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Android and Java

S

Shadow Wizard

Lurker
I have looked, searched, and can't come up with a straight answer.
I have seen "Yes, you can run Java apps on Android. Android is Java based"
I have seen "You need to modify the code a bit, and then it will run on android"
I have seen "You need to run a program first, and use that program to open the jar file"
I have seen a 'service' that will make your jar into an android app.
Interestingly enough, I haven't seen "No, You cannot run Java on Android"
So, whats the truth?
I have a java app I use all the time, and it would be nothing less then phenomenal to be able to use it on an android tablet. Its called maptool, and if you need to look at it, you can do so here:
hxxp://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=downloads#MapTool

So, what I am asking, is what do I need to download, who do I need to pay, or what do I need to do, to get this to run on android?
 
Join Google's Android developers program. Only has a cheap entry fee. Then download the SDK into your PC, do the testing, and when good, upload the app into the Android Market.
 
Android is heavily Java based with some minor differences. You can't simply take a normal Java application and put it on Android for various technical reasons. However, if you know Java, learning to program in Android wouldn't be too hard to pick up. I wouldn't imagine porting it would be a large feat.

So yeah, if you know Java, download the SDK from Google's website and set it up and play with it for a bit and read the documentation so you can learn the differences. Then if your satisfied with what you come up with, you can pay Google the fee, and allow it on the Android marketplace.

Otherwise, your out of luck. I'm heard of apps that run Java programs, but I'm probably guessing they are more a "kludge" solution at best and probably run very poorly.
 
Guamguy said:
Join Google's Android developers program. Only has a cheap entry fee. Then download the SDK into your PC, do the testing, and when good, upload the app into the Android Market.
Click to expand...
'testing' Does this involve any programing knowledge? I don't know anything about the program other then how to use it. Was hoping for an 'emulator' or something, or something that will reprogram an already existing JAR file.
 
EarlyMon said:
Last I heard - and I'm not expert on this - you can't run a (compressed) .jar file directly on Android - you need an .apk file or another way to run it.

If you're a dev, the info to get you started getting to an apk file is here:

Common Tasks and How to Do Them in Android | Android Developers

I've not used it - but this tool is said to make it easy to do what you want (and not sure, but you might need the .jad as well)....

App Runner

Hope this helps some. ;)
Click to expand...


Second link - does that help?
 
EarlyMon said:
Second link - does that help?
Click to expand...
It may, if I had the SLIGHTEST idea what I was doing. The application, as I said, is not written by me. And I know next to nothing about Java, and less about Android. In my mind, it works just like a SNES emulator. Run emulator. Point to file. Play game.
The second link suggests I upload the JAR and JAD file. There are 40 JAR files, and no JAD files in the directory
Finally, to get the Apprunner APK, I need to go to the android marketplace, I have a Pandigital Novel, it does not have android marketplace access it says. Any idea where else I can get it, or will that even help me in this case?
 
EarlyMon said:
It won't help you without the JAD files.

Sorry - that's the closest thing to the emulator you're looking for.
Click to expand...

Well, that seems wonderful.. The issue is I understand so little, I do now know if that will work, and how to get it to work. So, Will it work? How do I get it to work, if it will? What is the JAD file? Is it something that is easy gotten?
 
Not really - the jar/jad files come from the developer, so unless you have that or the source code and are a programmer, you're dead in the water on this one.

Sorry to be the one to break the bad news, but that's the square deal.
 
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