am 5e8d9a02: docs: tools help update [CP]

Android platform you are developing on. Platform tools are customized to support the features of the

latest Android platform.</p>

<h2 id="tools-sdk">SDK Tools</h2>

<p>The SDK tools are installed with the SDK starter package and are periodically updated.

The SDK tools are required if you are developing Android applications. The most important SDK tools

avd</code>) the emulator (<code>emulator</code>), and the Dalvik Debug Monitor Server

(<code>ddms</code>). A short summary of some frequently-used SDK tools is provided below.</p>

<h3 id="tools-virtual-device">Virtual Device Tools</h3>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/avd-manager.html">Android Virtual Device Manager</a></dt>

    <dd>The AVD Manager provides a graphical user interface in which you can create

        and manage Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) that run in the Android Emulator. </dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/emulator.html">Android Emulator (emulator)</a></dt>

    <dd>A QEMU-based device-emulation tool that you can use to debug and test

        your applications in an actual Android run-time environment.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/mksdcard.html">mksdcard</a></dt>

    <dd>Helps you create a disk image that you can use with the emulator, to simulate the presence

        of an external storage card (such as an SD card).</dd>

</dl>

<h3 id="tools-development">Development Tools</h3>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="android.html">android</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/android.html">android</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you manage AVDs, projects, and the installed components of the SDK.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/hierarchy-viewer.html">Hierarchy Viewer (hierarchyviewer)</a></dt>

    <dd>Provides a visual representation of the layout's View hierarchy with performance information

        for each node in the layout, and a magnified view of the display to closely examine the

        pixels in your layout.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/lint.html">lint</a></dt>

    <dd>The Android {@code lint} tool is a static code analysis tool that checks your Android

        project source files for potential bugs and optimization improvements.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/sdk-manager.html">SDK Manager</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you manage SDK packages, such as installed platforms and system images.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/sqlite3.html">sqlite3</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you access the SQLite data files created and used by Android applications.</dd>

</dl>

<h3 id="tools-debugging">Debugging Tools</h3>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/adb.html">adb</a></dt>

    <dd>Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with

        an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device. It also provides access to the

        device shell for advanced command-line operations.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/uiautomator/index.html">uiautomator</a></dt>

    <dd>The {@code uiautomator} testing framework lets you test your user interface (UI) efficiently

        by creating automated functional UI testcases that can be run against your app on one or

        more devices.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/debugging/ddms.html">Dalvik Debug Monitor

Server (ddms)</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you debug Android applications.</dd>

  <dt><a href="dmtracedump.html">dmtracedump</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/monitor.html">Device Monitor</a></dt>

    <dd>Android Device Monitor is a stand-alone tool that provides a graphical user interface for

        several Android application debugging and analysis tools.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/dmtracedump.html">dmtracedump</a></dt>

    <dd>Generates graphical call-stack diagrams from trace log files. The tool uses the

Graphviz Dot utility to create the graphical output, so you need to install Graphviz before

running <code>dmtracedump</code>. For more information on using <code>dmtracedump</code>, see <a

href="{@docRoot}tools/debugging/debugging-tracing.html#dmtracedump">Profiling

with Traceview and dmtracedump</a></dd>

  <dt><a href="draw9patch.html">Draw 9-patch</a></dt>

    <dd>Allows you to easily create a {@link android.graphics.NinePatch} graphic using a

WYSIWYG editor. It also previews stretched versions of the image, and highlights the area in which

content is allowed.</dd>

  <dt><a href="emulator.html">Android Emulator (emulator)</a></dt>

    <dd>A QEMU-based device-emulation tool that you can use to design, debug, and test

your applications in an actual Android run-time environment.</dd>

  <dt><a href="hierarchy-viewer.html">Hierarchy Viewer (hierarchyviewer)</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you debug and optimize an Android application's user interface.</dd>

  <dt><a href="hprof-conv.html">hprof-conv</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/hprof-conv.html">hprof-conv</a></dt>

    <dd>Converts the HPROF file that is generated by the Android SDK tools to a standard format so

you can view the file in a profiling tool of your choice.</dd>

  <dt><a href="layoutopt.html">layoutopt</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you quickly analyze your application's layouts in order to optimize them for

efficiency.</dd>

  <dt><a href="mksdcard.html">mksdcard</a></dt>

    <dd>Helps you create a disk image that you can use with the emulator, to simulate the presence

of an external storage card (such as an SD card).</dd>

  <dt><a href="monkey.html">Monkey</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/monkey.html">Monkey</a></dt>

    <dd>Runs on your emulator or device and generates pseudo-random streams of user events such

as clicks, touches, or gestures, as well as a number of  system-level events. You can use the Monkey

to stress-test applications that you are developing, in a random yet repeatable manner.</dd>

  <dt><a href="monkeyrunner_concepts.html">monkeyrunner</a></dt>

to stress-test applications that you are developing, in a random yet repeatable manner.

