JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA Blog

In IntelliJ IDEA 11 we’ve improved Android logcat view, so now watching the logs of your applications became much more convenient.

First, you can create your own named filters and switch between them:

You can use regular expressions to filter the log, e.g. by a tag or message text. Note that autocompletion of tags already presented in the log is available: 

Another noteworthy improvement is that multiline messages aren’t cut anymore when you filter them by a named filter or using search. For example, if you search for “ActivityThread.java”, you’ll see full stacktrace containing the query, but not just separate lines: 

IntelliJ IDEA 11 introduces a new feature that makes it much easier to design UI layouts for Android applications — UI layouts preview. Just open some layout xml file from your Android project and you’ll see a new Preview tool window. 

Preview is updated as you edit the file, so you can see the changes immediately. Many different options such as screen size, target platform version, theme, etc. are available for tuning what you see.

Custom view components are also supported and shown correctly. But since IntelliJ IDEA uses class files from your output directory to render such components, you have to build your project first.

Please note, that layout preview feature is under development, so we really need to know your opinions. You’re welcome to try it in the latest Nika EAP and let us know what you think. If the IDE doesn’t preview some of your layout xml files, please submit bugreports with these files attached.

Recently, we’ve introduced a new feature that should make it MUCH easier to debug your Android applications. Now, you can attach IntelliJ IDEA debugger to any process running on an Android device or in the emulator, which is related to the source code of your project.

Just click “Attach debugger to Android process” toolbar button and you’ll see the list of processes grouped by device they are running on:

Note: to be shown in the list above the name of the process should be specified in AndroidManifest.xml as a “package” or “process” XML attribute.

The feature is, of course, available in the IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 Release Candidate. So, you are welcome to try and let us know what you think.

Latest EAP of IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 supports full cycle of Mobile AIR applications development: write code, compile, package, install, run and debug on emulator or Android device! Let’s look at common development workflow. (more…)

The recent EAP of IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 introduces a new presentation of Android platform inside a project.

Previously, you could configure Android SDK inside Android facet settings, while JDK played the role of the main Project/Module SDK. IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 considers Android platform itself as a Project/Module SDK:

Thus, the standard JDK jars aren’t included to the classpath of your Android module. So, the IDE will not complete the java classes which are not supported by the Android platform anymore. Also, the usages of such classes will be correctly highlighted as errors:

Note, that in addition to the Android SDK, you still need a Java SDK because IntelliJ IDEA uses it for compilation. You’ll be prompted for it while creating a new Android SDK.

It is important to mention that once you open an existing Android project in IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 it will be converted automatically, no manual configuration needed.

You are welcome to try it in the latest IntelliJ IDEA 10.5 EAP build and let us know what you think.

W00t! The IntelliJ IDEA team just received an invitation from Google GWT team to participate in the Developer Sandbox at this year’s Google I/O conference.

We took part in I/O 2010 last year and have been looking forward to going there again. It’s that kind of event where if you’ve been there once, you don’t want to miss the next one. So, we heartily thank the GWT team for inviting us!

So, if you’re coming to I/O 2011 this May, you’ll have a chance to talk to IntelliJ IDEA developers responsible for integration with Google technologies including GWT, Android, Google App Engine and others. And we’ll have a chance to meet in person and share whatever.

Speaking of GWT, have you seen this recent screencast on GWT Event Bus Basics by Hamlet D’Arcy? It’s on JetBrains TV?

Develop with pleasure!
JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA Team

A new week means that a new Release Candidate build of IntelliJ IDEA is in order. Among other changes, this build contains the final version of the licensing code. It means that you can use the build with your existing IntelliJ IDEA license if you’ve purchased one after November 1, 2010 and are entitled to a free upgrade to IntelliJ IDEA 10. Otherwise, you’ll need to select the 30-day evaluation option in order to use the build.

One more noticeable change is that the Android plugin now supports the Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” SDK, which was released yesterday.

Please give the new build a try - it’s probably the last chance to give us feedback on the new version before its final release.

Yes, you’ve read it correctly. No mistake here.

It’s been one year since we open-sourced IntelliJ IDEA and announced its free Community Edition. If you are curious to know the results of that bold move and see some stats and charts — check out this article on DZone.

Today, one year later, IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition gets a big addition: Android development plugin becomes available in the free edition of IntelliJ IDEA starting with version 10.

Please note we’re NOT open-sourcing something we don’t want to develop ourselves. In addition to improvements to existing IntelliJ IDEA features for Android developers, we will add the following new ones in version 10:

• Android unit-testing support,
• Android Library Projects Support,
• using Maven in Android projects is now possible,
• quick navigation to resources from their usages.

Prooflinks:

• “android -> community” Git commit
• Download IntelliJ IDEA 10 EAP (new build, #98.187 is available)

P.S. Those of us using Android phones truly hope that this will come back in the form of more great apps for our mobile devices!

Develop with pleasure!
-The IntelliJ IDEA Team

An Android library project is a development project that holds shared Android source code and resources. Other Android application projects can reference the library project and, at build time, include its compiled sources in their .apk files. IntelliJ IDEA X supports library projects natively as separate Android library modules.

To create a new library module you need to choose a platform and specify a package:

Application module has to depend on library modules to refer to their resources and source code. Scope of this dependency should be Compile. You can refer to library resources from your application module, as they are located in the same module. Note that you can change a module type (Application or Library) in Android facet settings:

With IntelliJ IDEA X you can write unit tests for your Android application using Android Testing Framework. Android unit tests are located in a separate test module, so first you need to add it (i.e. named tests) to your project, which must already contain an Android module (or module with Android facet) (i.e. named MyAndroidApp). Then, specify this tested module:

IntelliJ IDEA will automatically create a sample test class for your main activity (i.e. MyActivityTest). It’s handy that you can launch tests directly from editor. Note that it is important to choose an item with Android-specific icon for launching tests by Android Tests run configuration rather than using a default JUnit configuration:

Also, after adding a test module to project, IntelliJ IDEA automatically creates run configuration for launching all tests in module:

Note, that scope of a dependency between Test module and Application module should be Provided.