COIT20270 Application Development for Mobile PlatformsWeek 4.docx

COIT20270 Application Development for Mobile Platforms
Week 4: Designing UI’s with Views
Dr. R. Balsys, CQU, 2012.
Source: Beginning Android Programming with Android Studio,
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016
Week 4 – Designing UI’s with Views
Objectives, to understand how to use:
basic views
TextView views
Button, ImageButton, EditText, Checkbox, ToggleButton,
RadioButton and RadioGroup views
ProgressBar views
AutoCompleteTextView views
Picker views – TimePicker and DatePicker
CQU - COIT20270 Application Development for Mobile
Platforms
Basic Views
Basic views allow you to display text and perform selection.
This includes-
TextView
Button
ImageButton
EditText
Checkbox
ToggleButton
RadioButton
RadioGroup

Platforms
3
TextView view
This basic view allows you to display static text
<TextView> elements are contained in the main.xml file in the
res/layout directory
Platforms
4
Other Basic Views
Other basic views you will use include:
Button – a push button widget
ImageButton – a Button with an image on it
EditText – subclass of TextView with editable text
CheckBox – a button with checked and unchecked states
RadioGroup and RadioButton – RadioGroup is used to group
RadioButton’s
ToggleButton – displays states using a light indicator
Platforms

5
…Other Basic Views
Use “fill_parent” for android:layout_width or
android:layout_height so that the basic view fills the parent
view space
Use “wrap_content” for android:layout_width or
android:layout_height so that the basic view tightly bounds the
content only
The android:src value is used to define the image for an
ImageButton
You can use the style attribute to set the style of a CheckBox to
a star
RadioButtons in a RadioGroup automatically toggle off when
one is selected
Platforms
6
…Other Basic Views
Use android:orientation=“horizontal” to place RadioButtons
horizontally, rather than in the default vertical layout
The android:id of a view is used by View.findViewById() to
identify each unique view by its Id
The setOnClickListener() method is used to define a call-back
for handling a click on a view

Platforms
7
ProgressBar View
The ProgressBar view is used to indicate progress of some
background task
The default view is indeterminate, merely showing cyclic
animation, that you stop when the activity is complete
You hide a ProgressBar by setting its Visibility attribute to
View.Gone. This stops the ProgressBar and removes the it from
the view
You can change the look of the ProgressBar using the constants:
Widget.ProgressBar.Horizontal, Widget.ProgressBar.Small,
Widget.ProgressBar.Large, Widget.ProgressBar.Inverse,
Widget.ProgressBar.Small.Inverse,
Widget.ProgressBar.Large.Inverse
Platforms
8
AutoCompleteTextView
Is similar to EditText but it shows a list of suggestions to
complete the list automatically
You first create a list of Strings for the autocomplete
suggestions and use an ArrayAdapter object to manage the
strings

A simple_dropdown_item_1line constant is used to cause the
display of the strings 1 per line
The setThreshold() methods is used to determine how many
characters must be typed before the suggestions are displayed
Platforms
9
Picker Views - TimePicker
The TimePicker allows you to select the time of day in 24 hour
or AM/PM mode
By default it displays time in AM/PM mode. To use 24 hour
mode use the setIs24HourView() method
To programmatically get the time call the getCurrentHour() and
getCurrentMinute() methods
To display the time in a dialog use showDialog(id) with an id
for selecting a TimePickerDialog() method
The TimePickerDialog() method must be passed the current
context, hour, minute and a flag for the mode
When the Set button is clicked in the dialog the onTimeSet()
method is called and returns the values entered by the user
Platforms
Add screenshot from emulator
10
PickerViews - DatePicker
The DatePicker view allows the user to pick a particular date
You can call getDayOfMonth(), getMonth() and getYear()
methods to return the current day, month and year
When used in a dialog it works just like the TimePicker. The

onDateSet() method returns the selected day, month and year
values
Platforms
11
COIT13234 Mobile Software Development
Week 4: Designing UI’s with Views
Dimarzio, 2016.
Week 4 – Chapter 4: Enhancing Your Apps
Objectives, to :
use the ListView view
customise the ListView view
use the Spinner view
use ListFragment, DialogFragment and PreferenceFragment
Platforms
The ListView View
The ListView view displays a list of items as a vertical list
To use a ListView extend the ListActivity class
In the onCreate() method use the setListAdapter() method to
programmatically fill the ListView
The onListItemClick() method is fired when a list element is
clicked
theSetChoiceMode() method is used to customise the choices to
CHOICE_MODE_NONE, CHOICE_MODE_SINGLE or

CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE
The setTextFileFilterEnabled() method is used to filter choices
based on what text is typed. To find out which items are
checked used the isItemChecked() method
getItemAtPosition() method returns item at the position
Platforms
The SpinnerView
The SpinnerView displays one item at a time and lets the user
choose among them
The SpinnerView works much the same as the ListView with the
exception of the onNothingSelected() method which is fired
when the user pressing the back button which dismisses the
view
Platforms
Specialised Fragments
Fragments are used to dynamically customise the UI
Fragments are mini-activities with their own life-cycles
Three important Fragment sub-classes are the ListFragment,
DialogFragment and the PreferenceFragment
Platforms
ListFragment
The ListFragment displays a list of items from a data source
such as an array or Cursor
List fragments extend the ListFragment base class
In your onCreate() method you use setListAdapter() to fill the
list from the data source

The onListItemClick() method is called when a list element is
clicked
Platforms
DialogFragment
The DialogFragment floats on top of other fragments and is
modal
DialogFragments are used when you need a response from the
user before continuing
DialogFragments extend the DialogFragment base class
The newInstance() method allows a new instance of the
fragment to be created and displayed
The onCreateDialog() method is used to create the dialog and
show it by calling its show() method
You also need to implement doPositiveClick() and
doNegativeClick() to handle clicks on the OK and Cancel
buttons of the dialog
Platforms
PreferenceFragment
PreferenceFragment’s are used to allow the user to save
preferences for the application
You use a PreferenceActivity activity when working with
preferences
You must create a preferences.xml file and define the various
items that you want to persist in it
You load the preferences file in the preference fragment using
the addPreferencesFromResouce() method
Use the FragmentManager and FragmentTransaction classes to
display the preferences

Platforms
Week 11: Researching Mobile Systems
Week 11 – Research vs. Scholarship
Scholarship consists of collecting books and articles with view
to study or interpret the data, e.g. going to the library to study
information for an essay
Research is a process of inquiry that involves the purposeful,
systematic and rigorous collection, analysis and interpretation
of data to gain new knowledge
Research needs to be differentiated from scholarship
2
Platforms
Why study (a bit of) research in Mobile systems?
As with any new technology we must learn the pro’s and con’s
of the technology. To realistically determine these requires
application of the scientific method
To be able to critique a technology means we need to
understand philosophy so we can get to the meaning of things
It is common to use surveys or other instruments to gain
feedback or in usability studies, and mobile devices represent
an opportunity for this
3

Platforms
What is Science?
The Oxford dictionary defines science as:
The state of fact or knowing
Knowledge obtained by study
A particular branch of knowledge
There are two main ways of knowing:
Empiricism - which is through trust in the information gained
through the use of the senses
Rationalism – which is the use of the mind to infer relationships
and understanding
We need to introduce and define a group of words to help us
discuss the philosophy of the sciences
4
Platforms
4
Important terms- Philosophy
According to Bertrand Russel (1946) “Philosophy, as I
understand the word is something intermediate between
theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculation
on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been
unobtainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather
than authority. All definite knowledge – so I would contend –
belongs to science; all dogma belongs to theology. But between
science and theology lies a No Man’s Land, … this No Man’s

