Let's setup our computer environment to start working.
Install Java
- Download and install the latest JDK.
Note: Make sure that you download the Windows x86 version as Google only supports this version and not Windows x64 one.
Tips: I installed Java SE 6 Update 29 and I prefer installing JDK to "C:\jdk1.6.0_27" (a path with no space in the name) rather then "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_27". This is because sometime the space in the name "Program Files" causes issues. However, the JRE accompanying JDK should be installed to "C:\Program Files\Java". So in short;
- Install JDK in "C:\jdk1.6.0_27"
Setup Android SDK
- Download and install the latest SDK (the installer version is recommended).
- Make sure that you run "SDK Manager" to download the latest packages.
Note: The installer version is the preferred because it is easy and allows you to downloads the latest packages. I normally download all the packages; it takes time to download around 2GB but once you download it, you can just copy and paste it anywhere so its worth it.
Tips: I like to keep the developer's tools organized, so i install to single root folder as shown below(in my case E:\_DEV_TOOLS). I installed all the android related installations in this folder. It is not necessary to have the folder in the primary drive.
Setup Android NDK
- Download the latest NDK.
- Unzip it to any location(in my case i did it to my _DEV_TOOLS folder), make sure the path has no space in the names.
Setup ANT
- Download the latest ANT.
- Unzip it to any location(in my case i did it to my _DEV_TOOLS folder), make sure the path has no space in the names.
Install Visual Studio 2010
- Download and install Visual Studio 2010.
Note: You can either buy VS2010 or install the expression edition, both should work. This tutorial will based on Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition.
Install vs-android
vs-android is intended to provide a collection of scripts and utilities to support integrated development of Android NDK C/C++ software under Microsoft Visual Studio.
- Download the latest vs-android release.
- Unzip it anywhere you like as the installation process copies the necessary files from it. Once you are done with the installation, you can go ahead and delete the unzipped folder. It is no longer required.
- Go into the "MsBuild" directory of the folder you just unzipped.
- For Windows 2000 or XP, just double click on 'install.cmd'.
- For Vista or Windows 7 you will need to right click 'install.cmd', and choose to 'Run as Administrator". Don't worry, you can view the install batch file in notepad if you wish. All it does is copy files to the correct place in your Visual Studio install.
- Feel free to delete the files you unzipped earlier. They are no longer required.
Setup Environment Variables
Now that we have installed everything that we intended to, let us set the environment variables to finalize the setup process.
- Open Environment Variable Window:
- From the desktop, right-click My Computer and click Properties.
- In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab.
- In the Advanced section, click the Environment Variables button.
- Environment Variables window should appear now.
- Create an environment variable named ANDROID_HOME and it should point to the root directory of Android SDK (in my case it is E:\_DEV_TOOLS\android-sdk-windows).
- Create second environment variable named ANDROID_NDK_ROOT and it should point to the root directory of Android NDK (in my case it is E:\_DEV_TOOLS\android-ndk-r6b).
- Create third environment variable named ANT_HOME and it should point to the root directory of ANT (in my case it is E:\_DEV_TOOLS\apache-ant-1.8.2)
- Similarly, create a forth environment variable named JAVA_HOME and it should point to the root directory of JDK (in my case it is C:\jdk1.6.0_27)
- Finally, look for an environment variable named Path and double click on it. You would notice that there are other path mentioned under "Variable value". Add the blow mentioned part at the end of it;
- ;%ANDROID_HOME%\platform-tools;%ANDROID_HOME%\tools;%ANDROID_NDK_ROOT%\build;%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%ANT_HOME%\bin
