ANDROID

Pocket Primer
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 ANDROID
Pocket Primer

Oswald Campesato

MERCURY LEARNING AND INFORMATION

Dulles, Virginia
Boston, Massachusetts
New Delhi
Copyright ©2018 by MERCURY LEARNING AND INFORMATION LLC. All rights reserved.

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O. Campesato. Android Pocket Primer.

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 I’d like to dedicate this book to my parents –
may this bring joy and happiness into their lives.
CONTENTS

Preface xv
About the Technical Reviewer xxi

Chapter 1: A Quick Introduction to Android 1

Major Versions of Android 2
Developing Android Mobile Applications 3
Android Studio 3
Dalvik versus ART 4
Creating Applications in Android Studio 4
Launching Android Apps from Android Studio 5
The Structure of an Android Application 5
The Main Files in a Default Android Application 7
The HelloWorld.java File 8
The R.java File (optional) 8
The AndroidManifest.xml File 9
The Build Values in the Gradle File 11
The strings.xml File 11
The activity_main.xml File 12
Working with Layout-Related Attributes 12
Working with width and height Attributes 13
Layout Rules for wrap_content and
match_parent Attributes 13
Meta-Characters in activity_main.xml 14
Assigning a Value to the id Attribute 15
Other Common Attributes 16
Android Resource Types 17
Key Android Concept: Activitys 18
The onCreate() Method 19
Handling Events in the Android Studio Designer 20
viii • CONTENTS

Importing Classes in Android Applications 20

API Level 23 and Default Layout Files 21
XML Elements and Their Attributes 21
Bypassing the Default Configuration File 22
Multiple Activity Classes 22
Working in the Android Designer 23
The RelativeLayout in Android 23
The Names of Layout Properties 24
Key Android Concept: Intents 24
Creating Android Intents 25
Types of Android Intents 26
The <intent-filter> Attribute of
Android Activitys 27
Intents with Action, Category, Data, and Extra 28
Summary 29

Chapter 2: Design and UI Controls 31

UI Controls in XML Files versus Dynamic Creation 32
UI Design for Smart Phones versus Tablets 32
Working with Android UI Controls 33
What Are Android Views? 33
What Are Some Common Display Views? 33
What Are ViewGroups? 34
What are Android Layouts? 34
What Are Android Events? 34
What Are Android Adapters? 35
A <button> Component 35
Units of Measure in Android 36
Padding-Related Attributes 36
Working with Positional Attributes 39
Other Display-Related Attributes and Direction 41
Specifying Text and Component Direction 42
Working with Different Densities and Screen Sizes 42
Detecting Changes in Device Orientation 44
Working with Buttons 44
Click Events in Android 46
Handling Android Device Rotation 50
Using a Different File for Landscape Mode (optional) 51
Other Event Listener Techniques 51
Finding the id of a UI Component 52
Differences between OnClickListener and OnClick 53
Event Listeners and Return Values 54
Android Annotations 54
 CONTENTS • ix

Android Application Lifecycle 55

Android Memory Leaks 57
Summary 58

Chapter 3: Additional UI Controls 59

Alerts 60
Time Pickers 61
What Are Android Fragments? 64
Fragment-Related Classes 65
The Fragment Lifecycle Methods 65
Working with Android Fragments 66
Types of Android Fragments 66
Android Classes for Fragments 66
Creating Custom Fragments 67
An Android Fragment Example 67
Lists and Array Adapters 73
Android Layout Managers 76
The RecyclerView 77
Setting Up a RecyclerView 78
A RecyclerView Code Sample 78
Constraint-Based Layouts 82
What Is ConstraintLayout? 83
Converting Existing Android Applications 83
Constraints and the Constraints System 84
Android 6.0 Features (Android M) 85
Features in Android 7 (Nougat) 85
Summary 86

Chapter 4: Graphics and Animation 87

Overview of Graphics in Android 87
The (A,R,G,B) Color Model 88
Android Built-In Support for Gradients 89
Gradient Effects with TextView Components 90
Using Custom Subviews for Graphics 92
Graphics Effects in Android Canvas 93
Android Canvas 2D Transforms 95
Rendering Binary Images 96
Rotating PNG Files with the Matrix Class 99
Applying Other Effects to PNG Files 102
Transforms in Android 103
Overview of Animation in Android 104
Tweened Animation in Android 105
Frame-by-Frame Animation in Android 105
x • CONTENTS

Fade Animation Effects via XML 106

Transforms via XML 109
Other Graphics and Animation Techniques 110
Nine-Patch 110
Drawing on an Android SurfaceView 110
OpenGL Animation in Android 111
Other Useful Links 111
Summary 112

Chapter 5: User Gestures 113

Methods for Handling Touch Events 113
The onTouchEvent() Method 114
A Multi-Line Graph with Touch Events 115
Overview of Touch Events and Gestures 117
The android.gesture Package 117
The View.OnTouchListener Interface 118
Comprehensive Tap/Touch-Related Example 119
A Sketching Program 123
Handling Other Types of Gestures 125
Multiple Animation Effects via XML 125
Working with Sprites in Android 127
Summary 128

Chapter 6: Sensors and Multimedia 129

Overview of Android Sensors 130
A List of Some Android Sensors 131
Instantiating Sensor Managers in Android 132
Listing the Available Sensors on a Mobile Device 132
Checking Sensor Availability on a Mobile Device 135
Device Orientation 137
Accessing the Compass 139
Vibration 143
Overview of Android Media 145
Playing a Ringtone 146
Playing an Audio File 149
Playing a YouTube Video 151
Generating a 3gp Link 153
Other Scenarios for Playing Videos 154
A Runtime Check for Implicit Intents 155
ExoPlayer 156
Android Permissions 156
Android Permission Types 157
 CONTENTS • xi

Permissions in Android 5.1 or Lower 157

Permissions in Android 6 or Higher 158
Android Permission Groups 158
How to Specify Permissions in Android 158
Android M and Runtime Permissions 159
Summary 160

Chapter 7: Data Storage and File I/O 161

The Android Context Classes 162
The Android ApplicationContext Class 162
The Android Lifecycle and Application
Context 164
Content Providers and User Contacts 164
Custom Content Provider Implementation 168
Data Storage 170
User Preferences 171
Loaders 172
AsyncTask versus Observables (RxJava) 172
SQLite Versus ContentProvider on Android 173
A SQLite Example 173
Working with Other Databases 177
The Debug Database 178
The Realm Database 179
File I/O and Supported Image Formats in Android 179
Overview of Accessing Files in Android 181
Writing to Files 182
Working with the SD Card 183
Writing PNG Files to the SD Card 184
Making System Calls in Android 186
Summary 191

Chapter 8: Services and Broadcast Receivers 193

Android Intents, Services, and Broadcast Receivers 193
Android Services 194
Features of Android Services 195
A Minimalistic Android Service 196
Service Lifecycle Methods 198
Managing Android Services 200
How to Start and Stop an Android Service 200
Restricting Access to Services 200
Types of Services 201
Bound and Unbound Services 201
xii • CONTENTS

Non-Sticky and Sticky Services 202

Restarting Non-Sticky and Sticky Services 202
JobScheduler 202
Android Broadcast Receivers 205
A Simple Broadcast Receiver 205
Alarms 210
Accessing the Battery 214
Application Shortcuts (Android 7) 217
Summary 218

Chapter 9: Android VR, TV, Auto, and Things 219

Android VR (Virtual Reality) 220
Android VR SDK 221
Configuring Android DayDream and Cardboard 221
The Android VR Sample Applications 222
Pixel Phone and Android VR Screenshots 222
Android VR Code Samples 225
Android VR SDK and OpenGL versus Unity/Unreal 227
Useful Links 228
Android TV 229
Useful Links 229
Android TV Applications 229
Creating Android TV Applications 231
Android Auto Applications 233
Useful Links 233
Android Auto Setup and Testing 234
Android Auto Music Applications 234
Android Auto Messaging Applications 235
Getting Started with Android Things (IoT) 236
Environment Setup and Samples 237
Important Caveats for Android Things 237
Permissions and Notifications 238
Content Providers 238
Peripheral I/O API and User Driver API 238
Android Things Sample-Button Project 239
Android Things Project Template 240
Useful Links 242
Google TensorFlow (optional) 242
Simple Examples of TensorFlow 243
Launching the Graph in a Distributed Session 245
Deploying TensorFlow to an Android Device 245
Summary 246
 CONTENTS • xiii

Chapter 10: Functional Reactive Programming 247

A Fast Dive into Observables: An Analogy 248
Intermediate Operators are Passive 249
Terminal Operators are Active 249
Lambda Expressions in Java8 250
Other Aspects of Lambda Expressions 252
Functional Interfaces 252
Type Inferencing 253
Method References 253
Working with Streams 253
Stream Operators 254
Marble Diagrams 255
Order of Data Evaluation 255
Collections versus Streams 255
Infinite Streams 256
Java Streams and Operators 256
Java Stream Classes 257
Java8 and Parallel Streams 258
A Java Stream Example (1) 258
A Java Stream Example (2) 259
How Stream Items Are Processed 261
A Java Stream Example (3) 261
What Is Functional Reactive Programming (FRP)? 263
The Observer Pattern 264
What Is RxJava2? 264
RxJava2 and Observables 264
Operators 265
RxJava with Observables 265
A Simple Observable with the map() Function 266
Another Observable with the map() Function 268
An Observable with Multiple Operators 269
Cold versus Hot Observables 270
What Is Back Pressure? 270
What Is RxBinding? 271
An Android Code Sample with RxBinding 272
What Is RxAndroid? 273
Examples of RxAndroid Operators 274
Using the just() Operator 275
Using the from() Operator 276
Using the skip() and filter() Operators 277
Using the from() and map() Operators 277
xiv • CONTENTS

An Observable with RxAndroid 278

What about RxJS? 280
Working with RxKotlin 280
Miscellaneous Topics 281
Summary 282

Index 283

Note: Appendices are Companion Files (PDFs) only

Appendix A: Threads and Networking
Appendix B: Performance and Debugging
Appendix C: Miscellaneous Topics
PREFACE

What Is the Goal?

The goal of this book is to provide an introduction and overview of
Android mobile development to developers who are relatively new to this
platform. The biggest challenge for a book of this length is to provide
sufficient detail for the main features of Android, along with suitable code
samples that include Android 6 and Android 7. Note that while many
code samples will work on older versions of Android (including 2.x and 3.x
devices), the market share for mobile devices with Android 4.x or higher
exceeds 96%.
This book has an ambitious goal, so it’s vitally important to recognize that
this book will not make you an expert in Android. Some Android topics
are covered lightly, and some Android topics are omitted entirely because
they do not belong in this type of Android book.

What You Need to Know for This Book

Let’s be clear: this book is not for beginners. Even if you are new to
Android, you need some development experience in order to benefit from
the plethora of topics and the details of the code samples in this book.
Most of the material in this book is presented in a sequential manner, and
yet sometimes there are “forward references” to topics that are covered
later in the book. This situation can create a degree of cognitive disso-
nance (so to speak), which you will be better equipped to handle if you
have a development background.
In particular, you need an understanding of OOP (Object Oriented
Programming) and Java. You also need a basic knowledge of XML, because
the configuration files in Android applications are XML documents.
xvi • PREFACE

Knowledge of another OO programming language instead of Java might

be sufficient, but to be on the safe side, glance through the code samples
to gauge whether or not you can handle the material.

Wait: Isn’t This Book a Pocket Primer?

In fairness to you, the term “Pocket Primer” requires clarification. If you
believe that a “Pocket Primer” provides a gentle introduction to some
aspects of a technology, then this book might be too advanced for you
right now, and perhaps not well-suited to your needs. This book is not a
“crash course” in Android: you will get a good overview of various features
of Android.
If you read the answer to the previous question, then you already know that
this book is not for neophyte developers who consider themselves “absolute
beginners.” To put things into perspective: if you have graduated from a
boot camp that focuses on mobile development, you will be much better
prepared than a graduate of a boot camp that focuses on Web development.
The nature of this book is somewhere in the middle: if you perceive a
“Pocket Primer” as similar to “jump-starting” your knowledge of a tech-
nology, then this book might fit your needs. Be assured that you need to
invest some time and effort to master the topics in this book. There are
no fluffy chapters that are padded with material that has no actual value.
Every chapter (including the first one) justifies its existence solely by its
technical content. The technical content of this book strives to ensure that
the target audience will get its money’s worth, so it’s a question of whether
or not you are part of the target audience.
If you intend to become an expert in Android, this book will provide a
“stepping stone” for your journey.

What about All the Free Code Samples Online?

The value of this book is the convenience of having a set of working code
samples available in one location, along with supplemental details. For
example, Chapter 7 contains a code sample for displaying processes on
an Android device: all processes are displayed on Android 6, but the root
processes are not displayed on a Pixel phone. The code in the YouTube
video example is simpler than code that’s based on the official YouTube
Android Player API (though the latter is recommended for production
applications), and you will also get information about playing videos on
an SD card as well as the res/raw subdirectory of an Android application.
 PREFACE • xvii

So, while online code samples are obviously useful, you also need to spend
time reading them, just as you would for this book. Moreover, you also
need to determine which online code samples actually work correctly,
which this book has already done for you.

The Target Audience

This book is for advanced beginners, and it’s intended to reach an inter-
national audience of readers with highly diverse backgrounds in various
age groups. While many readers know how to read English, their native
spoken language may not be English (which could be their second, third,
or even fourth language).
Consequently, this book uses standard English and avoids colloquial
expressions that might be confusing to those readers. As you know,
many people learn by different types of mimicry, which includes read-
ing, writing, or hearing new material. This book takes these points into
consideration in order to provide a comfortable and meaningful learn-
ing experience for the intended readers.

Getting the Most from This Book

Some programmers learn well from prose and others learn well from sam-
ple code (and lots of it), which means that there’s no single style that
works perfectly for everyone.
Moreover, some programmers want to run the code first, see what it does,
and then return to the code to understand the details (and others use the
opposite approach).
Consequently, there is a variety of code samples in this book. Some are
short, some are long, and other code samples “build” from earlier code
samples.

How Does This Book Help Me?

You will learn about various “core” concepts in Android, and also gain an
understanding of how to use many Android APIs. Moreover, the Appendices
contain an extensive set of references for extending your knowledge of
Android. What you decide to learn about Android after you finish reading
this Android Primer depends on your goals and career path. For example,
if you are a developer, you will undoubtedly continue learning more about
xviii • PREFACE

Android. On the other hand, if you are in management, you will under-
stand enough about Android to interact on a technical level with Android
developers.

Why Just Short Code Samples?

As you can see in the title, this book is for people who are new to Android
development. The code samples are intended to help you gain an under-
standing of various Android APIs, and that’s why every code sample is at
most three pages in length (and often only one or two pages long). The
focus is to provide code for Android features (such as buttons, text fields,
and media-related APIs) that you are likely to need in your Android appli-
cations. The use of shorter code samples allows for more Android APIs to
be included in this book.
The code samples are derived in various ways, such as custom code (writ-
ten by the author), variations of code from the Android documentation,
and sections of code from discussions in online forums. In addition, the
code samples were developed in Android Studio 2.2 (version 7) on a
MacBook Pro with OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan), and then deployed to a
Samsung Galaxy 5 with Android 6.0.1 and a Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
However, the code samples should work on all supported platforms.

How Was the Table of Contents Determined?

The decision process was as objective as possible, and it involved several
criteria. The first criterion was to include “must have” concepts (such as
Activitys and Intents) and APIs (including basic UI components) that
are used in virtually every Android application. The second criterion was
to include “nice to have” functionality (such as media-related APIs) that
would appeal to Android novices. The third criterion involved Android
APIs that could be useful for people who want to write “serious” Android
applications. Examples of such APIs include Android sensors. The fourth
criterion involved Android APIs that are needed for Android applications
in the book.

Which Android Topics Are Excluded and Why?

The Android features that do not meet any of the criteria listed in the
previous section are not included in this Primer. Consequently, there is
no coverage of AR (Augmented Reality), multitasking, and XML parsers
 PREFACE • xix

(SAX and DOM) in this book. Another topic that is not covered is Java
Native Interface (JNI), which allows Java code to invoke C/C++ functions.
If you are interested in JNI, you need to download and install the Android
Native Development Kit (NDK), which contains a set of tools for creating
libraries that contain functions that can be called from Java code.
The material in the chapters will familiarize you with the Android APIs,
after which you can do further reading to deepen your knowledge. For
example, Chapter 4 covers graphics and animation effects, but the code
samples in that chapter will not make you a game expert.

Doesn’t the Companion Disc Obviate

the Need for This Book?
The inclusion of a companion disc with code samples provides an impor-
tant service: you will save both time and effort, and you will be spared the
error-prone process of manually typing code into Android Studio. Yet,
there are situations in which you might not have easy Internet access,
whereas this book would be accessible to you. Another point to remember
is that the code samples in the book contain explanations and details that
are omitted from the “pure” code samples on the companion disc.

