1page.title=Tools 2@jd:body 3 4<img src="{@docRoot}assets/images/android_wrench.png" alt="" align="right"> 5 6<p>The Android SDK includes a variety of tools that help you develop mobile 7applications for the Android platform. The tools are classified into two groups: SDK tools 8and platform tools. SDK tools are platform independent and are required no matter which 9Android platform you are developing on. Platform tools are customized to support the features of the 10latest Android platform.</p> 11 12<h2 id="tools-sdk">SDK Tools</h2> 13<p>The SDK tools are installed with the SDK starter package and are periodically updated. 14The SDK tools are required if you are developing Android applications. The most important SDK tools 15include the Android SDK and AVD Manager (<code>android</code>), the emulator 16(<code>emulator</code>), and the Dalvik Debug Monitor Server 17(<code>ddms</code>). A short summary of some frequently-used SDK tools is provided below.</p> 18 19<dl> 20 <dt><a href="android.html">android</a></dt> 21 <dd>Lets you manage AVDs, projects, and the installed components of the SDK.</dd> 22 <dt><a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/debugging/ddms.html">Dalvik Debug Monitor 23Server (ddms)</a></dt> 24 <dd>Lets you debug Android applications.</dd> 25 <dt><a href="dmtracedump.html">dmtracedump</a></dt> 26 <dd>Generates graphical call-stack diagrams from trace log files. The tool uses the 27Graphviz Dot utility to create the graphical output, so you need to install Graphviz before 28running <code>dmtracedump</code>. For more information on using <code>dmtracedump</code>, see <a 29href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/debugging/debugging-tracing.html#dmtracedump">Profiling 30with Traceview and dmtracedump</a></dd> 31 <dt><a href="draw9patch.html">Draw 9-patch</a></dt> 32 <dd>Allows you to easily create a {@link android.graphics.NinePatch} graphic using a 33WYSIWYG editor. It also previews stretched versions of the image, and highlights the area in which 34content is allowed.</dd> 35 <dt><a href="emulator.html">Android Emulator (emulator)</a></dt> 36 <dd>A QEMU-based device-emulation tool that you can use to design, debug, and test 37your applications in an actual Android run-time environment.</dd> 38 <dt><a href="hierarchy-viewer.html">Hierarchy Viewer (hierarchyviewer)</a></dt> 39 <dd>Lets you debug and optimize an Android application's user interface.</dd> 40 <dt><a href="hprof-conv.html">hprof-conv</a></dt> 41 <dd>Converts the HPROF file that is generated by the Android SDK tools to a standard format so 42you can view the file in a profiling tool of your choice.</dd> 43 <dt><a href="layoutopt.html">layoutopt</a></dt> 44 <dd>Lets you quickly analyze your application's layouts in order to optimize them for 45efficiency.</dd> 46 <dt><a href="mksdcard.html">mksdcard</a></dt> 47 <dd>Helps you create a disk image that you can use with the emulator, to simulate the presence 48of an external storage card (such as an SD card).</dd> 49 <dt><a href="monkey.html">Monkey</a></dt> 50 <dd>Runs on your emulator or device and generates pseudo-random streams of user events such 51as clicks, touches, or gestures, as well as a number of system-level events. You can use the Monkey 52to stress-test applications that you are developing, in a random yet repeatable manner.</dd> 53 <dt><a href="monkeyrunner_concepts.html">monkeyrunner</a></dt> 54 <dd>Provides an API for writing programs that control an Android device or emulator from 55outside of Android code.</dd> 56 <dt><a href="proguard.html">ProGuard</a></dt> 57 <dd>Shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code and renaming 58classes, fields, and methods with semantically obscure names.</dd> 59 <dt><a href="sqlite3.html">sqlite3</a></dt> 60 <dd>Lets you access the SQLite data files created and used by Android applications.</dd> 61 <dt><a href="traceview.html">traceview</a></dt> 62 <dd>Provides a graphical viewer for execution logs saved by your application.</dd> 63 <dt><a href="zipalign.html">zipalign</a></dt> 64 <dd>Optimizes <code>.apk</code> files by ensuring that all uncompressed data starts with a 65particular alignment relative to the start of the file. This should always be used to align .apk 66files after they have been signed.</dd> 67 </dl> 68 69<h2 id="tools-platform">Platform Tools</h2> 70 71<p>The platform tools are typically updated every time you install a new SDK platform. Each update 72of the platform tools is backward compatible with older platforms. Usually, you directly use only 73one of the platform tools—the <a href="adb.html">Android Debug Bridge (<code>adb</code>)</a>. 74Android Debug Bridge is a versatile tool that lets you manage the state of an emulator instance or 75Android-powered device. You can also use it to install an Android application (.apk) file on a 76device.</p> 77 78<p>The other platform tools, such as <a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/aidl.html">aidl</a>, 79<code>aapt</code>, <code>dexdump</code>, and <code>dx</code>, are typically called by the Android 80build tools or Android Development Tools (ADT), so you rarely need to invoke these tools directly. 81As a general rule, you should rely on the build tools or the ADT plugin to call them as needed.</p> 82 83<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The Android SDK provides additional shell tools that can 84be accessed through <code>adb</code>, such as <a href="bmgr.html">bmgr</a> and 85<a href="logcat.html">logcat</a>.</p>
