: emulator -avd -qemu -m
512 -enable-kvmNote: You must provide an x86-based AVD
configuration name, otherwise VM acceleration will not be enabled.
If you are running the emulator from Android Studio, run your
Android application with an x86-based AVD and include the KVM
options: 1. In Android Studio, click your Android module folder and
then select Run > Edit Configurations...2. In the left panel of
the Run/Debug Configurations dialog, select your Android run
configuration or create a new configuration.3. Under the Target
Device options, select the x86-based AVD you created previously.4.
In the Emulator tab, in the Additional command line options field,
enter: -qemu -m 512 -enable-kvm5. Run your Android project using
this run configuration.Important: When using the -qemu command line
option, make sure it is the last parameter in your command. All
subsequent options are interpreted as qemu-specific parameters.SD
Card Emulation
You can create a disk image and then load it to the emulator at
startup, to simulate the presence of a user's SD card in the
device. To do this, you can specify an SD card image when you
create an AVD, or you can use the mksdcard utility included in the
SDK.The following sections describe how to create an SD card disk
image, how to copy files to it, and how to load it in the emulator
at startup. Note that you can only load a disk image at emulator
startup. Similarly, you can not remove a simulated SD card from a
running emulator. However, you can browse, send files to, and
copy/remove files from a simulated SD card either with adb or the
emulator. The emulator supports emulated SDHC cards, so you can
create an SD card image of any size up to 128 gigabytes.Creating an
SD card imageThere are several ways of creating an SD card image.
The easiest way is to use the AVD Manager to create a new SD card
by specifying a size when you create an AVD. You can also use the
android command line tool when creating an AVD. Just add the -c
option to your command: android create avd -n -t -c [K|M]The -c
option can also be used to to specify a path to an SD card image
for the new AVD. For more information, see Managing Virtual Devices
from the Command Line. You can also use the mksdcard tool, included
in the SDK, to create a FAT32 disk image that you can load in the
emulator at startup. You can access mksdcard in the tools/
directory of the SDK and create a disk image like this: mksdcard
For example:mksdcard 1024M sdcard1.isoFor more information, see
mksdcard.Copying files to an SD card imageOnce you have created the
disk image, you can copy files to it prior to loading it in the
emulator. To copy files, you can mount the image as a loop device
and then copy the files to it, or you can use a utility such as
mtools to copy the files directly to the image. The mtools package
is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows.Alternatively, you can use
the adb push command to move files onto an SD card image while it
is loaded in an emulator. For more information see the adb push
documentation.Loading an SD card imageBy default, the emulator
loads the SD card image that is stored with the active AVD (see the
-avd startup option).Alternatively, you can start the emulator with
the -sdcard flag and specify the name and path of your image
(relative to the current working directory): emulator -sdcard
Working with Emulator Disk Images
The emulator uses mountable disk images stored on your
development machine to simulate flash (or similar) partitions on an
actual device. For example, it uses a disk image containing an
emulator-specific kernel, the Android system, a ramdisk image, and
writeable images for user data and simulated SD card.To run
properly, the emulator requires access to a specific set of disk
image files. By default, the Emulator always looks for the disk
images in the private storage area of the AVD in use. If no images
exist there when the Emulator is launched, it creates the images in
the AVD directory based on default versions stored in the SDK.
Note: The default storage location for AVDs is in ~/.android/avd on
OS X and Linux, C:\Documents and Settings\\.android\ on Windows XP,
and C:\Users\\.android\ on Windows Vista.To let you use alternate
or custom versions of the image files, the emulator provides
startup options that override the default locations and filenames
of the image files. When you use one of these options, the emulator
searches for the image file under the image name or location that
you specify; if it can not locate the image, it reverts to using
the default names and location.The emulator uses three types of
image files: default image files, runtime image files, and
temporary image files. The sections below describe how to override
the location/name of each type of file. Default image filesWhen the
emulator launches, but does not find an existing user data image in
the active AVD's storage area, it creates a new one from a default
version included in the SDK. The default user data image is
read-only. The image files are read-only.The emulator provides the
-system startup option to let you override the location where the
emulator looks for the default user data image. The emulator also
provides a startup option that lets you override the name of the
default user data image, as described in the following table. When
you use the option, the emulator looks in the default directory, or
in a custom location (if you specified -system ).
NameDescriptionComments
userdata.imgThe initial user-data disk imageOverride using
-initdata . Also see -data , below.