What Other Books Should I Read after

Finishing This Book?
The answer to this question varies widely, mainly because the answer
depends heavily on your objectives. Specifically, you need to decide how
much effort you are prepared to invest in furthering your knowledge. The
amount of time that you need to make significant advances in your tech-
nical expertise also depends your current level of technical knowledge
and experience. For instance, the needs of a manager, a student, and a
professional Android developer (among others) are obviously different.
The most appropriate answer to this question is a) to ask friends and cow-
orkers for advice and suggestions, and b) to perform an Internet search
and spend some time evaluating other resources that are available.
O. Campesato
March 2017
ABOUT THE
TECHNICAL REVIEWER

Siamak “Ash” Ashrafi (link to bio at https://goo.gl/dmkJ0a) is an experi-

enced programmer and developer in Android and iOS mobile apps. His
frequent code-a-thon wins have become published apps, and he holds
several patents related to popular video games. He is the CTO at ZoeWave,
building physiologically intelligent clothing called ZoeWear. He also has
over fifteen years of experience as a biotech researcher in the fields of
human physiology and biotechnology. In his spare time, you can find him
DJing or competing in snowboarding, surfboarding, and kite boarding.
 CHAPTER

1
A QUICK INTRODUCTION
TO ANDROID

T
his introductory chapter discusses how to develop Android appli-
cations, as well as their structure, various XML-based configura-
tion files, and some basic features of Android. You will learn how to
create mobile applications in Android Studio, which is the recommended
IDE for Android development. Two important features of Android are
Activitys and Intents, which you see throughout this book.

The first part of this chapter discusses the structure of Android projects
in Android Studio and some of the important files in Android projects.
Moreover, this section discusses the “Android way” of providing values for
properties that determine the position and size of Android components in
Android applications. Note that additional details about positional attrib-
utes, different screen densities, and different screen sizes are available in
Chapter 2.
The second part of this chapter switches focus to describe Android-
specific concepts and features. Specifically, this section quickly intro-
duces you to Android Activitys and Intents, which are key features of
Android. Almost every Android application in this book uses an Android
Activity, and several examples use Android Intents.
As you will see, this chapter contains a combination of a “hands on”
approach and a conceptual overview of Android. Additional “hands on”
material is presented in Chapter 2 so that you will learn techniques
and concepts for creating Android applications on an as-needed basis.
However, feel free to read this chapter (as well as other chapters) in the
order that best fits your learning style.
2 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

In some cases you might need to read subsections more than once in
order to “synchronize” your understanding of Android applications, which
is typical when you learn a new technology. In fact, Android Intents
will require longer study (compared to Android Activitys) because they
involve subtle points that you will understand better through practice.
Fortunately, subsequent chapters contain code samples that illustrate
how to use Intents and how to incorporate various UI components in
Android applications.
One final comment: at some point (now would be a good time) please
read the Preface for information regarding the goal of this book and
assumptions about your technical background.

Major Versions of Android

Android is an open-source toolkit for developing Android mobile appli-
cations that was publicly launched in late 2007. Let’s barrel through the
dates for some of the major releases. Android 4.0 (“Ice Cream Sandwich”)
was released in late 2011, followed by Android 4.4 in October 2013.
Android 5.0 (“Lollipop”) was released in November 2014, then Android 6
in October 2015, and finally Android 7 in August 2016. More information
about the history of Android versions is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history.

FIGURE 1.1 Android versions and percentage of devices (12/2016).

 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 3

The features of Android are cumulative (though there are new classes
that replace deprecated classes), so each version of Android supports the
preceding versions (see Figure 1.1). Keep in mind that sometimes there
are changes in the signature of APIs between consecutive Android ver-
sions. This progression of features will help you plan your Android appli-
cations in terms of which versions you can target with specific features.
Figure 1.1 displays the percentage of devices that operate different ver-
sions of Android.
Navigate to the following link to see more recent percentages:
https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html.

Developing Android Mobile Applications

Until 2014 many Android mobile applications were developed in the
open-source Eclipse IDE, and then Google announced that there would
be no additional Android support for Eclipse. Android Studio became
the official IDE for Android, which is how all the Android applications in
this book were created. If necessary, you can export Android applications
from Eclipse for the purpose of importing them into Android Studio. In
fact, one of the options in the main menu of Android Studio enables you
to import an Eclipse-based project.
The code samples in this book were developed in Android Studio 2.2 and
deployed to two devices: a Samsung Galaxy S5 smart phone with Android
6.0.1 and a Pixel phone with Android 7.1. Since the companion disc con-
tains the source code for the samples in this book, you can modify them
for different (i.e., higher or lower) versions of Android and deploy them
to Android devices with different versions of Android.

Android Studio
Navigate to this website in order to install Android Studio on your machine:
https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.
If you use the Simulator instead of an Android device, you must create
an AVD (Android Virtual Device), which is described in great detail here:
https://developer.android.com/tools/devices/index.html.
You can launch Android applications in the Simulator, but it’s often signif-
icantly faster to deploy Android applications to a device. You can deploy
Android applications from Android Studio as well as from a command
4 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

line via the adb utility (as you will see later). Android devices include (but
are not limited to) smart phones in the Nexus series and the Pixel series,
tablets, Google Auto, Google TV, Google Things (IoT), and Google VR.
In addition, there are several Android application types, including fore-
ground, background, intermittent, widgets, and wallpaper applications.

Dalvik versus ART

Earlier versions of Android used the Dalvik VM, which is an Android
implementation of the Java VM. Dalvik runs .dex files whereas Java runs
.class files. A Dalvik executable has an apk suffix, and it contains the
various resources to launch an Android application. More recent versions
of Android use the ART (Android Runtime) VM that uses AOT (ahead of
time) compilation. After you create, compile, and run Android applica-
tions, Android creates a binary file with an apk suffix for each application,
which you can deploy to Android devices.
Jack is a newer toolchain for the compilation of Android applications, and
if you want to delve into the details (which are beyond the scope of this
chapter), navigate to this link:
https://source.android.com/source/jack.html.

Creating Applications in Android Studio

This section describes how to create an application in Android Studio,
and a subsequent section shows you the directory structure of an Android
application, followed by a discussion of the main files that are created in
every Android application.
Launch Android Studio (version 2.2 or higher is required) and perform
the following sequence of steps in order to create a new Android applica-
tion called HelloWorld:
Step 1: Click on “Start a new Android Studio project”
Step 2: Enter HelloWorld for the Application name
Step 3: Enter a Company Domain (e.g., yourcompany.com)
Step 4: Change the Project location or accept the default
Step 5: Click the Next button
Step 6: Click the Phone and Tablet checkbox and click Next
Step 7: Select an Empty Activity
Step 8: Click the “Finish” button
The values in Steps 2 through 8 are for the typical “Hello World” Android
application, whereas your values will be adjusted to suit your application.
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 5

Later you can create applications with different configurations (such as

Basic Activity, Master/Detail, and so forth) or for different platforms
(such as Android TV).
After you complete Step 8, Android Studio will generate a new Android
project whose structure is described later in this chapter (after you learn
how to launch an application from Android Studio).
NOTE The HelloWorld project is available on the companion disc.

Launching Android Apps from Android Studio

Launch the HelloWorld Android application in the previous section by
right-clicking on the project name HelloWorld (in Android Studio) and
then selecting Run as > Android Application.
If you are using an Android emulator, wait until the emulator completes
its initialization steps, which can require a minute or so (but each subse-
quent launching of your application should be faster).
If you have an Android device attached to your machine via a USB port,
make sure that debug mode is enabled on your device. Android Studio
will render a pop-up window that displays that mobile device and also
the available AVDs. Select your device where you want to launch your
application, and in a few moments you
will see the HelloWorld application
displayed on your device. One of the
Appendices describes how to use the
adb command from the command line
in order to deploy an Android APK to
an Android device.
Figure 1.2 displays the output of
the “Hello World” application in a
Samsung Galaxy 5 that is launched FIGURE 1.2 “Hello World” on a
from Android Studio. Samsung Galaxy 5 with Android 6.0.1.

The Structure of an Android Application

The previous section shows you how to launch an application in Android
Studio, and in this section let’s take a look at the structure of the previ-
ously created HelloWorld project and the contents of the main files of
this application.
 6 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Now launch Android Studio, navigate to the HelloWorld project, and right-
click on the project name in order to display the expanded directory structure.
Earlier versions of Android projects have the XML file main.xml instead
NOTE of activity_main.xml as the default UI configuration file.

Listing 1.1 displays the directory structure of the Android project

HelloWorld.

