Adding and updating components in your Android SDK is fast and easy. To perform an update, use the Android SDK and AVD Manager to install or update the individual SDK components that you need. The Android SDK and AVD Manager tool is included in the Android SDK download.
It only takes a couple of clicks to install individual versions of the Android platform, new development tools, new documentation, and SDK add-ons. The new SDK components are automatically installed into your existing SDK directory, so you don't need to update your development environment to specify a new SDK location.
Because each version of the Android platform can be installed as an individual component of your SDK, you can customize your development environment to the Android platforms you are targetting. Testing your app on multiple versions of the platform is very important in order to successfully operate on as many devices as possible. Be sure to install each version of the Android platform with which your app is compatible, then test your apps on AVDs that run each platform.
If you are just getting started and you are not sure what components to install, see Adding Platforms and Other Components for information.
If you develop applications using Eclipse, you may also need to update your ADT plugin when you update your development tools, in order to compile against a new version of the platform. See the revisions listed in the SDK Tools document for ADT Plugin compatibility.
Figure 1. The Android SDK and AVD Manager's Available Packages panel, which shows the SDK components that are available for you to download into your environment.
The Android SDK and AVD Manager is the tool that you use to install and upgrade SDK components in your development environment.
You can access the tool in any of three ways:
If you are developing in Eclipse and have already installed the ADT Plugin, follow these steps to access the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool:
For Windows only, the SDK includes a script that invokes the Android SDK and AVD Manager. To launch the tool using the script, double-click "SDK Setup.exe" at the root of the the SDK directory.
In all development environments, follow these steps to access the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool from the command line:
<sdk>/tools/ directory.android tool command with no options.
$ android
Important: Before you install SDK components, we recommend that you disable any antivirus programs that may be running on your computer.
Follow these steps to install new SDK components in your environment:
New platforms are automatically saved into the
<sdk>/platforms/ directory of your SDK;
new add-ons are saved in the <sdk>/add-ons/
directory; samples are saved in the
<sdk>/samples/android-<level>/;
and new documentation is saved in the existing
<sdk>/docs/ directory (old docs are replaced).
From time to time, new revisions of existing SDK components are released and made available to you through the SDK repository. In most cases, if you have those components installed in your environment, you will want to download the new revisions as soon as possible.
You can learn about the release of new revisions in two ways:
When you see that a new revision is available, you can use the Android SDK and AVD Manager to quickly download it to your environment. Follow the same procedure as given in Installing SDK Components, above. The new component is installed in place of the old, but without impacting your applications.
Tip: Use the "Display updates only" checkbox to show only the components you do not have.
In some cases, an SDK component may require a specific minimum revision of another component or SDK tool. Where such dependencies exist, they are documented in the revision notes for each component, available from the links in the "Downloadable SDK Components" section at left.
For example, there may be a dependency between the ADT Plugin for Eclipse and the SDK Tools component. When you install the SDK Tools component, you would then need to upgrade to the required version of ADT (if you are developing in Eclipse). In this case, you would find dependencies listed in "Revisions" section of the ADT Plugin Notes and SDK Tools Notes documents.
Additionally, the development tools will notify you with debug warnings if there is dependency that you need to address.
By default, Available Packages only shows the default repository site, which offers platforms, SDK tools, documentation, the Google APIs Add-on, and other components. You can add other sites that host their own Android SDK add-ons, then download the SDK add-ons from those sites.
For example, a mobile carrier or device manufacturer might offer additional API libraries that are supported by their own Android-powered devices. In order to develop using their libraries, you must install their Android SDK add-on.
If a carrier or device manufacturer has hosted an SDK add-on repository file on their web site, follow these steps to add their site to the SDK and AVD Manager:
repository.xml file. Click OK.Any SDK components available from the site will now be listed under Available Packages.
Problems connecting to the SDK repository
If you are using the SDK and AVD Manager to download components and are encountering connection problems, try connecting over http, rather than https. To switch the protocol used by the SDK and AVD Manager, follow these steps: