Android - Emulator Tutorial

The Android SDK includes a virtual mobile device emulator that runs on your computer. The emulator lets you prototype, develop and test Android applications without using a physical device.
In this chapter we are going to explore different functionalities in the emulator that are present in the real android device.

Creating AVD

If you want to emulate a real device, first crate an AVD with the same device configurations as real device, then launch this AVD from AVD manager.

Creating Snapshots in Eclipse

Creating snapshots mean saving an emulator state to a file that enables the emulator to be started quickly the next time you try to launch it. The one of the biggest advantage of creating snapshots is that it saves the boot up time.
In order to create snapshot, check mark the option of snapshot while creating your AVD. It is shown below −
Android Emulator Tutorial
The first time you launch the emulator , it will take the usual time of loading. But when you close it and start it again, you will see a considerable amount of time reduction in appearing of emulator.

Changing Orientation

Usually by default when you launch the emulator, its orientation is vertical, but you can change it orientation by pressing Ctrl+F11 key from keyboard.
First launch the emulator. It is shown in the picture below −
Android Emulator Tutorial
Once it is launched, press Ctrl+F11 key to change its orientation. It is shown below:
Android Emulator Tutorial

Emulator Commands.

Apart from just orientation commands, there are other very useful commands of emulator that you should keep in mind while using emulator. They are listed below −
Sr.NoCommand & description
1Home
Shifts to main screen
2F2
Toggles context sensitive menu
3F3
Bring out call log
4F4
End call
5F5
Search
6F6
Toggle trackball mode
7F7
Power button
8F8
Toggle data network
9Ctrl+F5
Ring Volume up
10Ctrl+F6
Ring Volume down

Emulator - Sending SMS

You can emulate sending SMS to your emulator. There are two ways to do that. You can do that from DDMS which can be found in Android studio, or from Telnet.(Network utility found in windows).

Sending SMS through Telnet.

Android Emulator Tutorial
Telnet is not enabled by default in windows. You have to enable it to use it. Once enabled you can go to command prompt and start telnet by typing telnet.
In order to send SMS , note down the AVD number which can be found on the title bar of the emulator. It could be like this 5554 e.t.c. Once noted , type this command in command prompt.
telnet localhost 5554
Press enter when you type the command. It is shown below in the figure.
Android Emulator Tutorial
You will see that you are now connected to your emulator. Now type this command to send message.
sms send 1234 "hello"
Once you type this command , hit enter. Now look at the AVD. You will receive a notification displaying that you got a new text message. It is shown below −
Android Emulator Tutorial

Emulator - Making Call

You can easily make phone calls to your emulator using telent client. You need to connect to your emulator from telnet. It is discussed in the sending sms topic above.
After that you will type this command in the telent window to make a call. Its syntax is given below −
gsm call 1234
Once you type this command , hit enter. Now look at the AVD. You will receive a call from the number your put in the command. It is shown below −
Android Emulator Tutorial

Emulator - Transferring files

You can easily transfer files into the emulator and vice versa. In order to do that, you need to select the DDMS utility in Android studio. After that select the file explorer tab. It is shown below −
Android Emulator Tutorial
Browse through the explorer and make new folder , view existing contents e.t.c.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Android - TextureView Tutorial

Image
If you want to display a live video stream or any content stream such as video or an OpenGL scene, you can use TextureView provided by android in order to do that. In order to use TextureView, all you need to do is get its SurfaceTexture.The SurfaceTexture can then be used to render content. In order to do this, you just need to do instantiate an object of this class and implement SurfaceTextureListener interface. Its syntax is given below: private TextureView myTexture ; public class MainActivity extends Activity implements SurfaceTextureListener { protected void onCreate ( Bundle savedInstanceState ) { myTexture = new TextureView ( this ); myTexture . setSurfaceTextureListener ( this ); setContentView ( myTexture ); } } After that, what you need to do is to override its methods. The methods are listed as follows − @Override public void onSurfaceTextureAvailable ( SurfaceTexture arg0 , int arg1 , int arg2 ) { } @Override
Read more

Android - JetPlayer Tutorial

Image
The Android platform includes a JET engine that lets you add interactive playback of JET audio content in your applications. Android provides JetPlayer class to handle this stuff. In order to Jet Content , you need to use the JetCreator tool that comes with AndroidSDK. The usage of jetCreator has been discussed in the example. In order to play the content created by JetCreator, you need JetPlayer class supported by android. In order to use JetPlayer , you need to instantiate an object of JetPlayer class. Its syntax is given below − JetPlayer jetPlayer = JetPlayer.getJetPlayer(); The next thing you need to do is to call loadJetFile method and pass in the path of your Jet file. After that you have to add this into the Queue of JetPlayer. Its syntax is given below − jetPlayer . loadJetFile ( "/sdcard/level1.jet" ); byte segmentId = 0 ; // queue segment 5, repeat once, use General MIDI, transpose by -1 octave jetPlayer . queueJetSegment ( 5 , - 1 , 1 , - 1 , 0
Read more

Android - Notifications

Image
A  notification  is a message you can display to the user outside of your application's normal UI. When you tell the system to issue a notification, it first appears as an icon in the notification area. To see the details of the notification, the user opens the notification drawer. Both the notification area and the notification drawer are system-controlled areas that the user can view at any time. Android  Toast  class provides a handy way to show users alerts but problem is that these alerts are not persistent which means alert flashes on the screen for a few seconds and then disappears. To see the details of the notification, you will have to select the icon which will display notification drawer having detail about the notification. While working with emulator with virtual device, you will have to click and drag down the status bar to expand it which will give you detail as follows. This will be just  64 dp  tall and called normal view. Above expanded form can have
Read more