Land is philosophy”
Philosophy has three main branches; logic, metaphysics and
ethics
5
Platforms
5
Important terms- Metaphysics
Metaphysics is concerned with being and knowing, it can
explore the supra-sensible, it concerns itself with 1st principles,
concepts such as being, substance, essence, time, space,
causation etc.
Metaphysics has two main branches;
Ontology – the differentiation between the real and the
appearance, the assumptions underlying theories or systems of
ideas
Epistemology – is the theory of methods or grounds for
knowledge
6
Platforms
6
Important terms- Ethics and paradigm
Ethics is concerned with moral principles, what is right or

wrong, what ought to be done and what must not be done
According to Kuhn, 1970, “a paradigm can be considered a set
of ontological and epistemological assumptions, theories and
methods which a group of researchers accept and share as the
best way to develop knowledge”
7
Platforms
Get student to Google epistemological
7
Research Paradigms
Three research paradigms can be identified:
Logico-empirical paradigm – the traditional scientific method as
practiced in the natural sciences
Interpretive paradigm as practiced by some psychologists,
nurses and anthropologists
Critical paradigm which is research with the intent of political
empowerment and human emancipation
8
Platforms
8
Historical Overview - Empiricism
The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle where the best

known philosophers from antiquity.
Copernicus, Galileo and Newton founded empiricism.
Empiricists believe that all knowledge is based on experience
and denies idealism that posits that the mind already has pre-
existing ideas and concepts
Famous empiricists include Newton (1642-1727), John Locke
(1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-1776). In the 19th century
Auguste Comte (1798-1857) and Charles Darwin (1855-1882)
where major proponents of empiricism
9
Platforms
9
Historical Overview - Rationalism
In the 18th century Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz developed
the rationalist tradition
Rationalism includes a belief that
By reason alone the nature of existence can be found
That knowledge forms a single system
That this system is deductible in character
That everything is understandable within this single system
10
Platforms

10
…Historical Overview
Kant’s philosophy is recognised as a turning point for
philosophy. His position is that we construct knowledge by the
interaction of sense perceptions and judgment which makes
sense of the sense data
Hegel developed this to say that knowledge is discovered by the
contemplative faculty of the mind, the universe exists as a
complex whole (holism) and he rejects reductionism
Husserl founded phenomenology which involves suspending
assumed knowledge so that one is able to observe in an ideal,
disinterested scientific fashion and can questions ones own
beliefs and interpretations
11
Platforms
11
Historical Overview – logico-empiricism
By the 1930’s a group called the Vienna Circle published a
manifesto that was later modified by Carl Popper and others
The central tenants are that there is a single reality out there;
science depends upon repeatable experiments; that theory and
empirical observations are separate entities; that causality is
linear in that event E can be deduced from initial conditions and
general laws; that reliable knowledge of a field or phenomena
reduces to particular instances or patterns of sensation; the goal

of positivist science is prediction and control of the physical or
social world and finally there is a need to demonstrate
reliability and repeatability of measurements
12
Platforms
12
Logico-empiricism - Criticisms
A number of criticisms of logico-epiricism have been made
particularly the application of a single scientific method, that
facts and theories can be separated, and “facts” can prove our
theories
This lead to the development of post-positivism which takes
into account these criticisms, it no longer attempts to find
cause/effect relationships, but that rather truth is imperfect and
probabilistic
Post-positivists say there are no context free universal facts,
and whilst acknowledging that people cannot be totally
objective, they can be as objective as humanely possible
13
Platforms
13
Interpretive/Constructivist & Critical Theory

Interpretive/Constructivist paradigm seeks answers about
meaning, about uncommon elements, it seeks to interpret the
observations
Critical theory provides guidelines to bring about change,
applies to humans and not things, and so is not predicable.
Theory is about a critique of power and relationships, about
determining the way forward by changing ideologies and power
relationships
14
Platforms
14
A Model of the Research Process
Generally the research process follows a number of steps
Development of a theory
Develop testable ideas from the theory
Work out how to test the theory and devise a set of task to be
carried out to do this
Collection of the data
Interpret the results and reflect back on how these support or
otherwise the theory
15
Platforms
Research Types
Two broad approaches to research can be identified in the
literature – these are qualitative and quantitative research
Quantitative research implies quantitative data can be collected

and statistical relationships can be found
Qualitative research attempts to measure things where
interpretation is required, are usually qualified by words, not
numbers, and provide insights into possibilities
16
Platforms
16
Week 2: Activities, Fragments and Intents
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016
Week 2 – Activities, Fragments and Intents
Objectives to:
Understand Android activities and fragments
Use progress dialogs
Linking activities using intents
Resolving intent filter collisions
Returning results from an intent
Passing data using intent objects
Platforms
Understanding Activities
Activities extend the Activity base class

The Activity base class life cycle includes onCreate(), onStart(),
onResume(), onPause(), onStop(), onDestroy() and onRestart()
events
Figure 3-1 in DiMarzio text shows the life-cycle of an activity
and the stages it goes through
An activity usually occupies the whole screen but can behave as
a dialog by modifying the <Activity> element by adding
android:theme=“@android:style/Theme.Dialog” in the
AndroidManifest.xml file
Platforms
Demonstrate Explain script functions
3
Adding Themes to an Activity
In Android 6 a new theme, Material, has been used for the
default look and feel
Use android:Theme=“@android:style/Theme.Material” in the
application tag of the android.manifest file to set this as the
default theme for the app
Platforms
Hiding the Activity Title and Displaying a Dialog Window
The activity title can be hidden by importing
android.view.Window and using
requestWindowFeature(Window,FEATURE_NO_TITLE) in the
onCreate() method
To display a dialog you implement the onCreateDialog() method
onCreateDialog() calls showDialog()that uses on integer to
select the actual dialog to display
The Hiding the Activity Title Try It Out shows you how to

display a dialog window when you need to get the user to
confirm an action
Platforms
Displaying a Progress Dialog
When an action will take more than 10 seconds a progress
dialog should be displayed
To create a progress dialog you create an instance of the
ProgressDialog class and call its show() method
An example is in the Displaying a Dialog section of the
DiMarzio text
You can also set properties such as a progress icon, title and
style. You also can add Cancel and OK buttons to the dialog
A more sophisticated version is given example is in the
Displaying a Progress Dialog section of the DiMarzio text
Platforms
Point out the (1,0) and (0,1) pixels to get the point home
6
Linking Activities Using Intents
Android applications can have more than 1 activity
Navigation between activities is achieved using intents
You add the name of the new class in the AndroidManifest.xml
file and give it a unique label
You supply an intent filter and set the category for the intent
filter as android.intent.category.DEFAULT

The DiMarzio text examples is in the Linking Activities with
Intents try it out.
Platforms
7
Resolving Intent Filter Collision
If more than two <intent-filter> elements have the same name
then when the application is run Android will present the user
with a list of choices to pick from
The chosen item becomes the default choice
To clear the default choice you have to go to the Application
Settings to clear the default choice
Platforms
Returning Results from an Intent
The startActivity() does not return data
If you need to return data from an Activity use the
startActivityForResult() method instead
The startActivityForResult() method has a second parameter
that returns a resultCode that identifies the activity being called
To return the value you need send the data back via the
setData() method
The setData() method calls a setResult() method to set the
resultCode
In the calling activity you implement the onActivityResult()
method to deal with the result
Platforms

Passing Data Using an Intent Object
Data is passed to an activity using an Intent object
The putExtra() method puts name:value pairs into an Intent
object
A Bundle object can also attach data to Intent objects using the
putExtra() method
To obtain the data in the Intent object use the getIntent()
method and call its getStringExtra() method to get the string
values using the putExtra() method
Platforms
Explain script functions
10
…Passing Data Using an Intent Object
To retrieve the Bundle object use the getExtras() method
Individual name:value pairs are retrieved using the appropriate
method, eg getString()
The data can also be retrieved using the setData() method
Platforms
11
Week 2 – Mobilising Your Apps
Objectives, to:

