In Depth Debugging - Other Tools & General Discussion

Hi Guys,
I am learning Android code, and I would love to know if there is some debugging tools that can work on a standard Android APK. (Whether it run on the phone or via Bluestacks I don't care)
The main thing |I am interested in, is understand the current value of variables and what functions are being called and when.
Does anything like this exist?

Related

Bought a Nexus One; totally, completely baffled by tethering

I'm a professional programmer, and I'm baffled. It seems that there is a whole "smartphone scene" and it's intimidating. I'm a Java expert and am comfortable with the Android SDK in Eclipse. However I'm completely baffled by the prospect of getting tethering to work on my Nexus One.
One thing that baffles me, for example, is the concept of a "ROM". Is there a ROM on the N1? I thought that ROMs haven't been used for 10 years. I was under the impression that the N1 is basically a little PC running Linux, which means that it should only have a bare minimum of a BIOS and everything else would be on "disk", or flash.
Another thing that baffles me is the concept of "rooting" the N1. It's running Android, which is an open-source mobile operating system. And, as far as I know, I have the permission to change all bits of the phone. Heck, that's part of the appeal! To say that you have to "root" your N1 is like saying that you have to "root" your Ubuntu box - it just doesn't make sense.
Complicating matters is the release of Froyo. I simply don't know enough to judge whether the actions required to upgrade the N1 to Froyo are compatible with the actions required to install a tethering app.
And that's the thing: I'm not just interested in installing tethering. I want to understand what I'm doing and why. I'd like to understand the options choose intelligently between them. There are so many resources online which are trying so hard to be helpful, but which don't really answer these simple questions.
I really appreciate your help.
-Ablation
search the correct forum for your phones model here on xda. some roms provide tethering preinstalled
check this thread for more info
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=668090
while that targeted at g1, its the same concept. again search xda for the n1 section
Thanks for the link. However, I think I need a more conceptual introduction to the scene. The essential question is: what are the bits? On a PC you have:
1. BIOS
2. Disk
3. Peripheral firmware.
The disk is further broken down:
1. Bootloader
2. Operating system
3. Drivers
4. Applications
When you say ROM I assume you mean some combination of BIOS and Peripheral Firmware?

Create virtual hardware for Android Emulator

Hi there, this is my first post on xda so forgive me if this is put in the wrong forum.
I am new to android and wish to play around with the emulator.
What I want to do is to create my own piece of virtual hardware that can collect OpenGL commands and produce OpenGL graphics.
I have been told that in order to do this I will need to write a linux kernal driver to enable communication with the hardware. Additionally, I will need to write an Android user space library to call the kernal driver.
To start with I plan on making a very simple piece of hardware that only does, say 1 or 2, commands.
Has anyone here done something like this? If so, do you have any tips or possible links to extra information?
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Regards
Has anyone done this?
Bump Bump
Im surprised this is left unanswered.
Yes, you can do this. There are several ways to do so, but I will explain 2 good options for you.
One: Use AndroidSDK. It's configured for android and simple to set up.
Two: Use virtualbox. If you have the android ISO, you can install it as a bootable image in this software. This gives more functionality than AndroidSDK, but it is not as simplistic. There are settings you will need to adjust to get it running. For a working Android ISO with limited functionality, you can download this: http://www.android-x86.org/download

I wanna be the guy! ...uhm, I mean... I wanna be a android developer!

So yeah... this hasn't been easy.
I'm not gonna spend time getting into my coding history... but I wanna expand to Android. Usually I'm able to just get myself to a point in which I can start writing code, and then from thereon I can learn whatever I need to learn... but that's based on languages where I have a compiler, or can even do most of my coding from notepad+/PFE... I won't say I'm used to things being simple, but getting into a new coding language as at least been generally direct enough so that I can dive nose first into some good 'ol T&E.
I keep hearing Eclipse being mentioned, but honestly the furthest I get before I'm confused is the Android SDK Manager (and it's megaton of downloads).
I just want to get to the point where I can start messing with values, strings, functions and see how much different it'll be from what I'm used to when I try to make key inputs trigger functions.
While I am not able to code myself, (I made the Hello World and that was it) I do have experience with the Android SDK due to some debugging I have needed to do.
Eclipse keeps being mentioned because it's the officially preferred IDE for Android, as it counts with an official plugin.
The sequence is the following.
1) Install the SDK.
2) Install the necessary modules. You should know what you're going to program in advance so that you Install the relevant ones.
3) Install Eclipse.
4) Install the ADT plugin for Eclipse (instructions can be found in the site, but it's basically adding a repository and installing its contents).
5) Code!
Logseman said:
While I am not able to code myself, (I made the Hello World and that was it) I do have experience with the Android SDK due to some debugging I have needed to do.
Eclipse keeps being mentioned because it's the officially preferred IDE for Android, as it counts with an official plugin.
The sequence is the following.
1) Install the SDK.
2) Install the necessary modules. You should know what you're going to program in advance so that you Install the relevant ones.
3) Install Eclipse.
4) Install the ADT plugin for Eclipse (instructions can be found in the site, but it's basically adding a repository and installing its contents).
5) Code!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. This is the only way to get started. And buy a book, Amazon has some great ones that will get you started on what you need to do from start to finish. The coding is almost the easy part, but theres a lot more involved in making it "work" with Android. Eclipse/Android SDK is the only way to do that. Just launch the SDK and let it do its thing for a couple hours and you're good!

[Q] How to start Android App development

Hi all,
I want to start android application development. Can you suggest a low budget way of doing that?
Can any android supported cell phone can be used for App development or there are some restrictions in phones for Development? If yes, then i can buy any low series basic used android phone and do App development.
Do i need to root and ROM access any phone to develop, load and test application?
Where can i find Android application framework architecture and basics of application development documents/ articles? I know developer.android.com has it but it is not starting from broader level to micro level. It is just talking about specific issues and directly starting Hello World. But i want to study about android architecture and fundamentals before starting.
Thanks.
The android SDK comes with an emulator, so that will help on the phone aspect. You definitely want to be able to enable sideloading of apps (install non-market apps), I've heard some carriers disable this. Root can be helpful in many situations.
Assuming you know java and are familiar with Eclipse, you mainly need to learn about the Android API.

[Q] running apps on device/emulator, resources needed

Hey I've recently rooted my first phone (didn't go as smooth as i'd like it to but the phone works) Anyway, I was thinking that i might learn to develop android apps. The thing is I have a few question which i wasn't able to find answers for or they didn't help me completely.
I downloaded ADT bundle from official android developers website (basically eclipse with the plugins preinstalled, am i right).
The first problem i encountered was that the emulator was so unbelievably slow,i know it's not only my issue and that emulator is slow in general, but I wasn't expecting this. My first app the incredible Hello World app which should take user input and (probably) print it out crashed when i tried to submit the text, though that probably wasn't the fault of emulator but rather problem with my settings (seriously i had to import a lot of stuff just do a simple hello world app) So, let's get to the first question itself. Is there a way to somehow run my app on my phone/tablet (nexus 7 II) in real time? Or besides emulator and copying the app on the device there's no other option?
My second question isn't that much android orientated, but here it goes: This year we are going to learn java at school and i was thinking if i could use ADT bundle from android developers as a regular eclipse if I choose java project instead of android project. Or is it better to use separate eclipse? if so, how do i set those IDEs so that they won't interfere with one and another. It it just a matter of setting different workspaces?
The third question is: Resources. What are some good resources for developing android Apps for beginners. I do have some programming knowledge but it's lather low, i do understand basic concepts, I did use java for really basic stuff but nothing serious. What books/video tutorials or any other resources would you recommend?

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