Android Essentials

Android Essentials

by Chris Haseman
Released July 2008
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781430210641

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Android Essentials is a no—frills, no—nonsense, code—centric run through the guts of application development on Google's Mobile OS. This book uses the development of a sample application to work through topics, focusing on giving developers the essential tools and examples required to make viable commercial applications work. Covering the entirety of the Android catalog in less than 150 pages is simply impossible. Instead, this book focuses on just four main topics: the application life cycle and OS integration, user interface, location—based services, and networking.

  • Thorough, complete, and useful work on the nuts and bolts of application development in Android

  • Example driven and practically minded

  • A tool for hobbyists and professionals who want to create production—quality applications

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Contents
  4. About the Author
  5. Chapter 1: Introduction
    1. What You Need to Know to Start
    2. How to Best Use This Book
    3. Getting Started
      1. Installing Eclipse
      2. Getting the Android SDK
      3. Installing the Eclipse Plug-In
    4. The Android Project
    5. Running, Debugging, and Causing General Mayhem
  6. Chapter 2: The Application
    1. Getting Active
      1. Getting Splashy
    2. Creating the Intent Receiver
      1. Setting It Up
      2. Seeing the Intent Receiver in Action
      3. Triggering the Activity
    3. Who Do You Want to Humiliate Today?
      1. Nervous with the Service
      2. Zen and the Art of Getting Even
    4. Moving Data in Android
      1. Shameless Self-Promotion
      2. Adding Evil Corporate URLS with a Content Resolver
    5. Part of This Balanced Breakfast
  7. Chapter 3: User Interface
    1. Easy and Fast, the XML Layout
      1. Laying Out
      2. Scrolling, Text Entry, Buttons, and All the Simple Things in Life
    2. Waking Up the Widgets
      1. Widgets in Java
      2. Getting Under the Hood
    3. Custom UI Rendering with the Canvas
      1. Customizing the View
      2. Creating the Game Loop
      3. Bringing It All Together
    4. Using the User Interface
  8. Chapter 4: Location, Location, Location
    1. Where Am I?
      1. Building the LocationManager Object
      2. Look Up, Wave, the Satellites Are Watching...
    2. Google Maps
      1. A Metric Ton of Map Objects
      2. Moving the Map
      3. Taking Stock
      4. It's a Bird, It's a Plane...Nope, It's Bad Photoshoping
      5. Wrapping Up
  9. CHAPTER 5: Taking Android Out for a Walkp
    1. Loading a List from the Web
      1. First Things...First?
      2. Getting the Network in Gear
      3. Putting the Data in Its Place
    2. Making a List and Checking It...
      1. The Setup: Embracing the List
      2. Adding the Adapter
      3. Stuffing Data into the Adapter
      4. At Last, Adding the Data
      5. Selection...
    3. The Next Step
      1. Dressing Up the Menu
    4. Looking Back
  10. Chapter 6: Tying on a Bow
    1. The Making of an Application
      1. Looks Aren't Everything, Except, of Course, When They Are
      2. Location Isn't Too Important, Except When You Need Pizza at 4 a.m.
      3. Taking Off Android's Leash and Letting It Romp Around the Internet
      4. Overall
    2. Other Sources of Information
      1. Getting Help
    3. It's Time to Stop Reading and Start Helping
  11. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Android Essentials
  • Author(s): Chris Haseman
  • Release date: July 2008
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781430210641