In response to questions from people having trouble taking screenshots of their Android apps, I made my research and was able to come up with this article on how to take screenshots of your android application.
Today, I you will learn a lot as I write this short (long?) tutorial. This tutorial is detailed and very simple to understand.
Note: This tutorial assumes that you are running the Microsoft Windows operating system. If you are running a Mac (OS X) please contact us and let us know so we will create a step-by-step tutorial for you. On Linux…well you probably don’t need a step-by-step tutorial, do you?
Alright, here we go!!
Step 1: Turn on USB debugging
Before being able to take screenshots, you must enable USB Debugging on your Android device so that the Android tools can interact with it. You can do this by selecting Settings > Applications > Development on your phone or tablet and enabling the USB Debugging option.
From the home screen press the menu button to bring up the options menu, and then select settings.
Press the Menu Button and select Settings
In the Settings area scroll down a bit until you see an item labeled “Applications” in the list. Select the “Applications” item.
Select the Applications option
In the Applications settings area select the item labeled “Development”.
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Then select Development
In the Development setting simple ensure that the “USB debugging” option has been enabled.
Finally, USB debugging has been turned on.
You can also do that from the Settings icon in your device menu. Select the Settings icon >> Application >> Development >> USB Debugging.
Step 2: Install the Android SDK
In order to take screenshots you need to install Android Software Development Kit (SDK). To do this visit Android SDK download page and download the SDK installer:
Click on the link for the Android SDK installer (circled in the image above) if the name of the link has changed choose the link with the “(Recommended)” text and the .exe file extension.
When you click on the link a dialog may popup asking you what you want to do with the file. If it does, click the “Run” button:
Download and run the SDK Installer
NOTE: If you do not get a dialog like the one above, simply save the file onto your hard drive. When the download has finished, launch the executable (by double-clicking on it).
When the download has finished and the setup is launched, you may be presented with a User Account Control (UAC) dialog:
Simply click the yes button to continue on with the installation. During the install you may be prompted to install the Java SE Development Kit. If you are click on the “Visit java.oracle.com button”:
Clicking on that button will bring you to the JDK download website. Scroll down a bit and click on the JDK download link, this will bring you to another page where you can select the correct download.
First accept the license agreement by selecting the “Accept License Agreement” radio button. Then select the correct download for your computer. Either the 64-bit or 32-bit download, which you choose will depend on the type of computer that you have.
Click on the link and begin the JDK download. As before with the Android SDK simply select the Run button if you are given the chance, or save the executable to your computer and then launch it by double-clicking on it. If the UAC dialog comes up again select yes to authorize the installation.
Make sure you accept all of the default settings for the JDK install. Once the JDK has finished installing, go back to the Android SDK installer, click the back button to bring you to the Welcome setup screen, and then click the next button again. This should allow you to move passed the check for the JDK.
The third screen you will see in the Android ADK Tools Setup is the “Choose Install Location” screen:
Make a note of the destination folder. It will be something similar to:
C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk
Or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk
Or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk-windows
Continue with the installation accepting all of the default settings. Once the installation has complete click the “Next” button to navigate to the last screen in the install. Uncheck the “Start SDK Manager” checkbox and click the finish button to exit the Setup.
Step 3: Install the Platform Tools
Now open up Windows explorer and browse to the folder where you installed the Android SDK.
Next go into the tools directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\tools) and right click on the android file and select “Run as administrator”:
Note: If you are running Windows XP you should be able to simply double-click on the “Android” file to launch it.
Now check the checkbox beside the “Android SDK Platform-tools” item and the “Google USB Driver package” item. You can install more items but these are the two that you will need:
Next click the Install button and install the packages that you have selected. This will bring up the “Choose Packages to Install” dialog. You can then select “Accept All” radio button to accept all of the license agreements and then click the Install button to begin the installation:
During this process you may be asked to restart the ADB manager, select yes to do this.
Once the installation has finished press the close button to close the Android SDK Manager Log dialog and then exit the Android SDK Manager.
Step 4: Start the DDMS Tool
Now from within the tools directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\tools) double-click on the ddms file to launch the Dalvik Debug Monitor (DDMS) tool:
Once the DDMS tool launches you should see something similar to the following:
Step 5: Connect your Android Device
The next step is to connect your Android device to your PC using the USB cable that came with your device. Make sure that you have turned your device on before connecting it to your computer. If all goes well you should see your device appear in the device section of the DDMS tool.
NOTE: If it does not appear, you will need to install the correct drivers for your Android device. The list of drivers can be found on the Android OEM USB Drivers page.
If you do need a driver, shut down the DDMS tool, and disconnect your Android device from the computer. Then download the appropriate driver for your Android device. Once the driver installation has completed restart the DDMS tool and reconnect your device to the computer.
Some device manufacturers make it difficult to find the correct driver for different devices. If you run into trouble finding the driver please contact your device manufacturer directly.
Once everything is installed and connected you should see your device in the DDMS:
Step 6: Take the screenshot
Now select your device in the Device pane and then from the DDMS main menu select Device | Screen Capture:
This will launch the “Device Screen Capture” window and you will now be able to capture as many screenshots are you want:
Step 7: Smile Like a Pro :)
That’s it. Now you have your screenshots, and you will be able to create proper listings for your apps in the Android Market. So take your screenshots, smile like a pro, then take a break…you’ve learned and earned it!
Best scree shot posts ever!
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