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 API Level required
  for the application to run. The Android system will prevent the user from installing
  the application if the system's API Level is lower than the value specified in
  this attribute. You should always declare this attribute.
  
  <p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong>
  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> compatible with all versions (for instance, it uses APIs
  introduced in API Level 3) and you have not declared the proper <code>minSdkVersion</code>,
  then when installed on a system with an API Level less than 3, the application will crash
  during runtime when attempting to access the unavailable APIs. 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 API Level on which the application is 
  designed to run. The Android system will prevent the user from installing the 
  application if the system's API Level is higher than the value specified
  in this attribute. 
  
  <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>