This was written on the basis that Google is no longer supporting Eclipse IDE for android development and that the official android development IDE is the Android Studio which was based off of JetBrains’ IDE called IntelliJ Idea.
Everywhere you go, people are using mobile devices to keep in touch with family and friends, take a picture to post on a social website, find the location of a restaurant, or check the latest news headlines. Mobile devices come in many different shapes and styles. Mobile phones run a variety of different operating systems such as Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and Research In Motion's Blackberry.
Some have large displays, physical keyboards, and run on 3G, 4G, 5G only in China so far, or Wi-Fi networks. Mobile phones may also have sensors for acceleration, location, or even payments. Some of these devices aren't even phones; they're tablets with larger displays and a data-only network connection.
Despite their differences, mobile devices are similar in that they all run mobile applications.
Prerequisites/Requirements
This article assumes you have some familiarity with the Java programming language, and xml notations. The following software is required:
• Windows, OSX, or Linux operating system
• Java Development Kit (JDK) 5 or JDK 6 (a JRE is not sufficient)
• An IntelliJ Idea development environment, such as IntelliJ Idea community Edition 13.1.6 or later, or IntelliJ Idea Ultimate Edition 13.1.6 or later.
• Android SDK and platforms (r12 or later)
• Android Development Toolkit (ADT) plugin for Eclipse
If all the prerequisites are met and the computer is well configured, launch the IntelliJ Idea IDE. And you will be presented with an image like the one below. Wait for it to fully load before you create a new project.
In the left panel are the recent project projects, and in the right panel is where we create or import a project from into IntelliJ idea.
Click on Create New Project
Select Android from the left panel and click on Application Module and then click Next.
In the area of application name, enter the name of your application, for example HelloAndroid, in the area of the package name, enter the name of the application package, conventionally, the package nameis usually the typed as the url of you company in reverse. For example, if it’s a google app, then the package name would com.google.myapp. then click Next.
You will see the screen above and if everything is ok, then you can click Finish.
Alternatively, you can also adjust the app to run onto an emulator or leave it to be deployed directly onto a USB test device.
On clicking finish, the IDE will generate all the necessary files and folders for the project and also index the files along with the necessary project libraries.
The IDE will also arrange the project into directories as shown below.
The res directory has contains sub folders called drawable which contain the app icon and other app resources like background images image buttons among others. The layout folder contains the interfaces files of the app which must have a .xml extension.
The src folder contains subfolders which lead to the java file where the application logic is written and also calls the layout files.
The AndroidManifest.xml file contains the system flow and permissions along with other app versioning details.
To run or test our app. First connect your test device to your computer and ensure that the android debug bridge is enabled, then click the green button in the top right corner of the IDE
How to change the theme of the IDE
Click File > Settings > Appearance
Under Theme, select which ever theme you find comfortable working with, you can also adjust the font size of your code.
