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The Honeycomb version of Android, aka version 3.0, has a Fragment interface designed to ease compatibility. Now that interface is available for programmers to add to their software for running on Android as old as version 1.6.(Credit:Google)
Google has made good on a promise to release technology it hopes will curtail Android's fragmentation problem, a complication for programmers who want their software to run on a diversity of devices.
Yesterday, the company released a "Fragment" library for older versions of Android. The library is built into the Honeycomb version of Android, offering new tools to sidestep issues like different screen sizes more easily for those using the brand-new Android 3.0. That version of the OS appears on Motorola's new Android-based Xoomtablet and will arrive on other tablets later.
Now, though, the Fragment interface will be useful for older Android devices which currently dominate the market. The library can be built into applications so that programmers can use the Fragment application programming interface (API) even if it's not in the operating system directly.
"Today we've released a static library that exposes the same Fragments API (as well as the new LoaderManager and a few other classes) so that applications compatible with Android 1.6 or later can use fragments to create tablet-compatible user interfaces," said Xavier Ducrohet, technical leader for the Android software developer kit, in a blog post yesterday.
Google announced the Fragment API in February.
"For developers starting work on tablet-oriented applications designed for Android 3.0, the new Fragment API is useful for many design situations that arise from the larger screen. Reasonable use of fragments should also make it easier to adjust the resulting application's UI to new devices in the future as needed--for phones, TVs, or wherever Android appears," said Dianne Hackborn, aGoogle Android programmer, in a blog post about the interface.
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