Chapter 18

Advanced Android Development

What's in this Chapter?

Securing Android using permissions

Sending server pushes with Cloud to Device Messaging

Adding copy protection with the License Verification Library

Monetizing with In-App Billing

Using Wake Locks

Inter-process communication (IPC) using AIDL and Parcelables

Improving application performance using Strict Mode

Ensuring backward and forward hardware and software compatibility

This chapter both returns to some of the possibilities touched on in previous chapters and introduces some of the more advanced options available for Android developers.

The chapter starts by taking a closer look at security—in particular, how permissions work and how to use them to secure your own applications and the data they contain.

Next, you'll be introduced to Android's Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) service and learn how to use it to eliminate polling within your application, replacing it with server-initiated pushes.

You'll also be introduced to the License Verification Library (LVL) and In-App Billing services. These services enable you to protect your applications from piracy and monetize them by selling virtual content.

The chapter then examines Wake Locks and the Android Interface Definition Language (AIDL). You'll use AIDL to create rich application interfaces that support full object-based inter-process communication (IPC) between Android applications running in different processes.

Finally, you'll learn how to build applications ...

Get Professional Android 4 Application Development, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

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