Developing Android on Android Automate Your Device with Scripts and Tasks

220 Pages·2013·24.63 MB·English

by  Mike Riley

Developing Android on Android
Automate Your Device with Scripts and Tasks
Mike Riley
The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Dallas, Texas • Raleigh, North Carolina
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The Android robot is reproduced or modified from work created and shared by Google and
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The team that produced this book includes:
Jacquelyn Carter (editor)
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Molly McBeath (copyeditor)
David J Kelly (typesetter)
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Copyright © 2013 The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN-13: 978-1-937785-54-3
Encoded using the finest acid-free high-entropy binary digits.
Book version: P1.0—November 2013
This book is dedicated to my three favorite
M’s: Marinette, Marielle, and Mitchell.
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Part I — Customize
1. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Analyzing Your Mobile Lifestyle 3
1.2 Mobile Personalization 6
1.3 Next Steps 8
2. Personalizing Your Home Screen . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Launchers 10
2.2 Widgets 14
2.3 Floaters 19
2.4 Home Screen Customization 22
2.5 Next Steps 25
3. Listening to Your Android . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1 Wearable Computing 27
3.2 The Sound of Data 29
3.3 Button Control 33
3.4 Next Steps 37
Part II — Explore
4. Automating with Tasker . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.1 Introducing Tasker 41
4.2 Talking Clock 43
4.3 Train Station Alarm 53
Contents • vi
4.4 Tasker App Factory 57
4.5 Next Steps 61
5. Scripting with SL4A . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.1 SL4A: Scripting Layer for Android 63
5.2 Programming with SL4A 67
5.3 Scheduling the SL4A Script 69
5.4 Other Android-Ported Languages 71
5.5 Next Steps 72
6. Programming with AIDE . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.1 Getting Started 76
6.2 Programming the Clock 78
6.3 The Clock Is Running 84
6.4 Talking Clock Automation 86
6.5 Next Steps 88
Part III — Build
7. Tasker Pomodoro Widget . . . . . . . . . 93
7.1 Rapid Tasker Prototyping 93
7.2 Pomodoro Widget Redux 98
7.3 Testing the Revised Widget 107
7.4 Addressing the Limitations 111
7.5 Next Steps 113
8. Messaging Projects . . . . . . . . . . . 115
8.1 Check Email 115
8.2 Speak ’n’ Tweet 126
8.3 Jabber Tracker 136
8.4 Next Steps 143
9. Notification Projects . . . . . . . . . . 145
9.1 Talking Notifications 145
9.2 Forecast.io 151
9.3 AutoNotification 158
9.4 Next Steps 163
10. Graphics Projects . . . . . . . . . . . 165
10.1 Application Launcher 165
10.2 Twitch.tv Widget 172
10.3 Next Steps 183
Contents • vii
Part IV — Appendixes
A1. Android Programming Tools . . . . . . . . 187
A1.1 Code Editors 187
A1.2 Source Version Control 193
A1.3 Miscellaneous Tools 198
A2. Resources on the Web . . . . . . . . . . 201
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Acknowledgments
This is my second book for Pragmatic Bookshelf, and it has been a pleasure
to once again work with my dedicated and insightful development editor,
Jackie Carter. If you can follow along with the projects without any problem,
you have Jackie to thank. Her editorial skills and professional project man-
agement were crucial in keeping the book flowing smoothly and on schedule.
I would also like to thank all the wonderful technical editors and beta reader
participants who shared valuable feedback, caught typos and other errors,
and generally offered excellent suggestions on improving the quality of the
book. In particular, I would like to thank Mike Bengtson for his awesome
ingenuity, Corey Butler for his progressive technical edge, Ed Burnette for
his pragmatic expertise, John Cairns for his eagle-eye criticality, and Glen
Ferrel for his proofreading expertise and infectious enthusiasm. I also want
to give a big shout-out to Dr. James Withers and Simon Wood (two of the
geniuses behind the awesome SwiftKey Android soft keyboard replacement
program) for their eagle-eye analysis of the book’s content. And a special
thank-you goes to Jan Debiec and Cristina Zamora for their vigilant review
of the material, active participation in the beta, and unending encouragement
for my work. I am so blessed and humbled to be surrounded by such techni-
cally minded people as gifted, kind, and supportive as you.
No amount of thanks can match the sacrifice my family made to give me the
time to devote to another book. I promise to take a break from book writing
for a while so I can make up for lost time with you.
Lastly, a big high-five to publishers Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas for once
again entrusting me to deliver a book worthy of the Pragmatic Bookshelf
imprint. Thank you for giving me such a wonderfully rewarding opportunity
to do so.
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Introduction
In this book, we’re going on a journey of discovery. We’re going to discover
how amazing the Android OS is and how it is transforming the way people
communicate. We’re also going to learn how to leave our legacy desktop PCs
behind, even for native Android application development needs.
The idea for this book was the result of a conversation I had with Pragmatic
Bookshelf publisher Dave Thomas. He had just acquired a Galaxy S3 Android
phone and wanted to know what kind of cool things he could do with it. Since
I have been an Android user since the release of the first commercial Android
phone, the G1, I had a few suggestions on where to start. As he became more
enthusiastic about the broad possibilities of customization and personalization
that the Android platform has to offer, a new book on the subject started to
crystallize.
The objectives of this book are simple. You will learn about how to apply and
codify your mobile automation needs in an Android program. Using both
scripting and native application development approaches, we will build several
programs that not only teach you how to quickly automate your mobile lifestyle
but also give you the skills to extend these programs beyond their tutorial
roots.
Why Android? Why Now?
The Android OS is several years old, and its design principles (a modern, true
multitasking mobile OS with built-in memory, permissions management, and
so on) have been the same since its inception. So why is this book relevant
now compared to five years ago, when Android was first introduced?
Obviously, the platform has matured considerably in that time. It has also
greatly benefited from its open source approach by fostering significantly
faster innovation compared to closed, proprietary operating systems. Take a
look at a first-generation iPhone compared to the iPhone 5. While the hardware
has vastly improved, the primary user interface is nearly identical. Consider
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