Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

By : John Horton

Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

Are you trying to start a career in programming, but haven't found the right way in? Do you have a great idea for an app, but don't know how to make it a reality? Or maybe you're just frustrated that in order to learn Android, you must know Java. If so, then this book is for you. This new and expanded second edition of Android Programming for Beginners will be your companion to create Android Pie applications from scratch. We will introduce you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the basics of Java to working with the Android API. All examples use the up-to-date API classes, and 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 and store your user's data with SQLite. In addition, you'll see how to make your apps multilingual, draw to the screen with a finger, 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.

Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

Contributors

Preface

Other Books You May Enjoy

Other Books You May Enjoy

Free Chapter

Beginning Android and Java

Beginning Android and Java

What's new in the second edition?

Why Java and Android?

The beginner's first stumbling block

How Java and Android work together

Setting up Android Studio

What makes an Android app?

The structure of Android's Java code

Our first Android app

Deploying the app so far

Frequently asked questions

First Contact – Java, XML, and the UI Designer

First Contact – Java, XML, and the UI Designer

Examining the log output

A note for early adopters of this book

Exploring the project's Java code and the main layout's XML code

Adding buttons to the main layout file

Leaving comments in our Java code

Coding messages to the user and the developer

Writing our first Java code

Frequently asked questions

Exploring Android Studio and the Project Structure

Exploring Android Studio and the Project Structure

A quick guided tour of Android Studio

Project Explorer and project anatomy

Exploring the Android emulator

Getting Started with Layouts and Material Design

Getting Started with Layouts and Material Design

Material design

Exploring Android UI design

Creating the Exploring Layouts project

Building a menu with LinearLayout

Wiring up the UI with the Java code (part 1)

Adding layouts within layouts

Making the layout look pretty

Wiring up the UI with the Java code (part 2)

Building a precise UI with ConstraintLayout

Laying out data with TableLayout

Beautiful Layouts with CardView and ScrollView

Beautiful Layouts with CardView and ScrollView

Attributes quick summary

Building a UI with CardView and ScrollView

Themes and material design

Creating a tablet emulator

Frequently asked questions

The Android Lifecycle

The Android Lifecycle

The life and times of an Android app

A simplified explanation of the Android lifecycle

How we handle the lifecycle phases

Lifecycle demo app

Some other overridden methods

The structure of Java code – revisited

Java Variables, Operators, and Expressions

Java Variables, Operators, and Expressions

Java is everywhere

Syntax and jargon

More code comments

Storing and using data with variables

Using variables

Java Decisions and Loops

Java Decisions and Loops

Making decisions in Java

Repeating code with loops

Java Methods

Methods revisited

What exactly are Java methods?

Method structure

Using methods demo apps

Scope and variables revisited

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

Object-Oriented programming

Object-Oriented programming

Important memory management warning

Object-oriented programming

Looking at the code for a class

Basic classes app

Frequently asked questions

More Object-Oriented Programming

More Object-Oriented Programming

Remember that encapsulation thing?

Encapsulation and static methods mini-app

OOP and inheritance

Inheritance example app

Frequently asked questions

The Stack, the Heap, and the Garbage Collector

The Stack, the Heap, and the Garbage Collector

All the Android UI elements are classes too

Frequently asked questions

Anonymous Classes – Bringing Android Widgets to Life

Anonymous Classes – Bringing Android Widgets to Life

Declaring and initializing the objects

Creating UI widgets from pure Java without XML

Exploring the palette – part 1

Anonymous classes

Exploring the palette – Part 2, and more anonymous classes

Widget exploration app

Converting layouts to ConstraintLayout

Android Dialog Windows

Android Dialog Windows

The Note to self app

Arrays, ArrayList, Map and Random Numbers

Arrays, ArrayList, Map and Random Numbers

A random diversion

Handling large amounts of data with arrays

Simple array example mini-app

Getting dynamic with arrays

Entering the nth dimension with Arrays

Arrays and ArrayLists are polymorphic

More Java Collections – Meet Java Hashmap

The Note to Self app

Frequently asked questions

Adapters and Recyclers

Adapters and Recyclers

RecyclerView and RecyclerAdapter

Adding RecyclerView, RecyclerAdapter, and ArrayList to the Note to Self project

Running the app

Frequently asked questions

Data Persistence and Sharing

Data Persistence and Sharing

Android Intents

Adding a settings page to Note to Self

Persisting data with SharedPreferences

Reloading data with SharedPreferences

Making the Note to Self settings persist

More advanced persistence

Backing up user data in Note to Self

Frequently asked questions

Localization

Making the Note to Self app for Spanish, English, and German speakers

Running Note to Self in German or Spanish

Animations and Interpolations

Animations and Interpolations

Animations in Android

Animations Demo App – introducing SeekBar

Frequently asked questions

Drawing Graphics

Drawing Graphics

Understanding the Canvas class

Using the Canvas class

The Canvas Demo app

Android coordinate system

Creating Bitmaps

Manipulating Bitmaps

Bitmap manipulation demo app

Frequently asked question

Threads, and Starting the Live Drawing App

Threads, and Starting the Live Drawing App

Creating the Live Drawing project

Looking ahead at the Live Drawing app

Coding the LiveDrawingActivity class

Coding the LiveDrawingView class

Coding the LiveDrawingView class

Implementing the game loop with a thread

Running the app

Particle Systems and Handling Screen Touches

Particle Systems and Handling Screen Touches

Adding custom buttons to the screen

Implementing a particle system effect

Handling touches

Running the app

Supporting Different Versions of Android, Sound Effects, and the Spinner Widget

Supporting Different Versions of Android, Sound Effects, and the Spinner Widget

Handling different versions of Android

The Soundpool class

Sound demo app introducing Spinner widget

Design Patterns, Multiple Layouts, and Fragments

Design Patterns, Multiple Layouts, and Fragments

Introducing the model-view-controller pattern

Android design guidelines

Real-world apps

Device detection mini-app

Configuration qualifiers

Our first Fragment app

Fragment reality check

Frequently asked question

Advanced UI with Paging and Swiping

Advanced UI with Paging and Swiping

Angry birds classic swipe menu

Building an image gallery/slider app

Building a Fragment Pager/slider app

Advanced UI with Navigation Drawer and Fragment

Advanced UI with Navigation Drawer and Fragment

Introducing the NavigationView

Examining the Simple Database app

Starting the Simple Database project

Exploring the auto-generated code and assets

Coding the Fragment classes and their layouts

Using the Fragment classes and their layouts

Android Databases

Android Databases

SQL syntax primer

Android SQLite API

Coding the database class

Coding the Fragment classes to use the DataManager

Running the Age Database app

Coding a Snake Game Using Everything We Have Learned So Far

Coding a Snake Game Using Everything We Have Learned So Far

Getting started with the Snake game

Coding the game engine

Running the game

Adding the graphics

Coding the apple

Using the apple

Enumerations and Finishing the Snake Game

Enumerations and Finishing the Snake Game

Add the sound to the project

Coding the Snake class

Running the completed game

A Quick Chat Before You Go

A Quick Chat Before You Go

Carrying on learning

My other channels

Goodbye and thank you

Index

Customer Reviews

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Coding the game engine

Let's get started with the most significant class of this project—SnakeGame. This will be the game engine for the Snake game.

Coding the members

In the SnakeGame class that you created previously, add the following import statements along with all the member variables shown next. Study the names and types of the variables as you add them because they will give a good insight into what we will be coding in this class:

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.AssetFileDescriptor;
import android.content.res.AssetManager;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.graphics.Point;
import android.media.AudioAttributes;
import android.media.AudioManager;
import android.media.SoundPool;
import android.os.Build;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.SurfaceHolder;
import android.view.SurfaceView;
import java.io.IOException;

class SnakeGame extends SurfaceView implements Runnable...