Beginning Android

PREPARING FOR PUBLISHING

Google has made it relatively easy to publish your Android application so that it can be quickly distributed to end users. The steps to publishing your Android application generally involve the following:

1. Export your application as an APK (Android Package) file.

2. Generate your own self-signed certificate and digitally sign your application with it.

3. Deploy the signed application.

4. Use the Android Market for hosting and selling your application.

In the following sections, you will learn how to prepare your application for signing, and then learn about the various ways to deploy your applications.

This chapter uses the LBS project created in Chapter 4 to demonstrate how to deploy an Android application.

Versioning

Beginning with version 1.0 of the Android SDK, the AndroidManifest.xml file of every Android application includes the android:versionCode and android:versionName attributes:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="net.learn2develop.LBS"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
    <uses-library android:name="com.google.android.maps" />
        <activity android:name=".MainActivity"
                  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> ...