Learning Android Google Maps

Download and install the latest version of JDK from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html. Download the correct architecture, x86 for the 32-bit OS, as shown in the following screenshot:

The Oracle Java download page

Next, install and configure Android Studio on your PC. Download the Android Studio bundle from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Run the downloaded executable and follow the onscreen instructions, as shown in the following screenshot:

Next, we will see the following screen:

Download JDK 7 for OS X from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html.

Open the downloaded .dmg file. A window will appear with a .pkg file. Double-click to launch the installer and follow the onscreen instructions:

JDK 7 installation on Mac OS X

Google recommends us to use JRE 6 for optimized font rendering. Similarly, download and install JRE 6.

Next, download and install Android Studio.

Download Android Studio for OS X from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Open the downloaded .dmg file. Drag and drop Android Studio in the Applications folder:

Android Studio setup in Mac OS X

Then, open Android Studio and continue with the setup process. Now, you have set up Android Studio on OS X.

Open the Terminal or use the shortcut key Ctrl + Alt + T. Install Oracle Java 7 using the following commands. Enter it one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

You can install Oracle Java 8 by replacing the last command with the following:

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

Now, let's check whether we have setup Android Studio correctly. Enter the following command in the Terminal:

java -version

It should return an output similar to the following:

java version "1.8.0_25"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_25-b17)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.25-b02, mixed mode)

If you are using the 64-bit distribution of Ubuntu, you need to install some packages to get the 32-bit applications supported. If you are using version 13.10 or above, use these commands in the Terminal:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 zlib1g:i386

For the earlier versions of Ubuntu, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Now, our initial setup is done. Download Android Studio for Linux from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Extract the downloaded ZIP package. Navigate to the android-studio/bin directory and execute the studio.sh shell script. Android Studio will start. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Follow the same instructions given in the Setting up Android Studio section for installing Java. After installing Java, let's proceed to the next step.

Next, we need to download the Eclipse IDE. Visit the following link and download the Eclipse IDE for Java developers: https://eclipse.org/downloads/index.php.

Now, extract the downloaded ZIP package and run the eclipse.exe executable. Eclipse will be running. We need to set up SDK and download the Android SDK standalone installer from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Run the downloaded executable and follow the onscreen instructions.

Set up the ADT plugin in Eclipse. Open Eclipse and select Help | Install New Software.

A dialog box will appear. Enter the following URL and hit Enter: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/. Wait until it fetches information.

Now, check the Developer Tools box and select Next. Accept the agreements and the ADT plugin will be downloaded and installed. Then, Eclipse will restart and ADT will be integrated with Eclipse successfully. Select Window | Preferences.

Set the SDK location in the Android section. Hit Apply. Success! You have done it.

Visit https://eclipse.org/downloads/index.php and download the OS X version of the Eclipse IDE for Java developers.

Open the downloaded archive. Drag the eclipse folder to the Applications directory. To open Eclipse, open the Eclipse executable from the eclipse folder in the Applications directory. Next, we need to set up SDK. Download the Android SDK Tools standalone package for OS X from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Extract the downloaded SDK package. The ADT plugin setup is same as the setup on Windows. Now, you have set up Eclipse ADT with SDK on OS X.

Now, we need to download the Eclipse IDE. Visit https://eclipse.org/downloads/index.php and download the Linux version of the Eclipse IDE for Java developers.

Extract the downloaded ZIP package and run the Eclipse executable. Eclipse will be running. Next, we need to set up SDK. Download the Android SDK Tools standalone package for Linux from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Extract the downloaded SDK package. The ADT plugin setup is same as the setup on Windows. Now, you have set up Eclipse ADT with SDK on Linux.

Open the SDK Manager via Android Studio by selecting Tools | Android | SDK Manager.

You can open the SDK Manager via Eclipse by selecting Window | SDK Manager.

The following screenshot shows the Android SDK Manager:

Android SDK Manager

Scroll down to the bottom. Under the Extras section, check Google Play services and select Install packages. The Google Play services package will then be downloaded and installed. If it is successfully installed, it will show the status as Installed.

Open AVD Manager in Android Studio by navigating to Tools | Android | AVD Manager. The following window will appear:

AVD Manager

The following screenshot shows how to select the virtual device:

Selecting the virtual device

The next step is to select a system image. The following window will appear. Select a system image with the Google APIs target. The x86 system images have better emulation speed than an ARM system image. Then, select Next.

Selecting the API target

In the next screen, you can change some advanced settings. They are:

The following screenshot shows these additional options:

Additional options

After changing the settings, finally select Finish. You will see a screen with a list of virtual devices created. To start a virtual device, press the green button under the Actions section.

Created AVD

Let's see how to create an AVD from the Eclipse IDE. Open the AVD manager in Eclipse by navigating to Window | Android Virtual Device Manager.

In the Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager window, you will see the list of virtual devices created with the predefined device definitions.

AVD Manager

The following screenshot shows the AVD Manager with the device definitions:

AVD Manager with device definitions

To create a new virtual device, select a device configuration and click on the Create AVD button. The following window will appear. You can change the advanced configurations, amount of RAM, and so on.

Creating a new virtual device

Then, press OK. Your virtual device will be created. The following window will appear with the list of virtual devices created:

Created virtual devices that are listed

To start the virtual device, select a virtual device from the list and press the Start... button. The emulator will be running.

To create a new project, select File | New Project. The following window will appear:

The wizard for creating a new project

Enter the values in Application name:, Company Domain:, and Package name:. Then, select the project location.

In the next screen, you need to select the minimum SDK version that your application supports. Targeting your application for a lower SDK version ensures that your application runs on a maximum number of devices. As of now, KitKat has a market share of 34 percent.

In the next screen, you need to select an activity template. This template helps you to simplify the task. For our sample application, select Blank Activity.

Selecting an activity template

In the next screen, you should enter the name of your main activity and the name for your main layout. Menu Resource Name is for the action bar menu layout file.

Defining the name for the activity and layout

Then, click on Finish. Wait for some time until Gradle builds your project information.

Your sample app template is now created. Let's now explore Android Studio.

The section on the left-hand side is the project explorer and the section on the right-hand side is the code editor. You will see three folders: manifests, java, and res inside your app. The manifests folder contains our application's AndroidManifest.xml file. The java folder contains our Java classes, which make our Activities, Fragments, and other functions. The res folder contains all our layout files and styles.

Now, run your application on the Android emulator or on your own physical device. To run the application, you can click on the green Run app icon in the toolbar or you can select Run | Run app.

Select Build | Generate Signed APK.

The Generate Signed APK Wizard window will appear. You need to create a new key store by selecting the Create new button. Enter the required details. One of the fields in the Certificate section needs to be nonempty. You can leave the rest of the fields empty. The minimum validity should be 25 years.

Creating a new key store

Then, select OK. Your new key store will be created. If you have already created a key store, you can use it. It is recommended to sign different apps you create with the same key store. Key store is used to authenticate you. So, keep your key store safe. Note that, if you lose your key store, you can't update your app published in Play store.

The following screenshot shows the Generate Signed APK Wizard window:

Generate Signed APK Wizard

Then, select Next. In the next window, you should select the destination folder of your APK. Then, select the build type, whether it is Release or Debug. While running our app on the virtual device, it will run in the Debug mode. You cannot distribute a Debug build in Play store. The Release build is the final build that can be uploaded to the Play store in which the app must be signed with your own certificate. Finally, select Finish. Your APK will be generated.

Open Control Panel and select System.

Then, go to System protection | Advanced | Environment Variables... | System variables.

Then, create a new variable and provide a variable name as JAVA_HOME and a variable value as a path to your Java installation.