docs/html/tools/projects/projects-eclipse.jd

page.title=Managing Projects from Eclipse with ADT
parent.title=Managing Projects
parent.link=index.html
@jd:body

 <div id="qv-wrapper">
    <div id="qv">
      <h2>In this document</h2>

      <ol>
        <li><a href="#CreatingAProject">Creating an Android Project</a></li>

        <li><a href="#SettingUpLibraryProject">Setting up a Library Project</a></li>

        <li><a href="#ReferencingLibraryProject">Referencing a Library Project</a></li>
      </ol>

      <h2>See also</h2>

      <ol>
        <li><a href=
        "{@docRoot}tools/testing/testing_eclipse.html#CreateTestProjectEclipse">Testing
        from Eclipse with ADT</a></li>
      </ol>
    </div>
  </div>

  <p>Eclipse and the ADT plugin provide GUIs and wizards to create all three types of projects
  (Android project, Library project, and Test project):

  <ul>
    <li>An Android project contains all of the files and resources that are needed to build a project into
  an .apk file for installation. You need to create an Android project for any application that you
  want to eventually install on a device.</li>

  <li>You can also designate an Android project as a library project, which allows it to be shared
  with other projects that depend on it. Once an Android project is designated as a library
  project, it cannot be installed onto a device.</li>

  <li>Test projects extend JUnit test functionality to include Android specific functionality. For
  more information on creating a test project, see <a href=
  "{@docRoot}tools/testing/testing_eclipse.html">Testing from Eclipse with ADT</a>.</li>
  </ul>

  <h2 id="CreatingAProject">Creating an Android Project</h2>

  <p>The ADT plugin provides a <em>New Project Wizard</em> that you can use to quickly create a new
  Android project (or a project from existing code). To create a new project:</p>

  <ol>
    <li>Select <strong>File</strong> &gt; <strong>New</strong> &gt; <strong>Project</strong>.</li>

    <li>Select <strong>Android</strong> &gt; <strong>Android Application Project</strong>, and click
    <strong>Next</strong>.</li>

    <li>Enter the basic settings for the project:

      <ul>
        <li>Enter an <strong>Application Name</strong>. This name is used as the title of your
        application launcher icon when it is installed on a device.</li>

        <li>Enter a <strong>Project Name</strong>. This text is used as the name of the folder where
        your project is created.</li>

        <li>Enter a <strong>Package Name</strong>. This class package namespace creates the initial
        package structure for your applications code files and is added as the
        <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html#package">{@code package}</a>
        attribute in your application's
        <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html">Android manifest file</a>.
        This manifest value serves as the unique identifier for your application app when you
        distribute it to users. The package name must follow the same rules as packages in the Java
        programming language.</li>

        <li>Select a <strong>Minimum Required SDK</strong>. This setting indicates the lowest
        version of the Android platform that your application supports. This value sets the
        <code>minSdkVersion</code> attribute in the
        <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html">&lt;uses-sdk&gt;</a>
        element of your manifest file.</li>

        <li>Select a <strong>Target SDK</strong>. This setting indicates the highest version of
        Android with which you have tested with your application and sets the
        <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html#target">{@code
        targetSdkVersion}</a> attribute in your application's' manifest file.

          <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> You can change the target SDK for your
          project at any time: Right-click the project in the Package Explorer, select
          <strong>Properties</strong>, select <strong>Android</strong> and then check the desired
          <strong>Project Build Target</strong>.</p>
        </li>

        <li>Select a <strong>Compile With</strong> API version. This setting specifies what version
        of the SDK to compile your project against. We strongly recommend using the most recent
        version of the API.</li>

        <li>Select a <strong>Theme</strong>. This setting specifies which standard Android
        <a href="{@docRoot}design/style/themes.html">visual style</a> is applied to your
        application.</li>

        <li>Click <strong>Next</strong>.</li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>In the <strong>Configure Project</strong> page, select the desired settings and click
      <strong>Next</strong>. Leave the <strong>Create activity</strong> option checked so you can
      start your application with some essential components.</li>

    <li>In the <strong>Configure Launcher Icon</strong> page, create an icon and click
      <strong>Next</strong>.</li>

    <li>In the <strong>Create Activity</strong> page, select activity template and click
      <strong>Next</strong>. For more information about Android code templates, see
      <a href="{@docRoot}tools/projects/templates.html">Using Code Templates</a>.
      </li>

    <li>Click <strong>Finish</strong> and the wizard creates a new project according to the options
      you have chosen.</li>
  </ol>

  <p class="note"><strong>Tip:</strong> You can also start the New Project Wizard by clicking the
  <strong>New</strong> <img src="/images/tools/eclipse-new.png"
  style="vertical-align:baseline;margin:0"> icon in the toolbar.</p>


  <h2 id="SettingUpLibraryProject">Setting up a Library Project</h2>

  <p>A library project is a standard Android project, so you can create a new one in the same way
  as you would a new application project.</p>

  <p>To create a new library project:</p>

  <ol>
    <li>Select <strong>File</strong> &gt; <strong>New</strong> &gt; <strong>Project</strong>.</li>

    <li>Select <strong>Android</strong> &gt; <strong>Android Application Project</strong>, and click
    <strong>Next</strong>.</li>

