page.title=Support Library @jd:body

In this document

  1. Overview
  2. Revisions

See also

  1. Support Library Features
  2. Support Library Setup

The Android Support Library package is a set of code libraries that provide backward-compatible versions of Android framework APIs as well as features that are only available through the library APIs. Each Support Library is backward-compatible to a specific Android API level. This design means that your applications can use the libraries' features and still be compatible with devices running Android 1.6 (API level 4) and up.

This guide provides information about what features are enabled by the Support Libraries, how to use them in your development environment and information about library releases.

Overview

Including the Support Libraries in your Android project is considered a best practice for application developers, depending on the range of platform versions your app is targeting and the APIs that it uses. Using the features the libraries provide can help you improve the look of your application, increase performance and broaden the reach of your application to more users. If you use the Android code template tools, you will notice that all the Android application templates include one or more of the Support Libraries by default.

The Support Libraries each target a base Android API level and each provides a different set of features. In order to effectively use the libraries, it is important to consider what features you want to support and understand what features are supported by each library at what Android API level. To get started, review the Support Library Features guide. After that, go to the Support Library Setup topic to learn how to incorporate the Support Libraries into your application. For more details about Support Library APIs, see the {@link android.support.v4.app android.support} packages in the API reference.

Revisions

This section provides details about the Support Library package releases.

Android Support Library, revision 19 (October 2013)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Added support for external Storage APIs with the {@link android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat#getObbDirs getObbDirs()}, {@link android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat#getExternalFilesDirs getExternalFilesDirs()}, {@link android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat#getExternalCacheDirs getExternalCacheDirs()}, and {@link android.support.v4.os.EnvironmentCompat#getStorageState getStorageState()}. These helper methods always return a single file object on devices running Android 4.3 (API level 18) and earlier. When running on Android 4.4 (API level 19) and higher, these methods may return more than one file object.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.print.PrintHelper} class that works with the Print APIs to print images with a minimum of code.
  • Added drag-to-open user interface support for pop-up menus. For more information, see {@link android.support.v4.widget.PopupMenuCompat} and {@link android.support.v4.widget.ListPopupWindowCompat}.
  • Improved accessibility support with the addition of a {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat#findFocus findFocus()} method in {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat} and the {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat#getLiveRegion getLiveRegion()} method in {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat}.
  • Added helper class {@link android.support.v4.view.ScaleGestureDetectorCompat} for accessing new scaling gesture methods.
  • Fixed problem with {@link android.support.v4.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle} in right-to-left language displays.
  • Modified {@link android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper} option to consume touch events or allow them to be passed through to other views.
Changes for v7 mediarouter library:
  • Added support for media playback queuing, setting HTTP header values and media playback duration.
  • Added explicit start, get, and end session actions for explicitly managing media playback sessions with media router.

Android Support Library, revision 18 (July 2013)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • User interface
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter} for handling text strings that combine right to left and left to right-formatted text.
    • Modified {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} to better handle cases where the pager has a measured width of zero in the initial layout processing.
    • Modified {@link android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout} and {@link android.support.v4.widget.SlidingPaneLayout} to not throw exceptions for measurement while the project code is being edited.
  • Accessibility
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.widget.ExploreByTouchHelper} to simplify the implementation of accessibility for custom views.
    • Fixed a problem with {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} incorrectly populating {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEventCompat#TYPE_VIEW_SCROLLED TYPE_VIEW_SCROLLED} accessibility events.
    • Fixed a null pointer exception in {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} when populating an accessibility event.
    • Simplified {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat} by changing {@link java.lang.CharSequence} inputs to {@link java.lang.String} objects.
    • Deprecated an {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat} constructor that used an {@link java.lang.Object} as input.
  • Media
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.media.TransportMediator} helper class to manage media transport control, such as play, pause, skip and other media actions.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.hardware.display.DisplayManagerCompat} for managing display output to one or more device displays.
  • Other changes
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.content.WakefulBroadcastReceiver} helper class for implementing a common pattern of detecting a device wakeup event and passing work off to a {@link android.app.Service} while ensuring that the device does not go back to sleep before the handoff is complete.
    • Added two new APIs, {@link android.support.v4.content.AsyncTaskLoader#commitContentChanged commitContentChanged()} and {@link android.support.v4.content.AsyncTaskLoader#rollbackContentChanged rollbackContentChanged()}, to {@link android.support.v4.content.AsyncTaskLoader} to help deal with background updates for data changes that are subsequently canceled.
New v7 appcompat library:
  • Added {@link android.support.v7.app.ActionBar} to allow implementation of the action bar user interface design pattern back to Android 2.1 (API level 7) and higher. Use of this class requires that you implement your activity by extending the new {@link android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity} class.
New v7 mediarouter library:

Added a new mediarouter library that provides support for the Google Cast developer preview. The v7 mediarouter library APIs provide a means of controlling the routing of media channels and streams from the current device to external screens, speakers, and other destination devices, with compatibility back to Android 2.1 (API level 7). See V7 mediarouter library for more information.

The v7 mediarouter library APIs introduced in Support Library r18 are subject to change in later revisions of the Support Library. At this time, we recommend using the library only in connection with the Google Cast developer preview.

Android Support Library, revision 13 (May 2013)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout} for creating a Navigation Drawer that can be pulled in from the edge of a window.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.widget.SlidingPaneLayout} widget for creating linked summary and detail views that appropriately adapt to various screen sizes.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle} as a way to tie together the functions of {@link android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout} and {@link android.app.ActionBar}.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.widget.ViewDragHelper} as a new common component for dragging views within a parent view.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.widget.ScrollerCompat} to provide {@link android.widget.Scroller} and {@link android.widget.OverScroller} compatibility support.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.content.FileProvider} to allow sharing of private files between applications.
  • Updated {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} to throw an exception if the associated {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter} class is modified without a call to {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter#notifyDataSetChanged notifyDataSetChanged()}.
  • Fixed an issue with {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} children drawing sort order.
  • Fixed {@link android.support.v4.view.GestureDetectorCompat} to dispatch missing {@link android.view.GestureDetector.SimpleOnGestureListener#onSingleTapConfirmed} calls between tap timeout and long press events.
New v7 gridlayout library:
  • Added {@link android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout} to provide support for the {@link android.widget.GridLayout} layout object.
  • Added {@link android.support.v7.widget.Space} which can be used to create blank areas within a {@link android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout} layout object.

Android Support Library, revision 12 (February 2013)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Improved interaction behavior for {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} to select the wrong page.
  • Fixed use of {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager#removeView removeView()} method during layout for {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}.
  • Fixed issue with {@link android.support.v4.widget.SearchViewCompat} where using the back button to dismiss does not clear the search text. This fix only applies to host API levels 14 and higher.

Android Support Library, revision 11 (November 2012)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • User Interface
    • Added support for nested {@link android.support.v4.app.Fragment} classes.
    • Added improvements to {@link android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager} debugging.
    • Fixed problem in {@link android.support.v4.app.FragmentTabHost} where fragment and tab interaction could result in a {@link android.widget.ListView} state loss.
    • Fixed issue with user-visible hint in {@link android.support.v4.app.FragmentStatePagerAdapter}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.PageTransformer PageTransformer} interface to {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} to allow applications to supply a custom transition behavior for scrolling.
    • Added new features and fixes to {@link android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder} from current release.
    • Fixed {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip} to correctly track the {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter} currently in use.
    • Fixed display flickering, positioning, and text clipping problems with {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip}.
    • Fixed {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTabStrip} to properly respect padding when drawing an underline.
  • Accessibility
    • Added support for new accessibility gesture and touch event types in {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEventCompat}.
    • Added support for new accessibility APIs in {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat}.
    • Added support for {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat#performAccessibilityAction performAccessibilityAction()} method to {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat}.
  • Added support for gestures with {@link android.support.v4.view.GestureDetectorCompat}.
  • Added support for performing atomic operations on files using a new {@link android.support.v4.util.AtomicFile} class.
  • Added support for the full set of {@code make} methods in {@link android.support.v4.content.IntentCompat}.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.util.LruCache#trimToSize trimToSize()} method in {@link android.support.v4.util.LruCache} utility class.
  • Updated {@link android.support.v4.net.ConnectivityManagerCompat} to get NetworkInfo from a {@link android.net.ConnectivityManager#CONNECTIVITY_ACTION} broadcast.

