Android Development

by Lope Emano

About the author● Android developer since 2010

● Loves open source

● Average software development skills

● Survived the "Dark Ages" of Android Development

What's this talk about?

● Basic, Advanced and useful topics

● Tools used

● The speaker's experiences

What is Android?

● Based on the linux kernel

● Dalvik Virtual Machine

● 700,000 apps as of October 2012

● Has an active open source community

● First phone sold in 2008 T Mobile G1

● Usage share

What are the tools needed?

● Eclipse IDE

● Android SDK

● Android Plugin

● Device not needed

What does an Android Project look like?● src/

Where your .java files are stored● gen/

Where your R.java file is stored● assets/

Where your raw resources are stored● bin/

Where your compiled files will be stored● res/

Where your layouts, image assets are stored

What does an Android Project look like?● res/drawable

drawable-xhdpi, drawable-hdpi, drawable-mdpi● res/layout

layouts are expressed in xml format● res/values

colors, text copies● AndroidManifest.xml

basically android's configuration file

What are the basic parts of an android app?Activity

- Android's version of a form

- Must be mentioned in AndroidManifest.xml to be invoked

- Has its own lifecycle

- Applications are made up of activities

Advanced Tools Overview

● Build Management

● ORM Mapping

● Dependency Injection

● Porting stuff from ICS to Gingerbread

● Web tools

Build ManagementMaven● Dependency management

Build Management● Build profiles

mvn clean package -Ptestmvn clean package -Pprodmvn android:apk android:deploy android:run

● Archetypes/quickstartsmvn archetype:generate

Build ManagementMaven● Great for teams

● Great for libraries

● Slow but reliable

● Great with Jenkins CI Server

O/R MappingORMLite

like hibernate for android development

ORMLite + MavenWant ORMLite? Use Maven!

Dependency InjectionRoboguice

like spring injection for android development

Web Tools

● Android Asset Studio

● Action bar style generator

● Holo colors generator

● More..

Porting ICS to Gingerbread

Jake Wharton○ Champion of the "Dark Ages"

○ Author of open source, ICS support projects for android

○ Actively replies in forums and #android-dev

Porting ICS to Gingerbread Actionbar Sherlock

Porting ICS to Gingerbread View Pager Indicator

Porting ICS to Gingerbread HoloEverywhere

Porting ICS to Gingerbread Android UI Patterns

● Don't be afraid to do it yourself

● Be careful with legal issues

● If you don't have a senior, #android-dev will suffice

● Android users are very nice

● More ICS users than gingerbread

● Use dips, 48dip for your clickables

Tips and experiences

http://developer.android.com

http://www.slideshare.net/mdesjardins/android-development-the-basics

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/app-builder/a-newbies-guide-to-android-development/1216

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

References