Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners

By : John Horton, Paresh Mayani
Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners

By: John Horton, Paresh Mayani

Overview of this book

Android is the most popular OS in the world. There are millions of devices accessing tens of thousands of applications. It is many people's entry point into the world of technology; it is an operating system for everyone. Despite this, the entry-fee to actually make Android applications is usually a computer science degree, or five years’ worth of Java experience. Android Programming for Beginners will be your companion to create Android applications from scratch—whether you’re looking to start your programming career, make an application for work, be reintroduced to mobile development, or are just looking to program for fun. We will introduce you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the Java basics to working with the Android API. All examples are created from within Android Studio, the official Android development environment that helps supercharge your application development process. After this crash-course, we’ll dive deeper into Android programming and you’ll learn how to create applications with a professional-standard UI through fragments, make location-aware apps with Google Maps integration, and store your user’s data with SQLite. In addition, you’ll see how to make your apps multilingual, capture images from a device’s camera, and work with graphics, sound, and animations too. By the end of this book, you’ll be ready to start building your own custom applications in Android and Java.

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Table of Contents (37 chapters)
Android Programming for Beginners
Android Programming for Beginners
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
The First App
The First App
How Java and Android work together
The development environment
What makes an Android app
Our first Android app
FAQ
Summary
2
Java – First Contact
Java – First Contact
Examining the log output
Improving our app and deploying again
Meet Java
FAQ
Summary
3
Exploring Android Studio
Exploring Android Studio
The Android Studio guided tour
FAQ
Summary
4
Designing Layouts
Designing Layouts
Exploring Android UI design
Structure of a UI design
Summary
5
Real-World Layouts
Real-World Layouts
Building a real-world UI
Summary
6
The Life and Times of an Android App
The Life and Times of an Android App
Introduction to the Android lifecycle
A simplified explanation of the Android lifecycle
Lifecycle phases – what we need to know
Lifecycle phases – what we need to do
The lifecycle demonstration app
The structure of Java code – revisited
Summary
7
Coding in Java Part 1 – Variables, Decisions, and Loops
Coding in Java Part 1 – Variables, Decisions, and Loops
Java is everywhere
Syntax and jargon
More code comments
Storing and using data with variables
Changing values in variables with operators
Expressing yourself demo app
Decisions
Repeating code with loops
Summary
8
Coding in Java Part 2 – Methods
Coding in Java Part 2 – Methods
Methods revisited
Scope and variables revisited
FAQ
Further reading
Summary
9
Object-Oriented Programming
Object-Oriented Programming
Important memory management warning
Introducing OOP
Taking a look at the code for a class
The basic classes mini app
Remember that encapsulation thing?
Encapsulation and static methods mini app
OOP and inheritance
The inheritance mini app
Polymorphism
FAQ
Summary
10
Everything's a Class
Everything's a Class
All Android UI elements are classes too
FAQ
Summary
11
Widget Mania
Widget Mania
Exploring Android UI objects
Exploring the palette
Android permissions and Marshmallows
The Widget exploration mini app
Summary
12
Having a Dialogue with the User
Having a Dialogue with the User
Dialog windows
About the Note To Self app
Building the project and gathering resources
Coding the Note class
Implementing the dialog designs
Coding the dialog boxes
Summary
13
Handling and Displaying Arrays of Data
Handling and Displaying Arrays of Data
A random diversion
Handling large amount of data with arrays
A simple array example mini app
Getting dynamic with arrays
Entering the nth dimension with arrays
ArrayLists
Arrays and ArrayLists are polymorphic
ListView and BaseAdapter
FAQ
Summary
14
Handling and Displaying Notes in Note To Self
Handling and Displaying Notes in Note To Self
Note To Self continued
Improvements in Note To Self
FAQ
Summary
15
Android Intent and Persistence
Android Intent and Persistence
Good Intents
Adding a settings page to the Note To Self app
Persisting data with SharedPreferences
Making the Note To Self app's settings persist
More advanced persistence
Backing up user data in Note To Self
FAQ
Summary
16
UI Animations
UI Animations
Animations in Android
The Animations Demo app – introducing SeekBar
Adding animations to Note To Self
FAQ
Summary
17
Sound FX and Supporting Different Versions of Android
Sound FX and Supporting Different Versions of Android
Supporting multiple versions of Android
Introducing the Spinner widget
Sound FX touches to Note To Self
Deleting a note – introducing OnLongClick
FAQ
Summary
18
Design Patterns, Fragments, and the Real World
Design Patterns, Fragments, and the Real World
Introducing the model-view-controller pattern
The imperfections of Note To Self revisited
Android design guidelines
Real-world apps
The device detection mini app
Configuration qualifiers
Using configuration qualifiers – mini app
Fragments
Our first working Fragment mini app
Fragment reality check
FAQ
Summary
19
Using Multiple Fragments
Using Multiple Fragments
Using singletons for the model layer
Inter-Fragment communications – interfaces revisited
The dual-Fragment address book mini app
FAQ
Summary
20
Paging and Swiping
Paging and Swiping
Building an image gallery/slider app
Building a Fragment pager/slider app
Summary
21
Navigation Drawer and Where It's Snap
Navigation Drawer and Where It's Snap
Introducing the navigation drawer
The Where it's snap app
Summary
22
Capturing Images
Capturing Images
Capturing images using the camera
The capturing images mini app
Where it's snap – coding the capture Fragment
Summary
23
Using SQLite Databases in Our Apps
Using SQLite Databases in Our Apps
Database 101
The SQL syntax primer
The Android SQLite API
The database mini app
Summary
24
Adding a Database to Where It's Snap
Adding a Database to Where It's Snap
The Photo class
Handling the SQLite database
Saving a new photo from the capture fragment
Displaying a photo from the database
Coding the communications interface
Coding TitlesFragment
Coding TagsFragment
Coding the fragment communications in MainActivity
Running the app so far
Summary
25
Integrating Google Maps and GPS Locations
Integrating Google Maps and GPS Locations
Global Positioning System
Where in the world – the GPS mini app
The Google Maps mini app
Summary
26
Upgrading SQLite – Adding Locations and Maps
Upgrading SQLite – Adding Locations and Maps
Adding locations and maps to Where it's Snap
Updating ViewFragment
Adding location permissions
Testing the new map feature
Summary
27
Going Local – Hola!
Going Local – Hola!
The Localization mini app
Localizing the Where it's snap app
Summary
28
Threads, Touches, Drawing, and a Simple Game
Threads, Touches, Drawing, and a Simple Game
Threads
Problems with threads
Drawing with canvas and paint
Android Canvas demo app
Handling touches
A simple game engine
Building a simple game of Pong
Summary
29
Publishing Apps
Publishing Apps
Preparing to publish
Building the publishable APK file
Publishing the app
Marketing
More to see
Summary
30
Before You Go
Before You Go
What next
Goodbye and thank you
Index
Index

Chapter 15. Android Intent and Persistence

In this chapter, we will look at a couple of different ways to save data to the Android device's permanent storage. Also, for the first time, we will add a second Activity to our app. It often makes sense when implementing a separate "screen," like a settings screen in our app, to do so in a new Activity. We could go to the trouble of hiding the original UI and then showing the new UI, but this would quickly lead to confusing and error-prone code. So, we will see how to add an Activity and navigate the user between them.

In this chapter, we will:

  • Learn about Android Intents to switch the Activity and pass data

  • Create a settings screen in a new Activity

  • Persist the settings screen data using the SharedPreferences class

  • Learn about JavaScript object notation for serialization

  • Explore Java try-catch-finally

  • Implement saving data in our Note To Self app

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