Android Support Library, revision 10 (August 2012)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Added support for notification features introduced in Android 4.1 (API level 16) with additions to {@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat}.

Android Support Library, revision 9 (June 2012)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • User Interface Support
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTabStrip} support, providing enhanced functionality beyond {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip}.
    • Fixed various bugs for {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip} and {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTabStrip}, including {@link android.widget.TextView#setAllCaps setAllCaps} option, title alignment, appearance improvements, minimum width constraints and touch navigation issues.
    • Added support for {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} page gutters, which helps the {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} class provide paging support for content with a large horizontal scroll range, such as a map.
    • Fixed numerous bugs for {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}, including size and data set change problems, page positioning, user interaction, scroll tracking and keyboard navigation problems.
    • Fixed many bugs for {@link android.support.v4.app.Fragment}, including proper handling of {@link android.support.v4.app.Fragment#onActivityResult onActivityResult()} when the target fragment no longer exists, dispatching selection events to invisible fragments, improved {@link android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction#replace FragmentTransaction.replace()} behavior and added better state handling for fragments being moved out of view.
    • Added support for the {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat postOnAnimation()} method in {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat}.
    • Updated {@link android.support.v4.app.NavUtils} to use Android 4.1 (API level 16) Up navigation functionality when available.
  • Accessibility
    • Updated accessibility support classes, including {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat}, to follow fixes made in Android 4.1 (API level 16).
    • Added support for accessibility scroll actions in {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}.
  • General improvements
    • Updated {@link android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder} to reflect API changes in Android 4.1 (API level 16).
    • Enhanced {@link android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder} to allow it to be used from a Service.
    • Added support for {@link android.support.v4.content.IntentCompat EXTRA_HTML_TEXT} to {@link android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat}.
    • Updated {@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder} to support the {@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder#setNumber setNumber()} method.
    • Added support in {@link android.support.v4.net.ConnectivityManagerCompat} for the {@link android.support.v4.net.ConnectivityManagerCompat#isActiveNetworkMetered isActiveNetworkMetered()} method.

Android Support Library, revision 8 (April 2012)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Fixed intent flags for {@link android.app.PendingIntent} objects generated by {@link android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder}.
  • Removed unused attributes from the gridlayout library projects to make sure the library can be built with API level 7 and higher.
  • Added {@code .classpath} and {@code .project} files for the gridlayout library project.

Android Support Library, revision 7 (March 2012)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat}, which provides helper classes for sending and receiving content for social sharing applications, including new metadata for attributing shared data to the source app. This class also provides compatible integration with the new {@link android.widget.ShareActionProvider} in Android 4.0.
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.app.NavUtils} and {@link android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder} to provide support for implementing the Android Design guidelines for navigation. These additions include a way to implement the action bar's Up button across versions. For an example implementation of this pattern, see the AppNavigation sample in ({@code <sdk>/samples/<platform>/AppNavigation}).
  • Added {@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder} to provide a compatibility implementation of Android 3.0's {@link android.app.Notification.Builder} helper class for creating standardized system notifications.

Android Support Library, revision 6 (December 2011)

Note: Reference for support library APIs are now available with the framework references, for example: {@link android.support.v4.app}.