Understand fragments
Adding fragments dynamically
Fragment lifestyle
Fragment interactions
Calling built-in applications using intents
Understand the intent object
Use intent filters
Adding categories
Displaying notifications
Platforms
Fragment
Fragments are contained within an Activity
Many Fragments can be contained within a single Activity
Fragments contain views that differ from one another
Fragments are a versatile way of of creating user interfaces for
Android applications
Fragments can be dynamically added or removed from
Activities
Platforms
…Fragments
The Java class for a Fragment extends Fragment
To draw the UI for a Fragment you over-ride the
onCreateView() method that returns a View object
In onCreateView() a LayoutInflater object inflates the UI from
an XML file
You add a fragment to an Activity with the <fragment> element
The <fragment> element uses unique id’s for the element using
the android:id or android:tag attributes

Platforms
Adding Fragments Dynamically
It is more useful to be able to add Fragments at run-time than by
configuring an XML file during design
You use the FragmentManager class to add fragments
Use the FragmentTransactions class to add, remove or replace
fragments
To ensure changes take place you call the commit() method on
your FragmentTransaction object
Platforms
Life Cycle of a Fragment
When a Fragment is being created it goes through onAttach(),
onCreate(), onCreateView() and onActivityCreated() states
When visible it goes through onStart() and onResume() states
When it goes into the background it goes through onPause() and
onStop() states
When the Fragment is destroyed it goes through onPause(),
onStop(), onDestroyView(), onDestroy() and onDetatch() states
Platforms
…Life Cycle of a Fragment
When an Activity goes into the background it is placed into the
back stack allowing it to resume if the Back button is pressed
Fragments must be manually placed in the back stack by calling

the addToBackStack() method
Platforms
Interactions Between Fragments
Fragments need to communicate with one-another to be
effective
The activity to which a fragment belongs can be determined
using the getActivity() method
Fragment Views can be found using the findViewById() method
The example in the Interaction Between Fragments try it out of
the DiMarzio text demonstrates fragment interaction
Platforms
Calling Built-in Applications Using Fragments
Intents can be used to call other Android applications from
within a fragment
Intents are paired with action and data intents
The action and data pairs describe the operation to be performed
You create an Intent object and then pass action and data
arguments to the Intent
Platforms
The Intent Object
You can call another activity by passing its action to the
constructor of an Intent object

You can also create an Intent object by passing in an action
constant and data
For some Intents the data type is not needed, the MIME type is
set using setType()
Intent objects can also be set using a category which groups
activities into logical units for filtering
Platforms
Using Intent Filters
In order for an activity to invoke another activity requires the
use of an <intent-filter> in the AndroidManifest.xml file
If multiple actions match the intent-filter then a dialog appears
for the user to choose the correct one
A createChooser() method can be used to customise this dialog
and prevent a crash when no match is found
Platforms
Adding Categories
To add a category you must first define an <intent-filter> for
the category,
Eg. <category android:name=“abc.net.au/justin” />
You must also add the category using the addCategory() method
on an Intent instance
eg. Intent I = new (….);
i.addCategory(“abc.net.au/justin”);
Platforms

Displaying Notifications
The NotificationManager class is used to display persistent
messages in the navigation bar at the top of the device
To use notifications you first declare a new Intent that uses the
NotificationView.class
You also create a PendingIntent instance initialised using the
getActivity() method to set the PendingIntent’s context, request
code, intent and flags
You then obtain an instance of the NotificationManager class
and create an instance of the Notification class
Platforms
…Displaying Notifications
You then use the setLatestEventInfo() method on the
Notification instance to setup the notification and its response
You then call the notify() method on your NotificationManager
instance to display the notification
Platforms
Week 3 – The Android UI
Objectives, to understand:
the components of a screen
views and view groups
how to adapt to display orientation
how to anchor views
how to resize and reposition views and managing changes to
display orientation

how to persist state information during configuration changes
how to detect orientation changes
Platforms
The components of a Screen
An Android activity has its UI defined in an XML file, usually
Main.xml
The onCreate() method sets the content view based on this XML
file
The elements of the XML file are mapped to corresponding
Android GUI class elements and drawn
Platforms
2
Views and ViewGroups
A View is an interface object that has an appearance on the
screen and derives from android.view.View
Views can be grouped into ViewGroups
The following ViewGroups are supported;
LinearLayout - single horizontal or vertical row
AbsoluteLayout - allows position of each of its children to be
specified
TableLayout - groups views into rows and columns
RelativeLayout - specifies how each child is laid out relative to
the others
FrameLayout - a placeholder (frame) used to display a single
view

ScrollView – a special FrameLayout that allows for scrolling of
its contained views
Platforms
3
Adapting to Display Orientation
Smartphones and tablets can switch between portrait and
landscape layouts
When the device is rotated the view needs to be automatically
redrawn to fit the new layout
The onCreate() method is called when the device is reorientated
Views can be anchored to the four edges of the screen
Views can be resized to fit the new orientation
Platforms
4
Anchoring Views
Anchoring is usually achieved using the RelativeLayout. The
following attributes can then be used to anchor the elements
layout_AlignParentLeft – aligns view to parents left
layout_AlignParentRight – aligns view to parents right

layout_AlignParentTop – aligns view to parents top
layout_AlignParentBottom – aligns view to parents bottom
Layout_centerVertical – centres the view vertically
Layout_centerHorizontal – centres the view horizontally
Platforms
5
Resizing, Repositioning and Managing Changes to Orientation
A separate res/layout folder containing a file called layout-
land.xml is used to define the landscape orientation view and
the default res/layout main.xml file then defines the portrait
layout
Android uses state information to pick between the two layouts
dependent on the devices orientation
Platforms
6
Persistent State Information During Configuration Changes
The onSaveInstanceState() method is called whenever an
activity is killed or put into the background and this method can
be used to save state data in a Bundle object
The onRestoreInstanceState() method is used to restore
previously saved Bundle object
The onRetainNonConfigurationInstance() method is more
general and can be used to save a general object
The getLastNonConfigurationInstance() method is then used to

restore the general object
Platforms
7
Detecting Orientation Changes
The WindowManager class is used to detect orientation changes
during runtime
The WindowManager’s getDefaultDisplay() method returns a
Display object whose width and height fields can be used to
deduce the devices orientation
Platforms
8
Week 3 – The Android UI
Objectives, to understand how to:
control the orientation of an activity
utilise the action bar
add and customise items in the action bar
create the UI programmatically
listen for UI notifications
Platforms

Controlling Orientation of an Activity
You can programmatically force a change of orientation using
setRequestOrientation()
Use ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE or
ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT to set
landscape or portrait orientations
You can also set the android:screenOrientation value to
“portrait” or “landscape” in the <activity> tag in the
AndroidManifest.xml file
Platforms
Utilising the Action bar
The Action bar displays an icon and a title on the top of the
display screen
To show the action bar add setSupportActionBar(toolBar) in
your onCreate() method
On the right of the action bar are optional action items (menus)
You can get access to the action bar at runtime by using
getActionBar()
You can show() and hide() the action bar
You can hide the action bar using an android:theme attribute but
then getActionBar() returns null
Platforms
Adding Action Bar Items
Action bar items are used to call commonly performed
operations in your application
The action bar adds action items when the
onCreateOptionsMenu() method is called
Within onCreateOptionsMenu() you call a CreateMenu() method
to add the items

To add the items you create a MenuItem instance and call your
Menu’s add() method
Items can optionally have an icon associated with them using
setIcon()
Platforms
…Adding Action Bar Items
When the menu is selected the onOptionsItemSelected() method
is called
This contains a MenuChoice() method that returns the choice
The parameter in MenuChoice() is used to determine what
choice is made and what action to take as a result
Platforms
Customising Items and Application Icon
Use SHOW_AS_ACTION_WITH_TEXT constant in
setShowAsAction() to put text alongside action items
To allow the application icon to be clickable pass true in the
action bars setDisplayHomeAsUpEnable(true) call
If so the application icon has been clicked you can check the
MenuChoice() items getItemId() to see if it’s android.R.id.home
To use a click on the application icon to return to the main
activity create an Intent object and set the
Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP flag and then call
startActivity()
Platforms
Programmatically Creating the UI
Rather than defining the UI in XML files you can dynamically
define the UI at runtime

