Setup Android SDK With Eclipse

You can download the complete article as PDF file here.

I started using Android SDK recently and I like it a lot. In this article I tell you how to setup the SDK to work in combination with the Eclipse ADT plugin. There are lots of websites which deal with this topic. I try to give you the complete overview in one single page so that you do not have to hop from one page to another.
Before we continue forward let us have a look at the minimum system requirement for Android SDK:
<< Skip to Installing Android SDK >>

Operating Systems

1. Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit)
2. Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later (x86 only)
3. Linux (tested on Ubuntu Linux, Lucid Lynx). GNU C Library (glibc) 2.7 or later is required. On Ubuntu Linux, version 8.04 or later is required. 64-bit distributions must be capable of running 32-bit applications.

Eclipse IDE

1. Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede) or greater
2. Eclipse JDT plugin (included in most Eclipse IDE packages)
If you want to download Eclipse you can download it from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/. Android SDK prefers that we select one of the following as our development environment:
1. Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
2. Eclipse Classic (versions 3.5.1 and higher)
3. Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
You can download Android SDK for your system from
1. Windows : installer_r10-windows.exe or android-sdk_r10-windows.zip.
2. Mac OS (intel) : android-sdk_r10-mac_x86.zip.
3. Linux (i386) : android-sdk_r10-linux_x86.tgz.
You will need latest version of JDK to be able to use Android SDK with Eclipse. You can download the latest JDK from JAVA's website at http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.
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Installing Android SDK

<< Skip to Installing the ADT Plugin for Eclipse >>
Now we are all set to talk about how to install the SDK. Since I use Windows I present here how it works in Windows, but it should be almost similar in other Operating Systems. The Android SDK we have just downloaded is not the complete software required to begin the development. It is just the core SDK tool which can be used to download the rest of the SDK components. Lets see how it works out when we click '.exe' installer for windows

Windows .exe Installer

1. When you click the '.exe' installer windows will ask you if you want to save the file or cancel download as seen in the figure below. Select Save File and wait for the file to download.

2. After the file has downloaded run the setup file. You will be shown the welcome screen. Press Next on this screen.

3. If Jave SE Development Kit (JDK) is not found on your system you will be asked to download it from the Java website. Click on Visit java.oracle.com to install the JDK. Without the JDK you cannot continue with the installation. If you already have JDK installed you can proceed to Step 4.

4. After Installing the JDK you can press the Back button and then click Next button on the Android SDK installer. Now you will see that the previously disabled 'Next' button is enabled. Click the Next button to proceed forward. 5. You will now be asked to choose the directory where you want to install Android SDK tools. Remember the name and location of the SDK directory on your system as you will need to refer to the SDK directory later, when setting up the ADT plugin and when using the SDK tools from command line. In this article we use the default SDK location C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk.

 After choosing the location where the SDK will be installed press Next.
6. Next you will be asked to Choose if you want to make a Start Menu Folder. If you do not want to make a Start Menu Folder select the box Do not create shortcuts. If you want to create Start Menu Folder than just click Install.