Relation between android:minSdkVersion, android:targetSdkVersion and "target"

Question

So, I'm a little confused, I thought I understood the meaning of android:minSdkVersion, android:targetSdkVersion and target in project properties.

Right now I got these set to:

    android:minSdkVersion="7" 
    android:targetSdkVersion="13"

And:

    target=android-15

in project->properties->Android->Project Build Target.

When I try to run this application application on a device with Android 2.3.3 installed, I see a red cross against the device name but the application runs fine on it none the less.

What am I missing? If I'm building against 15, how is it running on android-7? This confusion stated after I integrated AdMob into my app which states it require minimum SDK level 13.

Answer 1

To describe one at a time:

• android:minSdkVersion helps Google Play filter apps for the user based on their device. For instance, with minSdkVersion="7", someone browsing with a device that only supports 6 won't see your app on Google Play, and thus won't download it, find it doesn't work, and leave a bad review :)

• android:targetSdkVersion is a signal to the device about which version of the API your app was tested against. New behaviors are often available by default with new versions of the platform, for applications that target at least that version of the platform. For instance, by setting your targetSdkVersion to 11 or higher, you get an overflow menu in the ActionBar (for Honeycomb and up devices) instead of the "legacy menu button of shame".

• project.properties target is a signal to your local build system regarding which version of the platform you should be compiling your code against. Generally it's best to just set this to whatever you have set for the targetSdkVersion.

What am I missing? If I'm building against 15, how is it running on android-7?

Android maintains backwards compatibility for just this reason. When you use API's that were added in version 15 of the platform, obviously they won't be there on a device running an an older device.

However, it's possible (and encouraged) to design your application in such a way as to take advantage of features added on new platforms, but "degrade gracefully" such that your application continues to run on older ones. There's an Android Training lesson on just this topic, called Supporting Different Platform Versions.