You have to duplicate the process carried in in the XML files
First you create a LayoutParams instance
You then create a layout, eg LinearLayout, and create and
instantiate its fields
TextView, Button and other UI widgets are created and added to
the layout
You then create any required LayoutParams object
Finally you add the layout object to the activity using
addContentView()
Platforms
Listening to UI Notifications
Common methods that can be over-ridden in you activity
include:
onKeyDown – key pressed and not handled elsewhere
onKeyUp – key released and not handled elsewhere
onMenuItemSelected – called when panels menu item selected
onMenuOpened – called when panel is opened by the user
Platforms
Week 7: SMS and email Messaging, Location Based Services
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016
Week 7 – SMS and email Messaging
This week we:

Send SMS messages programmatically
Use the built in messaging application in our app
Receive SMS messages programmatically
Send emails from our applications
2
Platforms
SMS Messaging
SMS messaging is a “killer app” for mobile phones
SMS messaging has billions of users in todays world
Being able to send and receive SMS messages within our
applications is an attractive proposition, e.g. tracker app
You can test SMS messaging on the simulator
3
Platforms
Switch to site and read through section. Do not follow any links
3
Sending SMS Messages Programmatically
You need to set <uses-permission
android:name=“android.permissions.SEND_SMS”/> in your
Android Manifest file
You create an instance of the SmsManager class. When
declaring the instance you must use the getDefault() method to
get a SmsManager object
The sendTextMessage() method on the SmsManager instance
object is used to send the message
4

Platforms
…sendTextMessage
sendTextMessage() has the following 5 parameters:
destinationAddress: phone number of recipient
scAddress: service Centre address or null for default
text: content of the SMS
sentIntent: pending intent to invoke when sent
deliveryIntent: pending intent to invoke when delivered
5
Platforms
Using Built-in SMS app
It is simple to invoke the built in SMS app from your app. When
the SMS message is sent you return to your app
Create a new Intent instance with new
Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION-VIEW) as the
constructor
The putExtra() method can then be used to load the “address”,
“sms_body” and “text” fields of the SMS messenger app when it
loads
You must also set the MIME type of the message using
setType(“vnd.android-dir/mms-sms”)
The startActivity() method is invoked with the Intent instance
as parameter to start the messenger app when the setup is
complete
6
Platforms
Demonstrate and Explain how it works

6
Receiving SMS Messages
You need to set <uses-permission
android:name=“android.permissions.RECEIVE_SMS”/> in your
Android Manifest file
Receiving SMS messages is done using a BroadcastReceiver
object which allows you to receive Intents using
sendBroadcast(), that allows you to handle an event raised by
another application
To handle the event you override the onReceive() method
The SMS message is contained in the 2nd parameter of
onReceive() (an Intent object)
7
Platforms
Explain how the files work
7
…Receiving SMS Messages
SMS messages are stored in an Object array in PDU format. The
message is split into 160 character sub-arrays
You extract the content using the static createFromPdu() method
of the SmsMessage class
The phone number of the sender is found by calling the
getOriginatingAddress() method and the body of the message is
found using getMessageBody()
BroadcastReceiver’s remain running even when your app is not
running and so can respond to events even when the app is not
running
8
Platforms

8
Preventing Messaging Apps from Receiving Messages
The default behavior is that your application and the built-in
SMS app get any messages
To prevent another application from receiving the message use
<intent-filter android:priority=“100”/>
<action android:name=
“android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED” /></intent-
filter>
in your Android manifest file and call abortBroacast() in your
onReceive() event handler
This will permanently block all incoming SMS calls
9
Platforms
9
Updating Activities from BroadcastReceiver
To display an SMS message in a TextView of your activity class
you create a modified SMSReceiver class that listens for a new
Intent type to use for the application, eg
“MY_APP_RECEIVED”
Then you override the onReceive() method of your
BroadcastReceiver object to display the SMS in the TextView
You need to create an IntentFilter object so you can listen for
the Intent. This is done by adding your “MY_APP_RECEIVED”
parameter when you call addAction() on your new IntentFilter
instance

10
Platforms
Demonstrate and Explain how the files work
10
…Updating Activities from BroadcastReceiver
You call registerReceiver() in onResume() and
unregisterReceiver() in onPause() so the message is only
updated when the Activity is running in the foreground
11
Platforms
11
If your activity is in the background when a message is received
it is possible to automatically bring it to the foreground to
display the message
Register your BroadcastReceiver in your activities onCreate()
instead of in onResume() and unregister it in your onDestroy()
event rather than the onPause() event
Then modify the onReceive() event using an Intent to bring the
activity to the foreground by calling Intent’s
setFlag(“Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_CLASS”) and then
stating your Intent’s instance using startActivity()
12
Platforms
Invoking Activities from BroadcastReceiver

12
You also need to add the tag android:launchMode=“singleTask”
to the activity section of your Android manifest file. This
prevents a new instance of your application being launched
whenever a message is received
Using SMS messaging inside your app has various legal and
ethical considerations
Once your app is granted permission to send SMS’s the user
gets no further indication that messaging and associated costs
occur
13
Platforms
…Invoking Activities from BroadcastReceiver
13
Sending E-Mail
The Gmail/email app lets you configure e-mail accounts using
POP3 or IMAP.
You can use the built-in app or send and receive e-mails
programmatically
You use an Intent object to do this. Use the setData() method on
your Intent instance variable and use Uri.parse(“mailto:”) as the
parameter
14
Platforms

14
Sending E-Mail
Then use putExtra() with parameters
Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL , array of strings containing recipients
addresses
Intent.EXTRA_CC, array of strings containing other recipients
addresses
Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, string for the subject field of e-mail
Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, string containing the message
Set the Intent message type to “message/fc822” using the Intent
setType() method
Call startActivity() with Intent.createChooser
(your_intent_instance, “Email’) as parameter
15
Platforms
15
Week 7 – Location Based Services
Objectives, to:
Display Google maps in your app, with pan and zoom control,
switching between views and to add markers to the maps
Getting address of locations tapped on a map
Performing geocoding and reverse geocoding
Getting geographical data using GPS, Cell-ID and Wi-Fi
Location monitor and build a location tracker app
16
Platforms

Location Based Services (LBS)
In recent times apps that take advantage of the current location
of the mobile device have become popular
Use of location along with readily accessible maps allow for the
integration of direction to the required service
Google maps integrates with the Android device allowing use of
Google map and other services
17
Platforms
Displaying Maps
Google Maps comes bundle with the Android system
The textbook is out of date – we will be using Google Maps
Android API v2
For up-to-date instructions on creating the project and obtaining
the Maps API key see this weeks Lecture/Tutorial
The material in chapter 9 of the Lee text will only work if you
have a real Android phone (v4 or later) to test the code on,
otherwise you will need to create an Android Virtual device as
described in the Lecture/Tutorial. The default display now
shows the Zoom control automatically
18
Platforms
Changing Views
You can display Google maps in either maps view or satellite
view
In some countries (US, France, UK, Australia and Canada) it is
possible to display traffic conditions on the map in major cities

Green reflects smooth traffic flow, yellow moderate flow and
red indicates traffic congestion
19
Platforms
Navigating to a Specific Location and Adding Location Markers
You can programmatically navigate to a specific location in the
world
You can also place location markers at specific points on the
map
See this weeks Lecture/Tutorial for details
20
Platforms
Eclipse (with Android additions) should already be installed in
the labs, so these instructions are for installing on a students PC
20
Getting Touch Location
You can find the latitude and longitude of a location touched on
the display
From the latitude and longitude you can find the closest address
– a process known as reverse geocoding
21
Platforms
Getting location programmatically

