Chapter 43. More Development Tools

The Android SDK is more than a library of Java classes and API calls. It also includes a number of tools to assist in application development. Eclipse, of course, tends to dominate the discussion. However, that is not the only tool at your disposal, so, let's take a quick tour of what else is available to you.

Hierarchy Viewer: How Deep Is Your Code?

Android comes with a Hierarchy Viewer tool, designed to help you visualize your layouts as they are seen in a running activity in a running emulator. So, for example, you can determine how much space a certain widget is taking up, or try to find where a widget that does not appear on the screen is hiding.

To use Hierarchy Viewer, you first need to fire up your emulator, ...

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