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.
Table of Contents (35 chapters)
Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition
Contributors
Preface
Other Books You May Enjoy
Index

Chapter 4. Getting Started with Layouts and Material Design

We have already seen the Android Studio UI designer, as well as a little bit of Java in action. In this hands-on chapter, we will build three more layouts—still quite simple, yet a step up from what we have done so far.

Before we get to the hands-on part, we will have a quick introduction to the concept of Material Design.

We will see another type of layout called LinearLayout and step through, using it to create a usable UI. We will take things a step further by using ConstraintLayout, both with understanding constraints and with designing more complex and precise UI designs. Finally, we will meet the TableLayout for laying out data in an easily readable table.

We will also write some Java code to switch between our different layouts within one app/project. This is the first major app that links together multiple topics into one neat parcel. The app is called Exploring Layouts.

In this chapter, we will do the following:

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