Thanks Simon, Not sure it this will help anyone but... here goes... try not to flame me guys !
Hmmm…
There are a LOT of things I do not understand here - too many in fact and . . . well . . . !
EXAMPLE 1 : What is the difference between Android SDK Tools and Android SDK Platform-tools ?
EXAMPLE 2 : How to download and keep (prevent from updating) a version of the Android SDK Tools less than the most current ?
So…
I used an earlier version of the Android SDK (no Eclipse bundled with it - linked to higher up in the is thread).
I copied it to my Android Folder in my Documents folder.
I ran the ‘android’ file that is to be found in the ‘Tools’ sub folder of the android-sdk… folder (which I had just downloaded and copied to a place I liked…)
So, lets look at the resulting Android SDK Manager window that pops up…
What ‘pops up’ / is displayed is a File / folder selection window… displaying a list of files / folders that have already been installed / can be installed - and their updates…
Top of said displayed list is the ‘Tools’ folder.
Some of the option on this card or quite obscure and appear to do nothing (example : 'Updates' tag...)
Now, Like I said, I don’t have a scooby as to what the difference between Android SDK Tools and Android SDK Platform-tools is…
The first states it is at Rev. 20.0.3 (that’s good !) BUT there is an update available (NO - don’t do it !!!) and
the second states it’s at Rev. 16.0.2.
Further down the list are the various API files…
When I elected to download and install the Android SDK Platform-tools (NOTE : I did NOT elect to download the Android SDK Tools Rev.20.0.3 Upgrade to rev. 22) along with the APIs for ICS (API 14 IceCreamSandwich - Android 4.x), for JellyBean (API 11 - Android 3) and for FroYo (API 8 - Android 2.2 : REMEMBER this is the one that LC really, really, really needs ! ) and hit ‘Install packages’, and then ‘Accept All’, I received some (incomprehensible at the time) error that basically (I think) told me that parts of my selected install were dependent upon a file that wasn’t yet installed… BUT, none-the-less, was a file I HAD elected to include in my download/install process… Hmmm…
So, I cancelled the pending install and reverted back to the original SDK file selection window where I elected to simply install the Android SDK Platform-tools (Rev. 16.0.2), hit ‘Install packages’ and then ‘Accept All’ (Licences) and then ‘Install’ and… all cool there (OK….)
So, I then elected to install my original selection of APIs , but one at a time (I really don’t know if I could then have done them all (at that point) at the same time… but, what the heck…
Anyways, within 15 minutes, I had installed the Android SDK Platform-tools (Rev. 16.0.2) and the various APIs for Android, 2.2, 3 and 4 (to get me going - don’t really know if I need them all but I do know my ASUS Transformer is on ICS and… well, why not ? Gives me some 'coverage' AND has ‘proven’ I can come back here (to the Android SDK Manager) and load more / different APIs should I ever be inclined to
OK… So now for the AVD Manager…
Where’s that pesky Android SDK Menu bar ? Dunno if this is just a Mac thing but… I needed (still need) to select some other app (in my case I clicked back to Finder / Explorer) and then re-clicked on the 'Android SDK Manager' window. It got the focus (and my message that pretty soon it was all gouing out the window) and… wow… displayed its Menu bar for me. On the right hand side of which is the 'Tools' option and, in there, is the 'AVD Manager' option… Phew !!!
I selected the 'AVD Manager' (Manage AVDs) and hit ‘New’. I then made up some (basically cock-n-bull) settings, In fact I (1) gave my device a name (ASUS in my case), (2) a target (for simplicity, although I know the ASUS is on ICS/Android 4.x) of Android 2.2 - API Level 8, (3) enabled the ‘Snapshot’ (NOTE - THIS IS (from various posts) APPARENTLY VERY IMPORTANT), didn’t really understand the rest of it (read; just getting past the point of caring for a basic test and am totally unsure as to the importance of setting any of them, let alone setting them incorrectly !) and hit ‘Edit AVD’ (Again, no idea why I should select ‘Edit’ again, surely, this should be ‘Save’ or ‘Commit’ or ‘OK’ (it is right next to the only other option - the ‘Cancel’ button)… Anyway, it's 'Edit AVD'... (just hit it)...
