Beginner's Guide to Android

Nick Butcher 9th May 2011 @crafty hashtags: #iobootcamp #android

Session Feedback

http://www.speakermeter.com/talks/guide-android/ http://goo.gl/XLLgk

Agenda
Android platform Writing your app Anatomy of an app Building your app Surfacing your Content Hardware Sensors Quality Tools Publishing your app Registering for Android Market Targeting

Many Devices, One Platform

170+ devices in 100+ countries Shipping 350K+ devices per day 1 year ago was 60K per day! > 1m new potential users every 3 days!! Any device with Google services must pass the Compatibility Test Suite Contract of device capabilities & APIs Support many screen sizes/resolutions Market filters on hardware availability

Many Devices, One Platform

New Platform/SDK releases Target latest but support older Gracefully degrade functionality

Source: Date collected during two weeks ending on April 1, 2011

Writing your app

An Android application is actually a collection of several components, each defined in AndroidManifest.xml

Anatomy of an App

Activity Service Content Provider Broadcast Receiver Intents Manifest

Anatomy of an App
Activity

A single screen with a user interface Independent but work together to form a cohesive whole Possible to invoke from other applications Extends the Activity class

Anatomy of an App
Service
Perform long-running operations in the background Does not provide a user interface Other components can bind/interact Extends the Service class

Anatomy of an App
Content provider
Manages a shared set of application data Consistent interface to retrieve/store data RESTful model CRUD operations Can be backed by different stores e.g. File System, SQLite DB, Web Can expose your data to other applications Can consumer data from other Content Providers e.g. Contacts or Call Log Extend the ContentProvider class

Anatomy of an App
Broadcast receiver
Respond to system wide messages Messages can be initiated by the system or an app 2 type of broadcast: Normal - delivered async to all receivers Ordered - delivered in priority order & can be aborted Can programatically register or statically register via the manifest Should be very light, pass any work onto a Service Extend the BroadcastReceiver class

Anatomy of an App Intents

Intents are the messages that link app components together Explicit / implicit An abstract description of an operation to be performed An Action to be performed The Data to operate upon Extra metadata Standardise on a common vocabulary of Actions e.g. 'View', 'Edit', 'Send' Apps register their ability to handle Actions for a given data type via IntentFilter

Anatomy of an App Intents

Publish an 'Intent API' Specify Action & Extras to invoke your component

Anatomy of an App Intents

Achieve complex tasks by calling other Application's Intents, e.g. scanning a barcode

Anatomy of an App Intents

Achieve complex tasks by calling other Application's Intents, e.g. scanning a barcode
Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN"); intent.setPackage("com.google.zxing.client.android"); intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "QR_CODE_MODE"); startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) { if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) { String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT"); String format = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT_FORMAT"); } else if (resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) { // Handle cancel } }

Anatomy of an App Intents

Achieve complex tasks by calling other Application's Intents, e.g. scanning a barcode
Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN"); intent.setPackage("com.google.zxing.client.android"); intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "QR_CODE_MODE"); startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) { if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) { String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT"); String format = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT_FORMAT"); } else if (resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) { // Handle cancel } }

Anatomy of an App Intents

Achieve complex tasks by calling other Application's Intents, e.g. scanning a barcode
Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN"); intent.setPackage("com.google.zxing.client.android"); intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "QR_CODE_MODE"); startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) { if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) { String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT"); String format = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT_FORMAT"); } else if (resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) { // Handle cancel } }

Anatomy of an App Intents

Achieve complex tasks by calling other Application's Intents, e.g. scanning a barcode
Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN"); intent.setPackage("com.google.zxing.client.android"); intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "QR_CODE_MODE"); startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) { if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) { String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT"); String format = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT_FORMAT"); } else if (resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) { // Handle cancel } }

Anatomy of an App Intents

Achieve complex tasks by calling other Application's Intents, e.g. scanning a barcode
Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN"); intent.setPackage("com.google.zxing.client.android"); intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "QR_CODE_MODE"); startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) { if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) { String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT"); String format = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT_FORMAT"); } else if (resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) { // Handle cancel } }

Anatomy of an App
Manifest
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest ...> <uses-feature ... /> <uses-permission ... /> <uses-sdk ... /> <application ...> <activity ...> ... </activity> <service ...> ... </service> <provider ...> ... </provider> <receiver ...> ... </receiver> </application> </manifest>

Declare components of your app Declare required features for your app State permissions required by your app State platform versions app is compatible with

Anatomy of an App
Activity lifecycle

Running in a multitasking environment Users switch apps, calls come in, system runs low on memory System invokes callbacks in your app The system will kill your app Be sure to save state!