22
Platforms
Week 5: Displaying Pictures and Menus, Data Persistence
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016
Week 5 – Displaying Pictures and Menus
Objectives, to :
use image views to display pictures
Use menu’s with views
Examine some additional views
2
Platforms
Using Image Views to Display Pictures
You display images with ImageView, Gallery, ImageSwitcher
and GridView views
An ImageView is used to display an individual image
The Gallery view displays images as a center-locked
horizontally scrolling list of images
The ImageSwitcher view is used when you wish to apply
animation or transitions when moving from one image to
another
The GridView shows images as a two dimensional array of rows
and columns of images

3
Platforms
Using Menu’s With Views
There are two main types of menus in Android
Options menu – activated using the keyboard Menu button and
it displays menus for the current activity
Context menu – displays information about the current view in
an activity when the user taps and holds on the view
The way menu’s are created and handled in Android 6 and
greater has changed and is different to that given in the text
4
Platforms
4
The Menu XML file
An XML defining the menu items is added as an XML file to
the projects res/menu folder
The menu items should be contained within
<menu
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
</menu>
All menu items are defined within <item> </item> tags
As a minimum the item need the following options
android:id - identifier of the item
android:orderInCategory – the position of the item in the menu,

higher goes first
android:title – the text of the menu item
5
Platforms
5
The Menu Inflater
The onCreateOptionsMenu() is called when the Menu is drawn
Call getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
and then return true;
You should replace menu_main with the name of the xml file
you created your menu resource in
6
Platforms
6
The onOptionsItemSelected method
The onCreateOptionsMenu() is called when the Menu is drawn
Call getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
and then return true;
You should replace menu_main with the name of the xml file
you created your menu resource in

7
Platforms
7
Context Menu
To associate a context menu with a view you call the
setOnCreateContextMenuListener() on the view
The item to associate the context menu with uses the
setOnCreateContextMenuListener() to listen for any tap and
holds on the view
You override the onCreateContextMenu() method and call your
CreateMenu() method within it
8
Platforms
8
Data Persistence
Objectives, to :
Save and load data with user preferences
Persist data to files
Create and use databases
9

Platforms
Saving and Loading User Preferences
To save data objects you can
Write the objects to a file
Save the object to a database
Use a SharedPreferences object
To use a SharedPreferences object you save a name/value pair
to SharedPreferences and this is then saved into an XML file for
you
10
Platforms
Accessing Preferences in an Activity
You 1st need to create a myapppreferences.xml file to use for
saving your data
Within this xml file you need to create key:value pairs for the
data you wish to save
Create an activity that extends the PreferenceActivity class and
call the addPreferencesFromResource() method to load the xml
file containing the preferences
11
Platforms
Retrieving and Modifying Preference Values
To make use of preferences you use the SharedPreferences class
The getSharedPreferences() method is used to get an instance of
the SharedPreferences class using the name of the XML
preferences file
You then create a SharedPreferences.Editor() object and use a

putString() method to change the value of a string preference
To save the change to the XML file you use the commit()
method
12
Platforms
Demonstrate the files working and discuss how they work
12
Changing the Default Name of a Preferences File
Using the PreferenceManager class you can call a
getPreferenceManager() method and then set the instance of this
to use a new name by calling the setSharedPreferenceName()
and passing in the new name
13
Platforms
Demonstrate the file working and discuss how it works
13
Persisting Data to Files
To store data to files use the java.io package
You can write data to the devices internal store by
Writing text to a file using the FileOutputStream class and the
openFileOutput() method with MODE_WORLD_READABLE
(public read access), MODE_PRIVATE (private access),
MODE_APPEND or MODE_WORLD_WRITEABLE (public
write access)
To convert a character stream to a byte stream create a

OutputStreamWriter instance using OutputStreamWriter() and
then use the write() method to write to the file. Remember to
flush() and close() the file
14
Platforms
14
…Persisting Data to Files
You can read data from the devices internal store by
using the FileInputStream class and the openFileInput() passing
the file name as an input parameter. Then use the instance of the
FileInputStream to create a new InputStreamReader()
The input file is read in blocks of READ_BLOCK_SIZE bytes
into a character array buffer you create. The read() method is
used for this. read() returns -1 when the end of file is reached
15
Platforms
15
Saving to External (SD card) Storage
Use the getExternalStorageDirectory() method to get a File
object that points to your SD card’s path
To write to the SD card you then create a new directory using
the previously found path using mkdirs()
You can then use the previously discussed FileOutputStream()
method to write objects to the file

16
Platforms
16
…Saving to External (SD card) Storage
To load data from the SD card use the path and filename
approach used to write to the file and use a FileInputStream
object instance along with an InputStream instance to read from
the file
In order to write to a file you need to set the
WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission in your
Android.Manifest file
17
Platforms
17
Choosing a Storage Option
If you have data that can be represented using name:value pairs
then use the SharedPreferences approach to store your data
If your data is not in easily put into name:value pairs and is not
going to be shared with other apps then use internal storage to
save your data
If your data is to be shared with other apps or users then use the
SD card storage option

18
Platforms
18
Using Static Resources
You can add files to your projects res/raw folder. These files
are then usable in your app
Use the getResources() method to return a Resources object to
get access to the file in res/raw
The resource ID is used to identify the required resource. It is
the name of the file in res/raw without its extension
19
Platforms
Creating and Using Databases
Using a relational database to store tables of data is efficient as
database queries can be used to retrieve the data
Android uses the SQLite database system to provide access to a
database, only to the app that created it
The created database is stored in the
/data/data/<package_name>/databases folder
20
Platforms
Demonstrate the files working and discuss how they work

20
Creating a DBAdapter Helper Class
It is a good idea to create a helper class to create, open, close
and use a SQLite database
A database has a name, tables and columns
You need to create constants to name the fields of your database
The DATABASE_CREATE constant contains the SQL
statements for creating the table of the database
Within your DBAdapter class create a DatabaseHelper class that
extends SQLiteOpenHelper
21
Platforms
21
…Creating a DBAdapter Helper Class
Override the onCreate() method to create the new database
Override the onUpgrade() method for use when the database is
upgraded
You then define methods to use for opening, closing and
adding, deleting or updating rows in the table
Android uses the Cursor class to return values from queries
ContentValues object is used to store name:value pairs using its
put() method
22
Platforms

22
CRUD Operations on the Database
As an example we will look at adding contacts to the contacts
database
Use the DBAdapter class to create a new instance of the
DBAdapter class
To retrieve contacts in the contacts table use the
getAllContacts() method. This returns a Cursor object.
You can use the moveToFirst() and moveToNext() methods to
examine each contact in turn. The contact details are found by
calling DisplayContact() on the cursor object
23
Platforms
23
…CRUD Operations on the Database
To retrieve a single contact use its ID and call the getContact()
method to get the details which is returned in a Cursor object
To update a contact call the updateContact() method passing the
ID as the 1st parameter
To delete a contact use the deleteContact() method with the
contact ID as the parameter
To upgrade a new database to a new one change the
DATABASE_VERSION field in the DBAdapter class to a
higher value than the old one. This deletes the old table, ready
for the new table to be created from an existing one or
otherwise
24
Platforms

24
Pre-creating a Database
Often the database is pre-created at design time and used at run-
time
Tools are used to create the initial database, such as that at
sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser. This tool allows you to
visually create the fields for the database and populate the
fields with values
The database is copied into the assets folder of your project.
When the application is created you copy the database in the
assets folder into the /data/data/<project_name>/databases
folder if it does not already exist. You can then use it as before
25
Platforms
25
Week 6: Content Providers
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016
Content Providers