		<ul>

          <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/MonkeyDevice.html"><span

class="en">MonkeyDevice</span></a></li>

          <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/MonkeyImage.html"><span

class="en">MonkeyImage</span></a></li>

          <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/MonkeyRunner.html"><span

class="en">MonkeyRunner</span></a></li>

     </ul>

     </dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/monkeyrunner_concepts.html">monkeyrunner</a></dt>

    <dd>Provides an API for writing programs that control an Android device or emulator from

outside of Android code.</dd>

  <dt><a href="proguard.html">ProGuard</a></dt>

    <dd>Shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code and renaming

classes, fields, and methods with semantically obscure names.</dd>

  <dt><a href="systrace.html">Systrace</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/systrace.html">Systrace</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you analyze the execution of your application in the context of system processes,

    to help diagnose display and performance issues.</dd>

  <dt><a href="sqlite3.html">sqlite3</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you access the SQLite data files created and used by Android applications.</dd>

  <dt><a href="traceview.html">traceview</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/traceview.html">traceview</a></dt>

    <dd>Provides a graphical viewer for execution logs saved by your application.</dd>

  <dt><a href="zipalign.html">zipalign</a></dt>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/systrace.html">Systrace</a></dt>

    <dd>Lets you analyze the execution of your application in the context of system processes,

    to help diagnose display and performance issues.</dd>

</dl>

<h3 id="tools-build">Build Tools</h3>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/jobb.html">JOBB</a></dt>

    <dd>Allows you to build encrypted and unencrypted

    <a href="{@docRoot}{@docRoot}google/play/expansion-files.html">APK expansion files</a> in Opaque

    Binary Blob (OBB) format.</dd>

<a href="{@docRoot}{@docRoot}google/play/expansion-files.html">APK expansion files</a>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/proguard.html">ProGuard</a></dt>

    <dd>Shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code and renaming

classes, fields, and methods with semantically obscure names.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/zipalign.html">zipalign</a></dt>

    <dd>Optimizes <code>.apk</code> files by ensuring that all uncompressed data starts with a

particular alignment relative to the start of the file. This should always be used to align .apk

files after they have been signed.</dd>

</dl>

<h3 id="tools-image">Image Tools</h3>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/draw9patch.html">Draw 9-patch</a></dt>

    <dd>Allows you to easily create a {@link android.graphics.NinePatch} graphic using a

WYSIWYG editor. It also previews stretched versions of the image, and highlights the area in which

content is allowed.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/etc1tool.html">etc1tool</a></dt>

    <dd>A command line utility that lets you encode PNG images to the ETC1 compression standard and

    decode ETC1 compressed images back to PNG.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/gltracer.html">Tracer for OpenGL ES</a></dt>

    <dd>Allows you to capture OpenGL ES commands and frame by frame images to help you understand

    how your graphics commands are being executed.</dd>

</dl>

<h2 id="tools-platform">Platform Tools</h2>

<p>The platform tools are typically updated every time you install a new SDK platform. Each update

As a general rule, you should rely on the build tools or the ADT plugin to call them as needed.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The Android SDK provides additional shell tools that can

be accessed through <code>adb</code>, such as <a href="bmgr.html">bmgr</a> and

<a href="logcat.html">logcat</a>.</p>

 No newline at end of file

be accessed through <code>adb</code>, such as <a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/bmgr.html">bmgr</a> and

<a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/logcat.html">logcat</a>.</p>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/bmgr.html">bmgr</a></dt>

    <dd>A shell tool you can use to interact with the Backup Manager on Android devices supporting

    API Level 8 or greater.</dd>

  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/logcat.html">logcat</a></dt>

    <dd>Provides a mechanism for collecting and viewing system debug output.</dd>

</dl>

parent.link=index.html

@jd:body

<p class="note"><strong>Note: </strong>The Android <code>layoutopt</code> tool has been replaced by the {@code lint} tool beginning in ADT and SDK Tools revision 16. The {@code lint} tool reports UI layout performance issues in a similar way as <code>layoutopt</code>, and detects additional problems.</p>

<p>For more information about using {@code lint}, see <a href="{@docRoot}tools/debugging/improving-w-lint.html">Improving Your Code with lint</a> and the <a  href="{@docRoot}tools/help/lint.html">lint reference documentation</a>.</p>

<p><code>layoutopt</code> is a command-line tool that helps you optimize the

layouts and layout hierarchies of your applications.<p>