Exporting to Android Devices

Exporting as an Android application will create an Android package that is suitable for use on Android devices. The packages generated will only work on devices running Android version 2.3.3 and above.

To create an Android package, right-click the project .gde File > Storyboard Export > Export as Native Android Application.

From the export file selection dialog, select the Storyboard application file (*.gde) that you want to export. Choose appropriate names for the application name, Android package file name, and the package name. Select the directory you want to export to and options for application orientation and fullscreen. For Android devices version 4.4 and newer, the fullscreen option uses Android's sticky immersion fullscreen.

note

Currently, without rooting an Android device, there is no way to disable the bottom bar for some Android 3.0+ devices.

Select the Runtime tab to set Storyboard runtime options (see Storyboard Engine Options for list of available runtime options). Select the Manifest tab for advanced options to modify the default Permissions, Manifest file or Keystore settings (optional). Select the Icons tab for selecting the icons for the application. If you don't need to alter the settings, click Apply then Run to use the defaults.

By default the Android application package file (APK) will be created in the project's directory. To transfer this application package to an Android device, simply copy the package onto a USB or SD card.

Adding Extra Libraries for Android

Sometimes a user creates a Storyboard app that requires a library that isn't included with the Storyboard Runtime. When exporting for Android we need to tell the exporter which libraries to preload. We do this by giving the exporter a text file with a list of libraries. Make sure that the paths to these libraries are relative to the Storyboard app’s directory. As well, the order of the libraries in the list determine the order they get loaded in, therefore if one of the libraries has a dependency on another library make sure to have the dependent library higher in the list.

The example we’ll use is modifying the FilesystemExplorer app from the Crank Software public repository. In order for this app to work on Android we’ll need to include the LuaFileSystem module that's been compiled for Android (the lib's name is lfs.so). We’ll add this file in scripts/android-armle.

Create a text file, which we’ll call user_libs.txt, with the following contents:

When exporting the app make sure to include the path to this file and hit finish.

Now the app can make use of the functionality included in the new library.