Pro Android (eBook)

Satya Komatineni has been programming for more than 20 years in the IT and Web space. He has had the opportunity to work with Assembly, C, C++, Rexx, Java, C#, Lisp, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, SVG, relational databases, object databases and related technologies. He has published more than 30 articles touching many of these areas, both in print and online. He has been a frequent speaker at O'Reilly Open Source Conference, speaking on innovations around Java and Web. Satya has done a considerable amount of original work in creating Aspire, a comprehensive open-source Java-based web framework, and has explored personal web productivity and collaboration tools through his open-source work for KnowledgeFolders.com. Satya holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Andhra University, India. You can find his website at SatyaKomatineni.com.

Contents at a Glance 5
Contents 6
About the Authors 13
About the Technical Reviewer 14
Acknowledgments 15
Introduction 16
Who This Book Is For 16
What This Book Covers 16
How to Contact the Authors 18
Introducing the Android Computing Platform 19
History of Android 21
Delving into the Dalvik VM 22
Comparing Android and Java ME 23
Understanding the Android Software Stack 26
Developing an End-User Application with the Android SDK 27
Taking Advantage of Android Source Code 36
Summary 37
Getting Your Feet Wet 38
Setting Up Your Environment 38
Learning the Fundamental Components 41
Hello World! 42
Exploring the Structure of an Android Application 45
Analyzing the Notepad Application 47
Examining the Application Lifecycle 55
Debugging Your App 58
Summary 59
Using Resources, Content Providers, and Intents 60
Understanding Resources 60
Understanding Content Providers 77
Understanding Intents 108
Summary 123
Building User Interfaces and Using Controls 124
UI Development in Android 124
Understanding Android’s Common Controls 130
Other Interesting Controls in Android 147
Understanding Layout Managers 148
Understanding Adapters 163
Debugging and Optimizing Layouts with the Hierarchy Viewer 166
Summary 167
Working with Menus and Dialogs 168
Understanding Android Menus 168
Working with Other Menu Types 180
Loading Menus Through XML Files 189
Using Dialogs in Android 193
Working with Managed Dialogs 203
Summary 213
Unveiling 2D Animation 214
Frame-by-Frame Animation 215
Layout Animation 221
View Animation 230
Summary 240
Exploring Security and Location-Based Services 241
Understanding the Android Security Model 241
Performing Runtime Security Checks 245
Working with Location-Based Services 254
Summary 278
Building and Consuming Services 279
Consuming HTTP Services 279
Doing Interprocess Communication 292
Summary 316
Using the Media Framework and Telephony APIs 317
Using the Media APIs 317
Using the Telephony APIs 332
Summary 340
Programming 3D Graphics with OpenGL 341
Understanding OpenGL 342
Using OpenGL ES 344
Creating and Using the OpenGL Test Harness 358
Summary 378
Managing and Organizing Preferences 379
Exploring the Preferences Framework 379
Understanding CheckBoxPreference 383
Understanding EditTextPreference 386
Understanding RingtonePreference 387
Organizing Preferences 389
Summary 392
Coming to Grips with 1.5 393
Installing the ADT Plug-in for Android 1.5 Development 393
Getting Started with Android 1.5 395
Creating an Android Virtual Device 399
Exploring Improvements to the Media Framework 400
Exploring Voice Recognition 408
Introducing the Input-Method Framework 410
Summary 410
Simplifying OpenGL and Exploring Live Folders 411
Simplifying OpenGL 412
Exploring Live Folders 420
The Future of Android and the 1.5 SDK 437
Key Online Resources for the 1.5 SDK 439
Summary 440
Index 441