tools/support-library/features.jd

page.title=Support Library Features

@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
  <div id="qv">

    <h2>In this document</h2>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#v4">v4 Support Library</a></li>
      <li><a href="#v7">v7 Libraries</a>
        <ol>
          <li><a href="#v7-appcompat">v7 appcompat library</a></li>
          <li><a href="#v7-gridlayout">v7 gridlayout library</a></li>
          <li><a href="#v7-mediarouter">v7 mediarouter library</a></li>
        </ol>
      </li>
      <li><a href="#v8">v8 Support Library</a></li>
      <li><a href="#v13">v13 Support Library</a></li>
    </ol>

    <h2>See also</h2>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/index.html#revisions">
        Support Library Revisions</a></li>
      <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html">
        Support Library Setup</a></li>
    </ol>

  </div>
</div>

<p>The Android Support Library package contains several libraries that can be included
  in your application. Each of these libraries supports a specific range of Android platform
  versions and set of features.</p>

<p>This guide explains the important features and version support provided by the Support
  Libraries to help you decide which of them you should include in your application. In general,
  we recommend including the <a href="#v4">v4 support</a> and <a href="#v7-appcompat">v7
  appcompat</a> libraries, because they support a wide range of
  Android versions and provide APIs for recommended user interface patterns.</p>

<p>In order to use any of the following libraries, you must download the library files to your
  Android SDK installation. Follow the directions for downloading the Support Libraries in
  <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#download">Support Library Setup</a> to
  complete this step. You must take additional steps to include a specific Support Library in
  your application. See the end of each library section below for important information on how to
  include the library in your application.</p>


<h2 id="v4">v4 Support Library</h2>

<p>This library is designed to be used with Android 1.6 (API level 4) and higher. It includes the
  largest set of APIs compared to the other libraries, including support for application components,
  user interface features, accessibility, data handling, network connectivity, and programming
  utilities. Here are a few of the key classes included in the v4 library:</p>

<ul>
  <li>App Components
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.app.Fragment}
        - Adds support encapsulation of user interface and functionality with Fragments, enabling
        applications provide layouts that adjust between small and large-screen devices.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat} - Adds support for rich notification
        features.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.content.LocalBroadcastManager} - Allows applications to easily
        register for and receive intents within a single application without broadcasting them
        globally.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>User Interface
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager} - Adds a
      {@link android.view.ViewGroup} that manages the layout for the
      child views, which the user can swipe between.</li>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip}
        - Adds a non-interactive title strip, that can be added as a child of
        {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}.</li>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.PagerTabStrip} - Adds a
        navigation widget for switching between paged views, that can also be used with
        {@link android.support.v4.view.ViewPager}.</li>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout} - Adds
      support for creating a <a href="{@docRoot}training/implementing-navigation/nav-drawer.html"
      >Navigation Drawer</a> that can be pulled in from the edge of a window.</li>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.widget.SlidingPaneLayout}
        - Adds widget for creating linked summary and detail views that
        appropriately adapt to various screen sizes.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Accessibility
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.widget.ExploreByTouchHelper}
        - Adds a helper class for implementing accessibility support for custom views.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEventCompat} - Adds support for
      {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent}. For more information about implementing
      accessibility, see <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/ui/accessibility/index.html"
      >Accessibility</a>.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat} - Adds support
      for {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfo}.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat} - Adds
      support for {@link android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeProvider}.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat} - Adds support for
      {@link android.view.View.AccessibilityDelegate}.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Content
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.content.Loader} - Adds support for asynchronous loading of data.
        The library also provides concrete implementations of this class, including
        {@link android.support.v4.content.CursorLoader} and
        {@link android.support.v4.content.AsyncTaskLoader}.</li>
    </ul>
    <ul>
      <li>{@link android.support.v4.content.FileProvider} - Adds support for sharing of private
        files between applications.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
  There are many other APIs included in this library. For complete, detailed information about the
  v4 Support Library APIs, see the {@link android.support.v4.app android.support.v4} package in the
  API reference.
</p>

<p>This library is located in the {@code &lt;sdk&gt;/extras/android/support/v4/} directory after
  you download the Android Support Libraries. This library does not contain user interface
  resources. To include it in your application project, follow the instructions for
  <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#libs-without-res">adding libraries without
  resources</a>.</p>

<p>The Gradle build script dependency identifier for this library is as follows:</p>

<pre>
com.android.support:support-v4:18.0.+
</pre>

<p>This dependency notation specifies the release version 18.0.0 or higher.</p>


<h2 id="v7">v7 Libraries</h2>

<p>There are several libraries designed to be used with Android 2.1 (API level 7) and higher.
  These libraries provide specific feature sets and can be included in your application
  independently from each other.</p>


<h3 id="v7-appcompat">v7 appcompat library</h3>

<p>This library adds support for the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html">Action
  Bar</a> user interface <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/actionbar.html">design pattern</a>.
</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong>
  This library depends on the v4 Support Library. If you are using Ant or Eclipse, make sure
  you include the v4 Support Library as part of this library's classpath.
</p>

