Android Tutorial - Android Manifest

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Each Android project has a manifest file.

Example

The following code has an example of AndroidManifest.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.java2s.app" >

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name="com.java2s.app.MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Note

The AndroidManifest.xml file contains detailed information about the application:

It defines the package name of the application as com.java2s.HelloWorld.

The version code of the application is 1 setting via the android:versionCode attribute. This value identifies the version number of your application. It can be used to programmatically determine whether an application needs to be upgraded.

The version name of the application is 1.0 set via the android:versionName attribute. This string value is mainly used for display to the user. You should use the format <major>.<minor>.<point> for this value.

The android:minSdkVersion attribute of the <uses-sdk> element specifies the minimum version of the OS on which the application will run.

The application uses the image named ic_launcher.png located in the drawable folders.

The name of this application is the string named app_name defined in the strings.xml file.

There is one activity in the application represented by the HelloWorldActivity.java file. The label displayed for this activity is the same as the application name.

Within the definition for this activity, there is an element named <intent-filter>:

• The action for the intent filter is named android.intent.action.MAIN.
• And it indicates that this activity serves as the entry point for the application.
• The category for the intent-filter is named android.intent.category.LAUNCHER. And it indicates that the application can be launched from the device's launcher icon.

Every activity you have in your application must be declared in your AndroidManifest.xml file.

Set target SDK version

We can set target SDK version in manifest xml file.

<manifest ...

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="4"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <activity android:name=".MainActivity" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

The code above sets the target SDK version by using the <uses-sdk> tag as follows.

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="4"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

Set the min Sdk Version

In the manifest file we can Set the minSdkVersion.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest ...
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/icon"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

The code above sets the minSdkVersion by using the <uses-sdk> tag as follows:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

Turn off soft input panel

Get EditText to automatically have the focus, but you do not want the soft input panel (keyboard) to appear automatically which happens on a real device.

To prevent the keyboard from appearing, add the following attribute to the <activity> element in the AndroidManifest.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest ...
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/icon"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name" 
            android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden" 
            >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

The code above turns off the soft input panel by using the attribute in <activity> tag as follows.

        <activity
             ...
            android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden" 
        >

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