Best way to set up a native static lib?

Yes, I’m a complete noob when it comes to Android programming.

I’m trying to setup a cocos2dx app, and would like to understand how to setup the project. It’s Java+Native, so there’s a single call to LoadLibrary to load the app’s native .so. I need to be able to setup some cocos2dx static libraries projects that will generate a number of .a files to be linked into the .so. What’s the best way? There doesn’t seem to be an Android project template for static libs. I can select a native app template, then change the configuration to static lib, but that leaves me with a lot of auto-generated stuff I’m pretty sure I don’t need (or do I?).

I notice also that the nv_* static lib projects have a simple simple structure that I probably need to emulate, but what’s the best way to get there? Do I start with a native app template then remove all the bits I don’t need?

Also, the nv_* static lib projects contain an Android.mk, as to the other samples, which also contain an Application.mk. But these files does not seem to get auto-generated when I create a new java+native app. Must I create and maintain these myself, in parallel with the Visual Studio project? And if I must do this, are there plans to manage these via the Visual Studio gui in the future? I mean, if I add files to the project, I would expect them to be reflected in the Android.mk, for example, and for project compile settings to be available in the GUI, and reflected in Application.mk.

Is there a best-practices doc? I looked in the TADP ‘docs’ directory, but it did not contain anything to provide direction.

Hi, Bill

Sorry we don’t have enough documentation for this. Android.mk and Application.mk are used by NDK-build, that’s not auto generated in the Visual Studio tool. We provided those files to make the project compatible with ndk-build. Changes in VS will not be reflected in .mk files. We don’t have plan to support maintain .mk files so far.

To make a static lib project, you can start from any template and remove the bits you don’t need. Just to change the “Configuration Type” in project setting to "Static Lib (.a) "

Thank you. I’ve done this, and it works great.

I’m having trouble understanding how to develop without the MK files. I’ve created a new lib project to include Box2D library to my main project.

Now, what should I do? What are the steps to accomplish this?

Thanks for advance!

Hello Xertz,

Could you please clarify what are you trying to achieve?

Hi Dmitry!

I was trying to add a Box2D static library onto my main project. I finally got it working!

Because I didn’t know how to do it without the MK files, I’d struggle a lot searching the solution. Thankfully with the sample projects provided with the DevPackt, I saw light at the end of the tunnel!

Comparing with the traditional way, In VS I had to create the right hierarchy of folders one by one so the include files path don’t change. In the case of a huge library, that’s really unnecessary.

Other stuff I didn’t find inside the project config is the CFLAGS variable. Where is it? how do I declare it?

Hello Xertz,

CFLAGS are additional switches passed to the compiler. You can add them on the project properties → C/C++ → Command Line page in the Additional Options textbox.

Thanks Dmitry!

I’ll now try to add gnu++0X to my project. Do I add it as “-std=gnu++0x”?

Hello Xertz,

Yes, exactly, just add the line to the C/C++ properties → Command Line. According to the GCC docs you may write -std=c++0x or -std=gnu++0x for any GCC version (including 4.7+) that supports the standard as well as -std=c++11 or -std=gnu++11 for GCC 4.7+

Thanks a lot Dmitry!