How do I specify the Android API Level in PhoneGap?

Question

The default PhoneGap app wants me to get API 17. However I have 18 and would rather use that. How do I specify which version of the API to use? I did some searching of some config files in my project but didn't see anything specifying the level to be 17.

I'm developing on Windows and want to build android locally.

I've followed the developer guide so that I have a phonegap project called hello that has the following folders:

• .cordova
  • hooks
  • config.json
• build (empty)
• merges (empty)
• platforms (empty)
• plugins
• www
  • css
  • img
  • js
  • res
  • spec
  • config.xml
  • icon.png
  • index.html
  • spec.html

I tried phonegap add platform android but errored saying 'platform add android' is not a node

Answer 1

Please do not modify AndroidManifest.xml in your platforms directory. With current cordova/phonegap version, this should not be necessary anymore (you can ignore platforms from version control!).

Instead set:

<preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="14" />

All possible configs are available here: http://docs.build.phonegap.com/en_US/2.9.0/configuring_basics.md.html (the document says, it works for phonegap build, but it works the same for cordova/phonegap cli!).

EDIT: New Link http://docs.phonegap.com/phonegap-build/configuring/preferences/#android-minSdkVersion

Answer 2

You shouldn't edit AndroidManifest.xml. You can/should do it cordova config.xml file in preference:

<preference name="android-targetSdkVersion" value="14" />
<preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="14" />