The manifest file
Before
the Android system can start an app component, the system must know that the
component exists by reading the app's manifest file AndroidManifest.xml
Your app must declare all its components in this file, which must be at
the root of the app project directory.
The
manifest does a number of things in addition to declaring the app's components,
such as the following:
- Identifies
any user permissions the app requires, such as Internet access or
read-access to the user's contacts.
- Declares
the minimum API Level required by the app,
based on which APIs the app uses.
- Declares
hardware and software features used or required by the app, such as a
camera, bluetooth services, or a multitouch screen.
- Declares
API libraries the app needs to be linked against (other than the Android
framework APIs), such as the Google Maps library.