Understanding Android Manifest File

                                           

                                               Android Manifest file

Every Android application must have a manifest file. Manifest file contains very essential information about the application. Having a proper understanding of manifest is necessary for Android application development.

A manifest file contains following information of Android application

• Package name: The package name serves as a unique identifier for the application.
• Activities : All activities are declared in manifest file.
• Services : All the services used in you application must be declared in activities.
• BroadcastReceivers : If your application has broadcast receiver, it must be declared in the manifest file.
• Permissions : Lists the permissions required for your application.
• API Level : It declares the minimum, maximum and target API level of the Android API that the application requires.
• Application version : specifies the application version.
• Features used in application : it specifies which android feature the application require to run properly.
• Supported screen size : Android devices comes in many shapes and size. You need to specify which screen types your application supports.

Let us have a sample manifest file and discuss each element in detail.

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    package="com.android.calculator"

    android:versionCode="1"

    android:versionName="1.1" >

    <uses-sdk

        android:minSdkVersion="8"

        android:maxSdkVersion="16"

        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

   

    <!--  list of permissions  -->

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_MMS" />

   

    <!--  Screen types supported  -->

    <supports-screens

        android:smallScreens="true"

        android:normalScreens="true"

        android:largeScreens="false"/>

   

    <!--  Features needed -->

    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" />

    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />

    <application

        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"

        android:label="@string/app_name"

        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >

        <activity

            android:name=".MainActivity"

            android:label="@string/title_activity_main" >

            <intent-filter>

                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />

            </intent-filter>

        </activity>

       

         <receiver android:name=".SmsReceiver">

            <intent-filter>

                <action android:name="android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED" />

            </intent-filter>

        </receiver>

        <service  android:name="VibrateService"/>

       

    </application>

</manifest>

Let us discuss each attribute

1:   package="com.android.calculator"

package name of the application is "com.android.calculator".

2: android:versionName="1.1"

version of application is 1.1

3: <uses-sdk

        android:minSdkVersion="8"

        android:maxSdkVersion="16"

        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

minSdkVersion attribute: specifies the lowest API level that the application supports, here it is 8.

maxSdkVersion attribute: specifies the maximum/highst API level that the application supports, here it is 16.

targetSdkVersion attribute: specifies the optimun API level that the application supports, here it is 15.

4: <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_MMS" />

The application has requested four permissons

Permission to read contacts.

Permission to access internet.

Permission to vibrate the device.

Permission to receive the SMS.

Note: If you not declare the required permission in the manifest and use the feature in your application you will get “SecurityException”. List of all imporatnt permissions is given in the appendix.

5:    <supports-screens

        android:smallScreens="true"

        android:normalScreens="true"

        android:largeScreens="false"/>

application supports devices with small and normal screens but not support devices with large screens.

6: <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" />

   <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />

Application uses camera and Bluetooth hardware of the device.

7: the     <application> tag

In the application tag all activities, services and broadcast receivers are declared.

 

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      Android : Introduction(What is Android)                                                              Configuring Eclipse for Android Development
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      Customizing Toast In Android                                                        Customizing Radio Buttons

      Showing Toast for Longer Time                                                      Customizing Checkboxes In Android

      Customizing the Display Time of Toast                                           Customizing ProgressBar

      Using TimePickerDialog and DatePickerDialog In android                 Customizing Toast In Android

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      Handling Keyboard Events                                                        Animating A Button In Android

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Android AlarmManger
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Working With Layouts                                                                Working With Views

Understanding Layouts in Android                                                   Using Buttons and EditText in Android
Working with Linear Layout (With Example)                                     Using CheckBoxes in Android
Nested Linear Layout (With Example)                                              Using AutoCompleteTextView in Android                                                                                          Grid View
Relative Layout In Android                                                               ListView
Table Layout                                                                                   Android ProgressBar
Frame Layout(With Example)                                                          Customizing ProgressBar
Absolute Layout                                                                             Customizing Radio Buttons
Grid Layout                                                                                    Customizing Checkboxes In Android

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Android Spinner                                                                           Android GalleryView
Android TabWidget                                                                      Android ExpandableListView

Android Components                                                                 Dialogs In Android

Activity In Android                                                                    Working With Alert Dialog
Activity Life Cycle                                                                    Adding Radio Buttons In Dialog
Starting Activity For Result                                                       Adding Check Boxes In Dialog
Sending Data from One Activity to Other in Android                    Creating Customized Dialogs in Android
Returning Result from Activity                                                   Creating Dialog To Collect User Input
Android : Service                                                                     DatePicker and TimePickerDialog
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Customizing Toast At Runtime                                                  Accessing Inbox In Android
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Using Telephony Manager In Android                                          SharedPreferences In Android
                                                                                              Reading and Writing files to Internal Stoarage

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