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)

Loops demo app

To get started, create a new Android project called Loops, use the Empty Activity template, and leave all the other settings at their default.

Let's add a few buttons to our UI to make this more fun. Switch to the activity_main.xml file and make sure you are on the Design tab, and then follow these steps:

  1. Drag a button onto the UI and center it horizontally near the top.
  2. In the properties window, change the text property to Count Up.
  3. In the properties window, change the onClick property to countUp.
  4. Place a new button just below the previous one and repeat steps 2 and 3 but this time use Count Down for the text property and countDown for the onClick property.
  5. Place a new button just below the previous one and repeat steps 2 and 3 but this time use nested for the text property and the onClick property.
  6. Click the Infer Constraints button to constrain the three buttons in position.

Looks are not important for this demo but run the...