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Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach

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Product Author Bios

Dr. Harvey M. Deitel, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of Deitel and Associates, Inc., has 45 years of academic and industry experience in the computer field. He has 20 years of college teaching experience, including earning tenure and serving as the Chairman of the Computer Science Department at Boston College before founding Deitel and Associates. Paul J. Deitel, CEO/CTO of Deitel and Associates, is a graduate of MIT's Sloan School of Management, where he studied Information Technology. He has been designated by Sun Microsystems as a Java Champion. Abbey Deitel is President of Deitel and Associates, Inc. Michael Morgano is a Senior Application Developer at Deitel and Associates, Inc.

The professional programmer’s Deitel® guide to Android™ smartphone and tablet app development and the Eclipse IDE with the Android Development Tools (ADT) plug-in

 

Billions of apps have been downloaded from Android Market! This book gives you everything you’ll need to start developing great Android apps quickly and getting them published on Android Market. The book uses an app-driven approach—each new technology is discussed in the context of 16 fully tested Android apps, complete with syntax coloring, code walkthroughs and sample outputs. Apps you’ll develop include:

  • SpotOn Game
  • Slideshow
  • Flag Quiz
  • Route Tracker
  • Favorite Twitter® Searches
  • Address Book
  • Tip Calculator
  • Doodlz
  • Weather Viewer
  • Cannon Game
  • Voice Recorder
  • Pizza Ordering 

Practical, example-rich coverage of:

  • Smartphone and Tablet Apps, Android Development Tools (ADT) Plug-In for Eclipse
  • Activities, Intents, Content Providers
  • GUI Components, Menus, Toasts, Resource Files, Touch and Gesture Processing
  • Tablet Apps, ActionBar and AppWidgets
  • Tweened Animations, Property Animations
  • Camera, Audio, Video, Graphics, OpenGL ES
  • Gallery and Media Library Access
  • SharedPreferences, Serialization, SQLite
  • Handlers and Multithreading, Games
  • Google Maps, GPS, Location Services, Sensors
  • Internet-Enabled Apps, Web Services, Telephony, Bluetooth®
  • Speech Synthesis and Recognition
  • Android Market, Pricing, Monetization
  • And more…

PLUS:  Register your product at www.informit.com/register for additional online chapters that cover Android Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4), including a complete, working Ice Cream Sandwich app!


VISIT WWW.DEITEL.COM

  • For information on Deitel’s Dive Into® Series instructor-led programming language training courses offered at customer sites worldwide visit www.deitel.com/training or write to deitel@deitel.com
  • Download code examples
  • Check out the growing list of programming Resource Centers
  • Join the Deitel Twitter (@deitel) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DeitelFan) communities
  • To receive updates for this book, subscribe to the free Deitel ® Buzz Online e-mail newsletter at www.deitel.com/newsletter/subscribe.html

Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars organized colorful useful and error free, December 5, 2011
By 
E. March (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach (Deitel Developer Series) (Paperback)
I initially selected this book due to the multiple authors, hoping it would be more error free than other book I have read from single authors. So far that has been true, the more eyes in the review process really help not only catch errors but organize the material. Little things like all code snippets having line numbers and being high-lighted to follow the text really help. There are a good number of screen shots that make it easy to follow along with Eclipse on a windows or mac machine. I read so many posts on the internet saying Android has no GUI builder to layout widgets, and was very surprised, it wasn't until this book, I found out they are wrong. Adroid being what it is with Google behind it needs all the help with documentation and organization it can get. Google has that tendency to just leave it as-is, while their phD's make more hard to follow videos. The 16 apps they use as examples cover a nice range of UI, Services and libraries. The only negative is I'd prefer to... Read more
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Good examples, easy to follow, except for a good chunk of errors, March 1, 2012
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This review is from: Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach (Deitel Developer Series) (Paperback)
Overall, the book is very easy to follow with great examples. So far I'm on chapter 9. My only gripe is that there are seemingly editorial errors, missing bits of code here and there. The latest example being in chapter 9, when programming sensorEventListener. (Fig. 9.13) The explanation doesn't sync up with the code. The author mentions using a get method in line 110, when the code itself is actually used in 112. This is a nitpicky editorial error, but for the sake of transparency, these should be caught. An even larger error is that the author writes "In this case we set shakeDetected to true, then configure....Setting variable shakeDetected to true ensures that while the confirmation dialog is displayed, method...." The shakeDetected variable isn't in the code anywhere. (Neither shown in the code example in the book or in the downloadable samples) This is a bit confusing.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to Android programming, February 8, 2012
This review is from: Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach (Deitel Developer Series) (Paperback)
I have a stack of introductory Android books including the Dummies and 24 Hours titles. What I particularly like about this book is that it's built for people who learn by dissecting existing projects, so I've gained considerably more pulling apart the examples it covers than reading descriptive pages that often don't focus on the right topics.

