There are a number of settings which can be applied to your Android publication. These are provided via the Publish Settings on the Publication menu or alos via the Settings button on the penultimate dialog of the Publish Wizard.
There are three tabs of settings for Android publishing....
Allow Rotation
Specifies whether the publication will change orientation when the user rotates their phone screen.
If you want to force the user to view your content in a particular orientation you can set one of these options.
Set this option if your publication needs to allow the publication or the user to access the internet from withint the publication.
Opus provides a default set of icons but you may prefer to replace them with your own. Use the Browse buttons at the end of each edit box to locate the PNG graphic of the relevant size. You do not need to support all sizes but doing so will ensure the best quality on all device screens.
Note:
The PNG files can have an alpha layer for transparency so the icons do not need to be square.
All Android applications must include a key which is unique to that application and which acts a certificate for the application. In fact it is a pair of keys – one public and one private and it is created using a series of elements encrypted into a file called a keystore and secured using a password. However, this is only relevant if you wish to access your key outside Opus Pro, as Opus automatically handles the whole process for you when using it within the Opus Android Packager.
This section of the dialog allows you to specify the various elements and then generate the key Opus will use when packaging the files.
As all apps must have a certificate or key, Opus will display a Generate Key dialog over this tab when you first run the Android Packager allowing you to input the information from which Opus will then generate an initial key.
This is the name you want to use to identify your app. Keep it simple and preferably short. Do not use special characters. You cannot change your package name once it has been published to Android or it will be considered a different application.
This is the name of the author of the application and can also be used for the Company Name – especially if your domain name is different.
This is the company name in what is called Distinguished name format. It should be based on the name used in your company domain name. If you do not have a domain name you can use your email address in the format emailprovider.myemail.
This helps ensure it is unique and ensures no confusion arises between companies with similar names. It is used to create the Unique Package Name as detailed below. Do not use capital letters or special characters. If your company name contains special characters or accented characters you will need to replace these with standard alternatives or omit them altogether.
If your domain is something other than .com
If this element is wrong the app WILL NOT RUN on Android.
A password for the key itself.
The password to be used for the keystore - the file where the key is stored
The name by which you want the key to be known (requires 8 characters only)
Once you have completed all the entries for the certificate, click the Generate Key button. You will be prompted for a location for the file which will hold the key. We recommend that you store it in your publication directory and give it an appropriate name such as myApp_keystore
This will populate the Package Details dialog as described below. If you need to change any of the details simply click the Generate Key button to edit them.
Note that you do not need to generate a new key for each version change. The version simply allows Android to update the existing application. If you use a new key you will have generated a new application and Android will install it as a new app rather than over the existing one.
This is the name for your application and needs to be of a specific format. It should include your company domain name and your application name in reverse order. The .com portion is added automatically by Opus.
Thus if Digital Workshop release an app called DroidPiper the application name would be
com.digitalworkshop.droidpiper.
In the Organization Name we would type
digitalworkshop
and
droidpiper
would be the entry in the app name.
You can see why the reverse naming helps when you consider that thiscan be used to create a directory structure which then indexes all apps from the same company in the same place…
com.digitalworkshop.droidpiper becomes com/digitalworkshop/droidpiper
com.digitalworkshop.anotherapp becomes com/digitalworkshop/anotherapp
com.digitalworkshop.thirdapp becomes com/digitalworkshop/thirdapp
Further details are available if you search for Java package naming convention.
This also means that you can create subscategories by including a further element after your company name to identify a particular customer or region or author.
com.digitalworkshop.training.myapplication
Opus will generate the name from the details from the Generate Key dialog. If you don’t have a company domain then use your email address and you will need to use a name to something like:
com.yahoo.myemail.myapplication
for which you would enter
yahoo.myemail
into the Organization Name box.
If your domain name does not end with .com you may wish to include your top level domain in the editable portion of the Organization Name even though Opus then adds .com and even iof the resulting name does not match your actual domain exactly.
Thus you might enter
uk.myCompany
and the Unique Package Name would become:
com.uk.myCompany.myApplication
If you need to amend the key you will need to click the Generate Key button again.