If you are going to create an Android application using GeneXus, then you need to have the Android SDK installed.
But at first, it might be a little hard to know which packages of the Android SDK have to be downloaded.
For that reason, an installer on this site is available, in order to automate this task, making your Android development with GeneXus easier.
Also, this document explains the minimum content required, suggestions, and tips if you want to install it manually.

Android SDK Installer

If you prefer to install it manually, skip this section and refer to " Installation process".

To make the installation process easier, you can use the Android SDK Installer available in the Download Center.
Before starting the installation process you must ensure manually that VT-x is enabled in your BIOS.

When you execute this program, the only thing you need to do is indicate the folder where you want to install the Android components, and then click on the "Install" button to start the download and installation processes. 

Android SDK - GeneXus 15

Once it's finished, if you click the "Run" button, it will display the Android SDK Manager with the components installed.

Notes:

  • You need at least 3GB of free space on your disk to download all the minimum requirements.

Installation process

Step 1 - Installing external Software

  • JDK  Version 8 or higher (Use the 64-bit version if you are on a 64-bit operating system).
  • Android SDK — Only the command line tools are needed.

Note: It is strongly recommended to install the Android SDK (in any directory) with no blank spaces or any special characters.

Step 2 - Installing Android components

Open the Android SDK Manager and download the following components:

GeneXus 15 Upgrade 3 users.
Component Required Version Comments
Android SDK Tools 25.1.7 or higher -
Android SDK Platform-Tools 23.1 or higher -
Android SDK Build-tools 23.0.2 exactly -
Android 7.0 (API 24) Any -
- SDK Platform   -
- Google APIs Intel x86 Atom System Image   If you have an Intel-based computer use the Intel x86 System Image. Otherwise, use the ARM EABI v7a System Image.
If there are any AVD already created with the previous requirement (Intel x86 Atom System Image), it will not be re-created. You may consider delete it from the AVD Manager, and re-run the app from GeneXus to create a new one.
Android Support Repository 36 or higher -
Google Repository 36 or higher -
Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer)  Any  If HAXM cannot be installed, it is necessary to install Android 4.1.2 (API 16), including SDK Platform and ARM EABI v7a System Image. Check "Android API levels considerations" section.

 

GeneXus 15, GeneXus 15 Upgrade 1 & GeneXus 15 Upgrade 2 users.
Component Required Version Comments
Android SDK Tools 25.1.7 or higher -
Android SDK Platform-Tools 23.1 or higher -
Android SDK Build-tools 23.0.2 exactly -
Android 7.0 (API 24) Any -
- SDK Platform   -
- Intel x86 Atom System Image   If you have an Intel-based computer use the Intel x86 System Image. Otherwise, use the ARM EABI v7a System Image.
Android Support Repository 36 or higher -
Google Repository 36 or higher -
Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer)  Any  If HAXM cannot be installed, it is necessary to install Android 4.1.2 (API 16), including SDK Platform and ARM EABI v7a System Image. Check "Android API levels considerations" section.

 

The settings described below are for the latest version of GeneXus. It might differ from previous versions.

Android requirements - Tools

Android requirements - API 24

Android requirements - Extras

Step 3 - Installing HAXM

This step is only necessary if your computer has an Intel-based CPU.

Once you have finished downloading the requirements, you must install HAXM.

Open the <Android_SDK_Installation_Directory>/Extras/Intel/Hardware_Acelerated_Execution_Manager directory,  execute the intelhaxm-android.exe installer and follow its instructions.

HAXM installer

With this configuration, you can run Android applications on your device (if it is plugged into your computer).

Note:

  • HAXM only works in Intel processors if the Hyper-V feature of Windows platform is turned off and VT-x is enabled in your BIOS.
  • In order to check if Hyper-V is disabled, open Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off and then, in the pop-up windows, make sure that Hyper-V is not checked.

Using Android virtual devices

If for some reason you want to run your application in an Android Virtual Device, then you should download some extra content from the Android SDK. Once the necessary content is downloaded and installed you can follow the instructions in the Creating an Android Virtual Device document to create an Android  Virtual Device.

If you want to run a certain Android version as a Virtual Device you must download its minimum features:

  • SDK Platform
  • Android System Image 

For instance, to run your application on an Android 5.1.1 (API 22) Virtual Device, you need to download, in addition to its SDK Plattform, an Android System Image for the API 22, as shown in the following images:

Android requirements - API 22 example Flecha_der Android requirements - API 22 example - System Image added

Note: If you don't have an Intel-based computer, you must download the ARM EABI v7a System Image.

GeneXus default Android virtual device

By default, the first time GeneXus runs an Android application it tries to create an Android Virtual Device (AVD) called "Genexus-API24-X86" with the minimum supported Android version.
For example, if the API 22 is installed, the AVD is created with Android 5.1.1, otherwise, the AVD is created with the Android version with the API you have installed.

In order to check which AVD is installed on your computer, you must open the AVD Manager program located in the Android-SDK directory.

Android API levels considerations

In order to run Android applications, the minimum supported version as of GeneXus 15 is the API 16 (Android 4.1 ).

Checking your Android SDK installation

If you have doubts about what Android SDK version you have installed and/or what API levels it supports you may:

  • run the following command to get a list of all installed APIs: "

C:\<Android_SDK_Installation_Directory>\Tools\android.bat list target

  • run the SDK Manager from the Windows Start menu or the following command:

C:\<Android_SDK_Installation_Directory>\"SDK manager"

Tips

  • The GeneXus setup program searches for the Android SDK version in the Windows registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Android SDK Tools" for 64 bits Windows and in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Android SDK Tools" for 32 bits Windows.
  • Once the SDK Directory is found it searches the file "<Android_SDK_Installation_Directory>\tools\source.properties" to check that the property "Pkg.Revision="  is 23.0.2

Notes

  • If the HAXM installer produces an error and you are using an Intel processor, you must check that VT-x (Virtualization) is enabled in your BIOS and that you haven't installed HyperV. 
    HAXM installation error
  • Important: If you are using Parallels to run Genexus in a Windows VM, do NOT place the Android SDK you use on your host machine or in your model directory. The Android Gradle Plugin does not support this, and it may lead to strange behavior while compiling (for example, your computer could stop working).

Hardware Requirements

As stated above, Android SDK requires at least 3GB of free space on your disk. 

2 GB of RAM are required by default for compilation approx; this value can be changed in the Android specific properties.

Related pages