docs/html/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.jd

page.title=<uses-sdk>
@jd:body

<dl class="xml">
<dt>syntax:</dt>
<dd><pre>
&lt;uses-sdk android:<a href="#min">minSdkVersion</a>="<i>integer</i>" 
          android:<a href="#max">maxSdkVersion</a>="<i>integer</i>"
          android:<a href="#target">targetSdkVersion</a>="<i>integer</i>" /&gt;</pre></dd>

<dt>contained in:</dt>
<dd><code><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html">&lt;manifest&gt;</a></code></dd>

<dt>description:</dt>
<dd>Lets you express an application's compatibility with one or more versions of the Android platform,
by means of an API Level integer. The API Level expressed by an application will be compared to the
API Level of a given Android system, which may vary among different Android devices.
</p>

<p>
Despite its name, this element is used to specify the API Level, <em>not</em> the 
version number of the SDK (software development kit).  The API Level is always 
a single integer; the SDK version may be split into major and minor components 
(such as 1.5).  You cannot derive the API Level from the SDK version number 
(for example, it is not the same as the major version or the sum of the major 
and minor versions).</p>

<p>For more information, read about 
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/appendix/api-levels.html">Android API Levels</a> and
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/versioning.html">Versioning Your Applications</a>.
</p></dd> 


<dt>attributes:</dt>

<dd>
<dl class="attr">
  <dt><a name="min"></a>{@code android:minSdkVersion}</dt>
  <dd>An integer designating the minimum level of the Android API that's required 
  for the application to run.
  
  <p>Prior to installing an application, the Android system checks the value of this
  attribute and allows the installation only if it
  is less than or equal to the API Level used by the system itself.</p>
  
  <p>If you do not declare this attribute, then a value of "1" is assumed, which
  indicates that your application is compatible with all versions of Android. If your
  application is <em>not</em> universally compatible (for instance if it uses APIs
  introduced in Android 1.5) and you have not declared the proper <code>minSdkVersion</code>, 
  then when installed on a system with a lower API Level, the application 
  will crash during runtime. For this reason, be certain to declare the appropriate API Level
  in the <code>minSdkVersion</code> attribute.</p>
  </dd>
  
  <dt><a name="max"></a>{@code android:maxSdkVersion}</dt>
  <dd>An integer designating the maximum level of the Android API that the application is 
  compatible with. You can use this to ensure your application is filtered out
  of later versions of the platform when you know you have incompatibility with them.</p>
  
  <p>Prior to installing an application, the Android system checks the value of this
  attribute and allows the installation only it
  is greater than or equal to the API Level used by the system itself.</p>
  
  <p>Introduced in: API Level 4</p>
  </dd>
  
  <dt><a name="target"></a>{@code android:targetSdkVersion}</dt>
  <dd>An integer designating the API Level that the application is targetting.
  
  <p>With this attribute set, the application says that it is able to run on 
  older versions (down to {@code minSdkVersion}), but was explicitly tested to work 
  with the version specified here.
  Specifying this target version allows the platform to disable compatibility
  settings that are not required for the target version (which may otherwise be turned on
  in order to maintain forward-compatibility) or enable newer features that are not
  available to older applications. This does not mean that you can program different 
  features for different versions of the platform&mdash;it simply informs the platform that you
  have tested against the target version and the platform should not perform any extra
  work to maintain forward-compatibility with the target version.</p>
  
  <p>Introduced in: API Level 4</p>
  </dd>

</dl></dd>

<!-- ##api level indication## -->
<dt>introduced in:</dt>
<dd>API Level 1</dd>

</dl>