There's a wide range of different applications included ranging from the very simple to the fairly complex. They cover a broad part of Android's object model. While reading this isn't going to make you a pro coder overnight (and which book can do that?) it will give you a fair knowledge of all the various components that you will need to start write apps. This isn't designed for beginners but I would argue that programming Java and Android requires a minimum of some familiarity with basic coding concepts and object oriented principles. I really enjoyed the format of this book and hope to see more like it.

PS - We're still... Read more
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Online Sample Chapter

Android for Programmers Welcome App: Dive-Into Eclipse and the ADT Plugin

Table of Contents

Preface xiv

Before You Begin xxii

 

Chapter 1: Introduction to Android 1

1.1 Introduction 2

1.2 Android Overview 4

1.3 Android 2.2 (Froyo) 7

1.4 Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) 10

1.5 Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) 12

1.6 Android Ice Cream Sandwich 15

1.7 Downloading Apps from the Android Market 16

1.8 Packages 17

1.9 Android Software Development Kit (SDK) 18

1.10 Object Technology: A Quick Refresher 20

1.11 Test-Driving the Doodlz App in an Android Virtual Device (AVD) 23

1.12 Deitel Resources 32

1.13 Android Development Resources 33

1.14 Wrap-Up 34

 

Chapter 2: Android Market and App Business Issues 35

2.1 Introduction 36

2.2 Building Great Android Apps 36

2.3 Android Best Practices 38

2.4 Registering at Android Market 44

2.5 Setting Up a Google Checkout Merchant Account 44

2.6 AndroidManifest.xml File 45

2.7 Preparing Your Apps for Publication 46

2.8 Uploading Your Apps to Android Market 51

2.9 Other Android App Marketplaces 54

2.10 Pricing Your App: Free or Fee 54

2.11 Monetizing Apps with In-App Advertising 56

2.12 Monetizing Apps: Using In-App Billing to Sell Virtual Goods in Your Apps 57

2.13 Launching the Market App from Within Your App 59

2.14 Managing Your Apps in Android Market 59

2.15 Marketing Your App 59

2.16 Other Popular App Platforms 64

2.17 Android Developer Documentation 65

2.18 Android Humor 66

2.19 Wrap-Up 67

 

Chapter 3: Welcome App 68

Dive-Into® Eclipse and the ADT Plugin

3.1 Introduction 69

3.2 Technologies Overview 69

3.3 Eclipse IDE 70

3.4 Creating a New Project 71

3.5 Building the Welcome App’s GUI with the ADT’s Visual Layout Editor 74

3.6 Examining the main.xml File 87

3.7 Running the Welcome App 89

3.8 Wrap-Up 89

 

Chapter 4: Tip Calculator App 91

Building an Android App with Java

4.1 Introduction 92

4.2 Test-Driving the Tip Calculator App 93

4.3 Technologies Overview 94

4.4 Building the App’s GUI 94

4.5 Adding Functionality to the App 106

4.6 Wrap-Up 116

 

Chapter 5: Favorite Twitter® Searches App 117

SharedPreferences, Buttons, Nested Layouts, Intents, AlertDialogs, Inflating XML Layouts and the Manifest File

5.1 Introduction 118

5.2 Test-Driving the Favorite Twitter Searches App 119

5.3 Technologies Overview 121

5.4 Building the App’s GUI and Resource Files 123

5.5 Building the App 131

5.6 AndroidManifest.xml 142

5.7 Wrap-Up 143

 

