In this blog post, we will walk through several error messages that you might encounter when installing dependencies for the Android platform of the Ionic framework on Mac OS X. Follow this official guide to install Cordova and Ionic, and then create a project up until the step where you configure the platform.

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Continuous Improvement - your source for tips, tricks, and solutions to help you overcome hurdles in your development journey. I’m your host, Victor, and in today’s episode, we will be discussing some common error messages that you might come across while installing dependencies for the Android platform of the Ionic framework on Mac OS X.

But before we dive into that, I want to remind you to check out our official guide at ionicframework.com/docs/guide/installation.html. It provides a step-by-step walkthrough for installing Cordova and Ionic, as well as creating a project up until the point where you configure the platform.

Alright, let’s get started!

So, you’ve followed the official guide and reached the point where you need to enable the Android platform by running the command:

ionic platform add android

But hold on, you might encounter an error message that says:

Error: ANDROID_HOME is not set and "android" command not in your PATH.

What does this mean? Well, it simply means that the Android command is not recognized by your system because the necessary environment variables are not properly set. But fret not, I’m here to guide you through the process of resolving this.

Step 1 is to download the Android SDK. You can find the link to the Android developer website in our blog post at [link]. Once you’re there, go ahead and download the stand-alone SDK Tools.

Step 2 involves unzipping the downloaded file. Make sure to choose a suitable location for the SDK. For me, I extracted it to my workspace directory at:

/Users/Victor/Workspace/android-sdk-macosx

But you can choose a different location if you prefer.

Now that we have the Android SDK set up, it’s time for Step 3: setting the Android command in your PATH. This step is crucial for your system to recognize the Android command as a valid command. So, open your terminal and follow along.

First, let’s make sure your .bash_profile ends with a newline:

echo >> /Users/Victor/.bash_profile

Next, we need to set the ANDROID_HOME environment variable in your .bash_profile file. This can be accomplished with the following command:

echo "export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/Victor/Workspace/android-sdk-macosx" >> /Users/Victor/.bash_profile

Remember to replace “Victor” with your own username.

In addition to the ANDROID_HOME variable, we also need to update the PATH variable. This ensures that your system knows where to find the Android tools and platform tools. Execute the following command:

echo "export PATH=${PATH}:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools" >> /Users/Victor/.bash_profile

Great, we’re almost there! Now, in order to apply the changes we made to the .bash_profile file, we need to reload the terminal. You can do this by executing the command:

. /Users/Victor/.bash_profile

Phew, we’ve made it through Step 3! Now we’re ready for Step 4, which involves installing Android-19. If you try running the command:

ionic platform add android

You might come across the following error message:

Error: Please install Android target "android-19".

To resolve this, we need to open the SDK manager by running the android command from your terminal:

android

Once the SDK manager is open, check the box for Android 4.4.2 (API 19) and click on “Install 8 packages…”. Then, simply accept the license and patiently wait for the download process to complete.

Now, it’s time to give it another shot! Run the command again:

ionic platform add android

And voila! Hopefully, you will see the reassuring message:

Project successfully created.

And there you have it, folks! You’ve successfully resolved the error messages that can occur while installing dependencies for the Android platform of the Ionic framework on Mac OS X. If you experience any issues throughout the process, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email at victorleungtw@gmail.com.

That wraps up another episode of Continuous Improvement. I hope you found this information helpful and that it saves you time and frustration in your development journey. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast for more valuable tips and solutions. Until next time, happy coding!