Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | page.title=Using the Support Library |
Scott Main | 7d711b1 | 2013-03-11 13:52:35 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 2 | page.tags="support library" |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 3 | |
| 4 | trainingnavtop=true |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 5 | |
| 6 | @jd:body |
| 7 | |
| 8 | <div id="tb-wrapper"> |
| 9 | <div id="tb"> |
| 10 | <h2>This lesson teaches you to</h2> |
| 11 | <ol> |
Katie McCormick | e06b083 | 2013-01-03 15:50:40 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 12 | <li><a href="#Setup">Set Up Your Project with the Support Library</a></li> |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 13 | <li><a href="#Apis">Import the Support Library APIs</a></li> |
| 14 | </ol> |
| 15 | <h2>You should also read</h2> |
| 16 | <ul> |
Scott Main | 4e2c9dc | 2013-07-23 19:35:17 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 17 | <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/index.html">Support Library</a></li> |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 18 | </ul> |
| 19 | </div> |
| 20 | </div> |
| 21 | |
Scott Main | 4e2c9dc | 2013-07-23 19:35:17 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 22 | <p>The Android <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/index.html">Support Library</a> provides a JAR |
Katie McCormick | e06b083 | 2013-01-03 15:50:40 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 23 | file with an API library that allows you to use some of the more recent Android APIs in your app |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 24 | while running on earlier versions of Android. For instance, the Support Library provides a version |
| 25 | of the {@link android.app.Fragment} APIs that you can use on Android 1.6 (API level 4) and |
| 26 | higher.</p> |
| 27 | |
| 28 | <p>This lesson shows how to set up your app to use the Support Library in order to use fragments |
| 29 | to build a dynamic app UI.</p> |
| 30 | |
| 31 | |
Katie McCormick | e06b083 | 2013-01-03 15:50:40 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 32 | <h2 id="Setup">Set Up Your Project with the Support Library</h2> |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 33 | |
| 34 | <div class="figure" style="width:527px"> |
| 35 | <img src="{@docRoot}images/training/basics/sdk-manager.png" alt="" /> |
| 36 | <p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 1.</strong> The Android SDK Manager with the |
| 37 | Android Support package selected.</p> |
| 38 | </div> |
| 39 | |
| 40 | <p>To set up your project:</p> |
| 41 | |
| 42 | <ol> |
Katie McCormick | e06b083 | 2013-01-03 15:50:40 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 43 | <li>Download the Android Support package using the SDK Manager.</li> |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 44 | |
| 45 | <li>Create a <code>libs</code> directory at the top level of your Android project.</li> |
| 46 | <li>Locate the JAR file for the library you want to use and copy it into the <code>libs/</code> |
| 47 | directory. |
| 48 | <p>For example, the library that supports API level 4 and up is located at |
| 49 | <code><sdk>/extras/android/support/v4/android-support-v4.jar</code>.</p></li> |
| 50 | <li>Update your manifest file to set the minimum API level to <code>4</code> and the target |
| 51 | API level to the latest release: |
| 52 | <pre><uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" android:targetSdkVersion="15" /></pre> |
| 53 | </li> |
| 54 | </ol> |
| 55 | |
| 56 | |
| 57 | <h2 id="Apis">Import the Support Library APIs</h2> |
| 58 | |
| 59 | <p>The Support Library includes a variety of APIs that were either added in recent versions of |
| 60 | Android or don't exist in the platform at all and merely provide additional support to you when |
| 61 | developing specific application features.</p> |
| 62 | |
Scott Main | 71427ba | 2012-04-20 11:01:21 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | <p>You can find all the API reference documentation for the Support Library in the |
| 64 | platform docs at {@link android.support.v4.app android.support.v4.*}.</p> |
Scott Main | d9ee0d7 | 2012-04-19 15:52:38 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 65 | |
| 66 | <div class="warning"><p><strong>Warning:</strong> To be sure that you don't accidentally use new |
| 67 | APIs on an older system version, be certain that you import the {@link |
| 68 | android.support.v4.app.Fragment} class and related APIs from the {@link android.support.v4.app} |
| 69 | package:</p> |
| 70 | <pre> |
| 71 | import android.support.v4.app.Fragment; |
| 72 | import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager; |
| 73 | ... |
| 74 | </pre> |
| 75 | </div> |
| 76 | |
| 77 | |
| 78 | <p>When creating an activity that hosts fragments while using the Support Library, you must also |
| 79 | extend the {@link android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity} class instead of the traditional {@link |
| 80 | android.app.Activity} class. You'll see sample code for the fragment and activity in the next |
| 81 | lesson.</p> |
| 82 | |