docs/html/preview/setup-sdk.jd

page.title=Set Up the Preview
meta.keywords="preview", "android"
page.tags="preview", "developer preview"
page.image=images/cards/card-n-sdk_2x.png

@jd:body


<div id="qv-wrapper">
  <div id="qv">
<ol>
  <li><a href="#get-as13">Get Android Studio 2.1</a></li>
  <li><a href="#get-sdk">Get the Android N SDK</a>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#docs-dl">Reference documentation</a>
    </ol>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#java8">Get the Java 8 JDK and JRE</a></li>
  <li><a href="#create-update">Update or Create a Project</a></li>
  <li><a href="#next">Next Steps</a></li>
</ol>
  </div>
</div>

<p>To develop apps for the Android N Preview, you need to make some updates
to your developer environment, as described on this page.</p>

<p>To simply test your app's compatibility on the
Android N system image, follow the guide to <a
href="{@docRoot}preview/download.html">Test on an Android N Device</a>.</p>

<img src="{@docRoot}preview/images/n-preview-setup.png" width="700" alt="" />


<h2 id="get-as13">Get Android Studio 2.1 (preview)</h2>

<p>The Android N platform adds support for <a
href="{@docRoot}preview/j8-jack.html">Java 8 language features</a>,
which require a new compiler called Jack. The latest version of Jack
is currently supported only in Android Studio 2.1. So if you want to
use Java 8 language features, you need to use Android Studio 2.1 to
build your app. Otherwise, you don't need to use the Jack compiler, but you
still need to update to JDK 8 to compile against the Android N platform,
as described below.
</p>

<iframe width="400" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SBbWGxXCMqQ?autohide=1&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;"></iframe>

<p>Android Studio 2.1 is currently available as a preview in the canary
release channel. If you already
have Android Studio and don't want to update to the canary channel, you can
download Android Studio 2.1 as a separate installation and use it
for development with Android N, leaving your primary Android Studio
environment unaffected.</p>

<p>To download Android Studio 2.1 as a separate installation, follow these
steps (or if you want to receive Android Studio 2.1 as an update to your
existing installation, skip to step 6):</p>

<ol>
  <li>Edit the name of your
  existing Android Studio installation and append the version number. This way,
  when you install the new version, it will not override the existing one.</li>
  <li>Download the appropriate ZIP file for your operating system from the
    <a href="http://tools.android.com/download/studio/canary/latest"
    >canary channel download page</a>.
  </li>
  <li>Unzip the package and move the Android Studio 2.1 contents to the
    appropriate location for applications on your system, then launch it.</li>
  <li>In the setup wizard, click <strong>Next</strong> a couple times to
  reach the SDK Components Setup screen. Here,
  you must set a different path for the <strong>Android SDK Location</strong>.
  It can be any directory you want, but it must not be the default path, which
  is the same directory used by your original version of Android Studio (unless
  you changed that one yourself). The SDK location for Android Studio 2.1
  must be different because the N Preview SDK packages are not compatible with
  versions of Android Studio lower than 2.1.</p>
  </li>
  <li>Continue with the setup wizard until you reach the Android Studio IDE.</li>
  <li>Open the Settings dialog
    (<strong>File &gt; Settings</strong> on Windows/Linux, or
    <strong>Android Studio &gt; Preferences</strong> on Mac). In the left
    panel, select <strong>Appearance &amp; Behavior &gt; System Settings &gt;
    Updates</strong>.
  </li>
  <li>On the Updates panel, select the <strong>Automatically
    check updates for</strong> check box and select
    <strong>Canary Channel</strong> from the drop-down list.
  </li>
</ol>

<p>Keep this settings window open for the next step.</p>


<h2 id="get-sdk">Get the N Preview SDK</h2>

<p>To start developing with Android N APIs, you need to install the
Android N Preview SDK in Android Studio as follows:</p>

<ol>
  <li>While still viewing the Updates panel (step 4 from above),
  select the <strong>Automatically
    check updates for Android SDK</strong> check box and select
    <strong>Preview Channel</strong> from the drop-down list.
  </li>
  <li>Click <strong>Check Now</strong>.</li>

  <li>In the left panel, select <strong>Appearance &amp; Behavior &gt;
  System Settings &gt; Android SDK</strong>.

  <li>Click the <strong>SDK Platforms</strong> tab, then select the
  <strong>Android N Preview</strong> check box.</li>

  <li>Click the <strong>SDK Tools</strong> tab, then select the
    <strong>Android SDK Build Tools</strong>, <strong>Android SDK
    Platform-Tools</strong>, and <strong>Android SDK Tools</strong> check
    boxes.
  </li>

  <li>Click <strong>OK</strong>, then accept the licensing
    agreements for any packages that need to be installed.
  </li>
</ol>

<h3 id="docs-dl">Get the N Preview reference documentation</h3>

<p>
  Detailed information about the Android N APIs is available in the N Preview
  reference documentation, which you can download from the following table.
  This package contains an abridged, offline version of the Android developer
  web site, and includes an updated API reference for the Android N APIs and an
  API difference report.
</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th scope="col">Documentation</th>
    <th scope="col">Checksums</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td style="white-space: nowrap">
    <a href="{@docRoot}shareables/preview/n-preview-1-docs.zip"
      >n-preview-1-docs.zip</a></td>
    <td width="100%">
      MD5: 4ab33ccbe698f46f125cc5b807cf9c2f<br>
      SHA-1: 6a3880b3ccd19614daae5a4d0698ea6ae11c20a5
    </td>
  </tr>
<table>



<h2 id="java8">Get the Java 8 JDK and JRE</h2>

<p>To compile your app against the Android N platform, you need to use
the Java 8 Developer Kit (JDK 8), and in order to use some tools with Android
Studio 2.1, you need to install the Java 8 Runtime Environment (JRE 8). So, if
you don't have the latest version of each already, download JDK 8 and JRE 8
now.</p>

<p>Then set the JDK version in Android Studio as follows:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open an Android project in Android Studio, then open the
    Project Structure dialog by selecting <strong>File &gt;
        Project Structure</strong>. (Alternatively, you can set the default
        for all projects by selecting <strong>File &gt; Other Settings &gt;
        Default Project Structure</strong>.)
   </li>
   <li>In the left panel of the dialog, click <strong>SDK Location</strong>.
   </li>
   <li>In the <strong>JDK Location</strong> field, enter the location of the
    Java 8 JDK (click the button on the right
    to browse your files), then click <strong>OK</strong>.
   </li>
</ol>

<img src="{@docRoot}preview/images/studio-jdk-location.jpg" width="700"
  alt="" />


<h2 id="create-update">Update or Create a Project</h2>

<p>
  To use the Android N APIs, your project must be configured appropriately.
</p>

<p>If you plan to use Java 8 language features, you should also read
<a href="{@docRoot}preview/j8-jack.html">Java 8 Language Features</a>
for information about the supported Java 8 features and
how to configure your project with the Jack compiler.</p>


<h3 id="update">Update an existing project</h3>

<p>Open the
  <code>build.gradle</code> file for your module and update the values as
  follows:
</p>

<pre>
android {
  compileSdkVersion <strong>'android-N'</strong>
  buildToolsVersion <strong>'24.0.0-rc1'</strong>
  ...

  defaultConfig {
     minSdkVersion <strong>'N'</strong>
     targetSdkVersion <strong>'N'</strong>
     ...
  }
  ...
}</pre>


<h3 id="create">Create a new project</h3>


<p>To create a new project for development with the Android N Preview SDK:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Click <strong>File > New Project</strong>. and follow the steps until
  you reach the Target Android Devices page.
  </li>
  <li>On this page, select <strong>Phone and Tablet</strong> option.</li>
  <li>Under <strong>Phone and Tablet</strong> option, in the <strong>Minimum
    SDK</strong> option list, select
    <strong>N: Android API 23, N Preview (Preview)</strong>.</li>
</ol>


<h2 id="next">Next Steps</h2>

<ul>
  <li>Follow the guide to <a
href="{@docRoot}preview/download.html">Test on an Android N Device</a>.</li>
  <li>Learn more about the Android N platform with
<a href="{@docRoot}preview/behavior-changes.html">Behavior Changes</a>
and <a href="{@docRoot}preview/api-overview.html">Android N APIs
and Features</a>.</li>
</ul>