Book Image

Xamarin Mobile Application Development for Android, Second Edition

Book Image

Xamarin Mobile Application Development for Android, Second Edition

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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Xamarin Mobile Application Development for Android Second Edition
Xamarin Mobile Application Development for Android Second Edition
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 Anatomy of an Android App
The Anatomy of an Android App
The Android platform
The application framework
The building blocks of the Android application
Summary
2
The Xamarin.Android Architecture
The Xamarin.Android Architecture
Getting started with Xamarin
Why Xamarin.Android?
What is Mono?
Mono and Dalvik side by side
The Android bindings design
Development environments
Summary
3
Creating the Points Of Interest App
Creating the Points Of Interest App
The sample POIApp
Installing Xamarin.Android
Installing platforms and tools
Creating Android Virtual Devices
Cloning a virtual device
Speeding up the Android emulator
Creating the POI app
The Xamarin Studio IDE
The Project Options view
The Xamarin Studio layout designer
Setting the app icon and package name
The launcher activity
Running and debugging the app
Debugging with an Android device
The AndroidManifest.xml file
Summary
4
Adding a List View
Adding a List View
Creating the POI ListView layout
Creating POIListActivity
Creating the POI list row layout
Creating the PointOfInterest apps entity class
Populating the ListView item
Creating POIListViewAdapter
Populating row Views
Hooking up POIListViewAdapter
Consuming the web service
Adding actions to ActionBar
Defining the menu XML file
Setting menus in OnCreateOptionsMenu()
Handling selection in OnOptionsItemSelected()
Handling the ListView click event
Handling no network condition
Toast
Summary
5
Adding a Details View
Adding a Details View
Creating the POIDetail layout
Creating POIDetailActivity
Adding navigation to POIDetailActivity
Receiving the data in POIDetailActivity
Populating user interface widgets
Adding the save and delete actions
Adding the save and delete actions in POIService
Creating SavePOI()
Creating DeletePOI()
Adding validation
Refreshing POIListActivity
Summary
6
Making Your App Orientation-aware
Making Your App Orientation-aware
The Android behavior on configuration changes
Locking the Android application orientation
Dynamically requesting the orientation
Saving the activity state for configuration changes
Building the orientation-aware layout
Manually handling the orientation behavior
Summary
7
Designing for Multiple Screen Sizes
Designing for Multiple Screen Sizes
An introduction to Android tablets
Creating an Android tablet emulator
An introduction to fragments
Making POIApp compatible with Android tablets
Using fragments for displaying POIDetails
Using the list fragment for displaying the POI list
Creating a multi-pane layout for tablets
Updating the POIApp to support the multi-pane split layout
Working with DialogFragment
Fragments for older Android devices
Handling configuration changes with fragments
Summary
8
Creating Data Storage Mechanisms
Creating Data Storage Mechanisms
Data storage in Android
Using the SQLite.net ORM component
Using the Xamarin.Android NUnitLite
Implementing the caching logic to POIApp
Summary
9
Making POIApp Location Aware
Making POIApp Location Aware
Working with location services
Requesting location change notifications
Adding location services to POIApp
Adding map integration
Summary
10
Adding the Camera App Integration
Adding the Camera App Integration
Picking an integration approach
Permissions and features
Configuring the emulator
Extending the data service
Capturing an image from POIDetailFragment
Upload an image using an HTTP multipart
Summary
11
Publishing an App to the App Store
Publishing an App to the App Store
Preparing the application for release
Publishing a signed APK for uploading
Different app distribution options
Summary
Index
Index

Different app distribution options

Android developers have a number of options for distributing their applications, which include the following:

  • Self-publishing via a private Cloud or via website links

  • Distributing via e-mail attachments

  • Publishing in Google Play

  • Publishing in third-party app stores

Self-publishing via website links or e-mails

Website links and e-mail attachments are pretty straightforward, easy to accomplish, and may be suitable for some apps that are used internally by a company or by a small group of associates.

Prior to installing apps from a website link or an e-mail attachment, you must first update your device security settings to allow apps to be installed from Unknown sources. Let's take a look at the following screenshot:

After enabling this option, you will be prompted to install an app when selecting an e-mail attachment or a web link that is an APK.

Note that for general consumers, website links and e-mails as a means of distribution are not ideal. Marketplaces such...

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