Professional Android 2 Application Development

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Written by an Android authority, this up-to-date resource shows you

how to leverage the features of Android 2 to enhance existing

products or create innovative new ones. Serving as a hands-on guide

to building mobile apps using Android, the book walks you through

a series of sample projects that introduces you to Android’s new features

and techniques. Using the explanations and examples included in

these pages, you’ll acquire the foundation needed to write compelling

mobile applications that use Android, along with the flexibility to

quickly adapt to future enhancements.

Professional Android 2 Application Development:

• Reviews Android as a development platform and best practices

for mobile development

• Provides an in-depth look at the Android application components

• Details creating layouts and Views to produce compelling resolution

independent user interfaces

• Examines Intents and Content Providers for sharing data

• Introduces techniques for creating map-based applications and using

location-based services such as GPS

• Looks at how to create and use background Services, Notifications,

and Alarms

• Demonstrates how to create interactive homescreen components

• Explores the Bluetooth, telephony, and networking APIs

• Examines using hardware, including the camera and sensors such

as the compass and accelerometers

Reto Meier is a software developer who has been involved in Android since the

initial release in 2007. He is an Android Developer Advocate at Google.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers

to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals.

Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every

day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new

technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Programming / Mobile & Wireless / Android

Build unique mobile applications

with the latest Android SDK

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Meier Android™ 2 Application Development

Reto Meier

Professional

Android™

2

Application Development

Professional

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PROFESSIONAL

ANDROID™ 2 APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii

CHAPTER 1 Hello, Android . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CHAPTER 2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

CHAPTER 3 Creating Applications and Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

CHAPTER 4 Creating User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

CHAPTER 5 Intents, Broadcast Receivers, Adapters,

and the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

CHAPTER 6 Files, Saving State, and Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

CHAPTER 7 Databases and Content Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

CHAPTER 8 Maps, Geocoding, and Location-Based Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

CHAPTER 9 Working in the Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

CHAPTER 10 Invading the Phone-Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

CHAPTER 11 Audio, Video, and Using the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

CHAPTER 12 Telephony and SMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

CHAPTER 13 Bluetooth, Networks, and Wi-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

CHAPTER 14 Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

CHAPTER 15 Advanced Android Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

PROFESSIONAL

Android™ 2 Application Development

Reto Meier

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Professional Android™ 2 Application Development

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Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

ISBN: 978-0-470-56552-0

Manufactured in the United States of America

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To Kristy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RETO MEIER is originally from Perth, Western Australia, but now lives in London.

He currently works as an Android Developer Advocate at Google, helping Android app develop￾ers create the best applications possible. Reto is an experienced software developer with more than

10 years of experience in GUI application development. Before Google, he worked in various indus￾tries, including offshore oil and gas and finance.

Always interested in emerging technologies, Reto has been involved in Android since the initial

release in 2007. In his spare time, he tinkers with a wide range of development platforms, including

Google’s plethora of developer tools.

You can check out Reto’s web site, The Radioactive Yak, athttp://blog.radioactiveyak.com or

follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/retomeier.

ABOUT THE TECHNICAL EDITOR

MILAN NARENDRA SHAH graduated with a BSc Computer Science degree from the University of

Southampton. He has been working as a software engineer for more than seven years, with

experiences in C#, C/C++, and Java. He is married and lives in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.

CREDITS

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR

Scott Meyers

PROJECT EDITOR

William Bridges

TECHNICAL EDITOR

Milan Narendra Shah

PRODUCTION EDITOR

Rebecca Anderson

COPY EDITOR

Sadie Kleinman

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Robyn B. Siesky

EDITORIAL MANAGER

Mary Beth Wakefield

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

David Mayhew

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Tim Tate

VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE GROUP

PUBLISHER

Richard Swadley

VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER

Barry Pruett

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Jim Minatel

PROJECT COORDINATOR, COVER

Lynsey Stanford

PROOFREADER

Kyle Schlesinger, Word One

INDEXER

Robert Swanson

COVER IMAGE

© Linda Bucklin/istockphoto

COVER DESIGNER

Michael E. Trent

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Most importantly I’d like to thank Kristy. Your support makes everything I do possible, and your

generous help ensured that this book was the best it could be. Without you it would never have

happened.

A big thank-you goes to Google and the Android team, particularly the Android engineers and my

colleagues in developer relations. The pace at which Android has grown and developed in the past

year is nothing short of phenomenal.

I also thank Scott Meyers for giving me the chance to bring this book up to date; and Bill Bridges,

Milan Shah, Sadie Kleinman, and the Wrox team for helping get it done.

Special thanks go out to the Android developer community. Your hard work and exciting applica￾tions have helped make Android a great success.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION xxvii

CHAPTER 1: HELLO, ANDROID 1

A Little Background 2

The Not-So-Distant Past 2

The Future 3

What It Isn’t 3

Android: An Open Platform for Mobile Development 4

Native Android Applications 5

Android SDK Features 6

Access to Hardware, Including Camera, GPS, and Accelerometer 6

Native Google Maps, Geocoding, and Location-Based Services 7

Background Services 7

SQLite Database for Data Storage and Retrieval 7

Shared Data and Interapplication Communication 7

Using Widgets, Live Folders, and Live Wallpaper to Enhance the

Home Screen 8

Extensive Media Support and 2D/3D Graphics 8

Optimized Memory and Process Management 8

Introducing the Open Handset Alliance 9

What Does Android Run On? 9

Why Develop for Mobile? 9

Why Develop for Android? 10

What Has and Will Continue to Drive Android Adoption? 10

What Does It Have That Others Don’t? 11

Changing the Mobile Development Landscape 11

Introducing the Development Framework 12

What Comes in the Box 12

Understanding the Android Software Stack 13

The Dalvik Virtual Machine 14

Android Application Architecture 15

Android Libraries 16

Summary 16