Chapter 6: Flag Quiz Game App 146

Assets, AssetManager, Tweened Animations, Handler, Menus and Logging Error Messages

6.1 Introduction 147

6.2 Test-Driving the Flag Quiz Game App 151

6.3 Technologies Overview 151

6.4 Building the App’s GUI and Resource Files 153

6.5 Building the App 160

6.6 AndroidManifest.xml 174

6.7 Wrap-Up 175

 

Chapter 7: Cannon Game App 176

Listening for Touches and Gestures, Manual Frame-By-Frame Animation, Graphics, Sound, Threading, SurfaceView and SurfaceHolder

7.1 Introduction 177

7.2 Test-Driving the Cannon Game App 178

7.3 Technologies Overview 179

7.4 Building the App’s GUI and Resource Files 181

7.5 Building the App 183

7.6 Wrap-Up 203

 

Chapter 8: SpotOn Game App 204

Property Animation, ViewPropertyAnimator, AnimatorListener, Thread-Safe Collections, Default SharedPreferences for an Activity

8.1 Introduction 205

8.2 Test-Driving the SpotOn Game App 206

8.3 Technologies Overview 207

8.4 Building the App’s GUI and Resource Files 208

8.5 Building the App 210

8.6 Wrap-Up 224

 

Chapter 9: Doodlz App 225

Two-Dimensional Graphics, SensorManager, Multitouch Events and Toasts

9.1 Introduction 226

9.2 Test-Driving the Doodlz App 227

9.3 Technologies Overview 228

9.4 Building the App’s GUI and Resource Files 229

9.5 Building the App 234

9.6 Wrap-Up 256

 

Chapter 10: Address Book App 258

ListActivity, AdapterViews, Adapters, Multiple Activities, SQLite, GUI Styles, Menu Resources and MenuInflater

10.1 Introduction 259

10.2 Test-Driving the Address Book App 261

10.3 Technologies Overview 262

10.4 Building the GUI and Resource Files 263

10.5 Building the App 269

10.6Wrap-Up 290

 

Chapter 11: Route Tracker App 291

Google Maps API, GPS, LocationManager, MapActivity, MapView and Overlay

11.1 Introduction 292

11.2 Test-Driving the Route Tracker App 294

11.3 Technologies Overview 296

11.4 Building the GUI and Resource Files 298

11.5 Building the App 300

11.6 Wrap-Up 318

 

Chapter 12: Slideshow App 319

Gallery and Media Library Access, Built-In Content Providers, MediaPlayer, Image Transitions, Custom ListActivity Layouts and the View-Holder Pattern

12.1 Introduction 320

12.2 Test-Driving the Slideshow App 323

12.3 Technologies Overview 324

12.4 Building the GUI and Resource Files 327

12.5 Building the App 331

12.6 Wrap-Up 358

 

Chapter 13: Enhanced Slideshow App 360

Serializing Data, Taking Pictures with the Camera and Playing Video in a VideoView

13.1 Introduction 361

13.2 Test-Driving the Enhanced Slideshow App 362

13.3 Technologies Overview 363

13.4 Building the GUI and Resource Files 364

13.5 Building the App 367

13.6 Wrap-Up 389

 

Chapter 14: Weather Viewer App 390

Web Services, JSON, Fragment, ListFragment, DialogFragment, ActionBar, Tabbed Navigation, App Widgets, Broadcast Intents and BroadcastReceivers

14.1 Introduction 391

14.2 Test-Driving the Weather App 393

14.3 Technologies Overview 394

14.4 Building the App’s GUI and Resource Files 396

14.5 Building the App 399

14.6 Wrap-Up 459

 

Index 460

 

Chapters on the Web

Go to the book’s registration page  to register and download these chapters.

 

Chapter 15: PHAB’s Pizza App

Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text and Telephony

 

Chapter 16: Voice Recorder App

Audio Recording and Playback

 

Chapter 17: Enhanced Address Book App

Bluetooth

 

Chapter 18: 3D Art App

OpenGL ES 3D Rendering

 

Chapter 19: HTML5 Favorite Twitter® Searches App

Bonus Chapter: HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript for Experienced Web Developers

Sample Pages

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