Can't access emulator DPAD using R21 AVD Manager

[Duane Sand]

Some older sample apps like Snake and Jetboy rely on DPAD 'up' buttons instead of textual keyboard.
In R21 preview 2 AVD Manager, the choices of skins and options is limited to a preset list of actual devices' buttons; for all available choices, the AVD now has an explicit hw.dPad:no entry.
The AVD Manager no longer has a means for editing artibtrary individual properties of the AVD.
Snake and Jetboy are unrunnable on R21 because the up button is now unavailable by PC keyboard or window button.

In R20 and earlier releases, the AVDs created by AVD Manager omitted the hw.dPad entry and it defaulted to on.
And the AVD Manager provided a way to edit arbitrary properties.

[Michael Wright]

Hi Duane,

The new AVD Manager now creates AVDs based on devices, so you'll have to use a device with a DPad as the base for the new AVD. The easiest way to is to just create a modified copy of an existing device by doing the following:

1. Open up the AVD Manager
2. Click on the Device menu in the toolbar
3. Select Samsung -> Galaxy Nexus
4. I recommend changing the name to something that fits the device, and then enable DPad, Keyboard, etc, whatever else you want on the device. Make sure to click the Navigation checkboxes under Device States for the states where you want the DPad exposed.
5. Click "Clone Device"

Now create a new AVD (or edit the old one) and change the device it's based on to the one you just created (it's under the manufacturer "User").

Hope this helps,

Michael

[Duane Sand]

Thanks!
So you've separated the hardware/device specs from the software skinning etc.  I hadn't noticed that before.

I've confirmed that I can run the old dpad-dependent samples this way.