1. Developing
FOSDEM Companion
How to build a modern, user-friendly
schedule app for Android
Christophe Beyls
FOSDEM 2015

2. About the Speaker
● Mobile developer from Brussels
● Developed a few apps during my spare time
@BladeCoder
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3. FOSDEM Companion
● FOSDEM schedule app for Android
● Source code available on GitHub
https://github.com
/cbeyls/fosdem-companion-android
● Published on:
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~2000 installs (2014)

4. History
● 2010: Original fosdem-android app
by Michaël Uyttersprot, Pieter Iserbyt & Christophe Vandeplas
● 2012: Fork with small fixes
by Christopher Orr
● 2013: Fork with Android 4 design
(Action Bar)
by Raphael Kallensee
● 2014: Rewritten from scratch
Fragments, loaders, new DB layer
● 2015: Updated with Material Design.
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5. Goals
● Fully Open Source (no proprietary libraries)
● Very fast
● Works offline
● Simple modern UI
● Tablet optimized track view
● Reference implementation
of a few Android patterns
● Backwards compatible
up to Android 2.1
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6. Features
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7. Features: Sessions
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Prev. Next

8. Features: Maps
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9. Features: Speakers
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10. Features: Live Mode
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11. Architecture
Activity
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Activity
Fragments
Loaders
Database Layer
UI
Data

12. Architecture: UI
Fragments everywhere
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13. Architecture: Database
● No ORM library. Complex SQL Queries.
● Full Text indexes on (sub)titles, speaker
names
● DB layer provides methods to map Cursor to
Object model.
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Days
Tracks
Events PersonsBookmarks
Links Events-Pers

14. What’s new for 2015
Display the session in
progress with a
different color on
track list.
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15. What’s new for 2015
Improved notifications
display on Android 5
and Android Wear.
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16. What’s new for 2015:
Material Design
New text styles
New icons
Toolbar
Material tabs (custom)
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17. What’s new for 2015:
Material Design
Ripple effects (Android 5 only)
CardView
Floating Action Button (custom)
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18. What’s new for 2015:
Material Design
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19. The End.
Thank you for watching !
github.com/cbeyls/fosdem-companion-android
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@BladeCoder