1-Android Introduction.pdf

What is Android? mobile operating system maintained by Google – originally purchased from Android, Inc. in 2005 runs on phones, tablets, watches, TVs,... based on Java (dev language) and Linux (kernel) the #1 mobile OS worldwide – and now #1 overall O...

What is Android? mobile operating system maintained by Google – originally purchased from Android, Inc. in 2005 runs on phones, tablets, watches, TVs,... based on Java (dev language) and Linux (kernel) the #1 mobile OS worldwide – and now #1 overall OS worldwide! has over 1 million apps published in Play Store code is released as open source (periodically) – easier to customize, license, pirate, etc. than iOS  Why develop for Android? Why not just write a web site? Android has a browser... – better, snappier UI with a more consistent user experience – able to use different kinds of widgets/controls than in a web page – more direct access to the device's hardware (camera, GPS, etc.) – users highly prefer apps over mobile web browsing  Why not iOS? Why not write apps for iOS, which runs on iPhones and iPads? – familiar programming language (Java instead of Obj-C or Swift) – free developer tools (Apple charges $$$ for theirs) – more liberated app store (can make an app and put on your phone or others') – Android has a larger install base – there is already a CS 193P class for building iOS apps! Take it!  Android architecture Android OS provides libraries for many system features like contacts, phone dialing, notifications, 2D/3D graphics, database access, security / encryption, camera, audio, input/output,... – Android Java code is compiled into a special Dalvik binary format  Android version history (link) Version API level Date Name 1.0-1.1 1,2 Sep 2008 none 1.5 3 Apr 2009 Cupcake 1.6 4 Sep 2009 Donut 2.0-2.1 5,6,7 Oct 2009 Eclair 2.2 8 May 2010 Froyo 2.3 9,10 Dec 2010 Gingerbread 3.0 11,12,13 Feb 2011 Honeycomb 4.0 14,15 Oct 2011 Ice Cream Sandwich 4.1-4.3 16,17,18 Jun 2012 Jelly Bean 4.4 19,20 Sep 2013 Kit Kat 5.0 21 Jun 2014 Lollipop What about latest android version ? Android version distribution  Version issues Check your phone's version of Android: – Settings → System → About Device → Android version – "Why wouldn't my phone have the newest Android version? Can't I just update it?" Several companies affect whether your device is up-to-date: – Google; phone manufacturer; service provider;... If any company in the chain doesn't want to push out an update for your device, it can become out of date.  Android Studio Google's official Android IDE, in v1.0 as of November 2014 – replaces previous Eclipse-based environment – based on IntelliJ IDEA editor; free to download and use  Project structure AndroidManifest.xml – overall project config and settings src/java/... – source code for your Java classes res/... = resource files (many are XML) – drawable/ = images – layout/ = descriptions of GUI layout – menu/ = overall app menu options – values/ = constant values and arrays – strings = localization data – styles = general appearance styling Gradle – a build/compile management system – build.gradle = main build config file  Virtual Devices (AVDs) allows you to run your project in an emulator – a software simulation of an entire Android tablet, phone, watch – when you click the "Run" button in Android Studio, it builds your app, installs it on the virtual device, and loads it must set up virtual device first in Android Studio alternative: install your app on your actual Android device! – pro: app will run faster, better test of real execution – con: requires Android device, must be plugged into dev PC App build process  Top-down design Let's start from a design of an app that we want to create and then learn the necessary skills to build that app. "Bigger Number" game (really dumb) – user is shown two numbers – must choose which one is bigger by clicking on the appropriate button – game pops up brief "correct" / "incorrect" message after each guess – get points for each correct answer (lose points for incorrect answers) Creating a new project  Android terminology activity: a single screen of UI that appears in your app – the fundamental units of GUI in an Android app view: items that appear onscreen in an activity – widget: GUI control such as a button or text field – layout: invisible container that manages positions/sizes of widgets event: action that occurs when user interacts with widgets – e.g. clicks, typing, scrolling action bar: a menu of common actions at top of app notification area: topmost system menu and icons  Android widgets Analog/DigitalClock Button Checkbox Date/TimePicker EditText Gallery ImageView/Button ProgressBar RadioButton Spinner TextView MapView, WebView  Designing a user interface open XML file for your layout (e.g. activity_main.xml) drag widgets from left Palette to the preview image set their properties in lower-right Properties panel  Events event: An external stimulus your program can respond to. Common kinds of events include: – Mouse motion / tapping, Keys pressed, – Timers expiring, Network data available event-driven programming: Overall execution of your program is largely dictated by user events. – Commonly used in graphical programs. To respond to events in a program, you must: – Write methods to handle each kind of event ("listener" methods). – Attach those methods to particular GUI widgets.  Setting an event listener select the widget in the Design view scroll down its Properties until you find onClick type the name of a method you'll write to handle the click switch to the Text view and find the XML for that button click the "Light Bulb" and choose to "Create" the method Event listener Java code  View objects each widget has an associated Java object you can access they are subclasses of parent class View – examples: Button, TextView, EditText,... View objects have many get and set methods that correspond to the properties in the Design view: – background, bottom, ID, left, margin, padding, right, text, textAlignment, textSize, top, typeface, visibility, x, y, z,... – example: for a Button's text property, there will be methods: public String getText() public void setText(String text) – Find list of properties in Design view, or typing ".get" on a button in Java code, or at: https://developer.android.com/reference/  Interacting with widgets accessing a widget in the Java code: 1. in Design view, give that view a unique ID property value 2. in Java code, call findViewById to access its View object pass it a parameter of R.id.your_unique_ID cast the returned value to the appropriate type (Button, TextView, etc.) public void button1_onclick(View view) { TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.mytextview); tv.setText("You clicked it!"); }  Exercise: Number game New let's build that "Bigger Number" game! Recall: – user is shown two numbers – must choose which one is bigger by clicking on the appropriate button – game pops up brief "correct" / "incorrect" message after each guess – get points for each correct answer (lose points for incorrect answers)  Displaying Toasts Toast.makeText(this, "message", duration).show(); – where duration is Toast.LENGTH_SHORT or LENGTH_LONG A "Toast" is a pop-up message that appears for a short time. Useful for displaying short updates in response to events. Should not be relied upon extensively for important info.