Objectives, to :
share data in Android
use a content provider
Platforms
Content Providers
Content providers are the recommended way of sharing data in
Android application
Content providers provide a consistent interface programming
interface across all Android applications
Content providers provide much the same services as databases
– add, delete, query, edit
but can be stored as databases, files or over a network
Basic Android content providers include;
Browser – bookmarks, history, etc.
CallLog – missed calls, call details, etc.
Contacts – contact details from address book
MediaStore – for audio, video and images
Settings – device settings and preferences
Platforms
…Content Providers
A URI is used to query a content provider. Query strings always
have the form
content:// <authority> / <path> / <id>
where
authority– name of the content provider. For user defined
content providers it is the fully qualified name, eg
wrox.com.provider
path– specifies the content provider data path to the service
provided

id– specifies the actual record required
Eg. Content://contacts/people/4 the fourth person in the people
table of the devices contacts database
Table 8.1 in chapter 8 of the DiMarzio text gives further
examples
Platforms
Using a Content Provider
You must first specify the URI of the content provider
Uri myContacts = Uri.parse(“content://contacts/people/”);
Post Honeycomb devices use CursorLoader() to get a cursor
instance to the data, but does not block the application thread
The CursorAdapter object maps data from the source to the
destination variables. You set up an array of string, String[], for
the column variable and an int[] for the views
You then create a new instance of a SimpleCursorAdapter class
variable using the column and view values as parameters
Honeycomb and later requires the addition of a
FLAG_REGISTER_CONTENT_OBSERVER argument
You also need to set READ_CONTACTS permission in the
Android.manifest file
Platforms
Pre-defined Querystring Parameters
A number of pre-defined Query string constants are defined
including:
Browser.BOOKMARKS_URI
CallLog.CONTENT_URI
MediaStore.Images.Media.INTERNAL_CONTENT_URI
MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI
Settings.CONTENT_URI

Eg Uri contacts= ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_URI;
If you want to retrieve the 1st setting use Uri settings=
ContentUris.withAppendedId(ContactsContract.Contacts.CONT
ENT_URI, 2);
Platforms
Printing Cursor objects
Create a method that takes the Cursor variable as input
Use the Cursor classes moveToFirst() and moveToNext() to
iterate through the items in the Cursor object
The ContactsContract.Contacts._ID field returns the ID of the
contact and the ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME
returns the contacts name
Use ContactsContract.Contacts.HAS_PHONE_NUMBER to
determine if the contact has a phone number and then
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER to access
the phone number
Platforms
Content Providers - Projections
The 3rd parameter of CursorLoader() returns the columns that
are returned by the query – this parameter is known as the
projection
You can set up an array to contain the columns you wish to
return from the data source and pass this as the projection
parameter
String[] projection= new String[] {
ContactsContract.Contacts._ID,
ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME,
ContactsContract.Contacts.HAS_PHONE_NUMBER
};

Platforms
Content Providers - Filtering
The 4th and 5th parameters of CursorLoader() enable you to
make a WHERE clause enquiry
CursorLoader cL=new CursorLoader(this, contacts, projection,
ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME” + “ LIKE ‘Ron’
”, null, null);
You can use the next parameter to supply a list strings to use
instead
ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME” + “ LIKE ? ”,
new String[] {“Ron”, “Mary”}, null);
Platforms
Content Providers - Sorting
The last parameter of CursorLoader() enables you to specify an
ORDER BY clause of a SQL query
ContactsContract.Contacs.DISPLAY_NAME” + “ LIKE ? ”,
new String[] {“Ron”, “Mary”},
ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME” + “ ASC ”);
Platforms
Creating Your Own Content Provider
To create your own content provider you provide a class that
extends the ContentProvider base class

You need to override the following methods;
getType() – to return the MIME type of the data for the URI
onCreate() – called when provider created
query() – receives a client request and returns a Cursor object
insert() – inserts a new record in the content provide
delete() – deletes records in the content provider
update() – updates a record in the content provider
You can store your data in the file system, a database, an XML
file or through a web service
Platforms
…Creating Your Own Content Provider
You then need to define a number of strings such as the
PROVIDER_NAME, CONTENT_URI, _ID, a UriMatcher
instance, and a SQLiteDatabase with its associated constants
The UriMatcher object is used to parse the content URI through
the ContentResolver
You write a SQLiteHelperDatabase class to help manage the
database
You then write the implementations for getType(), onCreate(),
query(), insert(), delete() and update()
Call notifyChange() of the ContentResolver after insert() and
delete()
Modify the Android.Manifest file by adding the <provider>
element
Platforms
Using Your Own Content Provider
You need to create an activity to test your content provider
To add to the provider create a ContentValues object and
populate it with the required values for your data object

If the ContentProvider is in the same package as your tester you
can directly reference the provider fields, otherwise you need to
specify the field names directly
For external packages you need to refer to the content URI
using a fully qualified URI
You should then write methods to display the contents of you
content provider and to test the update() and delete() methods
Platforms
Week 8: Networking
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016
Week 8 – Networking
This week we:
Connect to the web using HTTP
Use XML web services
Use Jason web services
2
Platforms
Using the HTTP web services
HTTP is used as the main protocol in the WWW
It is used in tasks such as downloading web pages, and binary
data such as images, sound and video

To use the HTTP protocol your app must set the uses
INTERNET permission in your Android manifest file
You use the OpenHttpConnection() method that takes an URL
string as parameter to open a connection to the specified URL
By opening an InputStream object you can download bytes from
the URL
3
Platforms
…Using the HTTP web services
You must set the connection method using setRequestMethod().
Usually you use the HTTP GET verb for this
When the connection is established a HTTP response code is
returned. If this is HTTP_OK then you can proceed to get the
data using getInputStream()
4
Platforms
Downloading Binary Data
To download an image from a web server you use the
synchronous DownloadImage() method. This returns a Bitmap
object. It does this by opening a HTTP connection to the URL
and uses the decodeStream() method of the BitmapFactory class
to decode the InputStream instance and return it as a Bitmap
Since Android 3.0 all synchronous tasks must be wrapped in the
AsyncTask class to prevent them from stalling the UI
You create a DownloadImageTask that extends
AsyncTask<String, Void, Bitmap>

5
Platforms
…Downloading Binary Data
In the DownloadImageTask class you define the methods
doInBackground() and onPostExecute()
In doInBackground() you call DownloadImage() to get the
bitmap
In onPostExecute() you display the image in your UI using a UI
element
You call your DownloadImageTask class by creating an instance
of it in onCreate() and then calling execute() on the instance,
passing a URL as the parameter
6
Platforms
…Downloading Binary Data
To read multiple images you modify the doInBackground()
method to use a for loop to loop through each of the URLs. As
each image is completed you call publishProgress() to give
feedback
An extra onProgressUpdate() method is defined in the
DownloadImageTask class to display the downloaded images
In onCreate() you pass multiple URLs as the parameters of the
execute() method
NOTE: On the emulator localhost refers to the emulator itself.
If getting images from your PC use your PCs IP address instead
of localhost or the files will not be found
7
Platforms

Downloading Text
In some circumstances you may wish to GET plain text files.
The text file is stored as a String on the device
To achieve this write a DownLoadText(URL) method that
returns the text file as a single String
You open a Http connection to an InputStream object. Then use
an InputStreamReader instance to a new InputStreamReader()
instantiated with your InputStream object
You read the incoming stream of bytes into character buffers
and append the incoming String copy of the buffer contents to
the final returned String
You create a subclass of AsyncTask to call
DownLoadText(URL) asynchronously as before
8
Platforms
Accessing Web Services using GET
Many Web services respond to a GET query with an XML file
We need to be able to connect to the web service and then parse
the contents of the XML file
For example consider a web service that returns the dictionary
definition of the word (eg
http://services.aonware.com/DictService/DictService.asmx?op=
word )
Here you need to establish the connection to the web service
and then parse the XML returned
9
Platforms
…Accessing Web Services using GET

