Android Studio

Setup for Linux Debian

1. Install Java — follow this guide:

2. Install Android Studio

Download the Android Studio .tar.gz:

https://developer.android.com/studio

Decompress it:

tar -xzvf android-studio-*.tar.gz

Move it to /opt :

sudo mv android-studio /opt

3. Install dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 lib32z1 libbz2-1.0:i386

4. Run installer:

cd /opt/android-studio/bin
./studio.sh

Click NEXT to all steps.

• It will install the Android SDK, Android Emulator, and everything needed to create an android application (Google system image, build tools, platform tools, virtual device — it takes a while to completes, so wait).

https://developer.android.com/static/studio/videos/studio-install-linux.mp4

The SDK will be installed into the default location at your home: ~/Android/Sdk

5. Configure the environment variables for it:

sudo echo "export ANDROID_HOME=~/Android/Sdk" >> ~/.bashrc
sudo echo "export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools" >> ~/.bashrc
sudo echo "export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin" >> ~/.bashrc
sudo echo "export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
echo $PATH

As optional, you could add a alias to run android

sudo echo "alias android='/opt/android-studio/bin/studio.sh'" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
echo $PATH

and also add the emulator to the path:

sudo echo "export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
echo $PATH

Or just directly edit the .bashrc adding to the path the following code line (not replacing):

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-in-use
export ANDROID_HOME=~/Android/Sdk
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator

Note: Due to a current emulator issue, emulator can`t launch avds, to workaround it until it`s not fixed, create a alias to the emulator at ~/.bashrc

alias emu="$ANDROID_HOME/tools/emulator"

So, use ‘emu’ to launch emulator instead of ‘emulator’!

emulator -list-avds
emu -list-avds

emulator @<android_avd_name>
emu @<android_avd_name>

emulator -avd <android_avd_name>
emu -avd <android_avd_name>

6. Reopen the Android Studio

android

or

cd /opt/android-studio/bin
./studio.sh

7. Enjoy it!

Now you are ready to create a new android application or use android emulator.

If you are using a real Android device, turn on the Debug mode, plugin the mobile phone, and run the following code to list devices (and emulators) connected:

adb devices

Some adb commands:

• adb install package.apk — Installs the package.
• adb uninstall package.name — Uninstalls the package (com.rovio.angrybirds).
• adb push /home/file /sdcard/file — Pushes a file to /sdcard/file
• adb pull /sdcard/file /home/file — Pulls a file from /sdcard/file
• adb logcat — device’s log, useful for debugging.
• adb shell — interactive Linux command-line shell on your device.
• adb shell command — runs specific command

To use the Android Emulator, open AVD Manager to create a new one, or just run the already available emulator:

emulator -list-avds
OR
emu -list-avds

Pixel_3a_API_34_extension_level_7_x86_64

emulator -avd Pixel_3a_API_34_extension_level_7_x86_64
OR
emu -avd Pixel_3a_API_34_extension_level_7_x86_64

or

./Android/Sdk/emulator/emulator -list-avds

Pixel_3a_API_34_extension_level_7_x86_64

./Android/Sdk/emulator/emulator -avd Pixel_3a_API_34_extension_level_7_x86_64

Note: To enable keyboard input, access the emulator settings, click in advanced settings, and enable the item " Enable keyboard input"

To enable keyboard input into emulator

To create a new Android Project, open it and select New Project, after that select the type: Phone/Tablet, Wear OS, Android TV, Automotive, and also the kind of the activity/layout — And finally setup the Project details.

You can use different languages to develop for Android, the old Java or the newer Kotlin, the list is big:

• Java, older and first official one
• Kotlin, newer official one since 2017
• C++ using NDK
• C# with .NET (for windows)
• Python with Kivy
• HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Adobe PhoneGap
• Dart with Flutter
• Lua with Corona
• …

For Test Automation, use some tools like Appium and Nightwatch.js — it will be available in a future post here asap, just wait for it!

For now, check it out the Android Studio doc for more information: https://developer.android.com/docs

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