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

Adding layouts within layouts


The solution to laying out some elements with a different orientation to others is to nest layouts within layouts. Here is how to do it.

From the Layouts category of the palette, drag a LinearLayout (Horizontal) onto our design, placing it just below the Multiline Text. Notice that there is a blue border occupying all the space below the Multiline Text:

This indicates that our new LinearLayout (Horizontal) is filling the space. Keep this blue border area in mind as it is where we will put the next item on our UI.

Now go back to the Text category of the palette and drag a TextView onto the new LinearLayout we just added. Notice how the TextView sits snuggly in the top left-hand corner of the new LinearLayout:

This at first seems no different to what happened with the previous vertical LinearLayout, which was part of our UI from the start. But watch what happens when we add our next piece of the UI.

Note

The term used to refer to adding layouts within layouts is...