**Introducing Layouts**
Layout Managers (more generally, “layouts”) are extensions of the ViewGroup class designed to control the position of child controls on a screen. Layouts can be nested, lettin.. Read more
Creating User Interfaces
It’s vital to create compelling and intuitive User Interfaces for your applications. Ensuring that they are as stylish and easy to use as they are functional should be a prim.. Read more
Within an Activity’s full lifetime, between creation and destruction, it will go through one or more iterations of the active and visible lifetimes. Each transition will trigger the method handlers de.. Read more
To create user-interface screens for your applications, you extend the Activity class, using Views to provide user interaction.
Each Activity represents a screen (similar to the concept of a Form in .. Read more
One of the most powerful reasons to externalize your resources is Android’s dynamic resource selec-tion mechanism.
Using the structure described below, you can create different resource values for sp.. Read more
Themes are an excellent way to ensure consistency for your application’s UI. Rather than fully define each style, Android provides a shortcut to let you use styles from the currently applied theme.
T.. Read more
Using Resources
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As well as the resources you create, Android supplies several system resources that you can use in your applications. The resources can be used directly from your appl.. Read more
Application resources are stored under the res/ folder of your project hierarchy. In this folder, each of the available resource types can have a subfolder containing its resources.
If you start a pr.. Read more
Unlike most traditional environments, Android applications have no control over their own life cycles. Instead, application components must listen for changes in the application state and react accord.. Read more
Each Android project includes a manifest file, AndroidManifest.xml, stored in the root of the proj-ect hierarchy. The manifest lets you define the structure and metadata of your application and its co.. Read more
Each Android project includes a manifest file, AndroidManifest.xml, stored in the root of the proj-ect hierarchy. The manifest lets you define the structure and metadata of your application and its co.. Read more
Android applications consist of loosely coupled components, bound using a project manifest that describes each component and how they interact.
There are six components that provide the building bloc.. Read more
Before you start writing Android applications, it’s important to understand how they’re con-structed and have an understanding of the Android application life cycle. In this chapter, you’ll be introdu.. Read more
The Android SDK includes several tools and utilities to help you create, test, and debug your projects. A detailed examination of each developer tool is outside the scope of this book, but it’s worth .. Read more
Android applications have direct hardware access, can be distributed independently, and are built on an open source platform featuring open communication, so it’s not particularly surprising that secu.. Read more
Most of the applications you create in Android will fall into one of the following categories:
❑Foreground Activity An application that’s only useful when it’s in the foreground and is effectively su.. Read more
You’ve created your first project and created the run and debug configurations for it. Before making any changes, test your installation and configurations by running and debugging the Hello World pro.. Read more
You’ve downloaded the SDK, installed Eclipse, and plugged in the plug-in. You’re now ready to start programming for Android. Start by creating a new project and setting up your Eclipse run and debug c.. Read more
Installing the ADT Plug-in
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Install the developer tools plug-in by the following steps:
Select Help ➪ Software Updates ➪ Find and Install … from within Eclipse.
In the res.. Read more
The Android SDK is completely open. There’s no cost to download and use the API, and Google doesn’t charge to allow distribution of your finished programs. You can download the latest version of the S.. Read more
