QUICKSTART.md

##Getting started with the Mapbox Android SDK

This guide will take you through the process of adding a map to your Android app. It assumes you have a Java IDE (like Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA) with the Android SDK installed, and an app project open.

Required Permissions

Ensure the following core permissions are requested in your AndroidManifest.xml file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

If your project needs to access location services, it'll also need the following permissions too:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />

###The MapView

The MapView class is the key component of our library. It behaves like any other ViewGroup and its behavior can be changed statically with an XML layout file, or programmatically during runtime.

XML layout

To add the MapView as a layout element, add the following to your xml file:

<com.mapbox.mapboxsdk.views.MapView
android:id="@+id/mapview"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
mapbox:mapid="Your Mapbox mapid"
mapbox:accessToken="Your Mapbox Access Token"/>

And then you can call it programmatically with

this.findViewById(R.id.mapview);

On runtime

On runtime you can create a new MapView by specifying the context of the application and a valid Mapbox mapid, a TileJSON file or a ZXY image template.

MapView mapView = new MapView(context);
mapView.setAccessToken("Your Mapbox Access Token");
mapView.setTileSource(new MapboxTileLayer("examples.map-vyofok3q"));

And set it as the current view like this:

this.setContentView(mapView);

Overlays

Anything visual that is displayed over the map, maintaining its geographical position, we call it an Overlay. To access a MapView's overlays at any point during runtime, use:

mapView.getOverlays();

Markers

Adding a marker with the default styling is as simple as calling this for every marker you want to add:

Marker marker = new Marker(mapView, title, description, LatLng)
mapView.addMarker(marker);

Location overlay

The location of the user can be displayed on the view using UserLocationOverlay

GpsLocationProvider myLocationProvider = new GpsLocationProvider(getActivity());
UserLocationOverlay myLocationOverlay = new UserLocationOverlay(myLocationProvider, mapView);
myLocationOverlay.enableMyLocation();
myLocationOverlay.setDrawAccuracyEnabled(true);
mapView.getOverlays().add(myLocationOverlay);

####Paths

Paths are treated as any other Overlay, and are drawn like this:

PathOverlay line = new PathOverlay(Color.RED, this);
line.addPoint(new LatLng(51.2, 0.1));
line.addPoint(new LatLng(51.7, 0.3));
mapView.getOverlays().add(line);

Drawing anything into the map

To add anything with a higher degree of customization you can declare your own Overlay subclass and define what to draw by overriding the draw method. It will give you a Canvas object for you to add anything to it:

class AnyOverlay extends Overlay{
    @Override
    protected void draw(Canvas canvas, MapView mapView, boolean shadow) {
        //do anything with the Canvas object
    }
}

Switching layers (experimental)

You can toggle between several maps (identified by a valid Mapbox ID, a TileJSON file or a zxy image template) using the switchToLayer method

mapView.switchToLayer("examples.map-vyofok3q");

Screen rotation

By default, every time the screen is rotated, Android will call onCreate and return all states in the app to their inital values. This includes current zoom level and position of the MapView. The simplest way to avoid this is adding this line to your AndroidManifest.xml, inside <activity>:

android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize|uiMode"

Alternatively you can override the methods onSaveInstanceState() and onRestoreInstanceState() to have broader control of the saved states in the app. See this StackOverflow question for more information on these methods

More Examples Via TestApp

The Mapbox Android SDK is actually an Android Library Module, which means in order to test it out in an emulator or a device during development a Test Module is needed. We call this test module the TestApp. It contains many different examples of new functionality or just ways to do certain things. We highly recommend checking it out.

The source code for these tests / examples is located under the MapboxAndroidSDKTestApp directory.

If you're interested in running the TestApp yourself (which is also highly recommened!) here's how:

1. Clone the mapbox-android-sdk to your local computer
2. Open in Android Studio by using File | Import Project and selecting the mapbox-android-sdk directory that you cloned in Step 1.
3. Create a Run configuration via Run | Edit Configurations, select Android Application, and select MapboxAndroidSDKTestApp in the Module UI.
4. Run the TestApp!

Including SDK JavaDoc

JavaDocs are automatically generated and distributed with each official and SNAPSHOT release. The can be downloaded from The Central Repository official or SNAPSHOT for local viewing and / or integration with an IDE.

Generating SDK Documentation (aka JavaDoc)

cd <PROJECT_HOME>/MapboxAndroidSDK/
../gradlew clean assembleRelease javadocrelease
cd build/docs/javadoc/release/
open index.html