Porting java apps to Android platform

Question

I know Java apps can be run in Android. But what I want to know is this: I have a perfectly normal Java app and I want to port it to an android platform. What changes would I need to do to my app in terms of GUI and other code to make it usable in Android? I know Android uses XML file to control the look and feel of its app. So would I need to change my GUI completely?

I just want to know the general overview of how porting may be done. If anyone could point me to right resources, that would be great. Also, for your info I'm a newbie to developing android app, so please be patient with me :)

Update: Both very helpful answers. Thank you!

Answer 1

The short answer is that you would simply rewrite all of the GUI from scratch, for Android. It simply uses a completely different UI framework. While basically all of the core Java libraries are there, Swing and AWT libraries are not.

If you are looking to translate parts of it automatically, I don't think there is any such tool. You're going to be building a brand new Android GUI.

And really, that makes sense. These frameworks are serving reasonably different platforms and needs (desktop vs. phone). You probably need to be redesigning your app quite a bit to go from a desktop to a phone.

Good news is the non-GUI parts ought to work as-is with no changes, unless they do something unusual. You may have to package third party libraries into your project if they are used by your code.