Visual studio emulator for android for windows 7

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A small Visual Studio Code extention to run Android and iOS Simulators in a click.
Link to marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DiemasMichiels.emulate

Running iOS simulators only works on Mac with Xcode!

Features

Select and run your emulator from Visual Studio Code.

Open all commands with Cmd-Shift-P and type Emulator or click the Emulator icon in the top right.

Requirements

Android Studio

To run Android emulators you need to have Android studio and already created the Android Virtual Devices.

Add the Android Studio emulator script to your settings in Visual Studio Code:
You can either set the default path or specify a specific path for each operating system. The default path will always be the fallback.
    Default: "emulator.emulatorPath": "~/Library/Android/sdk/emulator"
    Mac: "emulator.emulatorPathMac": "~/Library/Android/sdk/emulator"
    Linux: "emulator.emulatorPathLinux": "~/Android/Sdk/emulator"
    Windows: "emulator.emulatorPathWindows":
      "<yourAndroidHome>\Sdk\emulator"
      or
      "C:\Users\<yourUsername>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator"

Your visual studio code settings are found here:
    File -> Preferences -> Setting -> User Setting -> Extensions -> Emulator Configuration

You now have the option to start Android emulators in cold boot modus. Activate it in your settings in Visual Studio Code:
    Android Cold Boot: true

Xcode

To run iOS emulators Xcode is required.

If your Xcode or simulator is not installed in the default location it is possible to set the correct path of the Simulator.app file:
"emulator.simulatorPath": "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Applications/Simulator.app"

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2019 Diemas Michiels

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the «Software»), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED «AS IS», WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

VSCode is an Advanced source code editor which can be used with a variety of programming languages, including Java, JavaScript, Go, Node.js, Python, and C++. VSCode was developed by Microsoft for Windows to develop GUI, Mobile Applications and also Web Applications, and many more.  

To download and set up with VSCode you can follow the VSCode Setup tutorial. An emulator is software or hardware that enables one device to behave like another device. It can be simply defined as the ability of a computer program in an electronic device to emulate (imitate) another program or device.

When we create Mobile Applications using VSCode we need to deploy it somewhere to examine the GUI and working of our application and modify accordingly. But it takes a lot of time to make it into APK and open it in the mobile phone again and again when we need to see our output and modify it. The Android Emulator simulates Android devices on your computer so that you can test your application on a variety of devices and Android API levels without needing to have each physical device.

Here in this article, we are going to see the different ways to Set Up an Emulator for VSCode.

Method  1: Using Genny motion Emulator

Step by step implementation

Step 1: Download Genny motion Emulator along with Virtual box. https://www.genymotion.com/download/

Step 2: Open Genny motion Emulator.

Then install the Virtual box from this link, and after installation, you can follow the Genny motion tutorial for the remaining setup of genny motion and the details of how to install the virtual devices and all.

Step 3: Once you install the virtual device Start the Virtual device from Virtual box or Genny Motionx. When you open Genny motion your installed devices would be shown like in the below image and to install new devices you need to click on the plus (“+”) symbol at the top right.

When you click on some device. The device will run and you can see a virtual mobile on your screen.

Step 4: That’s it you are sorted out and when you run the code in VSCode it would run directly in the virtual device and you can feel the UI as it is in the mobile phone and examine the UI, make necessary changes in the code if any, and hot reload the device again by clicking CTRL+R to view the updated changes.

Method  2: Using Android iOS Emulator extension in VSCode

Step by step implementation

Step 1: Go to the Extensions button on VSCode and search for Android and iOS Emulator and install it.

Step 2: Click on the Settings icon>click on the Extension settings button then you see page as below image

Note: Change the Emulator path windows address based on the location of the emulator file on your PC but make the Emulator path as default it would be given as default by the VSCode.

Step 3: Now you are sorted out and you will get the mobile icon on the top right as you click that icon you will get the list of available virtual devices.

If you click on the device, you want that would open as a virtual mobile device and when you run the code it runs directly into the virtual device and you can feel the UI as it is in the mobile phone and examine the UI, make necessary changes in the code and hot reload the device again by clicking CTRL+R to view the updated changes.

Method 3: Using AVD (Android Virtual Device) manager

Step by step implementation

Step 1: We need to have Android Studio in our System to manage Virtual devices using AVD Manager and for installing AVD Manager in Android Studio you can follow this tutorial.

Step 2: As you install a new virtual device in the AVD Manager that would be reflected in the VSCode.

Step 3: If you click on the No Device you will get a list of devices that you have created an AVD Manager and also browsers

Step 4: If you click on the device, you want that would open as a virtual mobile device and when you run the code it runs directly into the virtual device and you can feel the UI as it is in the mobile phone and examine the UI, make necessary changes in the code and hot reload the device again by clicking CTRL+R to view the updated changes.

