Mobile applications have seen a huge increase in popularity in the last few years, and this interest is still growing among users. Mobile operating systems are available not only for smartphones but also for tablets, thus increasing the possible market quota for these applications.
Android has characteristics that make it pleasant to developers, such as its open source nature and a certain level of community-driven development. Android has always been contesting with iOS (the Apple mobile system) in everything, and with Xcode, iOS presented itself as a more centralized development environment. The new IDE, Android Studio, makes this centralization finally available for Android developers, and makes this tool indispensable for a good Android developer.
This book shows users how to develop and build Android applications with this new IDE. It is not only a "getting started" book but also a guide to advanced developers to build their applications faster and more productively. This book will follow a tutorial-like approach, from the basic features to the steps to build for release, including practical examples.
Chapter 1, Installing and Configuring Android Studio, describes the installation and basic configuration of Android Studio.
Chapter 2, Starting a Project, shows how to create a new project and the type of activities we can select.
Chapter 3, Navigating a Project, explores the basic structure of a project in Android Studio.
Chapter 4, Using the Code Editor, exposes the basic features of the code editor in order to get the best out of it.
Chapter 5, Creating User Interfaces, focuses on the creation of the user interfaces using both the graphical view and the text-based view.
Chapter 6, Tools, introduces the currently existing Google Play services and shows how to integrate them with a project in Android Studio.
Chapter 7, Google Play Services, exposes some additional tools such as Android SDK tools, Javadoc, and version control integration.
Chapter 8, Debugging, shows in detail how to debug an application in Android Studio and the provided information when debugging.
Chapter 9, Preparing for Release, describes how to prepare your application for its release.
Appendix, Getting Help, teaches you how to get help using Android Studio and provides a list of online sites to learn more about the topics seen in this book.
For this book, you need a Windows, Mac, or Linux system. You will also need to have Java installed in your system.
This book is not only a "getting started" book but also a guide for advanced developers who have not used Android Studio to build their Android apps before. This book is great for developers who want to learn the key features of Android Studio and for developers who want to create their first app.
It's assumed that you are familiar with the object-oriented programming paradigm and the Java programming language. It is also required to understand the main characteristics of the Android mobile system.
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "The default installation directory is /Applications/Android\ Studio.app."
A block of code is set as follows:
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
if (savedInstanceState != null) {
System.out.println("savedInstanceState = " + savedInstanceState);
}
}New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: " Select Blank Activity and click on Next."
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