Android App

Get you an idea of how to start developing Android applications. Introduce major Android application concepts. Walk you through a sample application in the development environment. A free, open source mobile platform. A Linux-based, multiprocess, multithreaded OS. Android is not a device or a product.It’s not even limited to phones - you could build a DVR, a handheld GPS, an MP3 player, etc. Views are building blocks. Examples: TextView, EditText, ListView, ImageView, MapView, WebView.

 Controls how Views are laid out :

• Frame Layout : each child a layer

 • Linear Layout : single row or column

 • Relative Layout : relative to other Views

 • Table Layout : rows and columns 

• Absolute Layout : <x,y> coordinates

 Think of Intents as a verb and object; a description of what you want done:

 • Examples: System matches Intent with Activity that can best provide that service.

 • Activities and Broadcast Receivers describe what Intents they can service in their Intent Filters (via                   AndroidManifest.xml)

 Components designed to respond to broadcast Intents:

 • Think of them as a way to respond to external notifications or alarms

 • Applications can invent and broadcast their own Intents as well

 Faceless components that run in the background:

• Example: music player, network download, etc. 

• Bind your code to a running service via a remote-able interface defined in an IDL.

 • Can run in your own process or separate process.

Enables sharing of data across applications:

 • Examples:  address book, photo gallery, etc.

 • Provides uniform APIs for:

 • querying (returns a Cursor).

 • delete, update, and insert rows. 

• Content is represented by URI and MIME type.

Application life cycle is managed by the system:

• Application start/stop is transparent to the user.

 • End-user only sees that they are moving between screens. 

• Read documentation for android.app.Activity.