Hello eager reader! So you want to delve deeper into mobile web application development? Or maybe you are just bored and don’t have any billable work to be doing (you DON’T have any billable work to be doing, right?). In any case, I am here to help.
Disclaimer: This blog post is going to include installing software, using the command line, and requires that you have an Android device. If you feel that you do not possess the resolve or hardware required for this tutorial, hit the back button on your browser and go read Brad Nunnally’s posts.
Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a command line tool that lets your computer communicate with a connected Android device. Why do you care? Because we develop mobile websites and applications here at Perficient, and you should want to learn how to better yourself. I should not have to tell you why to care. You should just care. It is really rather cool some of the things you can do with it, but before we get into any of that (cough cough next blog post cough), you will need to set it up. What we will be doing is not by any means rocket science, but anything that has to do with opening the command line usually freaks people out. DO NOT PANIC. I am here with you. I will hold your hand. We will get through this together.
Now I know I just said I am going to be here with you, but I lied. What I am going to do is send you on your merry way to another site that actually explains how to do it. Once you have navigated to your platform-specific tutorial site linked below COME RIGHT BACK BECAUSE I HAVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO TELL YOU.
Did you come right back? Good. Now, I am using a Mac, and found that tutorial to be very simple and thorough. The Windows tutorial does seem to gloss over a few things, so here is a YouTube video as well that does a good job of walking you through the steps. If you are on a Windows machine and find yourself lost, try reading the Mac tutorial to get your bearings.
The easiest way (I have found) to go through this and not overwhelm yourself is to read through the entire tutorials before you do anything else. It really helps to see all the steps beforehand, so that when you go back and do them yourself you will already have a good idea of how to do it.
Okay, my part in this is finished. Go forth and get your ADB ready to rock and roll, because the next time we meet is when the real fun begins. I will be walking you through how to use ADB and the Chrome Development Tools to inspect and debug your HTML, CSS and Javascript code running on your Android device. Powerful stuff.
P.S. – Please leave comments on this post if you get stuck, get scared or run into any other problems while attempting this. I am 100% here to help, and will answer any questions you have. Stay safe.
P.P.S – Brad Nunnally is a great guy, and you actually should go read his posts.
