Question

I have an Android application with this lines in the manifest:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" 
    android:targetSdkVersion="13"/>

The actual target for this project is set to api level 13.
My question is what happens when I launch this application on a real device with api level, let’s say – 8 and I’ve used function or attributes that the api level 8 doesn’t know?

Let’s say I use: android:hardwareAccelerated =”true” which was introduced in api level 11 if I’m not mistaken. What happenes? The Android system just ignore it? And what happens if I will use a function in my code that only exists on api level 13?

And more importantly:
How can I use the android:hardwareAccelerated =”true” attribute in supported version and not in the not supported versions?

Can I say, as a rule of thumb, that whenever I develop for Android, I need to set the actual project target to be the same as the android:minSdkVersion?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Answered in another question: The compiler simply ignore the older version’s xml tags