Summary

We have achieved a lot in this chapter. It is true that much of the XML code is still generally incomprehensible. That's OK, because in the next two chapters we will be really getting to grips with the visual designer and learning more about XML, although ultimately our aim is to use XML as little as possible.

We have seen how, when we drag a button onto our design, the XML code is generated for us. Also, if we change an attribute in the Attributes window, then, again, the XML code is edited for us. Furthermore, we saw that we can type (or, in our case, copy and paste) XML code directly in the Code tab to create new buttons on our UI or edit existing ones.

We have seen as well as written our first Java, including comments that help us document our code, and we have even added our own methods to output debugging messages to the Logcat window and pop-up Toast messages to the user.

In the next chapter, we will take a full guided tour of Android Studio to see exactly where different things get done at the same time as understanding how our project's assets, such as files and folders, are structured and how we can manage them. This will prepare us to go for a more in-depth look at UI design in Chapter 4, Getting Started with Layouts and Material Design, and Chapter 5, Beautiful Layouts with CardView and ScrollView, when we will build some significant real-world layouts for our apps.