</>

Android Studio IDE

Your IDE!

Kushagra Acharya's photo
Kushagra Acharya
·

4 min read

Table of contents

About

Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Android application development. It is based on the IntelliJ IDEA, a Java integrated development environment for software, and incorporates its code editing and developer tools.

To support application development within the Android operating system, Android Studio uses a Gradle-based build system, emulator, code templates, and Github integration. Every project in Android Studio has one or more modalities with source code and resource files. These modalities include Android app modules, Library modules, and Google App Engine modules.

Android Studio uses an Instant Push feature to push code and resource changes to a running application. A code editor assists the developer with writing code and offering code completion, refraction, and analysis. Applications built in Android Studio are then compiled into the APK format for submission to the Google Play Store.

The software was first announced at Google I/O in May 2013, and the first stable build was released in December 2014. Android Studio is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux desktop platforms. It replaced Eclipse Android Development Tools (ADT) as the primary IDE for Android application development. Android Studio and the Software Development Kit can be downloaded directly from Google.

Installing and Setup

Android studio can be downloaded and installed from developer.android.com/studio

These steps will help you to setup your Android Studio correctly.

Windows

  • Download the .exe file and open it
  • Press Next until you finish the installation
  • Open Android Studio (or it will open automatically)
  • It will then install the required Gradle, SDK, libraries, DON'T skip any installation or download or any module.
  • Accept all installations and download which is MUST require for the initial part.
  • If you find these steps confusing please refer to this VIDEO
  • You can skip or do JDK installation as shown in the video. Having an extra JDK is a good idea.
  • Proper internet and power is required to install android studio for the first time.
  • Once you've downloaded every thing for android studio now you need to run it. To do that see the same VIDEO from this timestamp.

MacOs

  • Download the dmg
  • Open the dmg and drag Android Studio to applications folder.
  • Download everything it says and continue doing NEXT.
  • See this VIDEO for emulator setup.

Linux

Way 1 : Zip
  • Download the tar.gz file for linux.
  • Extract the file in a folder.
  • Now open terminal inside the folder.
  • CD to /bin/
  • then do sudo chmod 777 -R studio.sh
  • then it will start installation
  • Refer this way in this VIDEO
Way 2: Snap
  • This is via snap, it is easier but please make sure to see which version you are downloading.
  • You will need to follow this VIDEO

Exploring the IDE

image

Creating a new project

  • For new project creation
  • com. {your-name}. {your project name} | eg: com.kushagra.foodapp as package name
  • Select JAVA as your language
  • Select Empty Activity from the list of activities.
  • Finish

Important Aspects

  • Project/Android View
    • You can see the left file navigation pane in the IDE where you can see all of your packages/files/folders.
    • This can be viewed in Android mode or Project mode.
  • Quick Search
    • You can quickly search any file by tapping Shift Key 2 times.
  • Gradle file
    • the build.gradle(:app) file is important for syncing gradle
  • Android Manifest
    • this file is responsible for permission management as well as activity management.

MainActivity.java

  • The MainAcitvity.java is a default activity java file with it's respective XML as activity_main.xml
  • You can delete it and create a new Activity file with a different name, deleting the MainActivity file will not cause any problem but you have to delete the MainActivity from the AndroidMainfest also.

Things you should know before moving on.

  • how to search files.
  • how to run in your phone.
  • how to run in emulator.
  • create a new project.
  • run the hello world project.
  • search the official documentation.
  • search in stack overflow.
  • knowledge of git and github.
Android StudioAndroid