Totally Snowed

Got this seemingly great book and proceeded to install the SDK, Exclipse, etc. etc. Nothing I see matches up with the tutorial for the Hello Android project #1. None of the example illustrations in the book even resemble what I see. Example:1. Select File > New > Project (OK so far)
Select Android > Android Project (Not so OK)
There is no Android Project to select. I see:
Android Application Project
Android Project from Existing Code
Android Sample Project
Android Test Project
I’ve tried all of them but none result in the windows/screens seen in the book so that’s pretty much the end of the example.
How about this one too: To run your Android program, go to the Package Explorer window…...what “Package Explorer” window? There isn’t one on my screen to go to.
Obviously I have some issues with setup or something but the bottom line is I can’t seem to get the screens shown in the book at all so I’m pretty much totally snowwed at this point. Anyone have some questions I can answer regarding my setup to help me get going?? Thanks in advance!

Hi Ken

What version of Eclipse are you running? I have the Helios version on one of my systems and this is what I think the book is written against. I have the lastest version of Eclipse on another system and I agree that it is quite different. We should be able to get you going, but remember that a lot of the battle in programming is learning to use the IDE, the more you fight it the more it hurts you.

Ken,

I too feel your pain. I had trouble with the first demo and I just spent hours trying to get the first Sudoku example in Chapter 3 to work because everything I see in Eclipse is different from the book, just as you experienced.

I downloaded Eclipse Java EE IDE for Web Developers in January 2013 (I am a Java EE developer, so I felt downloading the plain Java IDE would be a waste). It is the Juno release, whatever that means. I am also trying this on a Mac for the first time, so things are different there as well (like in Chapter 3 the author says to go to Window > Preferences, but the Preferences are buried under the Eclipse menu on the far left).

To get you started with the first demo, you choose “Android Application Project”. You will be asked a lot more information in the wizard than the book tells you, but once you get the project created, you right-click on it in the Project Explorer (not Package Explorer—must be old terminology). I plugged my Evo 4G phone into the Mac using the USB cable and after I activated debugging on the phone, I was delighted to see the Hello Android project show up on my cell phone.

Hopefully, you will have similar success.

Sorry about that. It was always a struggle to try and keep up with the all the changes to the dialogs in each release of the Android tools.