So… Now to start the AVD…
I selected the newly created AVD (called ASUS) and hit ‘Start’.
A small progress window popped up, telling me I was a very naughty little boy and that I r ally should upgrade for the complete AVD to function absolutely correctly… but… what the heck (bearing in mind LC's issue with rev. 22)… ) and, lo-and-behold, my Virtual device pops up…
Don’t get too excited at this stage ! The AVD actually takes quite a while to FULLY load… in my case a black AVD screen pops up (looking good), eventually (2 - 3 mins) it’s populated with an ‘Android’ logo and a long while after this (another 2 -3 mins) it's replaced with a kind-of Android wallpaper and start button etc…
NOW, surely, we’re cooking…
So, now that I think everything’s started up and is ready for LC to detect it, I fired up LC (I’ve tried 5.5.4, 6.1.x and 6.5 - all commercial editions) and made sure that the Android Mobile Support properties are correctly set / a valid Java install (JDK) is indeed still detected…
All looked good, but I didn’t trust LC so… went and told LC where to find the Android SDK again (ADVICE : sometimes, it would appear you need to point to the basic android sdk folder (something like ‘android-sdk-mac…’) and other times to the ‘Tools’ folder within the ‘android-sdk-mac…’ folder (I guess this is dependent as to where google has elected to put the file(s) that LC needs !) so, if you get the ‘Froyo error’ upon selecting one folder, just do it again with a different folder (‘normally, for me, Tools’) within the android-sdk-mac…’ folder…
Anyway, no error and the JDK path seemed believable so…
My App.
I loaded my App, and, there it was, in the LC IDE. OK… deep breath… I then selected ‘Development’ and ‘Test Target’ from the LC menu bar and.. good grief… there’s my AVD !
Excellent. OK… Select my AVD (some obscure ‘Android emulator - 5554’ name, that wasn’t there before I created the AVD from within the Android SDK Manager). Then I selected ‘Development’ (from the LC Tools menu again) and ‘Test’ (‘Test’ is just above the ‘Test Target’ option in said menu)…
and… aha, the Standalone Bulder pop-up is displayed with the ‘Building Classes…’ info… followed with the really really (un) helpful … ‘Unable to build app for testing : could not compile application class’ error.
Arrrrgggghhhh !!!
I HATE losing… but in the interests of staying (relatively) sane and not shouting at everyone around me I now bow my head in shame and sheer frustration... and walk away !
My day job : Radio, Radar and Electronic warfare where I may spend weeks (months) under water maintaining and operating defence equipment. The equipment I use is far more complex and far more convoluted whilst operating in totally inhospitable conditions but it (although often being highly classified) is far simpler to get going and maintain than this… I have absolutely no problems with complexity - i DO have a problem with crap documentation and poorly thought out implementation. I could rant for a while on this… I won’t !
The only reason I have gone to so much trouble here is (apart form the fact that I started writing this as I went along - in the vain hope I may be able to be of some use to other poor souls) I hope it may help someone figure out what to do / not to do / what to try / not to try with regards to LC and the Android SDK (maybe even to detect, what I (and many others here) have been / are doing incorrectly).
I fully appreciate the complexities of developers interfacing multiple (LC and Android SDK) code bases - but surely there is a degree of inherrent responsibility to ensure that ones code base does integrate with another (external) one IF that is integral to ones USP.
When I gain the will power to come back to this I will revert to this thread and update it with a working methodology, in the meantime… back to LC with Windows and Mac. . .
Good luck !
should have said ( a little sign of the frustration here ) I'm using LC 5.5.4, 6.1.x and 6.5.latest all commercial releases at the moment... all on a Mac mini using Mavericks.
