Android App Research

First Things First

Get your computer set up to develop properly

1. Get the Android SDK: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

This step can either be completed with the first link, which includes a large bundle of everything you’ll need, or, use the drop-down menus to find other options (for example, if you already have an IDE). Android seems to prefer Eclipse.

2. Install Eclipse Plugin: http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html

3. Configure; download a few platforms, I grabbed 4.2 (Jellybean), and 2.2 (Froyo)

Had some trouble with this in Win8, needed to allow more permissions for the folder where it is holding the images and whatnot.

 4. Install Subclipse: http://subclipse.tigris.org/

I installed the 1.8.x Release of Subclipse, which corresponds to Subversion 1.7.x Awesome, now get developing! What, you need more? Read on then!

Notable Links

Main Developer Website – http://developer.android.com/index.html Training Home Page – http://developer.android.com/training/index.html Reference Home Page – http://developer.android.com/reference/packages.html Obligatory Wikipedia Links – Main: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system) – Version History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history (Useful for figuring out which Android version number goes with which Android Dessert Code Name)

Tutorial – http://www.vogella.com/articles/Android/article.html

 

Android Application Activity Life Cycle

An important thing to note (and indeed, something central to Android and all apps),  is that the Activity Life Cycle is super important. If you pay no attention to this, your app may not start, may lose data, and even act sporadically. Therefore, study the following diagram, as well as the life cycle as whole.

Note (from O’Reilly): “It is possible for a paused activity to be destroyed as well. For that reason, it is better to do important work, such as saving unsaved data, en route to a paused state rather than a destroyed state.”

 

Here is a set of Lecture Slides that was published online: AndroidLifeCycle

Or perhaps this illustration from the Reference section will appeal to you better.

If you prefer O’Reilly (owl), here is a link to an excerpt from Learning Android, which explains the Activity Life Cycle: http://answers.oreilly.com/topic/2692-android-programming-understanding-the-activity-life-cycle/

Documentation and Reference

Reference

Main Page: http://developer.android.com/reference/packages.html Activity Page: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html

Lessons and Training

Getting Started: http://developer.android.com/training/index.html Building Your First App: http://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html Managing the Activity Lifecycle: http://developer.android.com/training/basics/activity-lifecycle/index.html Invoking Google Applications with Intents: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/g-app-intents.html

 

Random Collection

http://wptrafficanalyzer.in/blog/implementing-horizontal-view-swiping-using-viewpager-and-fragmentpageradapter-in-android/

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.html

http://www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidCamera/article.html

http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/android/android-layout/