LISTING 1.1 Structure of an Android Project

HelloWorld
app
app.iml
build.gradle
HelloWorld.iml
libs
proguard-rules.pro
src
main
AndroidManifest.xml
java
com
iquarkt
helloworld
MainActivity.java
res
drawable
layout
activity_main.xml
menu
menu_main.xml
mipmap-hdpi
ic_launcher.png
mipmap-mdpi
ic_launcher.png
mipmap-xhdpi
ic_launcher.png
mipmap-xxhdpi
ic_launcher.png
values
dimens.xml
strings.xml
styles.xml
values-w820dp
dimens.xml
gradle
gradle.properties
gradlew
gradlew.bat
local.properties
settings.gradle
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 7

This Android application contains various Gradle-related files and PNG

resource files (which are not discussed here), the HelloWorld.java
file, and several XML files that are automatically generated for you. The
main XML files that you need to understand are activity_main.xml,
strings.xml, and AndroidManifest.xml. Later you will learn how to
create additional resource-related XML files for Android projects.

The Main Files in a Default Android Application

The files in the HelloWorld Android application that we will discuss in
this section are listed here, all of which are located relative to the project
root directory:
„„ app/src/main/java/com/iquarkt/hello/HelloWorld.java
„„ app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
„„ app/src/main/res/layout/activity_main.xml
„„ app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

In brief, HelloWorld.java is the Java class where you put your custom
code (typically in the onCreate() method). The auto-generated Java
class R.java, located in the build-related portion of the Android pro-
ject, is essentially a Java-based “binding” class with static constants that
reference the UI components that are defined (by you) in the XML file
activity_main.xml. As you will soon see, a one-line snippet of Java
code enables you to “point” to this XML configuration file, as well as any
other configuration files in your Android application.
Here is a brief description of important XML files in Android applications:
1) the AndroidManifest.xml file is like a “master control” file that
defines Java-based resources (Activitys, Intent Filters,
Services, etc.) and permissions for your Android application
2) the activity_main.xml file (which is just the default name) is a
configuration file containing the UI components (if any) that are dis-
played in the main screen
3) the strings.xml file contains the text strings that are referenced in
the XML file activity_main.xml
4) the dimens.xml file contains dimension values (e.g., 16dp)
XML files such as strings.xml and dimens.xml provide a level of indi-
rection that supports a separation between the definition of UI compo-
nents and the text strings that are used in those UI components.
Notice that the app/src/main/res/values subdirectory can also con-
tain other files, such as styles.xml, color.xml, as well as custom files
8 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

that you need for your Android application. The contents of these files
will be discussed in later chapters.

The HelloWorld.java File

Listing 1.2 displays the contents of HelloWorld.java, which contains all
the custom Java code that is required for this Android application.

LISTING 1.2 HelloWorld.java

package com.iquarkt.hello;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class HelloWorld extends Activity

{
// Called when the activity is first created
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

// your custom code goes here

}
}

Listing 1.2 contains “boilerplate” code that is automatically generated

during project creation, based on the user-supplied values for the pack-
age name and the class name. Your custom code is included immediately
after this statement:

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

The preceding code snippet references activity_main.xml in order to

make its contents available to the HelloWorld class. However, you can
specify a different XML file in the res/layout subdirectory, or from a
custom class that is defined elsewhere in your Android project. For exam-
ple, if you want to specify the XML file new_view.xml that contains UI
components to render in the current view, use the following snippet:

setContentView(R.layout.new_view);

The R.java File (optional)

Although you do not need to understand the contents of R.java right
now, you might be interested in its structure (or you can read it later).
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 9

Listing 1.3 displays the contents of the resources file R.java that is
automatically generated whenever you create an Android application in
Android Studio.

LISTING 1.3 R.java

/* AUTO-GENERATED FILE. DO NOT MODIFY.

*
* This class was automatically generated by the
* aapt tool from the resource data it found. It
* should not be modified by hand.
*/

package com.iquarkt.hello;

public final class R {

public static final class attr {
}
public static final class drawable {
public static final int icon=0x7f020000;
}
public static final class layout {
public static final int activity_main=0x7f030000;
}
public static final class string {
public static final int app_name=0x7f040001;
public static final int hello=0x7f040000;
}
}

The integer values in Listing 1.3 are essentially references that corre-
spond to assets of an Android application. For example, the variable icon
is a reference to the icon.png file that is located in one of the drawable
subdirectories of the res directory. The variable activity_main in the
Java layout class is a reference to the XML file activity_main.xml
(shown later in this section) that is in the res/layout subdirectory. The
variables app_name and hello are references to the XML <app_name>
element and XML <hello> element that are in the XML file strings.xml
(shown earlier in this section) that is in the res/values subdirectory.
Now that you have seen the contents of some Java-based project files, let’s
turn our attention to some of the other XML-based files, starting with the
primary “control file” in our Android project.

The AndroidManifest.xml File

Listing 1.4 displays the entire contents of AndroidManifest.xml for
the HelloWorld Android application.
10 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

LISTING 1.4 AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.iquarkt.hello"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0">
<application android:icon="@drawable/icon"
android:label="@string/app_name">
<activity android:name=".HelloWorld"
android:label="@string/app_name">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.
action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.
category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>

</application>
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="9" />
</manifest>

Listing 1.4 starts with an XML declaration, followed by an XML

<manifest> element that contains several XML child elements that
provide information about your Android application. Notice that the
XML <manifest> element contains an attribute with the package name
of your Android application: in this example the package name is com.
iquarkt.hello.

The XML <application> element in Listing 1.4 contains an

android:icon attribute whose value is @drawable/icon, which refers
to the image file icon.png that is located in the res/drawable sub-
directory. Android supports several types of image files: high density,
medium density, and low density. The corresponding directories are
drawable-hdpi, drawable-mdpi, and drawable-ldpi, all of which
are subdirectories of the res directory that appears under the root direc-
tory of every Android application.
The XML application element in Listing 1.4 also contains an android:-
label attribute whose value is @string/app_name, which refers to an
XML element in the file strings.xml (which is in the res/values
subdirectory).
Listing 1.4 contains an XML <intent-filter> element, which is dis-
cussed later in this chapter.
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 11

The final part of Listing 1.4 specifies the minimum Android version
number that is required for this application, as shown here:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="9" />

In our current example, the minimum version is 9, which is also the

number that we specified during the creation step of this Android
application. However, this value can be overridden by the values in the
build.gradle file, as discussed in the next section.

The Build Values in the Gradle File

The final snippet in Listing 1.4 is used when there is no build.gra-
dle file available. However, if a build.gradle file is present (which is
the case for applications generated in Android Studio), then the values in
build.gradle override the corresponding entries in the manifest file,
which is advantageous for generating multiple APKs for different versions
of Android. Additional information regarding the relationship among the
various version numbers is here:
https://developer.android.com/studio/build/index.html.

The strings.xml File

Listing 1.5 displays the contents of the XML file strings.xml, which con-
sists of XML elements that are referenced in other parts of the application.

LISTING 1.5 strings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="hello">Hello World, HelloWorld!</string>
<string name="app_name">HelloWorld</string>
</resources>

Listing 1.5 is very simple: it contains an XML <resources> element

with two XML child elements that are used to display the string "Hello
World, HelloWorld!" when you launch this Android application.
Note that the XML <application> element in the XML document
AndroidManifest.xml also references the second XML <string>
element whose name attribute has value app_name, as shown here:
<application android:icon="@drawable/icon"
android:label="@string/app_name">
12 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The activity_main.xml File

Listing 1.6 displays the contents of the XML document activity_main.
xml that contains view-related information about this Android application.

LISTING 1.6 activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>

<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hello"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

Listing 1.6 contains an XML <RelativeLayout> element that is the

default layout for an Android application. The <RelativeLayout>
element and other layout elements (such as AbsoluteLayout,
FrameLayout, and TableLayout) are discussed in Chapter 2. We’ll
delve into the common prefix-plus-attribute combinations in the next
section (so you might need to return to this section after reading the
next one).
The <RelativeLayout> element contains a fill_parent attribute that
indicates that the current element will be as large as the parent element
(minus padding). The attributes layout_width and layout_height
specify the basic values for the width and height of the view.

Working with Layout-Related Attributes

Android applications that contain a View component will usually specify
various attributes of that View component. There are many such attrib-
utes, and the following subsections cover some of the more common
attributes (and their allowable values) that you are likely to encounter
when you create Android mobile applications.
Keep in mind that although the attributes and their purpose is often intui-
tive, there are nuances involved (such as horizontal and vertical alignment)
when you use multiple controls in an Android application. In addition, if
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 13

you require nested Layout components with multiple View components,

the UI design of your Android application can become quite complex.
The following subsections will familiarize you with some basic attributes.
Constraint-based layouts are available in a library that is backward com-
patible with Android 2.3 (API level 9), and is also available in Android
Studio 2.2 or higher. The distinguishing characteristic of constraint-based
layouts is that UI components are only one-level deep, thereby reducing
the complexity of the UI and improving performance.
The designer functionality in Android Studio can display the layout
of your UI on multiple screen sizes during design time, which is sig-
nificantly faster than checking the accuracy of the layout on different
devices by deploying an Android application to those devices (and
besides, you might not have all those Android devices in your posses-
sion). If you need code samples for your UI, the samples in the Android
SDK contain an assortment of layouts with various UI components (or
search www.stackoverflow.com for solutions).