Runtime images: user data and SD cardAt runtime, the emulator
reads and writes data to two disk images: a user-data image and
(optionally) an SD card image. These images emulate the user-data
partition and removable storage media on actual device. The
emulator provides a default user-data disk image. At startup, the
emulator creates the default image as a copy of the system
user-data image (user-data.img), described above. The emulator
stores the new image with the files of the active AVD.The emulator
provides startup options to let you override the actual names and
storage locations of the runtime images to load, as described in
the following table. When you use one of these options, the
emulator looks for the specified file(s) in the current working
directory, in the AVD directory, or in a custom location (if you
specified a path with the filename). NameDescriptionComments
userdata-qemu.imgAn image to which the emulator writes runtime
user-data for a unique user.Override using -data , where is the
path the image, relative to the current working directory. If you
supply a filename only, the emulator looks for the file in the
current working directory. If the file at does not exist, the
emulator creates an image from the default userdata.img, stores it
under the name you specified, and persists user data to it at
shutdown.
sdcard.imgAn image representing an SD card inserted into the
emulated device.Override using -sdcard , where is the path the
image, relative to the current working directory. If you supply a
filename only, the emulator looks for the file in the current
working directory.
User-Data ImageEach emulator instance uses a writeable user-data
image to store user- and session-specific data. For example, it
uses the image to store a unique user's installed application data,
settings, databases, and files. At startup, the emulator attempts
to load a user-data image stored during a previous session. It
looks for the file in the current working directory, in the AVD
directory described in a previous section and at the custom
location/name that you specified at startup. If it finds a
user-data image, it mounts the image and makes it available to the
system for reading and writing of user data. If it does not find
one, it creates an image by copying the system user-data image
(userdata.img), described above. At device power-off, the system
persists the user data to the image, so that it will be available
in the next session. Note that the emulator stores the new disk
image at the location/name that you specify in -data startup
option.Note: Because of the AVD configurations used in the
emulator, each emulator instance gets its own dedicated storage.
There is no longer a need to use the -d option to specify an
instance-specific storage area.SD CardOptionally, you can create a
writeable disk image that the emulator can use to simulate
removeable storage in an actual device. For information about how
to create an emulated SD card and load it in the emulator, see SD
Card EmulationYou can also use the android tool to automatically
create an SD Card image for you, when creating an AVD. For more
information, see Managing Virtual Devices with AVD Manager.
Temporary ImagesThe emulator creates two writeable images at
startup that it deletes at device power-off. The images are: A
writable copy of the Android system image The /cache partition
imageThe emulator does not permit renaming the temporary system
image or persisting it at device power-off. The /cache partition
image is initially empty, and is used by the browser to cache
downloaded web pages and images. The emulator provides an -cache ,
which specifies the name of the file in which to persist the /cache
image at device power-off. If does not exist, the emulator creates
it as an empty file. You can also disable the use of the cache
partition by specifying the -nocache option at startup. Emulator
Networking
The emulator provides versatile networking capabilities that you
can use to set up complex modeling and testing environments for
your application. The sections below introduce the emulator's
network architecture and capabilities. Network Address SpaceEach
instance of the emulator runs behind a virtual router/firewall
service that isolates it from your development machine's network
interfaces and settings and from the internet. An emulated device
can not see your development machine or other emulator instances on
the network. Instead, it sees only that it is connected through
Ethernet to a router/firewall.The virtual router for each instance
manages the 10.0.2/24 network address space all addresses managed
by the router are in the form of 10.0.2., where is a number.
Addresses within this space are pre-allocated by the
emulator/router as follows:Network AddressDescription
10.0.2.1Router/gateway address
10.0.2.2Special alias to your host loopback interface (i.e.,
127.0.0.1 on your development machine)
10.0.2.3First DNS server
10.0.2.4 / 10.0.2.5 / 10.0.2.6Optional second, third and fourth
DNS server (if any)
10.0.2.15The emulated device's own network/ethernet
interface
127.0.0.1The emulated device's own loopback interface
Note that the same address assignments are used by all running
emulator instances. That means that if you have two instances
running concurrently on your machine, each will have its own router
and, behind that, each will have an IP address of 10.0.2.15. The
instances are isolated by a router and can not see each other on
the same network. For information about how to let emulator
instances communicate over TCP/UDP, see Connecting Emulator
Instances.Also note that the address 127.0.0.1 on your development
machine corresponds to the emulator's own loopback interface. If
you want to access services running on your development machine's
loopback interface (a.k.a. 127.0.0.1 on your machine), you should
use the special address 10.0.2.2 instead.Finally, note that each
emulated device's pre-allocated addresses are specific to the
Android emulator and will probably be very different on real
devices (which are also very likely to be NAT-ed, i.e., behind a
router/firewall)Local Networking LimitationsAndroid applications
running in an emulator can connect to the network available on your
workstation. However, they connect through the emulator, not
directly to hardware, and the emulator acts like a normal
application on your workstation. This means that the emulator, and
thus your Android applications, are subject to some limitations:
Communication with the emulated device may be blocked by a firewall
program running on your machine. Communication with the emulated
device may be blocked by another (physical) firewall/router to
which your machine is connected.The emulator's virtual router
should be able to handle all outbound TCP and UDP
connections/messages on behalf of the emulated device, provided
your development machine's network environment allows it to do so.
