Development process and API levels

Question

So, consider the common scenario where you want to build an app using the latest Android APIs (up to 18), but you must also provide support back to Android 2.x.

This is the case for my current app. I had set my minSdk and targetApi levels accordingly and started work.

During testing on various device I noticed some crashes due missing functions/apis on older devices. I had to visit each bug and provide a workarounds on a case by case basis. A real pain as all these were only discovered during test.

So, my question is what is your process for developing in Android with this in mind. I haven't really explored lint but could that help point out any possible issues.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I haven't really explored lint but could that help point out any possible issues.

It will. Lint will report to you anything that you use that is newer than your android:minSdkVersion but is acceptable to your build target.

Lint will generally report this automatically for Eclipse, though you may want to run Lint manually from time to time, as sometimes it seems to miss some stuff. Lint is also available for command-line builds, and I presume that it is (or will be) integrated into Android Studio.

You can read more about Lint in the developer documentation.