Setting up Android with Eclipse

Eclipse is most widely used when it comes to use for Android Development. Following are the various phases that has to be done in order to install it and make necessary changes to setup with Android SDK .

Download and Install JDK

Download and install the latest JDK (JDK 1.6 Update 18) from JDK download page

Download and Install Eclipse IDE

Download and install Eclipse Classic 3.5 (Galileo) from Eclipse download page. You can also use the  Java or RCP version of Eclipse.

Download and Install Android SDK Starter Package

The Android SDK starter package includes only a single component, the latest version of the SDK Tools. Included in that component is a tool called Android SDK and AVD Manager that you can use to download other components from the SDK repository site.

• Download the latest Android SDK  starter package  from the SDK download page.
• Unpack the archive to a suitable location on your machine. By default, the SDK files are unpacked into a directory named  android-sdk- . For example, on Windows platform the directory will be android-sdk-windows.

Android SDK

Add Android Platforms to Your SDK

To add one or more Android platforms (for example, Android 1.6 or Android 2.1) to your SDK, use the Android SDK and AVD Manager, included in the SDK starter package. It is recommended  to download multiple platforms, so that you can build your application on the lowest version you want to support, but test against higher versions that you intend the application to run on.

• Launch the Android SDK and AVD Manager on Windows by executing SDK Setup.exe at the root of the SDK directory. On Mac OS X or Linux, execute the android tool in the /tools/ folder.
• On Available Packages menu, select the platforms to download (1.1 to 2.1).

If you find error on HTTP SSL while fetching the repository url , try to use http instead of https by checking the Force https://… sources to be fetched using http://… option on Settings menu.

Download and Installing Eclipse. Download it From here http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

Download and Install ADT Plugin

To install  the ADT Plugin, you can take advantage of the Eclipse remote update feature. By setting up a remote update site, you can easily download, install, and check for ADT updates. Alternatively, you can download the latest ADT to your development computer as a local site archive.

• Launch Eclipse, then select Help –> Install New Software.

• In Available Software dialog, click Add
• Enter a name for the remote site (ex: Android Plugin) in the Name field and in the Locationfield, enter this URL:
  https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
  and then click OK. If you have trouble acquiring the plugin, you can try using ‘http’  instead of  ’https’  in the URL.

Select the checkbox next to Developer Tools, which will automatically select the nested toolsAndroid DDMS and Android Development Tools and then click Next.

• On the next dialog, click Next to read and accept the license agreement and install any dependencies, then click Finish.
• Restart Eclipse
• To check whether the ADT has been installed correctly, try to create a new project by selectFile > New > Project., you shoud find Android Project listed on project wizard.