At the end of 2014 year, Microsoft has announced a fast and free Hyper-V compatible Android emulator usable to make Android developments in Visual Studio IDE. However, Android Studio and still Eclipse ADT are the primary options used by developers to make Android applications.

Since Visual Studio Emulator for Android is very appreciated by developers thanks to its great performances and to answer to Android developers asks to get the emulator available for their current IDE, Microsoft has decided to make it available for all during summer 2015.

Download and Install the Emulator

To start, you must download the emulator by clicking on the following direct link :

http://aka.ms/blogdownloadvsemu

Once you’ve installed the emulator, you need to activate a free license on your first launch by signing to with your Microsoft Account. To start the emulator, go on the emulator manager windows, and then click on the green “play” button.

Work in Android Studio with the Emulator

By default, Emulator connects to ADB (Android Debug Bridge) as if it were a USB-connected device, but to get a smoother experience during your developments using Android Studio you can follow the following steps. Main goal here is to configure Android Studio to avoid use the slow standard Android SDK emulator and target the Visual Studio Emulator for Android.

1/ In Android Studio, go to Run menu and click Edit Configurations…

2/ Under Defaults / Android Application, set Target Device to Show chooser dialog

3/ Check Use same device for future launches

This will prompt you to select and ADB-connected device when you debug your application the first time, and then remember that device for next debugging sessions.

Other approach can be to create a toolbar item for quick-launching the emulator manager in Android Studio or starting particular device profile. To achieve that, follow these steps :

1/ Go to File > Settings > External Tools

2/ Click Add

3/ In the Create Tool dialog, enter a name and description for the task, then fill in the Program & Parameters with the following values (depending on the task) :

To get the id of a profile by running emulatorcmd.exe /sku:Android list /type:device

4/ Click OK to finish editing the external tool, and OK again once you’ve added all of your tasks to close the Settings dialog.

5/ Right-click on the Android Studio toolbar and click Customize Menus and Toolbars…

6/ Under Main Toolbar, identify where you want the new toolbar icon to appear, and click Add After…

7/ Pick the external tool you created under External Tools and click OK

8/ Click OK again to close the Menus and Toolbars dialog

That’s all ! Now, you can use a fast Android Emulator for your developments. Thanks Microsoft !

I do most of my native app work in MacOS, but when I am working in Windows and need to fire up Android Studio, I’ve always had an issue running the bundled emulator.  The emulator complained about Hyper-V and turning it off per the instructions did not resolve the issue.  After searching for and trying multiple solutions that did not work, I had really just given up using Android Studio on Windows.  Later,  through my work with Xamarin and Visual Studio, I was introduced to the Visual Studio Emulator for Android, a full featured Android emulator for Windows that worked with Hyper-V out of the box!!

Getting started was easy, just download the emulator from Microsoft’s Visual Studio.com site

After installation, open the app and download any of the emulator profiles you are interested in testing:

Start the emulator you want and then fire up your Android Studio project.  Once in Android Studio, configure it to use your new emulator by navigating to:

     Run >  Edit Configurations >  Defaults > Android App

On the General tab, under Deployment Target Options change the Target option to «Open Select Deployment Target Dialog» and check the «Use same device for future launches» option, so that we can be prompted to select an emulator when we run a project in Android Studio:

Go ahead and run your app.  You’ll be prompted with the Select Deployment Target window:

HEY!  Where’s our new emulator?!?!  It should appear under Connected Devices, but it does not.  If it appears for you then you can stop reading and get back to work!  For the rest of us, there is one more hurdle we need to get over before we are done.

The issue really boils down to where the new emulator is looking for the Android SDK.  In most default installations of Android Studio bundled with the SDK, the SDK is stored under:

     C:Users[USER]AppDataLocalAndroidSdk

When the emulator is installed, it assumes by default that the SDK path is:

     C:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdk

This mismatch is what is causing the new emulator to not show up in Android Studio.  You can double check the SDK location you are using from Android Studio by navigating to:

     File > Project Structure > SDK Location

Make note or copy this path as we are going to update the emulator to point to this location.  The emulator stores the path in the registry so we will have to make the change there. Right click on the Windows logo on your task bar, select Run and then type «regedit» in the window to launch the registry editor.

Navigate to:

     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > WOW6432Node > Android SDK Tools

Then change the Path value to the same SDK location mapped in Android Studio.  Close regedit, restart the emulator and then try to run the app again in Android Studio.  

Voilà!! Your emulator should now appear under the Connected Devices area: