Essentials of Android App Development and More Essentials

Video description

Essentials of Android App Development
6+ Hours of Video Instruction

The Essentials of Android Application Development LiveLessons (Second Edition) provides developers with a hands-on introduction to Android application development, covering the most important classes and techniques.

Description

In this video training, Ian starts with the installation of Android Studio, configuring an emulator, preparing a device for development, and creating a simple “hello world” app. He then systematically covers each of the essential parts of Android application development, starting with views, activities, and fragments. Using an AsyncTask to perform background operations comes next, and then services, BroadcastReceivers, and system notifications are explained. The video continues with saving data via SharedPreferences and the file system and enhancing the UI with themes and animations and finishes with tips for becoming more efficient with Android Studio and how to submit an app to the Play Store. After watching this video series, developers will be able to create Android applications from scratch and dive into advanced Android topics.

Related Files

Download the code files associated with this LiveLesson from www.informit.com/title/9780134427348.
Related Video
https://www.informit.com/store/essentials-of-android-application-development-livelessons-9780132996587

Skill Level
  • Beginner to intermediate
What You Will Learn
  • Install and use Android Studio
  • Create an Android application
  • Customize the UI with views, themes, and animations
  • Run code in the background
  • Create and use services, BroadcastReceivers, and system notifications
  • Save data to SharedPreferences and the file system
  • Become efficient with Android Studio and submit an app to the Play Store
Who Should Take This Course
  • Developers who want to quickly learn the core of Android application development
Course Requirements
  • Basic understanding of programming and development
  • Familiarity with the Java programming language
Table of Contents
In Lesson 1, “Creating Your First Android App,” you download the tools used by any Android application developer and use them to create your first Android app. You learn how to run it using an emulator as well as how to run it on your own device.

In Lesson 2, “Building the User Interface,” you learn to create a user interface by using the visual tools and the underlying XML. This covers views, resources, and even the efficient use of ListView.

In Lesson 3, “Creating More Screens,” you advance your Android knowledge with an improved understanding of Activities and Fragments, two classes core to creating Android apps, and then learn to take advantage of the Android support library, allowing your app to run on a wide range of Android versions.

Lesson 4, “Running in the Background the Simple Way,” shows you how to keep your applications efficient and responsive by utilizing an AsyncTask to perform long-running tasks in the background.

Sometimes you need to perform tasks that aren't directly tied into the UI, and that’s when services and broadcast receivers come into play. Lesson 5, “Interacting with a Service,” rounds off this knowledge with an understanding of Android’s excellent notification system.

What app doesn't make use of saving and retrieving data? In Lesson 6, “Saving Simple Data,” you learn two of the most common mechanisms for doing this, including working with SharedPreferences as well as the file system.

After maturing for years, Android has become a robust platform where enhancing your user interface is vital to standing out. In Lesson 7, “Enhancing Your User Interface,” you learn to utilize styles, themes, and custom animations.

In Lesson 8, “Rounding out Your Knowledge,” you learn to use Android Studio much more efficiently, taking advantage of shortcuts and live templates. Then you submit an application to Google Play to share with the world.

More Essential Android App Development

7+ Hours of Video Instruction

More Essential Android App Development LiveLessons is a continuation of Essentials of Android Application Development, taking a deeper look at Android topics and covering features that are vital to developing excellent Android applications.

Description
In this video training, Ian starts with message loop and threading. He then focuses on Android’s sensor architecture, showing how to use the light sensor, how to determine linear acceleration, and even how to batch sensor events for efficiency. Continuing on, Ian covers SQLite databases for both direct use and use in the implementation of a ContentProvider. After that comes integration with Google Play Services, showing how to use maps and location data. Building basic custom views and then more advanced custom views follows, and the final lesson covers powerful but easy uses of RenderScript. After watching this video series, developers will be able to create advanced Android apps using a variety of features.

Skill Level
  • All Levels
What You Will Learn
  • Handle threading and communicating across threads
  • Efficiently use a variety of sensors
  • Create and query SQLite databases
  • Implement custom ContentProviders
  • Integrate with Google Play Services for maps and location data
  • Build basic custom views
  • Develop advanced custom views
  • Modify images with RenderScript
Who Should Take This Course
  • Developers who need to quickly learn advanced techniques for Android application development
Course Requirements
  • Familiarity with the Java programming language
  • Basic understanding of Android application development
Table of Contents
Lesson 1, “Working with Message Loop and Threading,” covers Android’s message loop and how to correctly use threading. This lesson shows how to use thread pools and executors and how to build custom handler objects for communicating across threads.

Lesson 2, “Using Sensors,” looks at Android’s sensor framework and how to efficiently use it. This lesson goes over all the sensors available as well as shows detailed usage of the light sensor and linear accelerometer. It also explains how to use batch readings for more efficiency.

Lesson 3, “Using SQLite Databases,” explains how to use SQLite databases for storage and retrieval needs in an Android app. The lesson looks at the concepts and then covers implementation of creating a database and querying it.

Lesson 4, “Getting Started with ContentProviders,” shows how to create a custom ContentProvider, which allows communicating data across Android apps in a structured way. It also explains how to use a custom ContentProvider from another app.

Lesson 5, “Integrating Google Play Services,” breaks down the complexities of Google Play Services. This lesson shows how to use Google Play Services for displaying interactive maps with custom markers and how to query for device location with or without the use of a map.

Lesson 6, “Building Basic Custom Views,” tackles the challenging task of building a custom view. It covers the important concepts to understand when developing a view and then shows the implementation of measuring, layout, and drawing in a custom view.

Lesson 7, “Learning Advanced Custom Views,” dives into the more challenging aspects of custom views. This lesson explains how to use advanced drawing techniques, handle touch interactions, respond to gestures, and support custom view attributes.

Lesson 8, “Modifying Images with RenderScript,” covers real-world uses for RenderScript. This lesson starts with an explanation of RenderScript and then shows how to blur images efficiently. It finishes with how to use advanced convolution to modify images in complex ways easily.

About LiveLessons Video Training
LiveLessons Video Training series publishes hundreds of hands-on, expert-led video tutorials covering a wide selection of technology topics designed to teach you the skills you need to succeed. This professional and personal technology video series features world-leading author instructors published by your trusted technology brands: Addison-Wesley, Cisco Press, IBM Press, Pearson IT Certification, Prentice Hall, Sams, and Que. Topics include: IT Certification, Programming, Web Development, Mobile Development, Home and Office Technologies, Business and Management, and more. View all LiveLessons on InformIT at: http://www.informit.com/livelessons

Table of contents

  1. The Essentials of Android Application Development
    1. Introduction 00:01:36
  2. Lesson 1: Creating Your First Android App
    1. Learning Objectives 00:00:59
    2. 1.1 Install Android Studio 00:05:38
    3. 1.2 Set up an emulator 00:12:22
    4. 1.3 Set up a device 00:03:34
    5. 1.4 Create a hello world app 00:24:22
  3. Lesson 2: Building the User Interface
    1. Learning Objectives 00:01:02
    2. 2.1 Add simple views to a layout 00:23:42
    3. 2.2 Reference Android resources 00:20:12
    4. 2.3 Use a ListView quickly 00:33:37
    5. 2.4 Use the view holder pattern 00:09:12
  4. Lesson 3: Creating More Screens
    1. Learning Objectives 00:01:16
    2. 3.1 Create and launch Activities 00:24:49
    3. 3.2 Transition to Fragments 00:26:52
    4. 3.3 Build additional Fragments 00:14:17
    5. 3.4 Use the support library and ViewPager 00:34:12
  5. Lesson 4: Running in the Background the Simple Way
    1. Learning Objectives 00:01:15
    2. 4.1 Run an AsyncTask--Part 1 00:18:30
    3. 4.2 Run an AsyncTask--Part 2 00:23:06
  6. Lesson 5: Interacting with a Service
    1. Learning Objectives 00:01:31
    2. 5.1 Create and start a service 00:09:56
    3. 5.2 Use an IntentService 00:11:11
    4. 5.3 Communicate with a BroadcastReceiver--Part 1 00:05:55
    5. 5.4 Communicate with a BroadcastReceiver--Part 2 00:10:02
    6. 5.5 Display a system notification 00:23:29
  7. Lesson 6: Saving Simple Data
    1. Learning Objectives 00:00:54
    2. 6.1 Store data in SharedPreferences 00:10:35
    3. 6.2 Use the file system 00:14:14
  8. Lesson 7: Enhancing Your User Interface
    1. Learning Objectives 00:01:11
    2. 7.1 Extend the application's theme—Part 1 00:13:00
    3. 7.2 Extend the application's theme—Part 2 00:12:44
    4. 7.3 Animate the views 00:12:59
    5. 7.4 Animate the transitions 00:12:31
  9. Lesson 8: Rounding Out Your Knowledge
    1. Learning Objectives 00:00:47
    2. 8.1 Become efficient with Android Studio 00:12:06
    3. 8.2 Submit to the Google Play Store 00:23:30
  10. Summary
    1. Summary of Essentials of Android App Development 00:01:04
  11. More Essentials of Android App Development
    1. Introduction 00:01:39
  12. Lesson 1: Working with Message Loop and Threading
    1. Learning objectives 00:00:52
    2. 1.1 Understand threading and synchronization 00:14:02
    3. 1.2 Use thread pools and executors 00:11:09
    4. 1.3 Create a custom handler and handle message objects 00:30:29
  13. Lesson 2: Using Sensors
    1. Learning objectives 00:01:14
    2. 2.1 Understand general sensor concepts 00:09:04
    3. 2.2 Set up the sensor code 00:13:42
    4. 2.3 Read from light sensor 00:04:28
    5. 2.4 Determine the linear acceleration 00:11:01
    6. 2.5 Use batch sensor readings 00:09:48
  14. Lesson 3: Using SQLite Databases
    1. Learning objectives 00:00:58
    2. 3.1 Understand SQLite databases 00:05:46
    3. 3.2 Create a SQLite database 00:16:28
    4. 3.3 Query a SQLite database, part I 00:05:50
    5. 3.4 Query a SQLite database, part II 00:27:52
  15. Lesson 4: Getting Started with ContentProviders
    1. Learning objectives 00:00:51
    2. 4.1 Create a ContentProvider 00:33:01
    3. 4.2 Use a ContentProvider 00:27:11
  16. Lesson 5: Integrating Google Play Services
    1. Learning objectives 00:00:55
    2. 5.1 Understand what Google Play Services is and does 00:18:14
    3. 5.2 Display an interactive map, part I 00:11:20
    4. 5.3 Display an interactive map, part II 00:12:29
    5. 5.4 Locate the device 00:13:14
  17. Lesson 6: Building Basic Custom Views
    1. Learning objectives 00:00:56
    2. 6.1 Understand view concepts 00:08:09
    3. 6.2 Measure and lay out the view 00:13:01
    4. 6.3 Draw basic pixels on the canvas 00:13:17
  18. Lesson 7: Learning Advanced Custom Views
    1. Learning objectives 00:01:08
    2. 7.1 Draw advanced pixels on the canvas 00:12:47
    3. 7.2 Handle touches 00:24:54
    4. 7.3 Respond to gestures 00:17:54
    5. 7.4 Support custom attributes 00:09:16
  19. Lesson 8: Modifying Images with RenderScript
    1. Learning objectives 00:01:00
    2. 8.1 Understand the use of RenderScript 00:04:06
    3. 8.2 Blur an image with RenderScript 00:10:20
    4. 8.3 Use convolution for advanced needs 00:12:51
  20. Summary
    1. Summary of More Essentials of Android App Development 00:01:11

Product information

  • Title: Essentials of Android App Development and More Essentials
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: December 2015
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 0134299728