There are no built-in limitations on port numbers or ranges except
the one imposed by your host operating system and network.Depending
on the environment, the emulator may not be able to support other
protocols (such as ICMP, used for "ping") might not be supported.
Currently, the emulator does not support IGMP or multicast. Using
Network RedirectionTo communicate with an emulator instance behind
its virtual router, you need to set up network redirection on the
virtual router. Clients can then connect to a specified guest port
on the router, while the router directs traffic to/from that port
to the emulated device's host port. To set up the network
redirection, you create a mapping of host and guest ports/addresses
on the emulator instance. There are two ways to set up network
redirection: using emulator console commands and using the ADB
tool, as described below. Setting up Redirection through the
Emulator ConsoleEach emulator instance provides a control console
the you can connect to, to issue commands that are specific to that
instance. You can use the redir console command to set up
redirection as needed for an emulator instance. First, determine
the console port number for the target emulator instance. For
example, the console port number for the first emulator instance
launched is 5554. Next, connect to the console of the target
emulator instance, specifying its console port number, as follows:
telnet localhost 5554Once connected, use the redir command to work
with redirection. To add a redirection, use:add ::where is either
tcp or udp, and and sets the mapping between your own machine and
the emulated system, respectively. For example, the following
command sets up a redirection that handles all incoming TCP
connections to your host (development) machine on 127.0.0.1:5000
and will pass them through to the emulated system's
10.0.2.15:6000.:redir add tcp:5000:6000To delete a redirection, you
can use the redir del command. To list all redirection for a
specific instance, you can use redir list. For more information
about these and other console commands, see Using the Emulator
Console. Note that port numbers are restricted by your local
environment. this typically means that you cannot use host port
numbers under 1024 without special administrator privileges. Also,
you won't be able to set up a redirection for a host port that is
already in use by another process on your machine. In that case,
redir generates an error message to that effect. Setting Up
Redirection through ADBThe Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool provides
port forwarding, an alternate way for you to set up network
redirection. For more information, see Forwarding Ports in the ADB
documentation.Note that ADB does not currently offer any way to
remove a redirection, except by killing the ADB server.Configuring
the Emulator's DNS SettingsAt startup, the emulator reads the list
of DNS servers that your system is currently using. It then stores
the IP addresses of up to four servers on this list and sets up
aliases to them on the emulated addresses 10.0.2.3, 10.0.2.4,
10.0.2.5 and 10.0.2.6 as needed. On Linux and OS X, the emulator
obtains the DNS server addresses by parsing the file
/etc/resolv.conf. On Windows, the emulator obtains the addresses by
calling the GetNetworkParams() API. Note that this usually means
that the emulator ignores the content of your "hosts" file
(/etc/hosts on Linux/OS X, %WINDOWS%/system32/HOSTS on
Windows).When starting the emulator at the command line, you can
also use the -dns-server option to manually specify the addresses
of DNS servers to use, where is a comma-separated list of server
names or IP addresses. You might find this option useful if you
encounter DNS resolution problems in the emulated network (for
example, an "Unknown Host error" message that appears when using
the web browser).Using the Emulator with a ProxyIf your emulator
must access the Internet through a proxy server, you can use the
-http-proxy option when starting the emulator, to set up the
appropriate redirection. In this case, you specify proxy
information in in one of these formats:http://:orhttp://:@:The
-http-proxy option forces the emulator to use the specified
HTTP/HTTPS proxy for all outgoing TCP connections. Redirection for
UDP is not currently supported.Alternatively, you can define the
environment variable http_proxy to the value you want to use for .
