Version 42 of Build Androwish

Updated 2015-06-03 15:37:33 by Superlinux

Preface

HaO: My intention is to collect reports building great Androwish with the aim to get stand-alone APK files with custom contents.

Contributions and ideas welcome.

Warning: I am an absolute beginner on Android.



Starting point

Starting point is the description by chw at [L1 ] and the following quote from wiki page Androwish:


chw please fetch the sources (the big .tar.bz2), unpack it, have Android SDK and NDK installed, don't use Eclipse, adapt local.properties to where you've installed Android SDK, have your PATH properly set so that ndk-build can do its job, then invoke "ant debug", be patient, and you'll finally will have bin/AndroWish-debug.apk ready to be installed onto your device. I have never verified the build process in combination with Eclipse. Once upon a time, I did my very first steps using the tips from the SDL documentation regarding Android.

When you want to wrap your own app written as Tcl code, you should add it below assets/app, have the launching script as main.tcl, fiddle the toplevel AndroidManifest.xml to have your app/class name in, remove that AndroWishScript/Launcher stuff from the manifest (since not needed for a standalone app), derive your app main class (yes, some Java required) from src/tk/tcl/wish/AndroWish.java, e.g.

  import tk.tcl.wish.AndroWish;
  public class TclTkRules extends AndroWish {}

fiddle the res directory with a new really kooool icon and title for your app.


Build Androwish

Get Source

A release source is on the web site. If an intermediate version should be used, one may clone the fossil repository and check out the latest checkin on trunk:

fossil clone http://anonymous:[email protected] androwish.fossil
mkdir androwish
cd androwish
fossil open ../androwish.fossil
rm .fslckout

Try on Windows

Windows build stopped with ndk-build with a "command line to long" error. I tried cmd.exe and cygwin shell, same result.

Try on CentOS 6

Failed for me due to a to old clib.

chw remarked that he is using CentOS 6 or Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with Andriod NDK 9d. So this failure might be due to the fact, that I tried Android NDK 10d.

OpenSuSE 13.2 64 bit

I installed VirtualBox on my Windows 8.1 and OpenSuSE 13.2 64 bit with 100GB HarDisk and 4GB Ram.

  • Added series: java development
  • Added packages: java-1_7_0-openjdk-devel, xerces-j2-xml-apis

Activate Java 7 (e.g. 1.7):

update-alternatives --config java
-> 1.7
update-alternatives --config javac
-> 1.7
update-alternatives --config xml-commons-apis
-> xerces-j2-xml-apis.jar

Set up Android build system:

cd ~
mkdir android
cd android
mkdir download

Downloaded in ~/android/download:

  • android-sdk_r24.1.2-linux.tgz
  • android-ndk-r9d-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
  • androwish-e2aee3ea2ea718e7.tar.gz (Pi Day Release, also tested with following Don Quixote Release)

chw suggested to use the 9d release of the ndk instead of the current 10d due to the following reasons:

  • still supports Android 2.3.3, like AndroWish
  • tiff library does not compile with 10d

The download link is:

  • Linux 64 bit: [L2 ]
  • Linux 32 bit: [L3 ]

Unpack and install, androwish in folder "androwish" for easier access

cd ~/android
tar xvzf download/android-sdk_r24.1.2-linux.tgz
bzip2 -d download/android-ndk-r9d-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
tar xvf download/android-ndk-r9d-linux-x86_64.tar
tar xvf download/androwish-e2aee3ea2ea718e7.tar.gz
mv androwish-e2aee3ea2ea718e7 androwish

  ndk 10d install instructions (if 9d is not used as above)
cd ~/android
chmod +x download/android-ndk-r10d-linux-x86_64.bin
download/android-ndk-r10d-linux-x86_64.bin

Open Android SDK manager:

~/android/android-sdk-linux/tools/android sdk
-> Select Google APIs ARM EABI v7a System Image
-> Unselect all other system images

Prepare build and let "android" create "local.properties":

export PATH=$PATH:~/android/android-sdk-linux/tools:~/android/android-ndk-r9d
cd androwish

android update project -p . --target 1

(the export command may be copied to ~/.bashrc to be active for each shell start)

