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Understand Android OS for both smartphone and tablet programming

This fast-paced introduction to the newest release of Android OS gives aspiring mobile app developers what they need to know to program for today's hottest Android smartphones and tablets. Android 4 OS is, for the first time, a single solution for both smartphones and tablets, so if you master the information in this helpful guide, you'll be well on your way to successful development for both devices. From using activities and intents and creating rich user interfaces to working with SMS, messaging APIs, and the Android SDK, what you need is here.
Provides clear instructions backed by real-world programming examples
Begins with the basics and covers everything Android 4 developers need to know for both smartphones and tablets
Explains how to customize activities and intents, create rich user interfaces, and manage data
Helps you work with SMS and messaging APIs, the Android SDK, and using location-based services
Details how to package and publish your applications to the Android Market

Beginning Android 4 Application Development pares down the most essential steps you need to know so you can start creating Android applications today.

Beginning Android 4 Application Development

INTRODUCTION xxi

CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED WITH ANDROID PROGRAMMING 1

What Is Android? 2

Android Versions 2

Features of Android 3

Architecture of Android 4

Android Devices in the Market 6

The Android Market 8

The Android Developer Community 9

Obtaining the Required Tools 9

Android SDK 10

Installing the Android SDK Tools 11

Confi guring the Android SDK Manager 12

Eclipse 14

Android Development Tools (ADT) 15

Creating Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) 17

Creating Your First Android Application 20

Anatomy of an Android Application 29

Summary 33

CHAPTER 2: ACTIVITIES, FRAGMENTS, AND INTENTS 35

Understanding Activities 36

Applying Styles and Themes to an Activity 41

Hiding the Activity Title 41

Displaying a Dialog Window 42

Displaying a Progress Dialog 47

Displaying a More Sophisticated Progress Dialog 50

Linking Activities Using Intents 53

Resolving Intent Filter Collision 58

Returning Results from an Intent 59

Passing Data Using an Intent Object 63

Fragments 69

Adding Fragments Dynamically 73

Life Cycle of a Fragment 76

Interactions between Fragments 80

Calling Built-In Applications Using Intents 85

Understanding the Intent Object 89

Using Intent Filters 91

Adding Categories 96

Displaying Notifications 98

Summary 103

CHAPTER 3: GETTING TO KNOW THE ANDROID USER INTERFACE 105

Understanding the Components of a Screen 105

Views and ViewGroups 106

LinearLayout 107

AbsoluteLayout 115

TableLayout 116

RelativeLayout 117

FrameLayout 118

ScrollView 121

Adapting to Display Orientation 123

Anchoring Views 125

Resizing and Repositioning 127

Managing Changes to Screen Orientation 130

Persisting State Information during Changes in Confi guration 133

Detecting Orientation Changes 135

Controlling the Orientation of the Activity 135
Utilizing the Action Bar 136

Adding Action Items to the Action Bar 139

Customizing the Action Items and Application Icon 144

Creating the User Interface Programmatically 146

Listening for UI Notifications 148

Overriding Methods Defined in an Activity 149

Registering Events for Views 152

Summary 156

CHAPTER 4: DESIGNING YOUR USER INTERFACE WITH VIEWS 159

Using Basic Views 160

TextView View 160

Button, ImageButton, EditText, CheckBox, ToggleButton, RadioButton, and RadioGroup Views 161

ProgressBar View 171

AutoCompleteTextView View 177

Using Picker Views 179

TimePicker View 179

DatePicker View 184

Using List Views to Display Long Lists 191

ListView View 191

Using the Spinner View 199

Understanding Specialized Fragments 202

Using a ListFragment 202

Using a DialogFragment 207

Using a PreferenceFragment 210

Summary 214

CHAPTER 5: DISPLAYING PICTURES AND MENUS WITH VIEWS 219

Using Image Views to Display Pictures 219

Gallery and ImageView Views 220

ImageSwitcher 226

GridView 231

Using Menus with Views 234

Creating the Helper Methods 235

Options Menu 238

Context Menu 240

Some Additional Views 242

AnalogClock and DigitalClock Views 242

WebView 243

Summary 249

CHAPTER 6: DATA PERSISTENCE 251

Saving and Loading User Preferences 251

Accessing Preferences Using an Activity 252

Programmatically Retrieving and Modifying the Preferences Values 259

Changing the Default Name of the Preferences File 261

Persisting Data to Files 263

Saving to Internal Storage 263

Saving to External Storage (SD Card) 268

Choosing the Best Storage Option 271

Using Static Resources 272

Creating and Using Databases 273

Creating the DBAdapter Helper Class 273

Using the Database Programmatically 279

Pre-Creating the Database 285

Summary 289

CHAPTER 7: CONTENT PROVIDERS 293

Sharing Data in Android 293

Using a Content Provider 294

Predefi ned Query String Constants 300

Projections 303
Filtering 304

Sorting 305

Creating Your Own