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| Line 35: |
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| | # Write the new android widgetset | | # Write the new android widgetset |
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| − | ==Using the Android SDK== | + | ==Using the Android SDK, Emulator and Phones== |
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| − | Downloading and installing the Android SDK is easy. One just needs to following this link: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
| + | [[Android Interface/Using the Android SDK, Emulator and Phones]] |
| − | | |
| − | ===Recognition of devices under Linux===
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| − | | |
| − | Unlike in Windows, where one needs to install a new set of drivers for nearly every phone, in Linux the Android devices are recognized as generic Android devices (regardless of being a phone, a tablet or a notebook) and they are ready to be used without installing additional drivers. One issue, however, that offen appears is that devices are not fully recognized automatically and one receives the error message "?????? no permissions". In this case the command adb devices will look like this:
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| − | | |
| − | <pre>
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| − | [felipe@localhost ~]$ cd Programas/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools/
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| − | [felipe@localhost tools]$ ./adb devices
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| − | List of devices attached
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| − | ???????????? no permissions
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| − | </pre>
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| − | | |
| − | To solve this issue one can proceed with the following steps:
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| − | | |
| − | '''Step 1''' - First read the tag of the device using lsusb run as root (or sudo):
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| − | | |
| − | <pre>
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| − | [root@localhost Programas]# lsusb
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| − | Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
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| − | Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04e8:681c Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
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| − | Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
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| − | Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
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| − | Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
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| − | Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
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| − | Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
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| − | Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
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| − | Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
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| − | </pre>
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| − | | |
| − | The tag in this case is '''04e8'''
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| − | | |
| − | '''Step 2''' - Now, still as root, edit the file /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
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| − | | |
| − | If the file doesn't exist yet, then create it. Add the following line to the file:
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| − | | |
| − | <pre>
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| − | SUBSYSTEM=="usb|usb_device", SYSFS{idVendor}=="04e8", SYMLINK+="android_adb", MODE="0666"
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| − | </pre>
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| − | | |
| − | Change the ID to correspond to the id of your device.
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| − | | |
| − | '''Step 3''' - Restart the linux usb service (udev)
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| − | | |
| − | In Ubuntu this can be done with: sudo services udev restart
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| − | | |
| − | In Mandriva udev doesn't appear as a service, so the only way to get things working for me was restarting the computer.
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| − | | |
| − | After doing this, the device should be fully recognized and "adb devices" as well as "adb logcat" should work.
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| − | | |
| − | <pre>
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| − | [felipe@localhost tools]$ ./adb devices
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| − | * daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
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| − | * daemon started successfully *
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| − | List of devices attached
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| − | 1000c31696b6 device
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| − | </pre>
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| − | | |
| − | == Using the Emulator ==
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| − | | |
| − | === Installing the Emulator ===
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| − | | |
| − | === Building an emulator image with sdcard support ===
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| − | | |
| − | Step 1: Run the application C:\Program Files\android-sdk-windows\tools\android.bat
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| − | | |
| − | Step 2: Create a new image, by clicking the New button as in the image bellow.
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| − | | |
| − | [[Image:Android_new_image.PNG]]
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| − | | |
| − | Step 3: Set the name and properties of the image, the size of the SDCard and add hardware support for the sdcard, as seen on the image bellow.
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| − | | |
| − | [[Image:Android_new_image_dialog.PNG]]
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| − | | |
| − | === Running an emulator image ===
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| − | | |
| − | Step 1: Run the application C:\Program Files\android-sdk-windows\tools\android.bat
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| − | | |
| − | Step 2: Select the image
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| − | | |
| − | Step 3: Click on the "start" button, as seen bellow.
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| − | | |
| − | [[Image:Android_run_image.PNG]]
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| − | | |
| − | === Copying files to the emulator ===
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| − | | |
| − | You can use a script similar to this one to copy files from your hard-drive to the emulator. Notice that the image must be running and that it must have sdcard support built inside itself.