  Error with ndk 10d and not with 9d (e.g. only when 10d is used)

On "ant debug", I had the following build error I could not solve:

     [exec] [armeabi] Compile thumb  : tiff_tkimg <= tif_predict.c
     [exec] /tmp/ccTUdnr3.s: Assembler messages:
     [exec] /tmp/ccTUdnr3.s: Error: unaligned opcodes detected in executable segment
     [exec] make: *** [obj/local/armeabi/objs/tiff_tkimg/libtiff/tif_predict.o] Error 1

This is in jni/tiff. So I deleted the tkimg and jni/tiff folders:

rm -rf jni/tkimg jni/tiff

Now, an "ant debug" succeeds for me. The result is in "androwish/bin/AndroWish-debug.apk

Great, thank you, Cristian !

Customizing Androwish

This is a customisation for the application called "HIBIScan" for the company url "elmicron.de". You should replace those names by your own ones.

Delete not required packages

It is perhaps me, but I always try to get small packages with as less as possible included. So I deleted packages I know and I don't need in this project:

cd jni
rm -rf 3dcanvas blt curl expect itk jpeg libxml2 nsf TclCurl tclral tcludp tclx tclxml\
    tdom tiff Tix tkimg tktable tktreectrl vu xotcl zint
cd jni/tcl-pkgs
rm -rf tdbcmysql1.0.3 tdbcsqlite3-1.0.3 itcl4.0.3 sqlite3.8.8.3 tdbcodbc1.0.3\
    thread2.7.2 tdbc1.0.3 tdbcpostgres1.0.3

cd androwish
rm -rf tkchat 

cd assets
rm -rf bin blt2.4 bwidget1.9.7 Canvas3d1.2.1 expect5.45.2 gridplus2.10 icons1.2 itcl4.0.3\
  itk4.0.1 iwidgets4.1 nsf2.0.0 pdf4tcl08 ral0.11.2 ralutil0.11.2 sqlite3 TclCurl7.22.0\
  tcllib1.16 tclsoap1.6.8 tclws2.3.8 tclx8.4.1 Tclxml3.2 tdbc1.0.3 tdbcsqlite3-1.0.3 tdom0.8\
  thread2.7.2 tkimg1.4.3, tklib0.6, tksqlite0.5.11, tktable2.11 treectrl2.4.1 vu2.3

This results in an androwish size of 17MB, so 6 MB less than the full package.

Remove target x86

For most Android phones, the target armeabi is sufficient. So the target x86 might be deleted: Remove "x86" in file jni/Application.mk to get:

APP_ABI := armeabi

This results in a final apk size of 10MB. My phone says that it takes 19.7 MB, while AndroWish takes 39.3MB.

Include own script

Now, the script tree of the application is copied to assets/app and a main.tcl is there to be started:

cd assets
mkdir app
cd app
cp <somewhere>/main.tcl .
cp -r <somewhere>/* .

An "ant debug" results in a starkit-like apk file.

Remove permissions not required for the app

In "./AndroidManifest.xml", you may delete any permission, but:

  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Application will directly terminate if not present.

Change package name

In "./AndroidManifest.xml", you should change the package name to be different to androwish. Otherwise, the applications may not be installed together.

In "./AndroidManifest.xml"

          package="de.elmicron.hibiscan"

where "de.elmicron.hibiscan" is my internet domain and the application name as last component. This should be adopted on request.

Add into "src/tk/tcl/wish/AndroWish.java" at the end of the include list:

import de.elmicron.hibiscan.R;

to avoid error:

    [javac] /home/oehhar/android/androwish-hibiscan/src/tk/tcl/wish/AndroWish.java:1519: error: package R does not exist
    [javac]                                                 R.drawable.wish);

This error only happens after an

ant clean

Otherwise, the old class definition of "tk.tcl.wish.R" is still present in the gen source tree.

Add a derived class in "src/de/elmicron/hibiscan/HIBIScan.java". The file path is composed of "src" and the package name, dots replaced by "/". The file name is the class name, where I used the application name.

