Now that you’ve built the Guestbook Mobile SDK, you’re ready to create the Guestbook Android app. This article walks you through the steps required to create the app’s project in Android Studio. After this, you’ll be ready to install the Guestbook Mobile SDK and Liferay Screens. First though, you should make sure you’ve installed Android’s development tools.
Installing Android Studio
This Learning Path uses Android Studio–Android’s official IDE–to develop the Guestbook app. As an Android developer, you’re likely very familiar with Android Studio. If you need help setting up and using Android Studio, see the following topics in Android Studio’s documentation:
Once Android Studio is up and running, you’re ready to create the Guestbook app!
Creating the Guestbook App
When you start Android Studio, it presents a welcome screen containing a Quick
Start menu. Click Start a new Android Studio project in this menu. This
launches the Create New Project wizard, which asks you to enter the app name,
company domain, and project location. Enter Liferay Guestbook as the app name
and docs.liferay.com as the company domain. Android Studio uses these values
to autofill your app’s package name and project location. Accept the package
name com.liferay.docs.liferayguestbook, and choose a project location that’s
convenient. Click Next.
Figure 1: The first screen of Android Studio's Create New Project wizard asks you to enter your app's name and company domain.
The next screen asks you to specify your app’s supported form factors and minimum Android SDK. Make sure that only the Phone and Tablet checkbox is selected. In the Minimum SDK menu, select API 15: Android 4.0.3 (IceCreamSandwich). Android Studio gives you an estimate of the percentage of devices active on the Google Play store that can run the selected API level. You can view a graphical representation of these estimates by clicking the Help me choose link in the text below the Minimum SDK menu. Click Next when you’re finished.
Figure 2: The second screen of Android Studio's Create New Project wizard lets you select your app's form factors and minimum Android API level.
You must now specify your app’s first activity. Although you’ll use this activity to authenticate users to your Liferay Portal instance, don’t select Login Activity. Select Empty Activity instead. Later, you’ll insert Login Screenlet in this activity. Login Screenlet contains everything your users need to authenticate to a Liferay Portal instance, including the UI. Click Next.
Figure 3: The third screen of Android Studio's Create New Project wizard lets you specify an activity for your app.
The final screen of the New Project Wizard asks you to enter the activity’s name and the name of its layout file. Accept the defaults and click Finish.
Figure 4: In the final screen of Android Studio's Create New Project wizard, accept the default values for the activity and layout name.
A progress indicator appears that indicates your project is building. Android Studio then opens the project with the activity’s class and layout ready to edit. The project’s structure appears on the left side of the screen.
Figure 5: Android Studio shows your project's structure.
Well done! You successfully created the Guestbook app’s project. Now it’s time to put the Guestbook Mobile SDK and Liferay Screens to work!