Jetpack
Kotlin
Docs
News
Platform
Android Studio
Google Play
Jetpack
Kotlin
Docs
News
Platform
Android Studio
Google Play
Jetpack
Kotlin
Docs
News
More
Android Developers Blog
The latest Android and Google Play news for app and game developers.
Android SDK Tools, Revision 21
14 November 2012
Posted by
Xavier Ducrohet
, Android SDK Tech Lead, and
Angana Ghosh
, Product Manager in Android
Along with the
Android 4.2 SDK
, we also launched a brand new update of the Android SDK Tools (Revision 21). The update includes new tools and capabilities that can help you work more efficiently as you create applications. Tools such as a new
multi-config editor
, and
new Lint rules
will help you develop apps more quickly, while a new
UI test framework
will give you more ways automate testing and QA for your apps. For new developers,
one-click SDK download
and new
app templates
help you get started more quickly.
Multi-config editor
A new multi-configuration editor allows you to develop and prototype your UI across various orientations, screen sizes and locales. For example, while editing your layout in portrait mode, you can see if your edits aren't visible in the shorter landscape orientation. You can see previews for other screen sizes from small phones to large tablets, you can see previews for the layout using all the available language translations in your app, and so on. You can even see how the layout appears when it is included as a fragment in a different larger layout. Finally, Android allows you to create specialized layouts for any of these configurations, and the multi configuration editor shows you these overridden layouts.
Here is a screenshot of the layout editor showing one of the layouts from the Google I/O application, across a variety of screen sizes.
More app templates
Tools R21 brings three new app templates to help you to easily add new screens to your app. There’s a new full-screen activity for use as a photo or video viewer, a settings activity to handle basic user preferences and a login activity to capture username/password.
UI Automator Test Framework
One common approach to UI testing is to run tests manually and verify that the app is behaving as expected. UI Automator is a new software testing framework available in Tools R21 that provides you with tools to easily automate UI testing tasks. It provides a GUI tool to scan and analyze the UI components of an Android application (uiautomatorviewer), a library containing APIs to create customized functional UI tests, and an execution engine to automate and run the tests against multiple physical devices. UI Automator runs on Android 4.1 (API level 16) or higher. To learn more head over to the
UI Testing
documentation.
One-click SDK installer
New Android SDK developers now have a convenient way to download all the various SDK components like Tools, Platform Tools, Eclipse ADT, and the latest system image with a single click. Existing developers can continue to manage their SDK components and get updates through the SDK Manager.
Revamped AVD creation dialog
The new dialog makes it easier to create Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) matching real device profiles. The AVDs will also appear in the layout editor to show you how the layouts will look.
More Lint rules
And to wrap things up there are 25 new lint rules which catch several common sources of bugs, for example deviations from Android design guide for icons, checks for mismanaged wakelocks, common sources of locale-related bugs and so on. So make sure you upgrade and let Lint loose on your projects before your next app update!
A minor bug-fix to the Android NDK is also available. For a complete list of what’s new, see the release notes for
SDK Tools R21
,
ADT 21.0.0
and
Android NDK R8c
.
Join the discussion on
+Android Developers
Labels
Android O
Android Studio
Design
Develop
Google Play
Archive
January 2023
(4)
December 2022
(8)
November 2022
(22)
October 2022
(23)
September 2022
(13)
August 2022
(10)
July 2022
(6)
June 2022
(10)
May 2022
(21)
April 2022
(8)
March 2022
(16)
February 2022
(9)
January 2022
(6)
December 2021
(8)
November 2021
(4)
October 2021
(15)
September 2021
(11)
August 2021
(7)
July 2021
(15)
June 2021
(9)
May 2021
(18)
April 2021
(10)
March 2021
(12)
February 2021
(11)
January 2021
(3)
December 2020
(7)
November 2020
(7)
October 2020
(7)
September 2020
(9)
August 2020
(18)
July 2020
(18)
June 2020
(18)
May 2020
(4)
April 2020
(7)
March 2020
(9)
February 2020
(9)
January 2020
(3)
December 2019
(8)
November 2019
(12)
October 2019
(11)
September 2019
(5)
August 2019
(9)
July 2019
(8)
June 2019
(6)
May 2019
(15)
April 2019
(10)
March 2019
(11)
February 2019
(5)
January 2019
(6)
December 2018
(11)
November 2018
(9)
October 2018
(13)
September 2018
(5)
August 2018
(13)
July 2018
(9)
June 2018
(16)
May 2018
(16)
April 2018
(8)
March 2018
(8)
February 2018
(7)
January 2018
(9)
December 2017
(9)
November 2017
(13)
October 2017
(14)
September 2017
(11)
August 2017
(19)
July 2017
(11)
June 2017
(13)
May 2017
(21)
April 2017
(12)
March 2017
(14)
February 2017
(11)
January 2017
(12)
December 2016
(17)
November 2016
(16)
October 2016
(9)
September 2016
(6)
August 2016
(7)
July 2016
(12)
June 2016
(14)
May 2016
(16)
April 2016
(14)
March 2016
(8)
February 2016
(8)
January 2016
(9)
December 2015
(9)
November 2015
(13)
October 2015
(19)
September 2015
(15)
August 2015
(13)
July 2015
(9)
June 2015
(8)
May 2015
(10)
April 2015
(10)
March 2015
(12)
February 2015
(8)
January 2015
(3)
December 2014
(9)
November 2014
(13)
October 2014
(11)
September 2014
(6)
August 2014
(2)
July 2014
(9)
June 2014
(10)
May 2014
(4)
March 2014
(4)
February 2014
(3)
January 2014
(2)
December 2013
(3)
November 2013
(2)
October 2013
(7)
September 2013
(2)
August 2013
(5)
July 2013
(5)
June 2013
(4)
May 2013
(9)
April 2013
(3)
March 2013
(2)
February 2013
(3)
January 2013
(3)
December 2012
(5)
November 2012
(3)
October 2012
(3)
September 2012
(1)
August 2012
(1)
July 2012
(2)
June 2012
(5)
May 2012
(1)
April 2012
(5)
March 2012
(5)
February 2012
(5)
January 2012
(5)
December 2011
(7)
November 2011
(7)
October 2011
(5)
September 2011
(5)
August 2011
(3)
July 2011
(7)
June 2011
(2)
May 2011
(5)
April 2011
(6)
March 2011
(8)
February 2011
(8)
January 2011
(4)
December 2010
(8)
November 2010
(3)
October 2010
(4)
September 2010
(7)
August 2010
(6)
July 2010
(10)
June 2010
(11)
May 2010
(11)
April 2010
(2)
March 2010
(3)
February 2010
(2)
January 2010
(5)
December 2009
(7)
November 2009
(5)
October 2009
(5)
September 2009
(8)
August 2009
(2)
July 2009
(1)
June 2009
(2)
May 2009
(5)
April 2009
(12)
March 2009
(5)
February 2009
(8)
January 2009
(3)
December 2008
(3)
November 2008
(1)
October 2008
(4)
September 2008
(6)
August 2008
(4)
June 2008
(1)
May 2008
(5)
April 2008
(4)
March 2008
(5)
February 2008
(2)
January 2008
(5)
December 2007
(3)
November 2007
(5)
Feed
Newsletter
Android Developers
Google Play
Platform
Android Studio
Google Play
Jetpack
Kotlin
Docs
News
