Book Image

Android Studio 4.1 Development Essentials – Java Edition

By : Neil Smyth
Book Image

Android Studio 4.1 Development Essentials – Java Edition

By: Neil Smyth

Overview of this book

For developers, Android 11 has a ton of new capabilities. The goal of this book is to teach the skills necessary to develop Android-based applications using the Java programming language. This book begins with the steps necessary to set up an Android development and testing environment. An overview of Android Studio along with the architecture of Android is covered next, followed by an in-depth look at the design of Android applications and user interfaces using the Android Studio environment. You will also learn about the Android architecture components along with some advanced topics such as touch screen handling, gesture recognition, the recording and playback of audio, app links, dynamic delivery, the AndroidStudio profiler, Gradle build configuration, and submitting apps to the Google Play Developer Console. The concepts of material design, including the use of floating action buttons, Snackbars, tabbed interfaces, card views, navigation drawers, and collapsing toolbars are a highlight of this book. This edition of the book also covers printing, transitions, and cloud-based file storage; the foldable device support is the cherry on the cake. By the end of this course, you will be able to develop Android 11 Apps using Android Studio 4.1, Java, and Android Jetpack. The code files for the book can be found here: https://www.ebookfrenzy.com/retail/androidstudio41/index.php
Table of Contents (88 chapters)
88
Index

23.1 Java Code vs. XML Layout Files

There are a number of key advantages to using XML resource files to design a user interface as opposed to writing Java code. In fact, Google goes to considerable lengths in the Android documentation to extol the virtues of XML resources over Java code. As discussed in the previous chapter, one key advantage to the XML approach includes the ability to use the Android Studio Layout Editor tool, which, itself, generates XML resources. A second advantage is that once an application has been created, changes to user interface screens can be made by simply modifying the XML file, thereby avoiding the necessity to recompile the application. Also, even when hand writing XML layouts, it is possible to get instant feedback on the appearance of the user interface using the preview feature of the Android Studio Layout Editor tool. In order to test the appearance of a Java created user interface the developer will, inevitably, repeatedly cycle through a loop...