Is it possible to preview the layout of an AppWidget in Eclipse?

Question

I'm developing quite a few homescreen widgets and currently I have to install them on my emulator or my phone in order to preview the layout.

Is it possible to preview the layout in Eclipse? When I open the XML of my layout in the preview mode, it displays it as it it were an activity and therefore the scaling is entirely wrong.

Answer 1

You can use jimu as a plugin into Eclipse to achieve it. Jimu is a drag & drop style App creation tool for Android. That's the most suitable tool to allow you achieve what you have in mind to get WYSIWYG, as it will enable you to have live previews of Android layouts. You have also the option to use it with Eclipse, or with Android Studio or any other editor of your choice.

To avoid the need to compile-install-run, jimu Mirror gives you live previews of your app that update as you code.

As you can image, the most positive fact about Jimu is that it speeds up Apps development times.

Alternatively, you can use IntelliJ IDEA. IntelliJ IDEA also allows you UI layouts preview.

Thus allowing you achieve WYSIWYG. And equally IntelliJ IDEA gives you the option to integrate it with Eclipse. Of course, alternatively you may decide to simply completely to move to Intellij IDEA. It is available in a commercial edition as well as in a free open source community edition.

IntelliJ IDEA UI designer allows you to build application UI by dragging widgets from its side palette. In version 13 you can simultaneously preview the UI you’re creating on multiple devices, by just selecting Preview All Screen Sizes from the device drop-down. Preview displays all changes made through the UI designer or XML editor in real time.

Such tools for GUI implementation from Jimu and IntelliJ IDEA remembers a little bit Qt Designer, which is available also for Android. In fact, any approach that properly works, allowing interactive Android UI quick development, is a greatly welcome valuable tool for developers that should be well used to improve productivity.