Anatomy of an App
Activity lifecycle
Activity created

Simlpified, see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/activities.html#Lifecycle for more

Anatomy of an App
Activity lifecycle
Activity created

onCreate()

onResume()

Activity running

Simlpified, see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/activities.html#Lifecycle for more

Anatomy of an App
Activity lifecycle
onResume()

Activity running Call comes in onPause()

Simlpified, see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/activities.html#Lifecycle for more

Anatomy of an App
Activity lifecycle
onResume()

Activity running Return to app Call comes in onPause()

Simlpified, see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/activities.html#Lifecycle for more

Anatomy of an App
Activity lifecycle
onResume()

Activity running Activity destroyed Low Memory Return to app Call comes in onPause()

Simlpified, see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/activities.html#Lifecycle for more

Surfacing Your Content

Android offers unique ways to surface your content

Surfacing Your Content

Unobtrusive notifications

Event driven notifications Optional vibration / audio / LED alert Ticker text / pull down draw with more details Custom expanded view Deep link into your app with a PendingIntent

Surfacing Your Content

Unobtrusive notifications

Event driven notifications Optional vibration / audio / LED alert Ticker text / pull down draw with more details Custom expanded view Deep link into your app with a PendingIntent

Surfacing Your Content

Widgets

Display your app's info on the homescreen Updated regularly App can offer multiple widgets Great way to keep user engaged with your app

Surfacing Your Content

Cloud to Device Messages

Push messages from servers to app Send 'tickles' App doesn't have to be running App has full control over how it responds Efficient, event driven updates Uses existing network channel Minimal battery impact Android 2.2+

Building your App

UI Resource Framework Supporting Multiple Screens Hardware Sensors Background Tasks Accessibility Quality Tools

Building your App

UI
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout ... > <TextView android:id="@+id/text" android:text="Hello World!" ... /> <Button android:id="@+id/button" android:text="I am a Button" ... /> </LinearLayout>

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.main); }

UI is a hierarchy of View & ViewGroup Defined programatically or in XML Layout files Platform supplies common palette of widgets Create your own widgets

Building your App

Resources framework

Resources live in the res folder Qualifiers provide specific resources for different device configuration e.g. layout-land, drawable-hdpi Resources IDs automatically generated in R.java e.g. R.layout.main

See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/index.html for more

Building your App

Supporting multiple screens

Building your App

Supporting multiple screens

Building your App

Supporting multiple screens
Use RelativeLayout Size with wrap_content, match_parent, weight Use dp units Think web style layout Provide density specific assets e.g. drawable-hdpi Provide size specific layouts e.g. layout-xlarge Use 9-patch drawables

Building your App

Hardware Sensors
Many devices have access to a variety of sensors Accelerometer, Gravity, Gyroscope, Light, Magnetic Field Use SensorManager.getSensorList() to find out what is available SensorManager.registerListener() for sensor updates

See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Sensor.html for more

Building your App

Background tasks

More than just multitasking Use background tasks to provide fresh information Use the AlarmManager to schedule updates Use 'inexact repeating' to minimise power consumption Regularly sync content from the web Provide offline availability Great for regularly updated content e.g. news feeds

Building your App

Accessibility
Label controls and input widgets with android:contentDescription tag allows built in accessibility to work Allow navigation with trackball / d-pad where available Follow Android UI Best Practices
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/index.html

Back button should always move the user back one logical step Try it in accessible mode! Enable TalkBack in Settings -> Accessibility or download from Market

See http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/design/accessibility.html for more

Building your App

Quality
Work with the Activity lifecycle Offload any long running operation to a background thread Stability, UI Responsiveness, Performance Listen to your users, read their feedback regularly Work with a designer

Tools
1. Download and Install the Android SDK developer.android.com/sdk/index.html 2. Download and Install Eclipse http://eclipse.org 3. Install the Android Development Tools (ADT) Eclipse Plugin http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html#installing 4. Use SDK & AVD Manager in Eclipse to install the latest Android packages.
Full guide: http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html

Publishing Your App

Register For

Create a developer profile Register at http://market.android.com/publish One time $25 fee No limit to number of apps you can publish Developer Distribution Agreement To sell apps, create a Checkout Merchant Account

Upload Your App

No review process Publish as many updates as you like Updates available right away Supply promotional assets & video Max APK size 50MB Accessible on device & on Android Web Market View crash reports online View application statistics

Targeting
Only target specific countries Target specific hardware e.g. Telephony or OpenGL ES 2.0
// in AndroidManifest.xml <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.telephony" android:required="true" /> <uses-feature android:glEsVersion="0x00020000" android:required="true" />

Android Market will not show app to incompatible device

Recap
Android platform Writing your app Anatomy of an app Building your app Surfacing your Content Hardware Sensors Quality Tools Publishing your app Registering for Android Market Targeting

Session Feedback

http://www.speakermeter.com/talks/guide-android/ http://goo.gl/XLLgk