Here we create a WordDefinition(String) method that returns
the XML file in a local String object. We wrap this in a subclass
of AsyncTask and call WordDefinition (String) asynchronously
Use OpenHttpConnection() and pass the request string as the
URL, remembering to use the required word at the end of the
string
You create a local instance of a Document object and use the
newInstance() method of the DocumentBuilderFactory class to
create a DocumentBuilderFactory instance
10
Platforms
…Accessing Web Services using GET
You also need a DocumentBuilder object defined and then you
can use your DocumentBuilderFactory instance to try and get a
valid DocumentBuilder object. You call the parse() method get
a Document object
The elements of the word definition are then found within the
<definition> tags in the Document object model (DOM)
11
Platforms
Consuming Jason Services
XML has a number of disadvantages:
Documents sizes get big as the complexity goes up and so costs
rise
Parsing the XML to extract the content of the message is CPU
intensive, requires the complete DOM to be stored locally as a
tree structure so is memory intensive
A more efficient representation scheme is to use JavaScript
object notation (JSON) to encode the information

12
Platforms
JASON
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a data exchange format
for defining data structures
JSON is light-weight and easy to read and write
JASON objects are represented as “key”:”value” pairs enclosed
in {}’s, eg. {"a":"I", "b": ["d", "e", "f"], "c":{"a": 1000,
"b":["fred"]} }
13
Platforms
Consuming JSON Services
To consume JSON services you create a readJSONFeed()
method
This method connects to the specified URL and then reads the
response from the web service as a String
You call the readJSONFeed() method asynchronously using the
AsyncTask class
readJSONFeed() in called in the AsyncTask’s doInBackground()
method and the JSON String you fetch is passed into the
onPostExecute() method of the AsyncTask
14
Platforms
Go to the API and read through the entries

14
…Consuming JSON Services
To obtain the list of objects in the JSON String you pass the
JSON received into a JSONArray() constructor to get a local
JSONArray object representing the JSON data
You can then use the length() method to get the length of the
JSON array and get a JSONObject from the JSONArray using
the getJSONObject() method
To get the key:value pair from a JSON object you use
getString(), getInt(), getLong() or get Boolean()
15
Platforms
15
Week 9: Developing Android Services and App testing
J.F. DiMarzio, 2016 and
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/mobile_testing/mobile_testing_q
uick_guide.htm
Week 9 – Developing Services
Objectives, to:

To create an Android service that runs in the background
Perform long running tasks in threads
Perform repeated tasks in a service
Understand how activities and services communicate
Understand threading in Android
2
Platforms
Android Services
Services are tasks that run in the background without the need
for a UI, e.g playing background music or repeatedly polling for
the devices current location
To create a service you extend the Service base class and
override:
onBind(): binds the activity to the service
onStart(): used to do things when the service first starts
onDestroy(): called when the service terminates and is used to
clean up resources used by the service
3
Platforms
3
…Android Services
Services must be declared using the service tag, or an action tag
in your intent-filter section for services that are available to
other applications, in the Android manifest file
You start the service using the startServices() method
You stop a service by calling the stopService() method
4

Platforms
4
Performing Long Running Tasks
Long running tasks will stall your UI making your activity
unresponsive
For this reason long running tasks are put into a separate thread
so the main thread can keep running
You implement an inner class that extends the asynchronous
AsyncTask class without manually creating threads and handlers
5
Platforms
5
The AsyncTask Class
The AsyncTask class has three generic types URL, Integer and
Long
These type of parameters are passed to the doInBackground(),
onProgressUpdate() and onPostExecute() methods of the
AsyncTask class
doInBackground() accepts an array of String’s corresponding to
URL’s as its parameter. In this method you implement the long
running task. To report progress you call publishProgress()
method passing the Integer % complete
onProgressUpdate() connects to UI’s elements to show tasks

percentage complete
onPostExecute() takes the Long value returned by
doInBackground() when it completes as its parameter and is
used to take action when this happens
Call stopSelf() in onPostExecute() to terminate the Service or it
keeps running
6
Platforms
new Media is correct capitalisation for the constructor
6
Doing Repeated Tasks in a Service
You may want to use the Timer class to arrange for a service to
be run at set time intervals
The TimerTask class implements a Runnable interface and runs
on its own thread. Hence it does not have to extend the
AsyncTask class to be run in the background
7
Platforms
7
…Doing Repeated Tasks in a Service
To repeat the service in the class create a method in your
Service and in it use a Timer object and call its
scheduleAtFixedRate() method passing in a new TimerTask()
that implements a run() method as scheduleAtFixedRate()’s 1st
parameter, the delay before the 1st call of the run() method as

the 2nd parameter and the delay between successive calls in
milli-seconds as the 3rd parameter
Call your new method directly from the onStartCommand()
method of your Service
8
Platforms
8
Asynchronous Tasks on Separate Threads Using IntentService
The IntentService class makes it easy to create an asynchronous
task that terminates when completed
IntentService is based on the Service class and handles
asynchronous requests on demand
It is started like a normal service, executes on a separate worker
thread and terminates itself when completed
9
Platforms
9
…Asynchronous Tasks on Separate Threads Using IntentService
To use IntentService class you define a new class that extends
IntentService
You need to implement a constructor that calls the superclass
passing in a string to name the service
You also need to override the onHandleIntent() method to
specify the action the service is to take when executing on the

worker thread
When onHandleIntent() is finished the thread is terminated and
then service is automatically stopped
10
Platforms
10
Week 9 – Mobile App Testing
This week we:
Understand the importance of testing the the apps we develop
for mobile devices
Develop a methodology for testing mobile devices
Understand how to choose which mobile devices we should test
Discuss strategies for testing on a range of devices (including
emulators)
Look at developing a mobile device test plan
11
Platforms
The Importance of App testing
There is a lot of competition for application and services on
mobile devices
Testing ensures that your device functions as intended
If your app fails at some task, is poorly designed or is
unresponsive your customers will move on to something else
very quickly
The goal of testing is to determine the quality of the software –
does it work, does it function as intended and does it meet the

users needs
Failure means your customers will desert you for other suppliers
12
Platforms
Mobile Testing Methodology
Comprehensive testing is complicated and expensive
In Mobile apps use is often made of the WWW (even though it
does not have too) so account must be taken of this
Testing must not just be restricted to the mobile device but any
services or peripherals the app uses
13
Platforms
Note: The reading addresses testing mobile web sites rather than
mobile app testing. However, a lot of similarity occurs between
the two
13
…Mobile Testing Methodology
According to Wikipedia mobile application testing includes
Functional testing
Laboratory testing – of complete wireless network
Performance testing – undertaken under different conditions
Memory leakage – test apps memory management
Interrupt testing – how it handles interrupts such as battery
removal, notifications, incoming/outgoing calls, etc..
Usability testing
Installation testing in actual practice
Any certification testing required by customers

14
Platforms
the two
14
Choosing Devices to Test
Comprehensive testing targets multiple device models,
operating systems, mobile networks and possible browsers
It generally is not possible to test on every mobile device so a
reasonable subset must be chosen
The process to follow includes;
List all target devices
Organise devices by operating system and version
Organise devices by modality and input method
Choose the strongest and weakest from the list for testing
15
Platforms
the two
15
Strategies for Testing on Devices
The greatest issue is to acquire the range of devices needed for
testing
This can be done by

