Hello, Android: Introducing Google’s Mobile Development Platform

232 Pages·2015·6.52 MB·English

by  Ed Burnette

More books at 1Bookcase.com
What Readers Are Saying About the Fourth Edition of
Hello, Android
Once again, Ed has created a very smart guide for beginner and intermediate
Android developers. It’s a practical, highly readable guide whether you are just
entering the world of Android application development, or if you have some expe-
rience but want to dive more deeply into concepts like basic game creation, ani-
mations, sound effects, threading, databases, and Google Play Services.
➤ Diego Torres Milano
Geek, Android system engineer, Linux advocate, and author
For a quick dip in the Android app development waters, it’s tough to beat this
updated version of the original book on the subject!
➤ Mark Murphy
Founder, CommonsWare and author of The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android
Development
Hello, Android concisely covers a lot of ground with engaging examples and an
enjoyable writing style. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to ramp up
quickly in Android development.
➤ Jason Pike
Software developer, theswiftlearner.com
The chapter on the Play Store was a wake-up call, showing how easy it is to get
an app on there, in comparison with the fruity app store.
➤ Stephen Wolff
Director, Max Gate Digital Ltd.
More books at 1Bookcase.com
We've left this page blank to
make the page numbers the
same in the electronic and
paper books.
We tried just leaving it out,
but then people wrote us to
ask about the missing pages.
Anyway, Eddy the Gerbil
wanted to say “hello.”
More books at 1Bookcase.com
Hello, Android
Introducing Google’s Mobile Development Platform,
Fourth Edition
Ed Burnette
The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Dallas, Texas • Raleigh, North Carolina
More books at 1Bookcase.com
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products
are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and The Pragmatic
Programmers, LLC was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in
initial capital letters or in all capitals. The Pragmatic Starter Kit, The Pragmatic Programmer,
Pragmatic Programming, Pragmatic Bookshelf, PragProg and the linking g device are trade-
marks of The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.
Every precaution was taken in the preparation of this book. However, the publisher assumes
no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages that may result from the use of
information (including program listings) contained herein.
Our Pragmatic courses, workshops, and other products can help you and your team create
better software and have more fun. For more information, as well as the latest Pragmatic
titles, please visit us at https://pragprog.com.
The team that produced this book includes:
Susannah Davidson Pfalzer (editor)
Potomac Indexing, LLC (indexer)
Liz Welch (copyeditor)
Dave Thomas (typesetter)
Janet Furlow (producer)
Ellie Callahan (support)
For international rights, please contact [email protected].
Copyright © 2015 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: 978-1-68050-037-0
Encoded using the finest acid-free high-entropy binary digits.
Book version: P1.0—May 2015
More books at 1Bookcase.com
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Part I — Introducing Android
1. Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Installing the Tools 3
Creating Your First Program 6
Running on the Android Emulator 9
Running on a Real Device 10
Additional Steps 11
Fast-Forward >> 13
2. Key Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Big Picture 15
Building Blocks 19
It’s Alive! 22
Safe and Secure 26
Fast-Forward >> 27
Part II — Let’s Play a Game
3. Opening Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Creating the Tic-Tac-Toe Example 31
Designing in XML 33
Filling In the Code 39
Adding an About Box 42
Defining Resources 43
Debugging 48
Fast-Forward >> 51
More books at 1Bookcase.com
•
Contents vi
4. Defining the Game Interface . . . . . . . . . 53
The Game Board 53
Starting a Game 60
Controlling the Game 76
Super-Size Me 78
Fast-Forward >> 81
5. Ghost in the Machine . . . . . . . . . . 83
Introduction to AI 83
Simulating Thought 85
Making Your Move 89
Fast-Forward >> 91
6. Adding Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The Sound of Music 93
Music to Play By 95
It Goes Ding When There’s Stuff 97
Fast-Forward >> 99
7. Adding Animation . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Never-Ending Scroller 101
Bouncing Tiles 105
Fast-Forward >> 109
Part III — Thinking Outside the Box
8. Write Once, Test Everywhere . . . . . . . . 113
Gentlemen, Start Your Emulators 114
The Good, The Bad,… 117
All Screens Great and Small 119
Fast-Forward >> 124
9. Publishing to the Play Store . . . . . . . . 125
Preparing 125
Signing 126
Testing 129
Publishing 130
Updating 132
Tips 132
Fast-Forward >> 133
More books at 1Bookcase.com
•
Contents vii
Part IV — Beyond the Basics
10. Connecting to the World . . . . . . . . . 137
Browsing by Intent 138
Web with a View 142
From JavaScript to Java and Back 146
Fast-Forward >> 152
11. Calling Web Services . . . . . . . . . . 155
Using Web Services 155
The Suggest Example 157
Threading the Needle 161
Loose Ends 163
The Suggest Task 165
Fast-Forward >> 168
12. Using Google Play Services . . . . . . . . . 169
How It Works 169
Using Location Services 170
Fast-Forward >> 181
13. Putting SQL to Work . . . . . . . . . . 183
Introducing SQLite 183
SQL 101 184
Hello, Database 186
Data Binding 193
Using a ContentProvider 196
Implementing a ContentProvider 199
Using Loaders 200
Closing Thoughts 202
Part V — Appendixes
A1. Java vs. the Android Language and APIs . . . . . 207
Language Subset 207
Standard Library Subset 209
Third-Party Libraries 211
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
More books at 1Bookcase.com
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank the many people who made this book possible, including the
readers of the previous editions for all their great suggestions; my editor,
Susannah Pfalzer, for her attention to detail; Craig Castelaz, Javier Collado,
Eric Hung, Edward Ingram, Chris Johnson, Howard Koslow, Helen Li, Irakli
Nadareishvili, Jan Nonnen, Jason Pike, Mike Riley, Sam Rose, Loren Sands-
Ramshaw, Carlos Santana, Charley Stran, and Stephen Wolff for providing
valuable review comments; and especially Lisa, Chris, and Michael, for their
continued patience and support.
More books at 1Bookcase.com report erratum • discuss