Android Application Development in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself

Carmen Delessio is an experienced application developer who has worked as a developer, technical architect, and CTO in large and small organizations. Carmen began his online development career at Prodigy, where he worked on early Internet applications, shopping apps, and fantasy baseball. He is a graduate of Manhattanville College and lives in Pound Ridge, New York, with his wife, Amy, and daughter, Natalie.   Lauren Darcey is responsible for the technical leadership and direction of a small software company specializing in mobile technologies, including Android and iOS consulting services. With more than two decades of experience in professional software production, Lauren is a recognized authority in application architecture and the development of commercial-grade mobile applications. Lauren received a BS in computer science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.   Shane Conder has extensive application development experience and has focused his attention on mobile and embedded development for well over a decade. He has designed and developed many commercial applications for Android, iOS, BREW, BlackBerry, J2ME, Palm, and Windows Mobile—some of which have been installed on millions of phones worldwide. Shane has written extensively about the tech industry and is known for his keen insights regarding mobile development platform trends. Shane received a BS in computer science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  

Preface xiv

Part I: Android Fundamentals 1

HOUR 1: Introducing Android 3

Defining Android 3

Understanding Android Development 5

Beginning Android Studio 10

Summary 14

Q&A 14

Workshop 14

Exercise 15

HOUR 2: Understanding Intents 17

Using Intents to Start an Activity 17

Using Implicit Intents 27

Handling an Implicit Intent 32

Summary 34

Q&A 35

Workshop 35

Exercise 36

HOUR 3: Understanding Resources 37

Resources in Your Project 37

Understanding Common Resources. 40

Providing Alternative Resources. 48

Internationalization: Using Alternative Languages Resources 49

Summary 51

Q&A 52

Workshop 52

Exercises 52

HOUR 4: Activities and Fragments 53

Working with Activities 53

Understanding the Activity Lifecycle 63

Introducing Fragments 66

Summary 71

Q&A 71

Workshop 71

Exercises 72

HOUR 5: Responsive Apps: Running in the Background 73

Working in the Background 73

Using an AsyncTask 76

Service and IntentService 79

Summary 87

Q&A 87

Workshop 88

Exercise 88

Part II: Creating the User Interface 89

HOUR 6: Using Basic UI Controls 91

Using the Android Studio Palette 91

Handling User Input 92

Using Buttons for User Actions 97

Summary 102

Q&A 103

Workshop 103

Exercise 103

HOUR 7: Using Layouts 105

Getting Started with Layouts 105

Becoming a RelativeLayout Expert 108

Common Attributes 112

More Layout Types 114

Summary 116

Q&A 117

Workshop 117

Exercises 117

HOUR 8: ListViews and Adapters 119

Getting Started with ListViews 119

Extending Base Adapters 124

Introducing the View Holder Pattern 131

Summary 136

Q&A 136

Workshop 136

Exercises 137

HOUR 9: Material Design 139

The Evolution of App Design 139

Introducing Material Design 140

Implementing Material Design 145

Summary 159

Q&A 159

Workshop 160

Exercise 160

HOUR 10: More Views and Controls 161

Controls for Collecting Information 161

Indicating Progress 166

Displaying Data 170

More Views 174

Summary 177

Q&A 177

Workshop 177

Exercise 178

HOUR 11: ImageViews and Bitmaps 179

Examining ImageView 179

Using Bitmaps and Canvas 186

Introducing Picasso 192

Summary 192

Q&A 193

Workshop 193

Exercise 193

HOUR 12: Using VideoViews and Media 195

Playing Video 195

Handling VideoView Events 199

Playing Audio with MediaPlayer 202

More Media 204

Summary 205

Q&A 205

Workshop 205

Exercise 206

HOUR 13: Adding Navigation 207

Using the ActionBar 207

Introducing the Toolbar 214

Sliding Drawer Navigation. 219

Summary 228

Q&A 228

Workshop 229

Exercise 229

Part III: Working with Data 231

HOUR 14: Using the File System 233

File System Overview 233

Saving Data Privately in Your App 236

Saving Data in Public Folders 240

Summary 242

Q&A 242

Workshop 242

Exercise 243

HOUR 15: Using SharedPreferences 245

Using SharedPreferences to Store Data 245

Setting User Preferences 249

Summary 258

Q&A 258

Workshop 258

Exercise 259

HOUR 16: Using SQLite and File Storage 261

Organizing a Database with Tables 261

Managing Data with SQLiteOpenHelper 263

Adding, Deleting, and Updating Data. 266

Querying Data and Using Cursors 267

Using a Database in the App 269

Summary 274

Q&A 274

Workshop 274

Exercise 275

HOUR 17: Accessing the Cloud: Working with a Remote API 277

Fetching Remote Data 277

Using and Parsing JSON-Formatted Data 282

Putting the Pieces Together 286

Checking Connectivity. 290

Summary 294

Q&A 295

Workshop 295

Exercise 295

HOUR 18: Introducing Content Providers 297

Introducing Content Providers 297

All About the Calendar 298

Calendar Data via the Calendar Content Provider 300

Summary 308

Q&A 308

Workshop 309

Exercise 309

HOUR 19: Creating a Content Provider. 311

Specifying a URI for Data Retrieval 311

Using PieDbAdapter 312

Building a Content Provider 312

Using MyContentProvider in the App 319

Summary 321

Q&A 321

Workshop 322

Exercise 322

HOUR 20: Loaders and CursorAdapters. 323

How Loaders Work 323

Loader Classes 324

Understanding Loader States 325

Creating Cursor Adapters 330

The Rest of the App 333

Summary 333

Q&A 333

Workshop 334

Exercise 334

Part IV: Next Steps 335

HOUR 21: Using Notifications 337

Introducing Notifications 337

Creating and Managing Notifications 338

Customizing Notifications 344

Summary 345

Q&A 346

Workshop 346

Exercise 346

HOUR 22: Android TV and Wear Apps 347

Android as a Platform 347

Developing Android Wear Apps 348

Developing Android TV Apps 355

Summary 358

Q&A 358

Workshop 359

Exercise 359

HOUR 23: More Features to Explore 361

Using Google Play Services 361

Using Google Play Services for Location 364

Using Open Source and External SDKs 368

Digging Deeper into Android 369

Summary 373

Q&A 373

Workshop 374

Exercise 374

HOUR 24: Publishing Your Apps 375

Preparing for Release 375

Sharing Your App with the World 382

Monetizing Your App 384

Summary 385

Q&A 385

Workshop 385

Exercise 386

Index 387