Working with width and height Attributes

The width of a View component is specified via the android:layout_
width attribute, whose value can be wrap_content or match_parent
(early versions of Android use fill_parent instead of match_parent).
Similarly, the height of a View component is specified via the
android:layout_height attribute, whose values are the same as those
for the width property.

Layout Rules for wrap_content and match_parent Attributes

The wrap_content and match_parent (which was called fill_parent
before API Level 8) attributes work as follows:
wrap_content: this value will render the width or the height of a
View according to the space that is required to accommodate its own
content
match_parent: this value will render the width or the height of a
View according to the space that is occupied by the enclosing parent

Keep in mind that the “available space” for match_parent involves two
situations:
1) If a View component is the only View component in the parent ele-
ment, that View component will occupy the entire width/height of
the parent (just like match_parent)
14 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

2) If there are other View components which have fixed size or sim-
ply wrap their content (that is, they do not occupy all the available
space), then the current View will occupy the rest of the available
width/height. Note that there can be only one View set to fill up the
remaining space.
Thus, the match_parent attribute forces a View to expand to take up
as much space as is available within the layout element in which it’s been
placed, whereas the attribute wrap_content means “expand enough to
display the view (and no more).”
To paraphrase the preceding paragraph: a value of wrap_content
performs a “minimalistic” match, whereas a value of fill_parent or
match_parent performs a “maximal” or “greedy” match with respect to
available space on a screen in an Android device.
Looking back at Listing 1.2, the TextView component contains the
attributes layout_width and layout_height, whose values are fill_
parent and wrap_content, respectively. The wrap_content attribute
specifies that the size of the view will be just big enough to enclose its
content (plus padding). The attribute text refers to the XML <hello>
element that is specified in the strings.xml file (located in the res/
values subdirectory), whose definition is shown here:

<string name="hello">Hello World, HelloWorld!</string>

The string "Hello World, HelloWorld!" is displayed when you

launch the HelloWorld Android application in the Android Emulator or
in an Android device.

Meta-Characters in activity_main.xml
As you already saw, Listing 1.4 contains some common prefix-plus-
attribute combinations in AndroidManifest.xml, and there are many
such combinations that you can specify in activity_main.xml (or
whatever you decide to name this XML document). For now you need to
learn about the @ symbol and the + symbol.
The @ meta-character indicates that the string that follows is the name of
an XML file (which implies a .xml suffix for the filename). For example,
the following attribute appears in Listing 1.4:

android:text="@string/hello"
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 15

The preceding code snippet contains a lot of information, and it is inter-

preted by Android as follows: android:text specifies a text string, and
the value of that text string is located in the <hello> element in the XML
document strings.xml. As a reminder, the file strings.xml is located
in the $TOP/app/src/main/res/values subdirectory of your Android
application.
This type of “indirection” enables you to localize (called L10n) and also
internationalize (called i18n) Android applications. Localization refers
to displaying text in different languages, whereas internationalization
refers to displaying the correct formatting and symbols, such as cur-
rency, date/time, symbols for numbers (decimal points and commas
have different meanings in different languages), zip codes, and tele-
phone numbers.
In general L10n also involves i18n. For instance, if you switch from
American English to French then the symbols for currency, date/time,
and symbols in numbers change (and other symbols as well). While i18n
can also involve L10n, sometimes the changes are “smaller.” For exam-
ple, the difference between American English and Australian English is
regional, with relatively minor differences (obviously far less than the dif-
ferences between American English and French).
The default language on an Android device (as well as laptops and desk-
tops) depends on the country in which the device is used (e.g., American
English in the United States and British English in the United Kingdom).
Fortunately, users can easily change the default language via a menu
option.
Appendix A contains an example of L10n (the L10NLanguages directory
on the companion disc), and more information about localization is here:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/localization.
html.

Assigning a Value to the id Attribute

Another use for the @ symbol is shown here (notice the combination of the
@ symbol and the + symbol):

android:id="@+id/my_button"

In the preceding code snippet, the @ symbol instructs the XML parser
to parse and expand the rest of the id string and identify it as an id
 16 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

resource. The string “+id” indicates that the string that follows the slash
(“/”) will appear as a constant in the auto-generated Java class R.java.

Other Common Attributes

Although we’ll defer details until the next section, here are some common
combinations involving android and various attributes:

android:id (sample value of "@+id/button1")

android:orientation (value of "vertical")
android:layout_width (value of "fill_parent")
android:layout_height (value of "fill_parent" or
"wrap_content")
android:text (value of "@string/hello")

There is a learning curve associated with understanding the various com-

NOTE binations of attributes that appear in the UI-related XML files in Android
applications.
The android prefix is a namespace prefix (sort of like an “abbreviation”)
that is declared in the <manifest> element in AndroidManifest.xml,
as shown here:

<manifest xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/
res/android.

Conceptually, namespace prefixes provide a convenient way to “disambig-

uate” items with the same name that have different sources. For instance,
a <customer> element might exist in two different products, and differ-
ent prefixes ensure that the correct <customer> is referenced. The coun-
terpart (so to speak) of a namespace in Java is a package, which enables
you to define classes with the same name in different packages.
The android prefix is used for attributes from Android SDK itself,
whereas the app prefix (not defined here) is often associated with the
support library. You can even define your own custom namespace, which
is discussed in detail in the online documentation.
One starting point for learning more about properties with an android
prefix is here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/declaring-layout.html.
At this point you can create basic Android applications, and you can
even understand some of the code samples in Chapter 2. However, it’s
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 17

advisable for you first to learn about some of the key concepts in Android
that will help you not only for the code samples in Chapter 2, but also the
code samples in most of this book.

Android Resource Types

Android allows you to include custom assets in Android applications by
placing those assets in the appropriate subdirectory of the res directory
that is part of every Android application.
Most of the subdirectories are intuitively named (res/color is for color
resources), but in some cases their purpose is not obvious. For your con-
venience, the list of allowable subdirectories is shown here:
The res/anim subdirectory contains tween animations
The res/drawable subdirectory contains frame animations
The res/drawable subdirectory also contains bitmaps
The res/color subdirectory contains color resources
The res/layout subdirectory contains layout files
The res/menu subdirectory contains application menus
The res/raw subdirectory contains audio/video files
The res/values subdirectory contains string definitions
The res/xml subdirectory contains XML-based assets

Note that the res directory is a subdirectory of $TOP/app/src/main,

where $TOP refers to the top-level directory of an Android Studio project.
If you create subdirectories of res whose names are not in the preceding
list (such as animation instead of anim), you will get an “invalid direc-
tory” error message in your Android project. Always make sure that you
have the correct names, which will ensure that your Android project will
compile successfully.
In Chapter 4 you will see an animation example that places files in the
res/anim subdirectory in order to create Android applications with ani-
mation effects. You can find code snippets as well as detailed information
about all the available Android resource types here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/
available-resources.html.
You can define even more resources in Android, such as integer, inte-
ger arrays, Boolean, and so forth. These resources are defined inside
18 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

an XML <resources> element in an XML document. For example,

the XML file integers.xml (in the res/values subdirectory) defines
two integers max_speed and min_speed, whose values are 100 and 10,
respectively, as shown here:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<integer name="max_speed">100</integer>
<integer name="min_speed">10</integer>
</resources>

More information and examples are available here:

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/more-resources.
html.
The next several sections provide an overview of key concepts in Android,
starting with an Android Activity.

Key Android Concept: Activitys

An Android Activity is somewhat analogous to a screen on a device, and
an Activity is active when its contents are made visible on the device’s
screen. Android applications require at least one Activity (additional
Activitys depend on your requirements). An Android Activity has a
lifecycle, which is covered in Chapter 2.
Keep in mind that Activitys operate on a single thread (the UI thread),
which means that long-running tasks in an Android application can block
the UI thread. One solution is to “offload” such tasks on a separate thread
(which can be part of an Android Service). Note that only one Activity
is active at any given moment, and the creation of additional Activitys
does not create new threads.
During the project-creation step for Android applications, you manually
specify the package name and the class name; the rest of the generated
code is the same for every Android project.
Android applications that are created in Android Studio have a main
Activity whose default name is MainActivity, which is the class name
as well as the filename (with a “java” extension). You can specify a different
main Activity during project creation, or later you can change the name
in the AndroidManifest.xml file. The main Activity contains the
methods and properties of an Activity, which includes three generated
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 19

methods: onCreate(), onCreateOptionsMenu(), and onOptions-

ItemSelected(). The onCreate() method is mandatory and the other
two methods are optional (but are required when an Activity contains
a menu).

