Book Image

Mastering Android Studio 3

By : Kyle Mew
Book Image

Mastering Android Studio 3

By: Kyle Mew

Overview of this book

Android Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) designed for developing Android apps. As with most development processes, Android keeps resources and logic nicely separated, and so this book covers the management of imagery and other resources, and the development and testing tools provided by the IDE. After introducing the software, the book moves straight into UI development using the sophisticated, WYSIWYG layout editor and XML code to design and test complex interfaces for a wide variety of screen configurations. With activity design covered, the book continues to guide the reader through application logic development, exploring the latest APIs provided by the SDK. Each topic will be demonstrated by working code samples that can be run on a device or emulator. One of Android Studio's greatest features is the large number of third-party plugins available for it, and throughout the book we will be exploring the most useful of these, along with samples and libraries that can be found on GitHub. The final module of the book deals with the final stages of development: building and distribution. The book concludes by taking the reader through the registration and publication processes required by Google. By the time you have finished the book, you will be able to build faster, smoother, and error-free Android applications, in less time and with fewer complications than you ever thought possible.
Table of Contents (10 chapters)

Accessing sensors

Devices worn on the wrist are ideal for fitness apps and the inclusion of a heart rate monitor in many models makes them perfect for such tasks. The way that the SDK manages all sensors is almost identical, so seeing how one works applies to the others.

The following exercise demonstrates how to read the heart rate sensor on a wearable device:

  1. Open an Android Wear project with both mobile and wear modules.
  2. Create a layout of your choosing, ensuring you include a TextView to display the output.

  1. Open the Manifest file in the wear module and add the following permission:
<uses-permission 
android:name="android.permission.BODY_SENSORS" />
  1. Open the MainActivity.java file in the wear module and add the following fields:
private TextView textView; 
private SensorManager sensorManager;
private Sensor sensor;
  1. Have the Activity implement a...