Android App Basics

Dr. David Janzen

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this presentation is

licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
A First Example: Advent Devotions
UML Class Diagram

External Activity

Generated by Android
Two Activities in Advent Devotions
• AdventDevos displays • Devo displays a single
the calendar of dates devotion

Intent myIntent = new Intent(AdventDevos.this, Devo.class);

myIntent.putExtra("ButtonNum", "" + index);
startActivity(myIntent);
Two Activities in Advent Devotions
• AdventDevos displays • Devo displays a single
the calendar of dates devotion

Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras();

String value = extras.getString("ButtonNum");
Integer buttonNum = Integer.valueOf(value);
 Launching an Intent you didn’t write
• Devos has button to • Browser launched
URL

Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,

Uri.parse("http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search="+
passage +"&version=NIV"));
startActivity(i);
 Android Activity
• “An activity is a single, focused thing that
the user can do. Almost all activities
interact with the user, so the Activity class
takes care of creating a window for you in
which you can place your UI with
setContentView(View).”
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/
Activity.html#ActivityLifecycle
 AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> Each upload to Market requires versionCode increment
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.simexusa.adventdevotions"
android:versionCode="2"
android:versionName="1.0"> Specifies icon for launching app
<application android:icon="@drawable/star" android:label="@string/app_name" android:debug
<activity android:name=".AdventDevos"
android:label="@string/app_name">
<intent-filter> Specifies icon for launching app
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<activity android:name=".Devo"/>
</application>
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" /> Specifies activity to be launched at startup
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
</manifest>
Security permissions requested from user on install
Look around the files
 Layouts and Resources
• See main.xml and devo.xml
– Activity associates with layout xml file using
setContentView(R.layout.main); or
setContentView(R.layout.devo); in onCreate()
– Note TableLayout and TableRow similar to
<table> and <tr> in html
– Note use of dimen (see values/dimens.xml) and
color (see values/colors.xml)
– Also see strings.xml
 main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:background="@color/background">
<TableLayout android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/TableLayout01" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TableRow android:paddingTop="8px">
<Button android:text="Nov. 29" android:id="@+id/Button01"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="@dimen/button_width"></Button>
<Button android:text="Nov. 30" android:id="@+id/Button02"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="@dimen/button_width"></Button>
<Button android:text="Dec. 1" android:id="@+id/Button03"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="@dimen/button_width"></Button>
<Button android:text="Dec. 2" android:id="@+id/Button04"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:textSize="@dimen/button_width"></Button>
</TableRow> …
 devo.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:background="@color/background">
<TextView android:text="Date" android:id="@+id/Date"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal" android:textStyle="italic"
android:textSize="@dimen/reference_width" android:typeface="serif"
android:textColor="@color/text"></TextView>
<TextView android:text="Title" android:id="@+id/Title"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal" android:textStyle="bold"
android:textSize="@dimen/reference_width" android:typeface="serif"
android:textColor="@color/text"></TextView>
<Button android:text="Read Scripture" android:id="@+id/ButtonScripture"
android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal" android:textSize="@dimen/reference_width">
<ScrollView android:id="@+id/ScrollView01"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_width="fill_parent">
 dimens.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<dimen name="button_width">17sp</dimen>
<dimen name="reference_width">20sp</dimen>
</resources>

colors.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<color name="background">#AAFFFF99</color>
<color name="text">#FF000000</color>
</resources>

strings.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="hello">Hello World, AdventDevos!</string>
<string name="app_name">Advent Devotions</string>
</resources>