Android Programming Unleashed is the most comprehensive and technically sophisticated guide to best-practice Android development with today's powerful new versions of Android: 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Offering the exceptional breadth and depth developers have come to expect from the Unleashed series, it covers everything programmers need to know to develop robust, high-performance Android apps that deliver a superior user experience.   Leading developer trainer Bintu Harwani begins with basic UI controls, then progresses to more advanced topics, finally covering how to develop feature rich Android applications that can access Internet-based services and store data. He illuminates each important SDK component through complete, self-contained code examples that show developers the most effective ways to build production-ready code. Coverage includes: understanding the modern Android platform from the developer's standpoint… using widgets, containers, resources, selection widgets, dialogs, and fragments… supporting actions and persistence… incorporating menus, ActionBars, content providers, and databases… integrating media and animations… using web, map, and other services… supporting communication via messaging, contacts, and emails… publishing Android apps, and much more.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 Key Topics That This Book Covers 1 Key Benefits That This Book Provides 2 How This Book Is Organized 2 Code Examples for This Book 5 I: Fundamentals of Android Development 1 Introduction to Android 9 The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean SDK 9 Understanding the Android Software Stack 11 Installing the Android SDK 12 Adding Platforms and Other Components 16 Installing Eclipse 20 Installing the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plug-in 22 Making the ADT Plug-in Functional 24 Creating Android Virtual Devices 24 Creating the First Android Project 27 Laying Out the Application 31 Defining Action Code Through Java 34 Running the Application 36 Using the TextView Control 39 Assigning the Text Directly in the Layout File 39 Assigning Text Through the Activity File 40 Applying Dimensions to Controls 42 Aligning Content with the Gravity Attribute 43 Commonly Used Attributes 43 Using the Android Emulator 47 Limitations of the Android Emulator 47 The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) 48 Launching Android Applications on a Handset 50 Summary 51 2 Basic Widgets 53 Understanding the Role of Android Application Components 53 Understanding the Utility of Android API 55 Overview of the Android Project Files 57 Understanding Activities 59 Understanding the Android Activity Life Cycle 60 Role of the Android Manifest File 61 Using the Manifest Editor 64 Creating the User Interface 64 Commonly Used Layouts and Controls 66 Event Handling 67 Creating an Anonymous Inner Class 68 Activity Implementing the OnClickListener Interface 71 Declaring the Event Handler in the XML Control Definition 72 Displaying Messages Through Toast 75 Creating and Starting an Activity 76 Describing Operations Through Intent 77 Method Used to Start an Activity 77 Creating Your Own Layout File 78 Creating a New Activity 79 Registering the New Activity 80 Starting the Activity 81 Using the EditText Control 82 Attributes Used to Configure the EditText Control 82 Adding an Event Listener to the EditText Control 84 Choosing Options with CheckBox 87 Choosing Mutually Exclusive Items Using RadioButtons 91 Summary 98 II: Building Blocks for Android Application Design 3 Laying Out Controls in Containers 101 Introduction to Layouts 101 LinearLayout 102 Applying the orientation Attribute 102 Applying the height and width Attributes 103 Applying the padding Attribute 103 Applying the weight Attribute 106 Applying the Gravity Attribute 108 Using the android:layout_gravity Attribute 109 RelativeLayout 111 Layout Control Attributes 113 AbsoluteLayout 121 Using ImageView 124 FrameLayout 125 TableLayout 129 Operations Applicable to TableLayout 129 GridLayout Layout 133 Specifying Row and Column Position 134 Spanning Rows and Columns 134 Inserting Spaces in the GridLayout 134 Adapting to Screen Orientation 138 Anchoring Controls 138 Defining Layout for Each Mode 140 Summary 145 4 Utilizing Resources and Media 147 Resources 147 Types of Resources 148 Creating Values Resources 150 Dimension Resources 153 Color Resources 156 Styles and Themes 159 Applying Themes 162 Arrays 165 Using Drawable Resources 170 Switching States with Toggle Buttons 174 Creating an Image Switcher Application 179 Scrolling Through ScrollView 183 Use of the android:fillViewport Attribute 185 Playing Audio 186 Adding Audio to the Application 187 Playing Video 195 Loading Video onto an SD Card 195 Displaying Progress with ProgressBar 199 Using Assets 204 Summary 207 5 Using Selection Widgets and Debugging 209 Using ListView 209 Creating a ListView with an Activity Base Class 211 Creating ListView by Extending ListActivity 217 Using the Spinner Control 220 Populating a Spinner Through Resources 220 Populating a Spinner Through ArrayAdapter 223 AutoCompleteTextView 225 Using the GridView Control 227 GridView Attributes 228 Displaying Images in GridView 231 Creating an Image Gallery Using the ViewPager Control 235 Using the Debugging Tool: Dalvik Debug Monitor Service (DDMS) 239 Debugging Applications 245 Placing Breakpoints in an Application 245 Using the Debug Perspective 247 Debug Pane 248 Expressions Pane 249 Breakpoints Pane 250 Variables Pane 254 Adding Logging Support to Android Applications 255 Summary 256 6 Displaying and Fetching Information Using Dialogs and Fragments 259 What Are Dialogs? 