Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Third Edition

By : John Horton
Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Third Edition

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

Do you want to make a career in programming but don’t know where to start? Do you have a great idea for an app but don't know how to make it a reality? Or are you worried that you’ll have to learn Java programming to become an Android developer? Look no further! This new and expanded third edition of Android Programming for Beginners will be your guide to creating Android applications from scratch. The book starts by introducing you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the basics of Java to working with the Android API. You’ll learn with the help of examples that use up-to-date API classes and are created within Android Studio, the official Android development environment that helps supercharge your mobile application development process. After a crash course on the key programming concepts, you’ll explore Android programming and get to grips with creating applications with a professional-standard UI using fragments and storing user data with SQLite. This Android Java book also shows you how you can make your apps multilingual, draw on the screen with a finger, and work with graphics, sound, and animations. By the end of this Android programming book, you'll be ready to start building your own custom applications in Android and Java.
Table of Contents (30 chapters)

Introducing layouts

We have already seen ConstraintLayout in Chapter 1, Beginning Android and Java, but there are more layouts than this. Layouts are the building blocks that group together the other UI elements. Layouts can also contain other layouts.

Let's look at some commonly used layouts in Android, because knowing the different layouts and their pros and cons will make us more aware of what can be achieved and will therefore expand our horizons in terms of what is possible.

We have already seen that once we have designed a layout, we can put it into action with the setContentView method in our Java code.

Let's build three designs with different layout types, and then put setContentView to work and switch between them.

Creating and exploring a layout project

One of the toughest things in Android is not just finding out how to do something but finding out how to do something in a particular context. That is why throughout this book, as well as showing...