The onCreate() Method

Jumping ahead slightly, this section describes the onCreate() method,
which will become clearer after you read about the Android lifecy-
cle in Chapter 2. The main entry point of an Android application is the
onCreate() method, which is essentially an event handler. Notice that
HelloWorld.java in Listing 1.2 extends android.app.Activity, and
it also overrides the onCreate() method. In Listing 1.2 the onCreate()
method is passed a Bundle object called savedInstanceState, which
enables you to maintain state information (more details later) between
invocations of an Android application. No data was saved in Listing 1.2,
and therefore savedInstanceState is null.
NOTE The Android Activity lifecycle is discussed in Chapter 2.
The onCreate() method invokes its corresponding method in its super-
class, followed by the setContentView() method that references an
XML file that contains layout details for the view. This method is passed
an integer value (automatically generated for you) called R.layout.
activity_main (“R” is an abbreviation for “resources”) that is associated
with the XML layout file.
An Activity contains one or more views that belong to an Android
application. An Android View is what users see on the screen, which
includes the UI widgets of the Android application. The HelloWorld
Android application contains the Android class HelloWorld.java that
extends the Android Activity class and also overrides the onCreate()
method with custom code (written by you). Android applications can also
extend other Android classes (such as the Service class), and they can
also create threads.
Every Android Activity in an Android application must be defined in
NOTE the XML document AndroidManifest.xml that belongs to the Android
application.
Many Android applications support interaction with users, so you need
to learn how to handle various types of events, which is discussed in the
next section.
20 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Handling Events in the Android Studio Designer

Android supports various events for its UI components. As you saw earlier,
the Android Studio designer enables you to add many UI components.
In addition, you can add click event handlers to <button> components.
One way involves defining a method in the main activity that will contain
event-handling code, and another way is to include an onClick attribute
(whose value specifies a method in the Java code) in the XML element
itself. The second technique is the recommended solution (but you will
encounter both techniques in online code samples). A nice discussion is
here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21319996/android-onclick-
in-xml-vs-onclicklistener.
The first technique is illustrated via the following method that you add to
MainActivity.java:

public void buttonOnClick(View v)

{
// item #1
Button button=(Button) v;
button.setText("Button Clicked");

// item #2
TextView myTextView=(TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView);
myTextView.setText("Clicked Button");
}

In the preceding code block, item #1 refers to the argument v, which is

a View. In particular, it’s also the Button component that was added to
the application, so you can safely cast v to a Button.
On the other hand, item #2 refers to the TextView component on the
screen, which is unknown to the buttonOnClick() method. However,
you can still invoke the findViewById() method because every UI com-
ponent is a subclass of the View component. Notice that the returned
component is cast to a TextView component.

Importing Classes in Android Applications

The code block in the preceding section produces an error because the
import statements for the Button class and the TextView class do not
appear in the list of import statements. You can resolve this issue in sev-
eral ways. One way is to manually enter the following statements:

import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.TextView;
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 21

A better way is to ensure that Android Studio includes required import

statements on-the-fly, which you can set up in Android Studio as follows:

Preferences > Editor > General > Auto Import.

Return to the designer and you will see buttonOnClick() in the drop-
down list for the Button component.

API Level 23 and Default Layout Files

API level 23 differs from earlier versions when you create an Android
project by selecting “Basic Activity” instead of “Empty Activity.” The dif-
ference involves the automatic creation of a new XML file called con-
tent_main.xml in addition to activity_main.xml.

The file content_main.xml is for the things that you want to display to
users.
Open the file activity_main.xml in Android Studio and you will see an
“include” for content_main.xml, as shown here:

include layout="@layout/content_main"

XML Elements and Their Attributes

There are several other things to notice in Listing 1.4. First, attributes
of XML elements have the string android: as a prefix. You will see this
prefix throughout the XML documents that are part of Android applica-
tions, and you will also see many different attribute names (especially in
UI-related XML documents).
The most common prefix-plus-attribute combinations (with self-
explanatory names) in AndroidManifest.xml are:

android:versionCode
android:versionName
android:icon
android:label
android:name
android:resource

Second, there is a period (“.”) that precedes the Android Activity

HelloWorld in Listing 1.4 (shown in bold). This period is mandatory
because the string .HelloWorld is appended to the package name com.
iquarkt.hello (which is specified in Listing 1.4). Therefore, the fully
qualified name of HelloWorld.java in this Android project is com.
iquarkt.hello.HelloWorld.java.
22 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Bypassing the Default Configuration File

You can also bypass the default XML configuration file in the onCre-
ate() method. For example, Listing 1.7 illustrates how to import and
instantiate a TextView component and then set its contents.

LISTING 1.7 MainActivity.java

package com.iquarkt.helloworldnoxml;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends Activity

{
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

TextView text = new TextView(this);

text.setText("Hello World!");
setContentView(text);
}
}

Notice that Listing 1.7 does not contain this code snippet:

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

Usually you define the UI components in an XML configuration file,

especially for complex Android applications.

Multiple Activity Classes

Android applications often contain multiple Activity classes, all of
which must be declared in AndroidManifest.xml.
In very simplified terms, an Android Activity (in the android.
app package) is comparable to a screen or a view in an appli-
cation. An Android application can contain multiple Android
Activitys, and each Android Activity can contain multi-
ple Intents and IntentFilters (which are part of the android.
content package).
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 23

Working in the Android Designer

The code samples in this book are based on Android Studio 2.2, which
introduced the Constraint Layout to replace the RelativeLayout
(the default layout). However, most Android applications and online code
samples that exist today still use RelativeLayout, so it’s a good idea to
learn about RelativeLayout as well as the Constraint Layout.
As you might surmise by its name, the positions of RelativeLayout
components are relative to other components. When you create an
Android Application and you remove the default Textfield component,
there is only the layout component: consequently, the first component
that you add will be relative to the layout container (which is the entire
screen). The following subsections briefly discuss the RelativeLayout
and property names in Android applications.

The RelativeLayout in Android

Many existing code samples use RelativeLayout, so it’s a good idea to
learn this layout. In Chapter 2 you will learn about the RecyclerView,
which is a very powerful (and more complex) layout.
The RelativeLayout (which can be nested) supports nine positions for
any component, which can be described by the paired combination of
three horizontal positions and three vertical positions, as shown here:
Top: left, center and right
Center: left, center and right
Bottom: left, center and right

For example, the lower-right position is the combination of (bottom,

right), and the upper-left position is the combination of (top,left).
All components are positioned at one of these nine locations. Fortunately,
you are not limited to these nine positions. You can also specify an offset
in terms of a margin for a finer-grained position.
For example, a component that is located at the top-left corner of the
screen can be shifted 10 pixels to the right and 20 pixels downward by
specifying a left margin of 10 and a top margin of 20. Thus, you can place
components anywhere you want on the screen.
24 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The Names of Layout Properties

All layout properties have the format layout_name, where “name” is
replaced with the type of position. For instance, the Properties window
supports the following properties (which can be true or false):

layout_alignParentTop
layout_alignParentLeft
layout_alignParentRight
layout_alignParentBottom
layout_centerInParent
layout_centerVertical
layout_centerHorizontal

Hence, a combination of these and layout_margin provide all the posi-

tioning possibilities that are available in the Android Studio Designer. As
an example: if you specify alignParentLeft and alignParentRight,
then the left side of the control is aligned with the left side of the con-
tainer, and the right side of the control is aligned with the right side of the
container.
You can set properties in three ways. One way is to manually place the
XML code for a given UI component in the layout file (hardest). Another
way is to do so in the property window, where a “tick” sets the property to
true, a blank is false, and a minus removes the property from the XML file
(simpler). A third way is to simply drag a component around the screen
in the Android Studio Designer until it’s in the position that you want
(easiest). The layout of a screen with many UI components can become
complex, and through trial and error you will learn how to create such
layouts with greater speed and efficiency.
As a side comment, the StackView layout (which can also be nested) is
also useful, and it’s worth spending a few minutes to look at some of its
characteristics:
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/
StackView.html.

