prof-stef/android/helloamber

HelloAmber Android Amber Smalltalk Example

Introduction

This example shows how to create an Android application that is partially written in Amber Smalltalk. The Android Java code uses a WebView to load and execute the JavaScript code produced by the Amber Smalltalk amberc compiler.

You could modify this example to create your own Android Amber Smalltalk examples.

Prerequisites

Install the Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

(Tested with Android SDK version 17, should work with any SDK that supports Android SDK 8 or above.)

Make sure your PATH includes the android sdk tools and platform-tools directories.

If you want to run on a real Android device you will need a phone running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or newer. (With some work this restriction could be relaxed to support back to Android 1.6, although JavaScript performance is not good on earlier Android phones.)

Building

cd helloamber
make

Testing on a Desktop Browser

If the build is successful, you should be able to use your desktop computer's web browser to run the HTML5 part of the Android application. Simply open assets/index.html

Installing on an Android Device

Check that ADB can see your android device or emulator:

adb devices

If your device is visible:

cd helloamber
make install

Building, Installing and Running on an Android Device

make run

Tips

Javascript errors and console log messages are sent to the Android log. Use the adb logcat command to view the Android log.

Known Issues

The amberc compiler does not stop the "make" process when a smalltalk error is detected. You have to manually scan the build log to see if there are any smalltalk errors.

The makefile only supports making "debug" versions of Android applications. A release version would be the same, except that it is "signed", which is needed in order to publish on Android Market.

The app would start running more quickly if a lighter-weight version of JQuery was used.