do you need an Android device to develop for android?

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jameshale
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do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:43 am

Hi,

I have just successfully compiled and iOS app and been able to test on my iPad.
It doesn't use any iOS specific calls, in fact as it simply displays text from some custom properties, it doesn't use any mobile controls.
It has 3 SVG icons I use as buttons (shuffle, next and info) and some text fields (read only).

If I install the required tools for android I will be able to build the android app.

My question is "can I assume it will run on an android device" without actually having one myself?

If not, do I have any volunteers to try it out?

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by richmond62 » Thu Oct 21, 2021 8:21 am

Not as far as I am aware, but it might not be a bad idea to have an Android emulator of some sort to hand.

I have run one or two rather simplistic LiveCode-for-Android standalones via BlueStacks:

https://www.bluestacks.com/

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:29 am

Thanks Richmond,I will check it out. :D

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by Klaus » Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:08 pm

Hi James,

I can make a quick test!
Send the stack to klaus AT major-k.de

When you install Android Studio for Mac, you can also create some virtual devices in Android Studion!


Best

Klaus

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:22 pm

Thank you Klaus,

I will take you up on that once I negotiate the app building process.

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by SparkOut » Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:12 pm

jameshale wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:43 am
My question is "can I assume it will run on an android device" without actually having one myself?

If not, do I have any volunteers to try it out?
No doubt it will run on "an" android device subject to the specified (by you, by LiveCode and by Google) minimum version and subject to screen layouts and density etc. There are a proliferation of devices and there may be "some" for which it would not work - but I don't think anyone could guarantee to code and test for every specific combination.

I heard that Samsung models might have had a few oddities but I think pretty much you can take it that LiveCode builds ok for most and if it works on one, then you'd be unlucky to have a problem on another. All you could do is try on as many as possible and listen to any error reports and feedback from your users. Most likely any problems would be to do with screen layouts.

I have a couple of Samsung phones and some emulators preconfigured that I can try out for you if you like.

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by LCMark » Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:18 pm

@JamesHale: The Android emulator is a 'true' emulator in that it actually runs a full Android device on your desktop (i.e. actual android ROM images are used) [ this is in contrast to the iOS Simulator, which uses versions of iOS system libraries compiled for macOS - essentially ].

This means testing on an Android emulator gives you a really faithful experience - I would suggest using an x86 or x86-64 one, however, because if you use an ARM/ARM64 emulator then it actually has to emulate the CPU as well. [ i.e. They are painfully slow unless you have an exceptionally fast machine! ]

However, what @SparkOut has said is important to note - even with testing on an emulator, it is still important to do some testing on a real device (or indeed who have people who are willing to do so) because Android devices come in all kinds of variations (the emulators are, IIRC, pretty much 'stock' google device images from their phones for example).

[ And, yes, Samsung devices are the ones which do seem to cause us the most 'surprise' in terms of things which work slightly differently - fortunately, they tend to be quite widely used so over the years we have fixed the 'issues' people have found with those odd deviations! ]

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:21 pm

@Lcmark thanks for the info, @sparkout thanks for the offer.
Watch this space.

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Sat Nov 27, 2021 4:21 pm

After a bit of fiddle (and getting the app simply working) I have compiled an Android build.

I have placed it on my site <ftps://thehales.id.au/thehales.id.au/public_html/respite/Respite.apk>

It is not certified or anything just straight from LC.
If there is any kind soul wishing to install and test this for me I would appreciate the feedback.
It does not have a splash screen so on launch the screen goes black for a little while.
I am interested in the buttons and text being functional and readable in both portrait and landscape.
iOS version works fine in the sim and on my actual devices so apart from the lack of a splash screen I am hoping this will be the same for Android.

Thank you in advance.

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by scott_morrow » Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:22 am

James, I'm getting a password error when trying to connect to with ftps address.
--
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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:40 am

<www.thehales.id.au/thehales.id.au/publi ... espite.apk>

Thanks Scott.I will look into the ftps issue .
In the meantime will a web URL work for Android installs?

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:08 am

for ftps access...
Hostname: thehales.id.au
[Moderator note: remainder removed]

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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by scott_morrow » Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:40 am

A web URL is generally an easy way to distribute
Last edited by scott_morrow on Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:46 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by FourthWorld » Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:50 am

jameshale wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:08 am
for ftps access...
Hostname: thehales.id.au
[Moderator note: remainder removed]
I've removed the server credentials for your safety.

I don't know how long your post was visible, but I would suggest regarding everything on that server as compromised and replace from secured backup.

And of course change that server's password ASAP.

In the future please send server credentials and other secrets through private message or secure email only.

The Internet is a hostile network filled with automated scanner bots looking for just that sort of info that was posted here.
Richard Gaskin
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Re: do you need an Android device to develop for android?

Post by jameshale » Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:41 am

Thanks Richard. Seems I am not able to enable an anonymous ftp aacount on my host.
But the web URL is fine.

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