Key Android Concept: Intents

Earlier in this chapter you learned that an Android application can con-
tain multiple Activity classes. Activitys are independent of each
other, which is to say that one activity cannot directly access instance data
of another activity. You can use an Intent in order to navigate between
Activitys.
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 25

An Android Intent is essentially a “messaging” object that can request an

action from another component. For example, you can use an Intent to
start an Activity, a Service, or a Broadcast Receiver. An Android
Intent acts as a notification between components in Android applica-
tions, along with the ability to send and receive data.
In abstract terms, an Android Intent represents the details regarding an
action (often described by a verb) to perform in an Android application.
In concrete terms, you can use an Intent to detect changes in the battery
level of a mobile device.
Although it’s not apparent, even the Android UI (User Interface) consists
of Intents and Views.
The android.content package contains the Intent class, which is
for an event or an action. An Intent can be either implicit, explicit, or
directed. As you will see, an Android Intent can do a variety of things
(such as launching an Android Activity).
An Android Intent is similar to an event handler, but Android provides
additional functionality for handling multiple Intents and also options for
using existing Intents versus starting a new Intent. Android Intents
can start a new Android Activity, and they can also broadcast messages
(which are processed by Android Broadcast Receivers).
You can also broadcast Intents in order to send messages between com-
ponents, which provides greater flexibility and “openness” for Android
applications.

Creating Android Intents

The following snippet illustrates how to create an Intent and then start
a new Activity via that Intent:

Intent intent = new Intent(action, data);

startActivity(intent);

Another way to start an Android Activity is shown here:

Intent intent = new Intent(FirstActivity.this,SecondActivity.class);

startActivity(intent);

In the preceding code snippet, FirstActivity is the “main” Activity

class and SecondActivity is another Java class in the same Android
application. Recall that all Activitys must be specified in the associated
AndroidManifest.xml file.
26 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

As a convenience, Android Studio creates an Intent for you when you

add a new Android Activity in a project, as discussed here:
http://abhiandroid.com/androidstudio/create-new-activity-
android-studio.
You can send additional data to another Activity by specifying “extra”
data in an Android Intent, as shown in this code block:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);

intent.setType("text/plain");
intent.putExtra(android.content.Intent.EXTRA_TEXT,
"Extra Information is Here");
startActivity(intent);

The component which receives the Intent can extract the extra data (if
any) by using the getIntent().getExtras() method call, as shown in
the following code block:

Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras();

if (extras == null) { return; }

// Get data via the key

String value1 = extras.getString(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT);

if(value1 != null) {
// Do something with the extra data
}

Types of Android Intents

There are several types of Android Intents, each of which provides
slightly different functionality. A directed Intent is an Intent with one
recipient, whereas a broadcast Intent can be received by any process.
An explicit Intent specifies the Java class that needs to be invoked. In
general, an explicit Intent is used between two Activitys in the same
Android application. A less common scenario involves explicit Intent to
communicate between two Activitys in different Android applications.
An implicit Intent is an Intent that does not specify a Java class, which
means that the Android system will determine which application will
process the implicit Intent. If there are several applications available
that can respond to an implicit Intent, the Android system gives users
the ability to select one of those applications. For instance, if you want
to access the Internet from your mobile device and you have multiple
browsers installed, Android will prompt you to select a browser from the
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 27

available browsers (and also ask how often you want to use the browser
you have selected). This scenario is an example of an Android Intent in
action. Similarly, if you want to send email and you have multiple email
clients installed on your mobile device, Android will prompt you with a
list of the installed email clients.

The <intent-filter> Attribute of Android Activitys

Android supports something called an Intent Filter, which speci-
fies the capabilities of a component in an Android application. Look at
Listing 1.4 and notice the <intent-filter> element that is automatically
generated.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, you do not declare the Intents of your
project in AndroidManifest.xml; however, an <intent-filter> ele-
ment must be declared for every type of functionality that you want to
make available for external applications.
An Intent Filter is used for Intent resolution. An Intent Filter
indicates the Intents that an Android Activity (or Service) can “con-
sume,” and the details are specified in the XML <intent-filter> element.
Note that if an application does not provide an Intent Filter, then it can
only be invoked by an explicit Intent (and not by an implicit Intent).
An Intent Filter is specified as part of the declaration of an Android
Activity in AndroidManifest.xml, as shown in Listing 1.4, and is
reproduced here:

<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>

The XML <action> element in the preceding code snippet specifies the
default value android.intent.action.MAIN and the XML <category>
element specifies android.intent.category.LAUNCHER (also a default
value), which means that the parent Activity will be displayed in the
application launcher.
An Intent Filter must contain an XML <action> element, and
optionally contain an XML <category> element or an XML <data> ele-
ment. As you can see, the <intent-filter> element in Listing 1.4 con-
tains the mandatory XML <action> element that specifies the default
action, and an optional XML <category> element, but not the optional
XML <data> element.
 28 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

An Intent Filter is a set of information that defines a specific action;

the XML <data> element specifies the data to be acted upon, and the
XML <category> element specifies the component that will perform
the action.
There are various combinations of these three XML elements that can
be specified in an Intent Filter, because two of these elements are
optional.
Android uses a priority-based algorithm to determine what will be exe-
NOTE cuted for each Intent Filter that you define in AndroidManifest.
xml.

If you want more information regarding Intent Filters, consult the

Android documentation for additional details.

Intents with Action, Category, Data, and Extra

This section contains a significant amount of information, and if you are
unfamiliar with these concepts, you can expect to read this section more
than once.
In brief, the type of Intents that an Activity can accept involves specifying
one or more of the elements described in this section.
The <action> element declares the intent action that is accepted in the
name attribute. The value must be the literal string value of an action (not
the class constant), an example of which is here:

<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>

The <category> element declares the intent category accepted in the

name attribute. The value must be the literal string value of an action (not
the class constant). An example is shown in the preceding code block.
The <data> element declares the type of data accepted, using one or
more attributes that specify various aspects of the data URI (such as
scheme, host, port, and path) and MIME type. The general syntax is
here:

<data android:scheme="string"
android:host="string"
android:port="string"
android:path="string"
 A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID • 29

android:pathPattern="string"
android:pathPrefix="string"
android:mimeType="string" />

A simple example is here:

<intent-filter . . . >
<data android:scheme="something"
android:host="project.example.com" />
. . .
</intent-filter>
The preceding code snippet is equivalent to the following:
<intent-filter . . . >
<data android:scheme="something" />
<data android:host="project.example.com" />
. . .
</intent-filter>

There are many combinations that are possible (sometimes involv-

ing interdependencies), and more details are available in the online
documentation.
Another scenario involves detecting whether or not an Intent actually
exists on the system. The following code block shows you how to check
for the existence of an Intent:

public static boolean isAvailable(Context ctx, Intent intent)

{
final PackageManager mgr = ctx.getPackageManager();

List<ResolveInfo> list =
mgr.queryIntentActivities(intent,
PackageManager.MATCH_DEFAULT_ONLY);

return list.size() > 0;

}

You will see code samples with Intents in subsequent chapters, and
in Chapter 8 you will learn how to use an Intent to start a Service or a
BroadcastReceiver.

Summary
This chapter contains a great deal of information that you will probably
read more than once as you progress through the chapters in this book.
You first learned about the major versions of Android. Next you learned
how to create a “Hello World” Android application and how to deploy the
application to an Android device from Android Studio. You also learned
30 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

about the structure of an Android project, as well as some important XML

files and their relevance in an Android application.
In addition, you learned about some of the core concepts in Android,
including Activitys and various types of Intents that you can create in
Android applications.
Now that you have an overview of how Android applications work, you are
ready for Chapter 2, which contains code samples of basic UI components
in Android applications.
Two other websites containing useful information are here:
https://androiddevsummit.withgoogle.com/
https://android-arsenal.com/?sort=rating
 CHAPTER

2
DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS

T
his chapter contains Android mobile applications with some com-
mon UI controls that are available in Android. For simplicity, the
code samples typically contain a single UI component, and after
reading this chapter you can easily combine multiple UI components in
Android applications.
The first half of this chapter contains a summary of some UI controls,
attributes, and layouts, whereas the actual code samples are in the second
half of the chapter. However, it’s not necessary to read everything in the
first half before delving into the code samples. So, feel free to alternate
between sections in both halves of this chapter.
The first part of this chapter provides an overview of resolution and den-
sity independence, UI controls and design, as well as a brief description
of layouts, events, and adapters.
The second part discusses different types of constraint-based layouts,
padding-related attributes and positional attributes, orientation, weight,
and gravity. This section shows you how to maintain values of variables
during device rotation (and explains why it’s necessary to do so).
The third part of this chapter contains an example of an event listener that
can respond to specific events, such as button clicks. This section also explains
why computed values are not retained when users rotate their Android
devices, along with an example of the type of code that solves this problem.
The final part of this chapter contains information about memory leaks that
can occur with event listeners, annotations, and various types of permissions.
32 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

There are at least two important topics that you need to be aware of as
you become more proficient in Android development: UI Guidelines,
and Resolution and Density Independence. At some point you need to
acquire a basic understanding of these topics (before you submit Android
applications to the Android Play Store). Online classes are available as
links on this website:
http://developer.android.com/training/best-ux.html.
One final point pertains to terminology: “UI component” and “UI control”
have the same meaning in this book; in addition, “Android Application” is
used interchangeably with “Android Mobile Application.”

