«compl*tcIDIOT'SGUIDE

Android AppDevelopment

by Christopher Froehlich

AALPHA

Amember of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Contents

Part 1: Getting Started 1

1 An Open Invitation 3

Starting from Scratch 3

Software 4

Programming Experience 4

Selecting Your Development Environment 5

Varieties of Devices 6

Selecting a Platform V

Device Restrictions 8

Forward Thinking and Backwards Compatibility 9

Assembling Your Toolkit 9

Java 10

Eclipse IDEfor Java Developers 10

Android SDK U

The ADTPluginfor Eclipse 12

Registeringfor the Android Market 14

2 Building for Android 15

Android Development Overview 15

Introduction to Eclipse 16

The Role ofthe Android SDK 18

Starting Your First Project 18

Creating the ProjectFiles 19

Inside Your Project 21

Setting Your Preferences 22

Aloha, Android 24

Meet the Emulator 25

Debugging with the Emulator 27

Making the Device Connection 28

3 Crafting the Layout 31

Application Fundamentals 32

Reintroducing the Recipe App 34

Laying Out the Welcome Screen 34

Expanding Your View 40

Formattingfor All Displays 46

Your Icon 47

Introducing Your First Error 49

iv The Complete Idiot's Guide to Android App Development

4 Finding More Activities

Improving Your Recipe App —• ^

Introduction to Refactoring^

About Vow App$6

Updating the Android Manifest ^

Adding an Activity .

$8

Creating the Layout$9

Putting It Together62

Styling Your App65

Selecting a Theme 65

Rolling Your Own Style 67

Polishing Your App68

Adding a Menu68

Storing Some Settings. 71

Quitting Time75

5 Programming for Android 77

What Is Java?77

Object Oriented Programming Review 78

The Java Virtual Machine 79

The Front of an Android Application 80

Activities 80

Views ,

82

Behind the Scenes 86

Intents 86

Intent Filters 88

Background Receivers 89

Part 2: Constructing Your Application 91

6 Resources and Animation 93

The Splash View 93

Assemble the View 94

Colors and Dimensions 96

Ready, Set, Animate 99

Method Acting 101

2D Graphics Overview 106

Working with Dratvables 107

Using Shapes. 107

Contents v

7 Building Input and Output HI

Making a New Recipe HI

EditText and Other Widgets •112

Deep Nested Views 115

Working with ListViews 120

Inflating the Layout 120

FromXML toJava 123

Simplify the Interface with TabHosts 127

Toast Feedback 131

8 Storing and Retrieving Data 135

Storage Overview 135

SbaredPreferences 136

Internal Storage •138

External Data 140

Saving a New Recipe 140

Retrieving SbaredPreferences 141

Storing Input as SbaredPreferences 148

Manage Your Recipes 151

9 Search for It 157

Search Basics 157

Create the Configuration 159

Define a Searchable Activity 161

Build the Search Activity 162

Providing the Search Option 165

Voice Search 166

More Search Options 167

10 From Widgets to the Browser 169

Widgets and Dialogs 169

Constructing a Dialog 171

Dates and Times 173

More Widgets and Controls 176

Integrating the Browser 179

Opening the Web Page 180

Linkify 1%2

Embedding the Browser 183

vi The Complete Idiot's Guide to Android App Development

Part 3: Make the Most of the Hardware 189

11 Cameras and Media 191

Introduction to Multimedia on Android 191

Incorporating the Camera into Your App 193

Prepare the SurfaceView 193

Working the Camera Class 195

Capturing the Photo 197

Recording Video 198

Accessing Stored Photos 200

Embedding Audio or Video 201

Using the Microphone 202

12 Location-Based Services 205

Introduction to Android Sensors and Receivers 205

Location, Location 207

Location Services 208

Consider Accuracy and the Battery 212

Emulator Limitations 213

Sense and Sensors 214

Reading a Sensor 215

Sensor Data 218

Integrate Maps 219

Registerfor Google Maps Access 219

Working with Google Maps 220

13 3D Graphics and Animation 225

Introduction to 3D Graphics 225

OpenGL Basics 226

Drawing an Activity 228

Model Objects 230

The Cube 230

Moving the Cube in 3D 233

14 Core Services 239

Overview of Android Hardware 239

The Phone Itself 240

Working with Calls 241

Send SMS and MMS Messages 245

Contents vii

Network Interfaces 247

Wi-Fi vs. 3G 248

Wi-Fi 250

Working with Bluetooth 251

Part 4: Increasing Your Application Scope 259

15 A Touch of Locale 261

Localization 261

Managing Resources 262

Alternate Resources 264

Performing Translation in Code 267

Runtime Changes 270

Efficiently Rotating the Screen 272

Manually Manage Configuration Changes 273

Multi-Touch 274

MotionBvents 275

Build Your Own Gestures 277

16 Threads and the Background 283

What Are Threads? 283

About Processes. 285

Working with Asy?jcTask 286

Dispatching Threads 290

Services 293

The Service Life Cycle 294

Building a Basic Service 294

Using Notifications 297

17 SQL and Databases 301

SQL at a Glance 301

Intro to SQLite 304

Building the Helper Class 305

Database Interaction 307

More SQL Detail 310

Bring the Data into View 311

Additional SQLite Tools 315

viii The Complete Idiot's Guide to Android App Development

18 ContentProviders 319

Introduction to ContentProviders 319

Provider Syntax. •

Requesting Datafrom a ContentProvider 322

Building Your Own Provider 323

Prepare the Class.., ^24

Implement the Methods 326

Provider Permissions and the Manifest 330

Part 5: Taking Your App to Market 333

19 Comprehensive Debugging 335

Logging 335

Debugging Your App • 338

The Debug Perspective 339

Advanced Logging-with Tracevievi 340

Switching to the DDMS Perspective 341

Debugging with Dev Took 343

20 Testing Your Apps 345

The Good News 345

Build a Testing Plan 346

Selecting Your Targets 341

Working ivith Multiple Versions ofAndroid 348

Methods Change 350

Be Mindful ofthe Future 352

And More Tests 353

21 App Markets and Beyond 355

Available Android Markets 355

Welcome to the Android Market 357

Registering Your Accounts 557

App Preparation 358

Certification 360

And Release! 362

Next Steps 364

Advertising 365

The Next Generation 366

Keep in Touch 366

Contents ix

Appendixes

A Glossary . 369

B Resources, References, and Useful Websites....375

Index 379