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

Lifecycle demo app


In this section, we will do a quick experiment that will help familiarize ourselves with the lifecycle methods our app uses, as well as give us a chance to play around with a bit more Java code.

Follow these steps to start a new project, and then we can add some code:

  1. Start a new project and call it Lifecycle Demo. Of course, the code is in the download bundle in the Chapter 6/Lifecycle Demo folder should you wish to refer to it or copy and paste it.

  2. Accept the default target devices.

  3. Choose Basic Activity and don't worry about customizing the activity options on the Configure Activity screen.

  4. Wait for Android Studio to generate the project files, and then open the MainActivity.java file in the code editor (if it is not opened for you by default) by left-clicking on the Main Activity tab above the editor.

Note

If the preceding steps were not detailed enough, check back to any of the other occasions in which we created a new project for further details.

You have created a new...