File contents:

package de.elmicron.hibiscan;
import tk.tcl.wish.*;
public class HIBIScan extends AndroWish { }

(chw by private email) Then, each usage in "<activity...>" of "tk.tcl.wish.AndroWish" in "AndroidManifest.xml" should be replaced by "de.elmicron.hibiscan.HibiScan". Here, this is done in the next step.


Remark: the usage of a derived class did not make any difference to me. I could stay with the class "tk.tcl.wish.AndroWish". Nevertheless, chw recommends it. Comments welcome...

Start script directly

Loose translation of E-Mail from chw:


The file "AndroidManifest.xml" for own applications should bette be structured similar to ".../hellotcltk/AndroidManifest.xml". The own application should not be started by the activity "AndroWishLauncher", but better directly, using the remaining intent filter:

      <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
      </intent-filter>

So, within the "AndroidManifest.xml" file, there are the following changes:

  • Use only one activity with the new class and the proposed intent-filter.
  • I changed the product version and class to 6.0 and numeric 600, as this is the port of an existing program, which has version number 6.

and the following changes already in other sections:

  • Use package name "de.elmicron.hibiscan"
  • Use class "de.elmicron.hibiscan.HIBIScan" instead "tk.tcl.wish.AndroWish"
  • Only minimal permissions

The resulting file looks like that:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          package="de.elmicron.hibiscan"
          android:installLocation="auto"
          android:versionCode="600"
          android:versionName="6.0">
  <application android:label="@string/app_name"
               android:icon="@drawable/androwish"
               android:allowBackup="true"
               android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen"
               android:hardwareAccelerated="true">
    <activity android:name="de.elmicron.hibiscan.HIBIScan"
              android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|mnc|mcc|locale|fontScale|uiMode"
              android:label="@string/app_name">
      <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
      </intent-filter>
    </activity>
  </application>

  <!-- Android 2.3.3 -->
  <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="9" android:targetSdkVersion="14" />

  <!-- OpenGL ES 2.0 -->
  <uses-feature android:glEsVersion="0x00020000" />

  <!-- USB support -->
  <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.usb.host" />

  <!-- Disable screen compatibility modes -->
  <supports-screens android:smallScreens="true"
                    android:normalScreens="true"
                    android:largeScreens="true"
                    android:xlargeScreens="true" />

  <!-- Allow writing to external storage etc. -->
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
</manifest>

Resources

Change the AppName in res/values/strings.xml

Change the Androwish icons in res/drawable-*/androwish.png (Resolutions: 72x72, 48x48, 96x96, 144x144).

Remove fonts

chw suggestion via E-Mail: 2 additional MB's may be economized by not including the font folder ".../jni/sdl2tk/library/fonts" as follows:

cd jni/sdl2tk
mv library/fonts .

In this case, the buildin Droid* fonts are used as fallback which are included in Android firmware. They don't look so much less attractive...

This results in a package file size of 7.8MB

On Android 5, this requires Don Quixote release (2015-04) of Androwish to run. Otherwise, Androwish does not start on Android 5.

Release signing

Create a release key by (replace "elmicron" by your own name):

cd ~/android
keytool -genkey -v -keystore android_elmicron.keystore -alias android_elmicron -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

You get promted to a keystore password and the key values. I only filled common name and Organisation. Then you get prompted to a key password.

This generates the file "~/android/android_elmicron.keystore".

Then add those lines to "~/android/androwish/ant.properties":

key.store=../android_elmicron.keystore
key.alias=android_elmicron
key.store.password=<mypw1>
key.alias.password=<mypw2>

and do

ant release

The final apk is in "bin/AndroWish-release.apk".


Superlinux - 2015-06-03 15:37:32

This article is missing explaining how to add a Tcl package to the Androwish APK. For example by default tdbc::mysql is packaged by default.


Superlinux - 2015-06-03 15:37:33

This article is missing explaining how to add a Tcl package to the Androwish APK. For example by default tdbc::mysql is packaged by default.