IntelliJ IDEA 12.1.0 Web Help

Some features described here are available in Ultimate edition only.

To deploy and run an Android application on a physical device, you need to sign the application digitally. With IntelliJ IDEA, you can have your Android Application Package (.apk file) signed with an existing release key during the package extraction. IntelliJ IDEA also incorporates a release key generation tool that can be invoked during packaging. Generated keys are saved in a keystore binary file.

You can have as many keystore files and keys as you need and use either previously created keys, or create new ones in existing keystores, or even create new keystores.

Besides using the Generate Signed APK Wizard, you can configure the .apk file as an artifact by creating an Android application artifact definition. When IntelliJ IDEA builds the package in accordance with this definition, the package is signed automatically.

To extract and sign an Android application package using an artifact definition
  1. Open the Project Structure settings.
  2. Click Artifacts to open the Artifacts page.
  3. Click the New button add.png and choose the artifact type Android Application in the New drop-down list. Then specify the original contents of the artifact definition using the context menu:
    • To have an empty layout definition created. choose Empty.
    • To have the data of a module included in the artifact by default, choose From module <module name>.

    The basic settings of the new artifact are displayed in the Artifact Layout pane that opens.

  4. Specify the general settings of the artifact. In the Output directory text box, specify the location of the package .apk file to be created.
  5. Complete the artifact definition by following these general steps:
  6. In the Android tab, choose Release signed.
  7. Specify the release key to use and the keystore file that contains it. Do one of the following:
    • To have the package signed with a key from a previously generated keystore file:
      1. Specify the file location in the Keystore path text box. Type the path manually or click the Choose existing button and choose the file in the dialog that opens. In the Password text box, type your password to access the selected keystore.
      2. Specify the key alias and the password to access the key.
    • To have a new keystore file with a new key generated:
      1. Click the Create new button. In the New Key Store dialog box that opens, specify the location of the file to be generated in the Key store path text box. Type the path manually or click the Browse button browseButton.png, then select the parent folder and specify the name of the file.
      2. Specify and confirm the password to access the keystore.
      3. Configure the release key to be generated by filling in the data in the Key area.
      4. Click OK when ready. IntelliJ IDEA brings you back to the Android tab, where the keystore location, the key alias and passwords to access them are filled in in the corresponding fields.
  8. To have IntelliJ IDEA obfuscate the application during packaging, select the Run ProGuard check box and specify the location of the proguard.txt configuration file. The file is generated during project creation and is stored in the project root. IntelliJ IDEA suggests this default location in the Config file path text box. Accept the suggestion or specify a custom configuration file by clicking the Browse button browseButton.png and selecting the required file in the dialog that opens.

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