How do I emulate a HoneyComb-compatible app on older emulators?

Question

I began the process of making one of my apps Honeycomb-friendly.

I started by changing the project's target build to version 11, and edited to AndroidManifest.xml to use:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="5" android:targetSdkVersion="11" />

These are the only changes I made so far. I am able to test it perfectly on my Honeycomb tablet device.

However, I cannot get Eclipse to launch this app in an older emulator (e.g. version 9). Technically speaking, the app should run in older android versions, so what can I do to test this app for older devices?

Or am I doing something else wrong?

@slayton I plan on using at a minimum the holographic theme. So I will need this. — yydl, Sep 21 '11 at 19:26

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

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I'm by no means an expert on this front but setting the minSdkVersion different from the targetSdkVersion doesn't make the app automatically use a different API level based on the device. See this: Android Min SDK Version vs. Target SDK Version

and this: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-have-your-cupcake-and-eat-it-too.html

I suspect that because your application is using level 11 apis it won't run on a device that is of a previous API level.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Sep 21 '11 at 19:35

slayton

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I understand. Once again, I had not used any newer APIs yet. I am planning on doing so in the future. – yydl Sep 21 '11 at 19:43

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 21 '11 at 19:52

This seems to be some sort of bug. When my 3.1 device is plugged into my PC, Eclipse/Android won't let me launch a new emulator that's < 3.0.

I worked around this by launching the emulator before I plug in my device, and then it has no problems deploying the app to both of the running devices.

How do I emulate a HoneyComb-compatible app on older emulators?

2 Answers2