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| − | | |
| − | <pre>
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| − | c:
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| − | cd "Program Files"
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| − | cd android-sdk-windows
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| − | cd tools
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| − | adb push C:\Mypath\Somefile.extension /sdcard
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| − | pause
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| − | </pre>
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| − | | |
| − | === Installing applications in the emulator ===
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| − | | |
| − | Android apps should be packaged in the Android .apk file format. For more information about how to create an .apk file that you can install on an emulator/device instance, see Android Asset Packaging Tool (aapt). After packing a file, it can be installed in the emulator by using the following adb call:
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| − | | |
| − | <pre>
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| − | c:
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| − | cd "Program Files"
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| − | cd android-sdk-windows
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| − | cd tools
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| − | adb install C:\Mypath\MyApp.apk
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| − | pause
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| − | </pre>
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| − | | |
| − | ==Using the phones==
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| − | | |
| − | Installing the drivers and getting a reliable way to transfer executables and debug software with all the different Android phone can be a challenge in itself.
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| − | | |
| − | ===Installing a File Manager===
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| − | | |
| − | Astonishingly, Android phones don't come with a file manager o.O One can however simply download one from the Android Market. I suggest the following instructions:
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| − | | |
| − | 1. Connect the phone to a WiFi or Mobile network
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| − | | |
| − | 2. Click in the "Market" icon in one of the Android desktops. It will be necessary to log into a Google Account to access it.
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| − | | |
| − | 3. Click the search button and type "oi"
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| − | | |
| − | 4. Locate and install the "OI File Manager" which is Free
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| − | | |
| − | ===Samsung Galaxy S===
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| − | | |
| − | The first thing to do when using Samsung Galaxy S is not believing the Samsung instructions. They will say that one should install Kies, their horribly crappy PC suite which is 130MB large and fails to install because the first thing that it does is failing to connect to a server in Korea to download even more files. Instead of doing this, following these instructions:
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| − | | |
| − | 1. Go in the phone menu Settings -> About Phone -> USB settings. Change from "KIES" to "Mass storage"
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| − | | |
| − | 2. Download and install 19 MB of Samsung USB drivers from: http://drivers.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=96692&t=4&i=1
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| − | | |
| − | 3. Connect the cable of the phone
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| − | | |
| − | 4. Drag the top menu of the phone down and mount the sdcard
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| | | | |
| | ==Android Programming== | | ==Android Programming== |
| | | | |
| | [[Android Interface/Android Programming]] | | [[Android Interface/Android Programming]] |
Architecture
As of August 2010 (and Android 2.2), the Android platform can only execute Java Android applications, but these applications can load native libraries and can also run native executables. Therefore to create Pascal applications in Android one can use one of these methods:
- method 1> Write the Pascal application as a library connected to the Java application via JNI
- method 2> Write the Pascal application as an executable and connect it to Java via pipes or sockets
Running the LCL application as a library and communicating with Java via JNI to create a native interface would generate several serious issues:
- The main project file would need to be different for Android apps
- Free Pascal has some issues with DLLs
- The Java Native Interface is very complex and very hard to work with. Worse even that it is totally geared to C++ and is very limited.
To avoid these issues it was preferred to create instead a native executable for the Lazarus applications and let it communicate with the auxiliary Java application only for indispensable things.
On top of that, for both solutions there would be two basic GUI solutions possible. Because both are attractive, at the moment both are being worked on and in the future probably one of them will prove itself the best solution:
- Android Interface/Native Android GUI
- This has the solution of being faster to develop
- The bad side is that a native android widgetset will be completely specific to Android, and therefore it's work will be lost in the event that the Android platform goes through serious
- Lower graphics drawing performance
changes or if Android becomes irrelevant in the market.
- Android Interface/OpenGL ES GUI
- Longer lasting solution, but takes much longer to develop and stability
- Not as well integrated in the system
- Higher graphics drawing performance
Roadmap
- Build the set of Lazarus Custom Drawn Controls
- Learn how to write simple FPC apps which use OpenGL in Android
- Implement the basic Java Android encapsulating application
- Extend the Java app to expose Android APIs
- Write the new customdrawn base widgetset
- Write the new opengl base widgetset
- Write the new android widgetset
Using the Android SDK, Emulator and Phones
Android Interface/Using the Android SDK, Emulator and Phones
Android Programming
Android Interface/Android Programming