    <li>Enter the basic settings for the project, including <strong>Application Name</strong>,
    <strong>Project Name</strong>, <strong>Package Name</strong>, and SDK settings.</li>

    <li>In the <strong>Configure Project</strong> page, select the <strong>Mark this project as a
    library</strong> option to flag the project as a library.</li>

    <li>Set the other options as desired and click <strong>Next</strong>.</li>

    <li>Follow the instructions to complete the wizard and create a new library project.</li>
  </ol>

  <p>You can also convert an existing application project into a library. To do so, simply open the
    Properties for the project and select the <strong>is Library</strong> checkbox, as shown in
    the figure below.</p>

  <img src= "{@docRoot}images/developing/adt-props-isLib.png">
  <p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 1.</strong> Marking a project as an Android library.</p>

  <p>To set the a project's properties to indicate that it is a library project:</p>

  <ol>
    <li>In the <strong>Package Explorer</strong>, right-click the library project and select
    <strong>Properties</strong>.</li>

    <li>In the <strong>Properties</strong> window, select the <strong>Android</strong> properties
    group in the left pane and locate the <strong>Library</strong> properties in the right pane.</li>

    <li>Select the <strong>is Library</strong> check box and click <strong>Apply</strong>.</li>

    <li>Click <strong>OK</strong> to close the <strong>Properties</strong> window.</li>
  </ol>

  <p>Once you create a library project or mark an existing project as a library, you can reference
  the library project in other Android application projects. For more information, see the
  <a href="#ReferencingLibraryProject">Referencing a library project</a> section.


  <h3>Creating the manifest file</h3>

  <p>A library project's manifest file must declare all of the shared components that it includes,
  just as would a standard Android application. For more information, see the documentation for
  <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html">AndroidManifest.xml</a>.</p>

  <p>For example, the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}resources/samples/TicTacToeLib/AndroidManifest.html">TicTacToeLib</a> example library
  project declares the activity <code>GameActivity</code>:</p>
  <pre>
&lt;manifest&gt;
  ...
  &lt;application&gt;
    ...
    &lt;activity android:name="GameActivity" /&gt;
    ...
  &lt;/application&gt;
&lt;/manifest&gt;
</pre>

  <h2 id="ReferencingLibraryProject">Referencing a library project</h2>

  <p>If you are developing an application and want to include the shared code or resources from a
  library project, you can do so easily by adding a reference to the library project in the
  application project's Properties.</p>

  <p>To add a reference to a library project, follow these steps:</p>

  <ol>
    <li>Make sure that both the project library and the application project that depends on it are
      in your workspace. If one of the projects is missing, import it into your workspace.</li>

    <li>In the <strong>Package Explorer</strong>, right-click the dependent project and select
    <strong>Properties</strong>.</li>

    <li>In the <strong>Properties</strong> window, select the "Android" properties group at left
    and locate the <strong>Library</strong> properties at right.</li>

    <li>Click <strong>Add</strong> to open the <strong>Project Selection</strong> dialog.</li>

    <li>From the list of available library projects, select a project and click
    <strong>OK</strong>.</li>

    <li>When the dialog closes, click <strong>Apply</strong> in the <strong>Properties</strong>
    window.</li>

    <li>Click <strong>OK</strong> to close the <strong>Properties</strong> window.</li>
  </ol>

  <p>As soon as the Properties dialog closes, Eclipse rebuilds the project, including the contents
  of the library project.</p>

  <p>Figure 2 shows the Properties dialog that lets you add library references and move
  them up and down in priority.</p><img src="{@docRoot}images/developing/adt-props-libRef.png">

  <p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 2.</strong> Adding a reference to a
     library project in the properties of an application project.</p>

  <p>If you are adding references to multiple libraries, note that you can set their relative
  priority (and merge order) by selecting a library and using the <strong>Up</strong> and
  <strong>Down</strong> controls. The tools merge the referenced libraries with your application
  starting from lowest priority (bottom of the list) to highest (top of the list). If more than one
  library defines the same resource ID, the tools select the resource from the library with higher
  priority. The application itself has highest priority and its resources are always used in
  preference to identical resource IDs defined in libraries.</p>

  <h3>Declaring library components in the manifest file</h3>

  <p>In the manifest file of the application project, you must add declarations of all components
  that the application will use that are imported from a library project. For example, you must
  declare any <code>&lt;activity&gt;</code>, <code>&lt;service&gt;</code>,
  <code>&lt;receiver&gt;</code>, <code>&lt;provider&gt;</code>, and so on, as well as
  <code>&lt;permission&gt;</code>, <code>&lt;uses-library&gt;</code>, and similar elements.</p>

  <p>Declarations should reference the library components by their fully-qualified package names,
  where appropriate.</p>

  <p>For example, the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}resources/samples/TicTacToeMain/AndroidManifest.html">TicTacToeMain</a> example
  application declares the library activity <code>GameActivity</code> like this:</p>
  <pre>
&lt;manifest&gt;
  ...
  &lt;application&gt;
    ...
    &lt;activity android:name="com.example.android.tictactoe.library.GameActivity" /&gt;
    ...
  &lt;/application&gt;
&lt;/manifest&gt;
</pre>

  <p>For more information about the manifest file, see the documentation for <a href=
  "{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html">AndroidManifest.xml</a>.</p>