259 AlertDialog 261 Methods of the AlertDialog.Builder Subclass 261 Getting Input via the Dialog Box 264 DatePickerDialog 267 TimePickerDialog 271 Selecting the Date and Time in One Application 275 Fragments 282 The Structure of a Fragment 282 The Life Cycle of a Fragment 282 Creating Fragments with Java Code 294 FragmentManager 294 Communicating Between Fragments 296 Navigating to Previous Fragments 296 Retrieving Content Passed Through Bundle 297 Saving and Restoring the State of Fragments 297 Creating Special Fragments 301 Creating a ListFragment 301 Using a DialogFragment 305 Using PreferenceFragment 311 Summary 319 III: Building Menus and Storing Data 7 Creating Interactive Menus and ActionBars 323 Menus and Their Types 323 Creating Menus Through XML 324 Creating an Options Menu 325 Adding Submenus 332 Creating a Context Menu 336 Creating Menus Through Coding 345 Defining Options Menus 345 Creating Submenus 346 Trying It Out 349 Applying a Context Menu to a ListView 354 Using the ActionBar 358 Enabling the ActionBar 360 Using an Application’s Icon for Navigation 361 Displaying Action Items 362 Replacing a Menu with the ActionBar 370 Creating a Tabbed ActionBar 377 Creating a Drop-Down List ActionBar 380 Summary 384 8 Using Databases 385 Using the SQLiteOpenHelper Class 385 Building an SQLite Project 386 Fetching the Desired Rows from Tables 391 Using Cursors 392 Accessing Databases with the ADB 394 Accessing the Database Through Menus 398 Creating a Data Entry Form 401 Displaying Table Rows Via ListView 410 Summary 417 IV: Advanced Android Programming: Internet, Entertainment, and Services 9 Implementing Drawing and Animation 421 Drawing on the Screen 421 Using Canvas and Paint 421 Using Gradients 436 Animations 445 Understanding Frame-by-Frame Animation 446 Understanding Tweening Animation 453 Applying Interpolators 471 Summary 472 10 Displaying Web Pages and Maps 473 Displaying Web Pages 473 Enabling JavaScript 477 Handling Page Navigation 477 Adding Permission for Internet Access 478 Using the WebViewClient Class 480 Using Google Maps 483 Obtaining a Google Maps API Key 483 Installing the Google API 484 AVDs for Map-Based Applications 485 Creating a Google Maps-Based Application 486 Using Location-Based Services 490 Supplying Latitude and Longitude Values Through DDMS 494 Sending GPS Locations Manually 495 Passing Locations in GPX/KML Format 496 Displaying Map Locations 496 Printing the GPS Location Address 502 Displaying Map Markers 507 Using ItemizedOverlay 511 Summary 516 11 Communicating with SMS and Emails 517 Understanding Broadcast Receivers 517 Broadcasting an Intent 518 Receiving the Broadcast Intent 519 Using the Notification System 523 Notification via the Status Bar 523 Sending SMS Messages with Java Code 531 Getting Permission to Send SMS Messages 534 Writing Java Code 534 Receiving SMS Messages 541 Sending Email 546 Working with the Telephony Manager 553 Making the Outgoing Call 553 Listening for Phone State Changes 554 Summary 558 12 Creating and Using Content Providers 559 What Is a Content Provider 559 Understanding the Android Content URI 560 Using Content Providers 561 Creating a Custom Content Provider 566 Defining a Content Provider 566 Defining a Database 568 Defining the Content URI 569 Defining MIME Types 570 Implementing the getType, query, insert, update, and delete Methods 571 Registering Content Providers 587 Summary 589 13 Creating and Consuming Services 591 Moving Tasks to Background Threads 591 Using the Handler Class 592 Using the AsyncTask Class 594 Accessing Data from the Internet 598 Consuming SOAP Services 602 Creating a Service 607 Interacting with the Service 611 Creating a Bound Service 614 Setting Up Alarms 619 Setting Repeating Alarms 620 Setting Up the Time for the Alarm 620 Using Sensors 626 Summary 631 14 Publishing Android Applications 633 Setting Versioning Information of an Application 633 Generating a Certificate, Digitally Signing the Android Applications, and Generating the APK 636 Signing Applications Using the Export Android Application Wizard 637 Distributing Applications with Google Play 638 Getting Started with Google Play 639 Localizing Android Applications 641 Monetizing Our Applications 642 Summary 642 Index 643