Deploying glassware on Google Glass

Question

Regarding deployment:

• What do I deploy my glassware as? JAR? APK? Something else? Since the GDK hasn't been officially released yet it's tough to decipher what glassware builds as.
• How do I actually install glassware on a Glass device? Is MyGlass the only option?
• Same question above, but for testing & development...how can I deploy a dev/qa/demo version of my glassware to an in-house (test) Glass device before launching live?
• The Android SDK contains a software emulator that you can deploy Android apps to. Does the GDK offer something similar? Or do I have to physically deploy my glassware to a Glass device to test it?
• How do I manage updates to my glassware for my users? If they purchase v1.0 of my glassware, how do I get them v1.0.1, etc.?

Answer 1

The overall answer to your question is to remember that GDK apps are just Android apps at the core and that it is still in development preview. Details will change, but we can make some reasonable assumptions. To be specific:

• You will create an APK, just like for other Android apps.

[addition: The easiest way to "sideload" an application("APK") is to use the Chrome browser and the ChromeADB extension, which will give you a visual way to handle things ... and provide you much more information to boot. You can access via command line the "adb" (Android Debugger) to do this, but you have to remember all the right commands,]

• Right now, the only available way to deploy most GDK-based Glassware is to sideload it. Google has worked with a few partners to deploy via MyGlass, but this still isn't ready for prime-time yet. Until it is, you can sideload or go through one of the sites that gives instructions for how to sideload.
• For in-house testing, now and in the future, you'll sideload. Just like you do with Android apps today.
• There is no emulator or profile for the Android emulator for the GDK yet. The GDK is still in developer preview, remember. (One would hope, however, that you do actually have a real Glass device to test with. An emulator wouldn't begin to capture the real UX that Glass offers.)
• Right now, you'll need them to re-sideload it. Nothing has been announced, but it would make sense that once GDK apps are accepted into MyGlass, upgrading will be automatic.

And finally, it is worth noting that all this only applies to the GDK. Glassware based on the Mirror API has a completely different scheme.