Android App Development Notes

Android Studio Tips

Go to Help Default Keymap Reference, and use the keyboard shortcuts.
Basic Overview of an App
Each activity is like one screen in the app. Each activity has a java file for the backend and an XML file for the front-end.
Activity States
Use Log for debugging.

Designing the UI
To manually add an activity, right click the package folder in the Java folder, go to
New, and click Activity. This generates an XML file, java file, and updates the
manifest file for you.
Create an Interface with Java
To create a dynamic interface, create it with Java rather than XML.
In the Java file, you must import the typical XML elements you would need such as
the layout, buttons, and fields.
Adding properties to widgets
To position elements, create a new object of type RelativeLayout.LayoutParams. In
its constructor, pass in the height and width (Use
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT). Then use the addRule method to
add positioning rules, such as (RelativeLayout.CENTER_VERTICAL). Then, when

adding the element to the layout using addView, pass the LayoutParams object as
the second parameter.
Adding more widgets
Adding more rules, where the first parameter is the positioning, and the second
parameter is the element being positioned relative to.
Converting DIP to pixels
Resources r = getResources();
int px = (int) TypedValue.applyDimension(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP, 200,
r.getDisplayMetrics());

GridView
Event Handling
Set an ID for each element.
In java file, import views that youre using.
Get a reference to the button.
Setup event listeners in onCreate.

Button buckysButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buckysButton);

buckysButton.setOnClickListener(
new Button.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View v) {
TextView buckysText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.buckysText);
buckysText.setText("LOL");
}
}
);

Multiple Event Listeners

Returning true in the callback method prevents the event from being handled by
another listener.
Gestures
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.GestureDetector;
import android.support.v4.view.GestureDetectorCompat;

Have the activity implement two interfaces:

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity implements GestureDetector.OnGestureListener,

GestureDetector.OnDoubleTapListener
Implement the interfaces.
Ovveride onTouchEvent to check if the event was a gesture.
@Override
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
this.gestureDetector.onTouchEvent(event);
return super.onTouchEvent(event);
}

Fragments
To add a fragment, right click on layout and add a new layout resource file.

To create the Java class for your fragment, right click on the package for your project under the
java folder, and add a new Java class. Extend the Fragment class. Then, override onCreateView.
@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, @Nullable ViewGroup container, @Nullable
Bundle savedInstanceState) {
View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.top_section_fragment, container, false);
return view;
}
To add a fragment to the main activity, select <fragment> at the very bottom of Palette.
Fragments do no interact directly. They use the MainActivity as a medium. In the fragment, import
all the widgets and android.app.Activity.
Master Detail Flow
To create a master detail flow, choose master detail flow when creating a new project. Edit the
Dummy Content inner class object, edit the detail_webpage_frament.xml, and edit the onCreateView
method in WebPageDetailFragment.java
Overflow Menu
In menu there is a file called menu_main.xml. That is for the overflow menu. There is a default
item in it for settings.
Put all items in a single group with android:checkableBehavior="single" so that only one can
be selected.
Add an item in the group:
<item
android:id="@+id/menu_red"
android:orderInCategory="1"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="@string/red_string"/>
OnOptionsItemsSelected in MainActivity is called whenever an item in the menu is clicked. Check
for which button was selected here, and carry out callback.
Animations and Transitions
To move an element, must set LayoutParams. Set LayoutParams with RelativeLayout.LayoutParams to
set position and ViewGroup.LayoutParams to set size. Use
TransitionManager.beginDelayedTransition(layout) to have smooth transition.
Intents
Intents take you from one activity to another.
In the button that leads to a new screen add
android:onClick="onClick"
to the XML. Then just make an onClick method in the java file.
Create a new activity by right clicking the java package and selecting blank activity (or
something).
To pass information to an intent use Intent.putExtra(key, value).
To retrieve information in the receiving class:
Bundle applesData = this.getIntent().getExtras().toString(key);

Broadcast Intents
Sending a broadcast intent:
Intent i = new Intent();

i.setAction("com.example.android.sendbroadcast");
i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_INCLUDE_STOPPED_PACKAGES);
this.sendBroadcast(i);
Receiving broadcast:
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Toast.makeText(context, "Broadcast received!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
}
Must specify filter in manifest file with <intent-filter> and <action android:name=WHATFILTER>
Threads
Use Runnable, which implements the run() method. Analogous to JavaFX Task.
Rule: Never change any user interface elements inside a runnable. Change the UI in a handler.
Handler handler = new Handler() {
@Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
TextView buckysText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.buckysText);
buckysText.setText("Nice job");
}
};
public void clickBuckysButton(View view) {
Runnable r = new Runnable () {
@Override
public void run() {
long futureTime = System.currentTimeMillis() + 10000;
while (System.currentTimeMillis() < futureTime) {
synchronized (this) {
try {
wait(futureTime - System.currentTimeMillis());
} catch (Exception e) {
}
}
}
handler.sendEmptyMessage(0);
}
};
Thread buckysThread = new Thread(r);
buckysThread.start();
}
Intent Service
Services: Code that runs in the backend.
2 rules for intent services:
Need constructor: pass in the name of the class to super.
Need to implement onHandleIntent
Register the service in XML manifest with <service android:name=classname/>
Start the service like a regular intent.
Intent intent = new Intent(this, BuckysIntentService.class);
startService(intent);
Services
Create a new class using the Service template.
Override onStartCommand, called whenever service started.
Override onDestroy.
Does not create a new thread automatically like IntentService, we must make our own.
Return Service.START_STICKY so that service will restart if it is ever cancelled.

Start the service like a normal intent.

Bound Services
Must make a new class inside Service class to connect client to service.

Then in client create a reference to MyService and create a ServiceConnection, overriding the
methods.

List View
Need something called an adapter to convert objects to list items.

To add event listeners on each item:

Custom ListView Row

Create the design for each fragment in a new XML document.

Create a custom adapter class that extends ArrayAdapter.

Saving Data with SQLite

Create an object to represent each row or entry in the table. Make sure there is an
underscore in front of each instance variable name.
Create a class MyDBHandler that handles everything going on with your database. This extends
SQLiteOpenHelper. Create constants for your database version, database name, table name, and
columns. Create the constructor, override onCreate and onUpgrade. onCreate creates the table with
a SQL query.
Notifications
Create a NotificanCompat.Builder object.

To customize the notification: