The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development

Android, the next-generation open mobile platform from Google and the Open Handset Alliance, is poised to become a significant player in the mobile device market. The Android platform gives developers a fair bit of control while still supporting a familiar programming language. However, the frameworks, GUI widgets, and development model is different than any other mobile platform out there. That’s where this book comes in Spanning 466 pages, The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development covers a wide range of Android capabilities and APIs, from creating simple user interfaces, to supporting long-running background processes, through the advanced location tracking and mapping features. Along the way, it covers how to embed the WebKit Web browser in your application, how to have your application use data from other installed applications (and vice versa!) or off the Internet, and how to integrate with the built-in on-device search engine. It will help you more quickly climb the Android learning curve, so you can create the “killer app” you’ve dreamed of…or perhaps just a quick-and-dirty application for you and your friends.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Key Android Concepts
• Choosing Your Development Toolchain
• Tutorial #1 – Installing the Tools
• Android and Projects
• Tutorial #2 – Creating a Stub Project
• Getting Around Android Studio
• Contents of Android Projects
• Introducing Gradle and the Manifest
• Tutorial #3 – Changing Our Manifest (and Gradle File)
• Some Words About Resources
• Tutorial #4 – Adjusting Our Resources
• The Theory of Widgets
• The Android User Interface
• Basic Widgets
• Debugging Your App
• LinearLayout and the Box Model
• Other Common Widgets and Containers
• Tutorial #5 – Making Progress
• GUI Building, Continued
• AdapterViews and Adapters
• The WebView Widget
• Defining and Using Styles
• JARs and Library Projects
• Tutorial #6 – Adding a Library
• The Action Bar
• Tutorial #7 – Setting Up the Action Bar
• Android’s Process Model
• Activities and Their Lifecycles
• Tutorial #8 – Setting Up An Activity
• The Tactics of Fragments
• Tutorial #9 – Starting Our Fragments
• Swiping with ViewPager
• Tutorial #10 – Rigging Up a ViewPager
• Resource Sets and Configurations
• Material Design Basics
• Dealing with Threads
• Requesting Permissions
• Tutorial: Runtime Permission Support
• Assets, Files, and Data Parsing
• Tutorial #11 – Adding Simple Content
• Tutorial #12 – Displaying the Book
• Using Preferences
• Tutorial #13 – Using Some Preferences
• SQLite Databases
• Tutorial #14 – Saving Notes
• Internet Access
• Intents, Intent Filters
• Broadcasts and Broadcast Receivers
• Tutorial #15 – Sharing Your Notes
• Services and the Command Pattern
• Tutorial #16 – Updating the Book
• Large-Screen Strategies and Tactics
• Tutorial #17 – Supporting Large Screens
• Backwards Compatibility Strategies and Tactics
• System Services
• Google Play Services
• Getting Help
• Working with Library Projects
• Gradle and Legacy Projects
• Gradle and Tasks
• Gradle and the New Project Structure
• Gradle and Dependencies
• Manifest Merger Rules
• Signing Your App
• Distribution
• Advanced Gradle for Android Tips
• Testing with JUnit4
• Testing with UI Automator
• Measuring Test Coverage
• Unit Testing
• MonkeyRunner and the Test Monkey
• Notifications
• Advanced Notifications
• Introducing GridLayout
• The Percent Support Library
• Dialogs and DialogFragments
• Advanced ListViews
• Action Bar Navigation
• Action Modes
• Other Advanced Action Bar Techniques
• Toolbar
• AppCompat: The Official Action Bar Backport
• RecyclerView
• Implementing a Navigation Drawer
• The Android Design Support Library
• Advanced Uses of WebView
• The Input Method Framework
• Fonts
• Rich Text
• Animators
• Legacy Animations
• Custom Drawables
• Mapping with Maps V2
• Crafting Your Own Views
• Advanced Preferences
• Custom Dialogs and Preferences
• Progress Indicators
• More Fun with Pagers
• Focus Management and Accessibility
• Miscellaneous UI Tricks
• Event Bus Alternatives
• Tasks
• The Assist API (“Now On Tap”)
• The Data Binding Framework
• Desktop Android Apps
• Drag and Drop
• Keyboard and Mouse Input
• Home Screen App Widgets
• Adapter-Based App Widgets
• Content Provider Theory
• Content Provider Implementation Patterns
• The Loader Framework
• The ContactsContract and CallLog Providers
• The CalendarContract Provider
• The MediaStore Provider
• Consuming Documents
• Providing Documents
• Encrypted Storage
• Packaging and Distributing Data
• Advanced Database Techniques
• Data Backup
• SSL
• NetCipher
• Embedding a Web Server
• Miscellaneous Network Capabilities
• Audio Playback
• Audio Recording
• Video Playback
• Using the Camera via 3rd-Party Apps
• Working Directly with the Camera
• Media Routes
• Supporting External Displays
• Google Cast and Chromecast
• The “Ten-Foot UI”
• Putting the TVs All Together: Decktastic
• Creating a MediaRouteProvider
• Screenshots and Screen Recordings
• Advanced Permissions
• Restricted Profiles and UserManager
• Miscellaneous Security Techniques
• AlarmManager and the Scheduled Service Pattern
• PowerManager and WakeLocks
• JobScheduler
• Accessing Location-Based Services
• The Fused Location Provider
• Working with the Clipboard
• Telephony
• Working With SMS
• NFC
• Device Administration
• Basic Use of Sensors
• Printing and Document Generation
• Dealing with Different Hardware
• Writing and Using Parcelables
• Responding to URLs
• Plugin Patterns
• PackageManager Tricks
• Remote Services and the Binding Pattern
• Advanced Manifest Tips
• Miscellaneous Integration Tips
• Reusable Components
• Android Studio Editors and Dialogs
• Advanced Emulator Capabilities
• Lint and the Support Annotations
• Using Hierarchy View
• Screenshots and Screencasts
• ADB Tips and Tricks
• Issues with Speed
• Finding CPU Bottlenecks
• Focus On: NDK
• Improving CPU Performance in Java
• Finding and Eliminating Jank
• Issues with Bandwidth
• Focus On: TrafficStats
• Measuring Bandwidth Consumption
• Being Smarter About Bandwidth
• Issues with Application Heap
• Finding Memory Leaks
• Issues with System RAM
• Issues with Battery Life
• Power Measurement Options
• Sources of Power Drain
• Addressing Application Size Issues
• The Role of Scripting Languages
• The Scripting Layer for Android
• JVM Scripting Languages
• Crash Reporting Using ACRA
• In-App Diagnostics
• Anti-Patterns
• Widget Catalog: AdapterViewFlipper
• Widget Catalog: CalendarView
• Widget Catalog: DatePicker
• Widget Catalog: ExpandableListView
• Widget Catalog: SeekBar
• Widget Catalog: SlidingDrawer
• Widget Catalog: StackView
• Widget Catalog: TabHost and TabWidget
• Widget Catalog: TimePicker
• Widget Catalog: ViewFlipper
• Chrome and Chrome OS
• Device Catalog: Kindle Fire
• Device Catalog: BlackBerry
• Device Catalog: Android TV
• Device Catalog: Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
• Appendix A: CWAC Libraries
• Appendix B: N Developer Preview
• Appendix C: Community Theater and the Appinars