<p>Here are a few of the key classes included in the v7 appcompat library:</p>

<ul>
  <li>{@link android.support.v7.app.ActionBar} - Provides an implementation of the action bar
      <a href="{@docRoot}design/patterns/actionbar.html">user interface pattern</a>. For more
      information on using the Action Bar, see the
      <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html">Action Bar</a> developer guide.
  </li>
  <li>{@link android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity} - Adds an application activity class that
      must be used as a base class for activities that uses the Support Library action bar
      implementation.
  </li>
  <li>{@link android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider} - Adds support for a standardized
    sharing action (such as email or posting to social applications) that can be included in an
    action bar.
  </li>
</ul>

<p>This library is located in the {@code &lt;sdk&gt;/extras/android/support/v7/appcompat/}
  directory after you download the Android Support Libraries. This library contains user
  interface resources. To include it in your application project, follow the instructions for
  <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#libs-with-res">adding libraries with
  resources</a>.</p>

<p>The Gradle build script dependency identifier for this library is as follows:</p>

<pre>
com.android.support:appcompat-v7:18.0.+
</pre>

<p>This dependency notation specifies the release version 18.0.0 or higher.</p>

<h3 id="v7-gridlayout">v7 gridlayout library</h3>

<p>This library adds support for the {@link android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout} class, which
  allows you to arrange user interface elements using a grid of rectangular cells.
  For detailed information about the v7 gridlayout library APIs, see the
  {@link android.support.v7.widget android.support.v7.widget} package in the API reference.</p>

<p>This library is located in the {@code &lt;sdk&gt;/extras/android/support/v7/gridlayout/}
  directory after you download the Android Support Libraries. This library contains user
  interface resources. To include it in your application project, follow the instructions for
  <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#libs-with-res">adding libraries with
  resources</a>.</p>

<p>The Gradle build script dependency identifier for this library is as follows:</p>

<pre>
com.android.support:gridlayout-v7:18.0.+
</pre>

<p>This dependency notation specifies the release version 18.0.0 or higher.</p>

<h3 id="v7-mediarouter">v7 mediarouter library</h3>

<p>This library provides {@link android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter}, {@link
android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider}, and related media classes that
support the <a href="https://developers.google.com/cast/">Google Cast
developer preview</a>. </p>

<p>In general, the APIs in the v7 mediarouter library provide a means of
controlling the routing of media channels and streams from the current device to
external screens, speakers, and other destination devices. The library includes
APIs for publishing app-specific media route providers, for discovering and
selecting destination devices, for checking media status, and more. For detailed
information about the v7 mediarouter library APIs, see the
{@link android.support.v7.media android.support.v7.media} package in the API
reference.</p>

<p>The v7 mediarouter library is located in the
<code>&lt;sdk&gt;/extras/android/support/v7/mediarouter/</code> directory after
you download the Android Support Library. It's provided as a library project
with a dependency on the v7 appcompat library, so you'll need to include both
libraries in your build path when setting up your project. For more information
on how to set up your project, follow the instructions in <a
href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#libs-with-res">adding libraries
with resources</a>. If you are developing in Eclipse/ADT, make sure to include
both the <code>android-support-v7-mediarouter.jar</code> and
<code>android-support-v7-appcompat.jar</code> files.</p>

<p>If you are using Android Studio, all you need to do is specify the Gradle build
script dependency identifier <code>com.android.support:support-v7-mediarouter:&lt;revision&gt;</code>,
where "18.0.0" is the minimum revision at which the library is available. For example:</p>

<pre>
com.android.support:mediarouter-v7:18.0.+
</pre>

<p class="caution">The v7 mediarouter library APIs introduced in Support Library
r18 are subject to change in later revisions of the Support Library. At this
time, we recommend using the library only in connection with the <a
href="https://developers.google.com/cast/">Google Cast
developer preview</a>. </p>


<h2 id="v8">v8 Support Library</h2>

<p>This library is designed to be used with Android (API level 8) and higher. It adds support for
  the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/renderscript/compute.html">RenderScript</a> computation
  framework. These APIs are included in the {@link android.support.v8.renderscript} package. You
  should be aware that the steps for including these APIs in your application is <em>very
  different</em> from other support library APIs. For more information about using these APIs
  in your application, see the
  <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/renderscript/compute.html#access-rs-apis">RenderScript</a>
  developer guide.</p>

<p class="note">
  <strong>Note:</strong> Use of RenderScript with the support library is supported with the Android
  Eclipse plugin and Ant build tools. It is <em>not currently</em> supported with Android Studio or
  Gradle-based builds.
</p>


<h2 id="v13">v13 Support Library</h2>

<p>This library is designed to be used for Android 3.2 (API level 13) and higher. It adds support
  for the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/components/fragments.html">Fragment</a> user interface pattern
  with the ({@link android.support.v13.app.FragmentCompat}) class and additional fragment support
  classes For more information about fragments, see the
  <a href="{@docRoot}guide/components/fragments.html">Fragments</a> developer guide. For detailed
  information about the v13 Support Library APIs, see the {@link android.support.v13.app
  android.support.v13} package in the API reference.
</p>

<p>This library is located in the {@code &lt;sdk&gt;/extras/android/support/v13/} directory after
  you download the Android Support Libraries. This library does not contain user interface
  resources. To include it in your application project, follow the instructions for
  <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#libs-without-res">adding libraries without
  resources</a>.</p>

<p>The Gradle build script dependency identifier for this library is as follows:</p>

<pre>
com.android.support:support-v13:18.0.+
</pre>

<p>This dependency notation specifies the release version 18.0.0 or higher.</p>