Purchasing the devices outright
Joining industry developer programs
Use the services of a commercial provider to test
Use device emulators for testing
16
Platforms
the two
16
Developer Programs and Emulators
All the major manufactures of mobile devices have developer
programs that you can join for a fee that may provide
discounted device purchases, you to rent or borrow devices
and/or access to virtual devices
Emulators are a relatively inexpensive alternate to real devices,
however these are not the real devices and problems or errors
can slip through the testing process
In particular gestures and touches do not emulate well
17
Platforms

the two
17
Develop a Mobile Test Plan
Start by writing a summary to describe the purpose of the app,
its use cases and how you plan to test the device
Review the list of devices, OS versions etc. you plan to test
Decide whether testing uses actual devices, emulators or both.
If using actual devices decide how the devices are to be
acquired
Write scripts to detail the tests to be undertaken on the devices
and carry out the tests
18
Platforms
the two
18
Week 10: App Stores and Marketing
Source: Beginning Mobile Application Development in the

Cloud, R. Rodger, 2012, ch. 13 pp. 435-441.
Week 10 – App Stores & Selling Your App
This week we:
Create icons & splash screens for Apps
Prepare screenshots and App metadata
Understand AppStore terms and conditions
Determine how to develop a marketing plan
Understand freelance work
Understand how to use apps for business promotion
Use both standard and guerilla marketing tactics
Learn about building communities around our apps
2
Platforms
Icons and Splash screens
Icons are visually associated with your app and need to be well
designed and aesthetically pleasing
They should be designed by a graphics designer and a number
of different sized .png images are required
You full app also requires a “splash” screen
Screenshots of the main screens of your app are required for
submission to Apple’s App Store and the Android marketplace
On Android you can get a screenshot by holding the Back key
and also holding the Home key down for a few seconds or by
taking a screenshot from the emulator
3
Platforms
App Metadata
When submitting an App to a store the following information is

required
A short textual description of the app
The category to which your app belongs
Keywords relevant to search results for the app
Supporting website address for the app
Any promotional graphics or video
A change log for the app
A content rating
The market geographical regions
4
Platforms
Working With the App Store
App must be submitted and accepted before they are available
Apps need to be digitally signed
The general business model is that the store receives 30% of
either the sales price or the subscription fee, to be paid every 30
days
In-app advertising revenue appears to be exempt from the terms
You need to read the terms and conditions that apply to the use
of both the Android Marketplace and Apple’s App Store
5
Platforms
Determining a Marketing Strategy
A number of questions need to be answered to define a
marketing strategy. Specifics include:
Demographics, what are the sex, ages and incomes of target
audience
Needs, what user need does the app fill?
Cost of promotion, how much will advertising cost relative to
the market size?

How will the app be used?
You need to test and verify that your answers are correct
6
Platforms
Building Apps for Other
Most likely you will be building apps for your employer or on a
contract basis for someone. You should build for success
Explain to clients the importance of usability, meeting app store
guidelines, common interface conventions, the economics of
cloud hosting, and how to launch and market the app
Make sure you have a documented contract for work, have
received a down-payment before starting and invoice your time
and costs as they occur
Offer fixed rate or standard time and materials day rates. The
fixed price should be about 50% extra to cover time blow-outs
in development
Offer a discount for early payment
7
Platforms
Promoting Your Business
A number of strategies can be used to promote your business
Subscription Based Services. Here the app is distributed for free
but a monthly subscription is charged for services. The key is
that the service must be of value to the customer or they will
not pay
Offering free versions of the app. These all limit the
functionality of the app. The idea is the user can get a feel for
the app. The fully featured app is then purchased
If your business already has a commercial presence then the app
can be promoted through those channels

Selling in-app Ads. If enough people use your app then selling
advertising space in the app can be a useful revenue stream
Premium services can be offered at a higher rate
In-app purchases. In this model the app is free or almost so,
revenue is gained by selling items, eg games offering magical
items for real $’s
Cross application apps are developed once but deployed across
multiple devices thus increasing market base and potential
revenue
8
Platforms
Selling Apps
You need to be clear on why you are developing apps and
whether you are building reputation or trying to make money
Coding plays a relatively small part in the time involved in
selling apps. Most of your time will be spent marketing the app
You need to set goals such as
What apps for what audience
How much income per month are you targeting
Only build what can be done. Plan for apps that take about a
month to develop
Consider how you will pay the bills before your income starts
turning up
Set timelines for the progress in 1st 3 months and stick to it
Use a spreadsheet to model all your expenses and expected
income
9
Platforms
Embracing Marketing

You need to understand marketing. If you want to make money
then your target demographic must be able to buy the app
You need to understand where your market goes to find
information and make sure your product information can be
found there
Each app must be continually updated and marketed
You must either develop 1 or 2 high value apps or, more likely,
develop a large number of less costly apps
10
Platforms
Marketing Tactics
There are a large number of apps out there, getting noticed is
hard
You need to keep track of every $ spent on an app and your time
spent on an app. Use a spreadsheet for this and convert your
time into dollars on a contracting basis. Monitor this on a
weekly basis and if an app does not pay then consider spending
your time elsewhere
Only advertise in arenas where you know you will get customers
from
Use real people to help you user test your ideas. From this
develop your marketing ideas
Plan your marketing campaign to last months, using advertising,
blogs and other means for this
11
Platforms

Standard Tactics
Create a website to go with your app. It allows you to market
and service your customers
Have a forum on the website and continuously mine the forum
for useful information
Use social forums to spread the message about your app
Create a mailing list forum for you app and use this to spread
marketing information
Develop promotional material for your app and use it. Use
different promotional material and track the effectiveness of it
Give your app to well known bloggers in the hope they will
write about it
You can use traditional media for advertising as well
Submit your apps to mobile app competitions
Provide a free lite version of your app
Price your app competitively
12
Platforms
Expensive Tactics
Advertise your apps on on app directory site where the ad will
be seen
You can target high readership content sites and or advertise
within other popular apps
Create a sustained media campaign targeting social media and
major content sites
Use an advertising agency to do the promotion for you
You can also use offline advertising such as radio, TV and
newspapers to advertise
13

Platforms
Guerilla Tactics
A young individual is unlikely to have much money to put into
advertising, so use non-traditional ways of getting your message
out
Build a community around your app. Forums where you actively
participate with your users is one way to do this
You can start a forum with your test users and encourage them
to bring their friends along
You can offer in-app rewards to people for helping marketing
your product
You can offer rewards to bug-hunters to find bugs in your code
Have a social media sharing page in your app users can use to
connect to social sites
14
Platforms
…Guerilla Tactics
Direct potential customers to the app websites where
screenshots, videos etc., can help them make the buy decision
Ignore piracy – pop up a “please buy” message occasionally to
encourage purchase
Try to develop a high value content blog for your app
Provide links to your apps and app website in your email
signature
15
Platforms

Assessment item 1— Portfolio
Due date: 11:50 pm AEST, Friday of week 12 Portfolio
Weighting: 20%
1 Length: Less than 50 MB
Objectives
This assessment item relates to the course learning outcomes
numbers 2, 3 and 5 as stated in
the online course profile.
Details
You are to submit a weekly portfolio submission, using Mahara,
for weeks 2 to 11 inclusive.
To access Mahara, click the "CQU Portfolio" link in the
Network Services block on the left-
hand side of the Moodle site. The weekly portfolios will
describe your understanding of the
topic for the week, with relevant references and resources
providing evidence of your
understanding.
You are to conduct a search of the internet on the topic for the
week. You should review the
items you find and select a minimum of 5 items and link them to
your portfolio. You are not
to upload files from the internet, as you do not own copyright,
and if you do, this will be
plagiarism. You are to use links to your items only. You may
include items from YouTube,
clips from lectures and/or tutorials, and your own work that you
produce in the tutorials. Your
portfolio should capture rich ideas, resources and innovative
practice around mobile app

development within the frame of the weekly topics.
You are to write a brief discussion for each week as to why you
chose the items you did, and
why you thought the items chosen are appropriate. Harvard
referencing format and citations
are to be used to substantiate your discussion.
Assessment Criteria
Each portfolio submission will be assessed against the
following criteria:
Criteria Marks/week
Summary of weekly topic 0.5
Resource descriptions 1
Number and justification/quality of
resources
0.5
Penalties
Total 2

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