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Hi i'm Don, your AppBuzzinga trainer. Google(tm) requires that all APP's be signed
with a certificate whether for development or release.
As you recall, in Eclipse(tm) "compiling" means exporting.
Eclipse(tm) comes with a signing certificate for the development or debugging process.
It automatically sets debug to "true" so that we will be able to use that key and certificate
during our debugging and testing. Creating our own certificate requires turning
off the debug setting so we'll cover that and then we'll go through using the key and
certificate for our own APP. We've already created our AppBuzzinga APP,
downloaded it into Eclipse(tm), and we've run through it a couple of times.
So now we are ready to export it. Click on "File".
Click on "Export". Go over and select Android(tm) and then in
Android(tm) "Export Android(tm) Application". Click "Next".
Click "Browse" and we can load the project that we want to export.
As we mentioned earlier, the debuggable attribute is set to "True".
So we're going to go out and get the debugging certificate.
Since the debugging certificate already exists, we're going to use an existing keystore and
we are going to have to browse and find it. It's typically located on your "C:" drive
under your user ID in your username. In our case it's out there under ".Android"
and it should be in yours as well. What we are looking for is named "debug.keystore"
are we want to open it. The debug keystore password is "android".
Since this keystore already exists, we won't have to confirm it as we would if we were
creating a new one. The alias is "androiddebugkey" and that already
exists. So we enter the password here which is also
"android". Click "Next".
All Android(tm) APPs have the file extension "apk".
Now we need to browse and find a location where we can store our finished debugging
APP so we can test it. I'm going to go out to my D: drive, into my
APP builders and find the folder that we used before.
It starts out named as our project so we want to change the name to our APP name.
Which i've done here - click "Save". When you click "Finish" it will actually create
the APP in debug mode. You'll notice that the debug certificate is
good for three years. What we've created is a debuggable version
of our little DMC40 Frog icon APP. Its out there in the folder where we saved
it and can be moved over to your Android(tm) device so that you can see it an it's real
form on your Android. Now let's create our own signing certificate
so we can actually distribut our APP. As you recall the debugging attribute is set
to true automatically. So what we have to do is go back and turn
that off. In our project we are looking for a file named
"AndroidManifest.xml". It opens with a click and we can see a tab
called "AndroidManifest.xml". This is the location of the debug "true" or
"false" tag. Let's move over so that we can see it a little
bit better and scroll down until we find "android:debuggable" equal "true".
It is in the "android:name" section. The editor supports several ways of editing
a line. I found the simplest method is simply to highlight
the word "true" and change it to "false". Then, I click on "run" and it'll ask me if
i want to save it, and "yes", i do and now it has actually saved and created the new
version. Now lets create a signing certificate for
our own APP. You know the routine by now.
Click on "file", "export", "export" Android application.
Now we need to browse , 'click" load our APP, "click" on "next".
You have to create a new keystore. Click on browse because we will need to find
a place to put it. And i'm going to go out to the same location
where i found the debug keystore. I'm going to name it after my APP dot keystore.
That way i'm consistent in my naming. At this point i suggest that you make a written
copy of the name of your keystore, the alias, and password that you are going to use for
the keystore, and the alias and password you going to use for the key.
The area i've highlighted in yellow above provides ongoing helpful messages as you go
from section to section. I'm using a key alias that relates to the
APP that I've created. When you create your password be sure and
use long, strong, passwords. And, be sure and record them because if you
lose them or can't recall what they are, you'll have a very difficult time supporting your
APP as you distribut it. Validity is the number of years that you want
your APP to remain active. Enter your first and last name.
Organizational units and organization tend to refer to companies that are doing software
development. However, in our case it could be something
like AppBuzzinga developer and APP maker. But, it needs to be something related to you,
what you're doing, and the kind of at APP that you are making and particularly the APP
that you've just created. Finish filling out the form with your city
or location, with the state, or province if you're in a country other than the US, and
the country code. That's the two character code.
The click on "Next". After you've done this a few times it becomes
pretty straightforward. Now that we have our key we need to browse
and find a location where we want to store our APP.
I like to do things in a consistent fashion so i'm going to go back out to the same location
where i stored my debugging APP in order to store my developed, distributable APP.
I'm going to name it DMC-release so that it has a slightly different name than the name
i gave my debugging APP. That way i can find it when I am ready to
upload it to my Android(tm). Click "next" and your distributable APP is
done. Here's a little bonus.
Let's say that you've gone back to AppBuzzinga, made a couple of adjustments and added a couple
of features to your APP. Downloaded back into Eclipse(tm), saved it,
and checked it to make sure there are no errors and mistakes.
Now we're going through the process of recompiling and making our APP ready for distribution
in the Eclipse(tm) compiler. As you can see, now that we have our key set,
it's a very straight forward process. We're going to click "next", click on "finish",
and we've got a updated APP all ready to load back up into the APP marketplace for Android(tm).
Thank You, Don Trosper, Your AppBuzzinga Trainer.