Android apk generation through command line (HTML to APK)

Android APK generation using command line

In order to generate, we need to follow the following steps

1.      1.  Folder

Create these folders inside your parent folder named AndroidTest. Folders you need to create inside manually are

·         Assets

This folder contains all html folder.

·         Res

o   Folders you need to create manually inside this folder

o   Inside res/drawable copy app icon image, rename the image as mylogo.png

o   Inside res/values create a xml file named as string.xml

Paste the following code

  

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources>     <string name="myApplicationName">My App Name</string> </resources>

Where myApplicationName sets the name of your app.

·         Src

o   This folder contains the package including java source

Ex: com.tt.rnd (i.e. com\tt\rnd)

o   Create a file named MyActivity.java inside your package

Ex : com\tt\rnd\MyActivity.java Paste the following code inside MyActivity.java 

package com.tt.rnd; import android.app.Activity; import android.content.res.Resources; import android.os.Bundle; import android.webkit.WebSettings; import android.webkit.WebView; public class MyActivity extends Activity {     @Override     public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);        WebView   webview = new WebView(this);         webview.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);         WebSettings webSettings = webview.getSettings();         webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);         webview.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/index.html");         setContentView(webview);     } }

 2.       AndroidManifest.xml You need create this file inside your parent folder. Copy the below code 
 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"       package="com.mycompany.package1"       android:versionCode="1"       android:versionName="1.0">     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>     <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8"  android:targetSdkVersion="15"/>     <application android:icon="@drawable/mylogo"                  android:label="@string/myApplicationName">         <activity android:name="com.tt.rnd.MyActivity"                   android:label="@string/myApplicationName">             <intent-filter>                 <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />                 <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />             </intent-filter>         </activity>     </application> </manifest>

For info : http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html     

3. Download Java

The Java Standard Edition (Java SE) is available from Oracle at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads.

Default installation location will vary between Java versions and OS platforms, so create a pointer to its location:

JAVA_HOME = C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_26

5. Download Android

The Android Software Development Kit (Android SDK) is available from Google at http://developer.android.com/sdk.

Default installation location will vary between Android versions and OS platforms, so create a pointer to its location:

ANDROID_HOME = C:/Program Files/Android/android-sdk

6. Choose project

Locate the path to your project named- AndroidTest

DEV_HOME = C:/Users/johnd/dev/AndroidTest

7. Create keystore

A keystore is a database of private keys and their associated X.509 certificate chains authenticating the corresponding public keys. An Android program must be signed in order to execute on a device, and the program is signed by using a key from a keystore.

Use the keytool program to create a keystore:

JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool                 -genkeypair                 -validity 10000                 -dname "CN=company name,                         OU=organisational unit,                         O=organisation,                         L=location,                         S=state,                         C=country code"                 -keystore DEV_HOME/AndroidTest.keystore                 -storepass password                 -keypass password                 -alias AndroidTestKey                 -keyalg RSA                 -v

Replace the distinguished name (dname) information with your own. Make sure to specify passwords as indicated. The key is accessed through the specified alias which can be any string.

The output of the command will be the DEV_HOME/AndroidTest.keystore file which contains one key identified by the supplied alias.

8. Create R.java

In order for the application source code to be able to access the resources within the res/ directory, a class called R.java (for Resources) is created.

Use the Android Asset Packaging Tool (aapt) to create the R.java file:

ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/aapt                         package                         -v                         -f                         -m                         -S DEV_HOME/res                         -A DEV_HOME/assets                         -J DEV_HOME/src                         -M DEV_HOME/AndroidManifest.xml                         -I ANDROID_HOME/platforms/android-15/android.jar

The destination location of R.java within the src/ tree is determined by the package attribute of the manifest file.

9. Compile code

Use the javac tool to compile java source code in a package:

JAVA_HOME/bin/javac                 -verbose                 -d DEV_HOME/obj                 -classpath ANDROID_HOME/platforms/android-15/android.jar;DEV_HOME/obj                 -sourcepath DEV_HOME/src                 DEV_HOME/src/com/tt/rnd/0*.java

The command must be applied for each existing package. 3rd-party .jar files from the lib/ directory must be listed in the -classpath entry. Note that on UNIX-like operating systems the classpath entry delimiter should be a colon (":").

The output of the command is .class files in the obj/ tree.

Non-java files within the src/ tree must be copied to the associated location in the obj/ tree.

10. Create DEX file

DEX ("Dalvik Executable") is the specific bytecode format understood by the Dalvik virtual machine (VM) present in all Android devices.

Use the dx tool to bundle the content of the obj/ directory as well as 3rd-party .jar files from the lib/ directory into a single .dex file:

ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/dx                 --dex                 --verbose                 --output=DEV_HOME/bin/classes.dex                 DEV_HOME/obj                 DEV_HOME/lib

This will create the classes.dex file in the bin/ directory. The content of a .dex file can be inspected using the ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/dexdump tool.

11. Create APK file

The Android package format (APK) is the .jar equivalent for Android. The package contains the manifest file, the resources and the classes.dex file.

Use the aapt tool to create the .apk file:

ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/aapt                          package                          -v                          -f                          -A DEV_HOME/assets                          -M DEV_HOME/AndroidManifest.xml                          -S DEV_HOME/res                          -I ANDROID_HOME/platforms/android-15/android.jar                          -F DEV_HOME/bin/AndroidTest.unsigned.apk                          DEV_HOME/bin

This will create the AndroidTest.unsigned.apk file in the bin/ directory. Note that APK is an ordinary archive format that can be inspected by tools like WinZip or unzip -l.

12. Sign APK file

In order to execute on an Android device, the Android package needs to be signed.

Use the jarsigner tool and the key from the keystore created above to create a signed version of the package:

JAVA_HOME/bin/jarsigner                 -verbose                 -keystore DEV_HOME/AndroidTest.keystore                 -storepass password                 -keypass password                 -signedjar DEV_HOME/bin/AndroidTest.signed.apk                 DEV_HOME/bin/AndroidTest.unsigned.apk                 AndroidTestKey

The signing process adds the META-INF/ directory to the APK archive including the signature (.SF) file and the associated PKSC file (.RSA).

The signed APK is stored as AndroidTest.signed.apk file in the bin/ directory.

13. Zip-align APK file

zipalign is an archive alignment tool that provides important optimization to Android packages. This step is optional, but recommended:

ANDROID_HOME/tools/zipalign                 -v                 -f                 4                 DEV_HOME/bin/AndroidTest.signed.apk                 DEV_HOME/bin/AndroidTest.apk

This will create the AndroidTest.apk which is the final product delivered in one self-contained unit.

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