Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Connecting a Device
Before we can connect our device for testing purposes, we have to make sure that it is
recognized by the operating system. On Windows, this involves installing the appropriate driver,
which is part of the SDK we installed earlier. Just connect your device and follow the standard
driver installation project for Windows, pointing the process to the
driver/
folder in your
SDK installation's root directory. For some devices, you might have to get the driver from the
manufacturer's website. Many devices can use the Android ADB drivers that come with the SDK;
however, a process is often required to add the specific device hardware ID to the INF file. A
quick Google search for the device name and “Windows ADB� will often get you the information
you need to get connected with that specific device.
On Linux and Mac OS X, you usually don't need to install any drivers, as they come with the
operating system. Depending on your Linux flavor, you might have to fiddle with your USB
device discovery a little bit, usually in the form of creating a new rules file for
udev
. This varies
from device to device. A quick Web search should bring up a solution for your device.
Creating an Android Virtual Device
The SDK comes with an emulator that will run Android Virtual Devices (AVDs). An
Android Virtual
Device
consists of a system image of a specific Android version, a skin, and a set of attributes,
which include the screen resolution, SD-card size, and so on.
To create an AVD, you have to fire up the Android Virtual Device Manager. You can do this either
as described previously in the SDK installation step or directly from within Eclipse by clicking the
AVD Manager button in the toolbar. You could use one of the already available AVDs. Instead,
let's walk through the steps of creating a custom AVD:
1.
Click the New button on the right side of the AVD Manager screen, which
opens the Edit Android Virtual Device (AVD) dialog, shown in Figure
2-7
.
