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GettingStarted.md

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Getting Started

If you haven't already created your application backend, see the LoopBack Quick Start. Once you've got your LoopBack-powered backend running, it's time to integrate it with your mobile application.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you've installed the Eclipse Android Development Tools (ADT).

Now make sure you have the necesssary SDK tools installed.

  1. In ADT, choose Window > Android SDK Manager.
  2. Install the following if they are not already installed:
  • Tools:
    • Android SDK Platform-tools 18 or newer
    • Android SDK Build-tools 18 or newer
  • Android 4.3 (API 18)
    • SDK Platform.
  1. To run the LoopBack Android guide application (see below), you also need to install
  • Extras
    • Google Play Services

For on-device testing, you need an Android device with Android 4 or higher, or you can use a virtual Android device. See AVD Manager for more information.

To get the LoopBack Android guide application, you will need either the git command-line tool or a GitHub account.

Getting Started with the Guide App

The easiest way to get started with the LoopBack Android SDK is with the LoopBack Android guide app. The guide app comes ready to compile with Android Studio and each tab in the app will guide you through the SDK features available to mobile apps.

tab Cover tab Introduction tab Lesson One tab Lesson Two tab Lesson Three tab Finale

Before you start, make sure you have set up at least one Android virtual device: Choose Window > Android Virtual Device Manager. See AVD Manager for more information.

The guide application uses Google Maps Android API to render a map. As of November 2013, Google Maps are not supported by the Android emulator. and the application will use an alternate view in such case. It's recommended to run the guide on a real Android device to get the best user experience.

Start the StrongLoop Suite sample backend application. In the directory where you installed StrongLoop Suite, enter these commands

$ cd strongloop/samples/sls-sample-app
$ slc run app

Now follow these steps to run the LoopBack Android guide app:

  1. Download the LoopBack guide application to your local machine from GitHub.

    $ git clone git@github.com:strongloop/loopback-android-getting-started.git

Alternatively, if you have a GitHub account, you can clone or download the repository as a zip file from https://github.com/strongloop/loopback-android-getting-started.

  1. Open ADT Eclipse.

  2. Import the Loopback Guide Application to your workspace:

    1. Choose File > Import.
    2. Choose Android > Existing Android Code into Workspace.
    3. Click Next.
    4. Browse to the loopback-android-getting-started directory.
    5. Click Finish.

  3. Import Google Play Services library project into your workspace. The project is located inside the directory where you have installed the Android SDK.

    1. Choose File > Import.
    2. Choose Android > Existing Android Code into Workspace.
    3. Click Next.
    4. Browse to the <android-sdk>/extras/google/google_play_services/libproject/google-play-services_lib directory.
    5. Check Copy projects into workspace
    6. Click Finish.

See Set Up Google Play Services SDK instruction for more details.

  1. Add the imported google-play-services_lib as an Android build dependency of the Guide Application.

    1. In the Package Explorer frame, select LoopbackGuideApplication
    2. Choose File > Project Properties
    3. Select Android
    4. In the Library frame, click on Add... and select google-play-services_lib

  2. Obtain an API key for Google Maps Android API v2 per Getting Started instructions and enter it into AndroidManifest.xml.

  3. Click the green Run button in the toolbar to run the application. Each tab (fragment) shows a different way to interact with the LoopBack server. Look at source code of fragments to see implementation details.

It takes some time for the app to initialize: Eventually, you'll see an Android virtual device window. Click the LoopBack app icon in the home screen to view the LoopBack Android guide app.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Build fails with the message Unable to resolve target 'android-18'.

Resolution: You need to install Android 4.3 (API 18) SDK. See Prerequisites for instructions on how to install SDK components.

If you don't want to install an older SDK and want to use the most recent one (for example, Android 4.4 API 19), follow these steps:

  1. Close Eclipse ADT.
  2. Edit the file project.properties in the loopback-android-getting-started directory and change the target property to the API version you have installed. For example: target=android-19.
  3. Open Eclipse ADT again. The project should build correctly now.

Getting started with the LoopBack SDK

If you are creating a new Android application or want to integrate an existing application with LoopBack, then use the LoopBack SDK independently of the guide application.

Eclipse ADT setup

Follow these steps to add LoopBack SDK to your Eclipse project:

  1. Download Android SDK bundle for Eclipse from Maven Central:

    1. Open repository browser: http://search.maven.org/#browse%7C471080988
    2. Select the version you would like to use, e.g. 1.1.0
    3. Download the file loopback-android-{version}-eclipse-bundle.zip file, e.g. loopback-android-1.1.0-eclipse-bundle.zip

  2. Extract the content of the downloaded ZIP file into libs folder of your ADT application.

Android Studio setup

  1. Edit your build.gradle file
  2. Make sure you have mavenCentral() among the configured repositories:
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}
  1. Add com.strongloop:loopback-android:1.+ to your compile dependencies:
dependencies {
    compile 'com.strongloop:loopback-android:1.+'
}

Working with the SDK

  1. Somewhere, we're going to need an adapter to tell the SDK where to find our server:

    RestAdapter adapter = new RestAdapter("http://example.com");

    This RestAdapter provides the starting point for all our interactions with the running server.

  2. Once we have access to adapter (for the sake of example, we'll assume the Adapter is available through our Fragment subclass), we can create basic Model and ModelRepository objects. Assuming we've previously created a model named "product":

    ModelRepository productRepository = adapter.createRepository("product");
Model pen = productRepository.createModel(
                ImmutableMap.of("name", "Awesome Pen"));

    All the normal, magical Model and ModelRepository methods (for example, create, destroy, findById) are now available through productRepository and pen!

  3. Go forth and develop! Check out the API docs or create more Models with the LoopBack CLI or Node API.