Android Application Development Cookbook

Description

Cover; Copyright; Credits; Disclaimer; About the Authors; About the Reviewer; www.PacktPub.com; Table of Contents; Preface; Chapter 1: Activities; Introduction; Declaring an activity; Starting a new activity with an intent object; Switching between activities; Passing data to another activity; Returning a result from an activity; Saving an activity's state; Storing persistent activity data; Understanding the activity lifecycle; Chapter 2: Layouts; Introduction; Defining and inflating a layout; Using RelativeLayout; Using LinearLayout; Creating tables -- TableLayout and GridLayout.;Over 100 recipes to help you solve the most common problems faced by Android Developers todayAbout This Book Find the answers to your common Android programming problems, from set up to security, to help you deliver better applications, faster Uncover the latest features of Android Marshmallow to make your applications stand out Get up to speed with Android Studio 1.4 - the first Android Studio based on the IntelliJ IDE from JetBrainsWho This Book Is ForIf you are new to Android development and want to take a hands-on approach to learning the framework, or if you are an experienced developer in need of clear working code to solve the many challenges in Android development, you can benefit from this book. Either way, this is a resource you'll want to keep at your desk for a quick reference to solve new problems as you tackle more challenging projects. What You Will Learn Along with Marshmallow, get hands-on working with Google's new Android Studio IDE Develop applications using the latest Android framework while maintaining backward-compatibility with the support library Master Android programming best practices from the recipes Create exciting and engaging applications using knowledge gained from recipes on graphics, animations, and multimedia Work through succinct steps on specifics that will help you complete your project faster Keep your app responsive (and prevent ANRs) with examples on the AsynchTask class Utilize Google Speech Recognition APIs for your app. Make use of Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) to create Push Notifications for your users Get a better understanding of the Android framework through detailed explanationsIn DetailThe Android OS has the largest installation base of any operating system in the world; there has never been a better time to learn Android development to write your own applications, or to make your own contributions to the open source community!This cookbook will make it easy for you to jump to a topic of interest and get what you need to implement the feature in your own application. If you are new to Android and learn best by doing, then this book will provide many topics of interest. Starting with the basics of Android development, we move on to more advanced concepts, and we'll guide you through common tasks developers struggle to solve. The first few chapters cover the basics including Activities, Layouts, Widgets, and the Menu. From there, we cover fragments and data storage (including SQLite), device sensors, the camera, and GPS. Then we move on more advanced topics such as graphics and animation (including OpenGL), multi-threading with AsyncTask, and Internet functionality with Volley. We'll also demonstrate Google Maps and Google Cloud Messaging (also known as Push Notifications) using the Google API Library. Finally, we'll take a look at several online services designed especially for Android development. Take your application big-time with full Internet web services without having to become a server admin by leveraging the power of Backend as a Service (BaaS) providers. Style and approachThis book progresses from the fundamentals of Android Development to more advanced concepts, with recipes to solve the most common problems faced by developers. This cookbook makes it easy to jump to specific topics of interest, where you'll find simple steps to implement the solution and get a clear explanation of how it works. Cover Copyright Credits Disclaimer About the Authors About the Reviewer www.PacktPub.com Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1: Activities Introduction Declaring an activity Starting a new activity with an intent object Switching between activities Passing data to another activity Returning a result from an activity Saving an activity's state Storing persistent activity data Understanding the activity lifecycle Chapter 2: Layouts Introduction Defining and inflating a layout Using RelativeLayout Using LinearLayout Creating tables -- TableLayout and GridLayout. Using ListView, GridView, and AdaptersChanging layout properties during runtime Optimizing layouts with the Hierarchy Viewer Chapter 3: Views, Widgets, and Styles Introduction Inserting a widget into a layout Using graphics to show button state Creating a widget at runtime Creating a custom component Applying a style to a View Turning a style into a theme Selecting theme based on the Android version Chapter 4: Menus Introduction Creating an Options menu Modifying menus and menu items during runtime Enabling Contextual Action Mode for a view. Using Contextual Batch Mode with a ListViewCreating a pop-up menu Chapter 5: Exploring Fragments, AppWidgets, and the System UI Introduction Creating and using a Fragment Adding and removing Fragments during runtime Passing data between Fragments Creating a shortcut on the Home screen Creating a Home screen widget Adding Search to the Action Bar Showing your app full screen Chapter 6: Working with Data Introduction Storing simple data Read and write a text file to internal storage Read and write a text file to external storage Including resource files in your project. Creating and using an SQLite databaseAccess data in the background using a Loader Chapter 7: Alerts and Notifications Introduction Lights, Action, and Sound -- getting the user's attention! Creating a Toast using a custom layout Displaying a message box with AlertDialog Displaying a progress dialog Lights, Action, and Sound Redux using Notifications Creating a Media Player Notification Making a Flashlight with a Heads-Up Notification Chapter 8: Using the Touchscreen and Sensors Introduction Listening for click and long-press events Recognizing tap and other common gestures. Pinch-to-zoom with multi-touch gesturesSwipe-to-Refresh Listing available sensors -- an introduction to the Android Sensor Framework Reading sensor data -- using the Android Sensor Framework events Reading device orientation Chapter 9: Graphics and Animation Introduction Scaling down large images to avoid Out of Memory exceptions A Transition Animation -- defining scenes and applying a transition Creating a Compass using Sensor data and RotateAnimation Creating a slideshow with ViewPager Creating a Card Flip Animation with Fragments Creating a Zoom Animation with a Custom Transition.