This document provides an overview of the basics of Android development. It discusses the Android platform, ecosystem, SDK and tools. It describes the key building blocks like activities, services, content providers and broadcast receivers. It also covers the app lifecycle, intents, user interface components and common widgets like lists, dialogs and toasts.

1. Android Development
- the basics
Tomáš Kypta
@TomasKypta

4. Outline
● Android platform
● Android ecosystem
● Android SDK and development tools
● Hello World
● Building blocks & the manifest file
● Activities, widgets, intents
● Dialog, toast

5. Android platform
● Linux-based operating system
● open-source
● originally phone OS
● tablet (since Honeycomb)
● Google TV
● hundreds of devices

7. History
● 2003, Android inc.
● 2005 acquired by Google
● 2008 first Android phone – T-Mobile G1
● since then rapid development of the platform

8. Android ecosystem
● the world's most popular mobile platform
● over 850 000 new devices activated each day
● total number of devices ~ 300 million
● play.google.com (market.android.com)
● more than 450 000 applications
● ~ 70% free apps

9. Problems
● fragmentation
● manufacturer/carrier enhancements
● updates & support
● openness – low quality apps
● malware (users)

10. Sources
● developer.android.com
● android-developers.blogspot.com
● source.android.com
● stackoverflow.com
● youtube.com/androiddevelopers
● svetandroida.cz

11. Development
● programming in “Java”
● native apps possible (C++)
● development tools platform friendly
● Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
● IDE support – ADT plugin for Eclipse,
Netbeans, IntelliJ IDEA, ...

12. Android SDK
● android – Android SDK and AVD Manager
● adb – Android Debug Bridge
● ddms – Dalvik Debug Monitor
● emulator
● hierarchyviewer
● ProGuard
● Traceview
● docs

13. Libraries
● compatibility libraries
● licensing library
● AdMob
● Google Analytics, Flurry
● C2DM

14. Android internals

15. Hello World

16. Android Building Blocks
● Activity
● Service
● Content provider
● Broadcast receiver
● AndroidManifest.xml

17. Activity
● screen with user interface
● the only visual component
● examples:
– list of emails
– email detail
– email composition

18. Service
● runs in background
● long-running tasks
● examples:
– music playback service
– download service
– sync service

19. Content Provider
● manages and shares application data
● data storage doesn't matter – database, web,
filesystem
● apps can query and modify data through
content provider
● read/write permissions can be defined
● examples:
– all system databases
– contacts
– SMS

20. Broadcast Receiver
● responds to broadcasts
● broadcasts are system wide
● can be registered statically or dynamically
● system or custom messages
● examples:
– incoming SMS, incoming call
– screen turned off
– low baterry
– removed SD card

21. AndroidManifest.xml
● defines what parts the app have
● defines which endpoints are exposed
● minimum API level
● permissions
● declare hardware and software features
● required configuration

22. Intent
● asynchronous message
● binds components together (all of them
except ContentProvider)
● starting activities
● starting services and binding to services
● sending broadcasts

23. User Interface
● defined by hierarchy of views
● layouts = containers
– LinearLayout
– RelativeLayout
– FrameLayout
● widgets = UI objects
– Button, TextView, EditText
– WebView

24. Activity Lifecycle
● activities managed in a stack
● activity can be in different states during it's
lifecycle:
– foreground
– visible
– stopped
– killed

26. Intent & Activity
● starting activity explicitly
● starting activity implicitly
● starting activity for result

27. List Widgets
● displays a list of items (some view)
– ListView, Spinner, GridView, Gallery
● use adapter to bind list to data

28. Dialogs and Toasts
● Dialog – displays modal information
– standard dialogs
– custom dialogs
● Toast – non-modal information
– doesn't have user focus

29. THE END