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Changes to ViewPager:
    • Added extra decorative view support for {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}. Decorative views may be supplied as child views of a pager in XML layout.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter#getPageTitle PagerAdapter.getPageTitle()} to supply title strings for pages, which defaults to no title for each page.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip}, a non-interactive title strip, that can be added as a child of ViewPager. Developers can supply text appearance and color, as well as layout sizing and gravity information.
    • Updated {@link android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter} methods to take ViewGroup objects, rather than View to avoid class casting in adapter implementations.
    • Updated {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} to use Launcher-style fling behavior.
    • Bug fixes for user interface interaction and test automation.
  • Support for Fragments:
    • Changed {@code setStartDeferred()} method to {@link android.support.v4.app.Fragment#setUserVisibleHint}.
    • Added deferred start for off-screen pages to improve performance.
  • Support for Accessiblity APIs:
    • Updated {@link android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat} methods to return empty lists instead of null.
    • Added new APIs needed by the v4 samples.

Android Support Library, revision 5 (December 2011)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Support for Accessiblity APIs:
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat} to support {@link android.view.View.AccessibilityDelegate}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEventCompat} to support {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManagerCompat} to support {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat} to support {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfo}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat} to support {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecord}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityServiceInfoCompat} to support {@link android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityServiceInfo}.
    • Added {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewGroupCompat} to support accessibility features in {@link android.view.ViewGroup}.
    • Modified {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat} to support accessibility features in {@link android.view.View}.
  • Changes to ViewPager:
    • Added support for margins between pages. An optional {@link android.graphics.drawable.Drawable} can be provided to fill the margins.
    • Added support for {@link android.widget.EdgeEffect}.
    • Added support for keyboard navigation
    • Added support to control how many pages are kept to either side of the current page.
    • Improved touch physics.
    • Bug fixes for user interface behavior.

Android Support Library, revision 4 (October 2011)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Added EdgeEffectCompat to support {@link android.widget.EdgeEffect}.
  • Added LocalBroadcastManager to allow applications to easily register for and receive intents within a single application without broadcasting them globally.
  • Added support in ViewCompat to check for and set overscroll modes for {@link android.view.View}s on Android 2.3 and later.
  • Changes to Fragment APIs:
    • Added new APIs to control the visibility of new menus.
    • Added custom animation APIs.
    • Added APIs in FragmentActivity to retain custom, non-configuration instance data.
    • Various bug fixes.
  • Fixed a {@link android.content.Loader} bug that caused issues in canceling {@link android.os.AsyncTask}s when running on Froyo and older versions of the platform. The support code now uses its own version of {@link android.os.AsyncTask} to keep the same behavior on all platform versions.

Android Support Library, revision 3 (July 2011)

Changes for v4 support library:
  • Adds support for {@link android.app.Fragment.SavedState}
  • Adds {@code MotionEventCompat} to support newer {@link android.view.MotionEvent} APIs
  • Adds {@code VelocityTrackerCompat} to support a newer {@link android.view.VelocityTracker} APIs
  • Adds {@code ViewConfigurationCompat} to support a newer {@link android.view.ViewConfiguration} APIs
  • All new APIs (available only in the support library) that allow you to create UIs with horizontal paging, allowing users to swipe left and right between content views. Classes to support this include:
    • {@code ViewPager}: A {@link android.view.ViewGroup} that manages the layout for the child views, which the user can swipe between.
    • {@code PagerAdapter}: An adapter that populates the {@code ViewPager} with the views that represent each page.
    • {@code FragmentPagerAdapter}: An extension of {@code PagerAdapter} for flipping between fragments.
    • {@code FragmentStatePagerAdapter}: An extension of {@code PagerAdapter} for flipping between fragments that uses the library's support for {@link android.app.Fragment.SavedState}.
New v13 support library:
  • Includes the {@code FragmentPagerAdapter} and {@code FragmentStatePagerAdapter} to support the horizontal paging.

    These are exactly the same as the APIs added to the v4 support library, but rely on other platform components in Android 3.2. Use this library instead of v4 if you're developing for Android 3.2 and higher (all other APIs in the v4 library are already available with API level 13).

Android Support Library, revision 2 (May 2011)

Changes for v4 library:
  • Support for fragment animations
  • Fix {@link android.support.v4.app.Fragment#onActivityResult Fragment.onActivityResult()} bug

Android Support Library, revision 1 (March 2011)

Initial release with the v4 library.