In this case, you do not need to specify a value for in the
-http-proxy command the emulator checks the value of the http_proxy
environment variable at startup and uses its value automatically,
if defined. You can use the -verbose-proxy option to diagnose proxy
connection problems.Interconnecting Emulator InstancesTo allow one
emulator instance to communicate with another, you must set up the
necessary network redirection as illustrated below. Assume that
your environment is A is you development machine B is your first
emulator instance, running on A C is your second emulator instance,
also running on Aand you want to run a server on B, to which C will
connect, here is how you could set it up: 1. Set up the server on
B, listening to 10.0.2.15:2. On B's console, set up a redirection
from A:localhost: to B:10.0.2.15:3. On C, have the client connect
to 10.0.2.2:For example, if you wanted to run an HTTP server, you
can select as 80 and as 8080: B listens on 10.0.2.15:80 On B's
console, issue redir add tcp:8080:80 C connects to
10.0.2.2:8080Sending a Voice Call or SMS to Another Emulator
InstanceThe emulator automatically forwards simulated voice calls
and SMS messages from one instance to another. To send a voice call
or SMS, use the dialer application or SMS application,
respectively, from one of the emulators.To initiate a simulated
voice call to another emulator instance:1. Launch the dialer
application on the originating emulator instance.2. As the number
to dial, enter the console port number of the instance you'd like
to call. You can determine the console port number of the target
instance by checking its window title, where the console port
number is reported as "Android Emulator (). 3. Press "Dial". A new
inbound call appears in the target emulator instance. To send an
SMS message to another emulator instance, launch the SMS
application (if available). Specify the console port number of the
target emulator instance as as the SMS address, enter the message
text, and send the message. The message is delivered to the target
emulator instance. You can also connect to an emulator instance's
console to simulate an incoming voice call or SMS. For more
information, see Telephony Emulation and SMS Emulation. Using the
Emulator Console
Each running emulator instance provides a console that lets you
query and control the emulated device environment. For example, you
can use the console to manage port redirection, network
characteristics, and telephony events while your application is
running on the emulator. To access the console and enter commands,
use telnet to connect to the console's port number.To connect to
the console of any running emulator instance at any time, use this
command: telnet localhost An emulator instance occupies a pair of
adjacent ports: a console port and an adb port. The port numbers
differ by 1, with the adb port having the higher port number. The
console of the first emulator instance running on a given machine
uses console port 5554 and adb port 5555. Subsequent instances use
port numbers increasing by two for example, 5556/5557, 5558/5559,
and so on. Up to 16 concurrent emulator instances can run a console
facility. To connect to the emulator console, you must specify a
valid console port. If multiple emulator instances are running, you
need to determine the console port of the emulator instance you
want to connect to. You can find the instance's console port listed
in the title of the instance window. For example, here's the window
title for an instance whose console port is 5554:Android Emulator
(5554)Alternatively, you can use the adb devices command, which
prints a list of running emulator instances and their console port
numbers. For more information, see Querying for Emulator/Device
Instances in the adb documentation.Note: The emulator listens for
connections on ports 5554-5587 and accepts connections only from
localhost.Once you are connected to the console, you can then enter
help [command] to see a list of console commands and learn about
specific commands. To exit the console session, use quit or
exit.The following sections below describe the major functional
areas of the console.Port RedirectionYou can use the console to add
and remove port redirection while the emulator is running. After
you connect to the console, manage port redirection by entering the
following command:redir The redir command supports the subcommands
listed in the table below. Subcommand DescriptionComments
listList the current port redirection.
add::Add a new port redirection. must be either "tcp" or "udp"
is the port number to open on the host is the port number to route
data to on the emulator/device
del :Delete a port redirection.The meanings of and are listed in
the previous row.
Geo Location Provider EmulationYou can use the console to set
the geographic location reported to the applications running inside
an emulator. Use the geo command to send a simple GPS fix to the
emulator, with or without NMEA 1083 formatting:geo The geo command
supports the subcommands listed in the table
below.SubcommandDescriptionComments
fix []Send a simple GPS fix to the emulator instance.Specify
longitude and latitude in decimal degrees. Specify altitude in
meters.
nmea Send an NMEA 0183 sentence to the emulated device, as if it
were sent from an emulated GPS modem. must begin with '$GP'. Only
'$GPGGA' and '$GPRCM' sentences are currently supported.
You can issue the geo command as soon as an emulator instance is
running. The emulator sets the location you enter by creating a
mock location provider. This provider responds to location
listeners set by applications, and also supplies the location to
the LocationManager. Any application can query the location manager
to obtain the current GPS fix for the emulated device by calling:
LocationManager.getLastKnownLocation("gps")For more information
about the Location Manager, see LocationManager. Hardware Events
EmulationThe event console commands sends hardware events to the
emulator. The syntax for this command is as follows:event The event
command supports the subcommands listed in the table below.
Subcommand DescriptionComments
send :: [...]Send one or more events to the Android kernel. You
can use text names or integers for and .
typesList all string aliases supported by the event
subcommands.
codes List all string aliases supported by the event subcommands
for the specified .
event text Simulate keypresses to send the specified string of
characters as a message,The message must be a UTF-8 string. Unicode
posts will be reverse-mapped according to the current device
keyboard. Unsupported characters will be discarded silently.
Device Power CharacteristicsThe power command controls the power
state reported by the emulator to applications. The syntax for this
command is as follows: power The event command supports the
subcommands listed in the table below. Subcommand
DescriptionComments
displayDisplay battery and charger state.
ac Set AC charging state to on or off.
status Change battery status as specified.
present Set battery presence state.
health Set battery health state.
capacity Set remaining battery capacity state (0-100).
Network StatusYou can use the console to check the network
status and current delay and speed characteristics. To do so,
connect to the console and use the netstatus command. H