UI Controls in XML Files versus Dynamic Creation

Although you can create UI controls programmatically with Java code in
an Android application, best practices encourage you to place UI con-
trols in XML configuration files. Hence, the code examples in this chap-
ter and Chapter 3 demonstrate how to define UI controls in an XML
configuration file (whose name is something like activity_main.xml).
In addition, event listeners in this book are defined programmatically in
the method onCreate() of the main Activity class of our Android
applications.
Android also enables you to define custom components. After you learn
how to create Android applications with standard UI components, you
can learn about custom components here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/custom-components.html.

UI Design for Smart Phones versus Tablets

Android 3.0 was the first version of Android to support Android tablets
as well as smart phones. Android 4.0 was a “unifying” version (and a
significant improvement over Android 3.0) in the sense that it became
possible to create an Android application that rendered appropriately on
Android devices with different screen sizes.
The release of Android Studio during Google IO 2013 provided a design-
time view of the layout of the UI of an Android application on a variety of
screens with different dimensions. This functionality is very convenient
and it reduces the development cycle (you can see results almost imme-
diately) and you do not need to purchase/rent/borrow multiple devices to
test the UI part of your Android applications.
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 33

With the preceding points in mind, the next section gives you an overview
of how to manage views, adapters, and events in Android applications.

Working with Android UI Controls

Android provides many UI controls, including buttons, checkboxes, dia-
logs, dropdown lists, forms, input fields, menus, and spinners (to name
just a few). As you learned in Chapter 1, you can develop the UI por-
tion of an Android application using Java code or by including XML frag-
ments that represent UI controls (which are subclasses of the View class)
in an XML document. Some Android applications use a combination of
both techniques, which you can explore after you have learned the basic
concepts.
The following subsections provide a fast-paced description of some UI
components that are frequently used in Android applications.

What Are Android Views?

Every UI component is a subclass of the Android View class, which means
that every UI component is also a view. You will often see the findView-
ById() method invoked in the onCreate() method in order to refer-
ence UI components via the value of their id attribute, as shown in a later
section. Note that you must cast the result of invoking findViewById()
to the specific type of component (e.g., TextView, Button, etc.) that is
specified in the XML layout file, as you will see later in this chapter.
After you become comfortable working with views, you can delve into
creating custom views, as discussed here:
https://medium.com/@romandanylyk96/android-draw-a-custom-
view-ef79fe2ff54b#.ihnygu17z.
Chapter 4 shows you how to create subviews for rendering graphics,
which is simpler than the custom views discussed in the preceding link.

What Are Some Common Display Views?

Android supports TextView and ImageView for displaying text and
images, respectively. The EditText component is a subview of TextView
that supports editable input text. In addition, Android supports ListView,
GridView, and Spinner for displaying multiple items, all of which
involve an Adapter (discussed later) for managing the displayable items.
34 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

What Are ViewGroups?

A ViewGroup is essentially a non-visible container that contains one
or more View objects, which includes other ViewGroup objects. A
ViewGroup enables you to create a hierarchy of View objects in order
to create complex layouts. Android provides various ViewGroups, such
as LinearLayout, RelativeLayout, FrameLayout, ScrollView (a
subclass of FrameLayout), ViewPager, RecyclerView, StackView,
and CoordinatorLayout. You will learn more about some of these
ViewGroups in code samples that appear later in this book.

Other Android ViewGroup classes include GridView, ListView,

Spinner, SurfaceView, TabHost, ViewFlipper, and ViewSwitcher.
Only the ListView class is covered in Chapter 3, but you can consult
the Android documentation for information about the other Android
ViewGroups listed in this section.

What are Android Layouts?

The XML document activity_main.xml (which is the default XML
layout file) contains the UI components—and their layout—in an Android
application. Recall from Chapter 1 that the default contents of this file
consist of one top-level layout element called RelativeLayout (which
is one of several possible layout types) and zero or more XML child ele-
ments, one for each corresponding UI component, and possibly other
container-related non-visible components.
UI components can also be nested. For example, the top-level layout ele-
ment can contain a combination of one or more additional layout elements,
each of which can contain one or more “simple” UI controls and one or
more View elements. These elements are often called widgets (not to be
confused with the Android Widgets class).

What Are Android Events?

An event is something that is generated by users or from the system.
Android supports the following types of user-generated events:
„„ Event listeners
„„ Event handlers
„„ Touch mode
„„ Handling focus
In general, the Android applications in this book show you how to handle
click events for buttons and scrolling events for lists.
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 35

What Are Android Adapters?

Android Adapters are connected to data sources (such as a database or
an Array), and UI components access the adapter instead of directly
accessing the data source. Thus, Adapter classes act as a “buffer” and
they manage the data access in order to provide a smoother user expe-
rience. Specifically, an adapter is an instance of a class that implements
the Adapter interface, whereas an adapter view is an instance of a class
that extends the abstract AdapterView class. In essence, an adapter is a
“link” between a data set and an adapter view. Common data sets include
Arrays, List objects, and Cursor objects.

The purpose of an adapter is twofold: to retrieve data from the data set and
to generate View objects based on that data. After the data is retrieved,
the adapter view (that is bound to the adapter) is populated with those
generated View objects. Consider using the Android adapter classes, such
as ArrayAdapter and SimpleCursorAdapter, and also look at open-
source alternatives prior to writing custom adapter classes.

A <button> Component
Android supports a Button component (discussed later in this chap-
ter) for displaying text and an ImageButton component for displaying
a binary image via its src property. After you have read the material and
code in this section, you can replace the <Button> component with an
ImageButton component (keeping in mind the src property) to create
a similar code sample.
You can include multiple XML-based layout files with UI components
for an Android application by creating those XML documents in Android
Studio and then referencing those XML documents in your Java code.
You can also create the XML documents outside of Android Studio and
then explicitly import them into the Android applications that you create
in Android Studio.
For example, if you create an XML configuration file called fun_stuff.
xml in the same directory as activity_main.xml, you can “point” to
this configuration file with the following code snippet in the onCreate()
method:

setContentView(R.layout.fun_stuff);

Whenever you need to refer to a UI component in a different XML

NOTE document, use the preceding type of code snippet to “point” to the desired
XML document.
36 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

All the Android code samples in this book use activity_main.xml for
the definition of the UI elements. However, Android applications can
contain multiple XML configuration files, and you can find many exam-
ples that do so in the Android SDK.

Units of Measure in Android

The Android Studio designer allows you to place view objects in the user
interface via drag-and-drop operations. You can modify the properties of
those view objects in the designer. For example, you can modify the width of
a TextView via a right-click operation over that TextView, and then select
Layout Width -> Other ... from the context menu. Enter a new value,
which must include a unit of measure from the following list: in (inches),
mm (millimeters), pt (points), dp (density), sp (scale pixels), and px (pixels).

Keep in mind the following points regarding the various units of measure.
First, one pt is 1/72 of an inch. The dp unit of measure refers to densi-
ty-independent pixels, which is sometimes abbreviated as dip. This unit
of measurement is based on a “baseline” of 160dpi. For example, 1dp on
a 320dpi device is actually two pixels.
The sp unit of measure is an abbreviation for scale-independent pixels.
Use the sp unit of measure for font sizes. The px unit of measure is the
actual screen pixels.
A good point about resolution and density independence is here:
There are many devices where resolution is not an aspect ratio
preserving scaling of a G1 screen. The Motorola Droid is 480x854
and many other HDPI screens are 480x800. This is at the core
of why AbsoluteLayout is deprecated—density and resolution
are not necessarily linked. Do not use absolute positioning. Use
smarter layouts that can handle these cases instead.
The preceding quote is from this link:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5058310/android-density-
independent-pixels-and-the-samsung-galaxy-tab.

Padding-Related Attributes
Android provides many padding-related attributes. For example, the fol-
lowing attributes set the padding (in pixels) of the left, top, right, and
bottom of a View component:

android:paddingLeft
android:paddingTop
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 37

android:paddingRight
android:paddingBottom

The value of these attributes must be a dimension value, which is a float-

ing-point number appended with a unit such as 14.5sp. The permissible
units are px (pixels), dp (density-independent pixels), sp (scaled pixels
based on preferred font size), in (inches), and mm (millimeters). An exam-
ple of setting the left padding is here:

android:paddingLeft="20dp"

You can also specify the padding value as an XML element that is defined in
the XML document dimens.xml that is located in the res/values sub-
directory. For example, suppose that dimens.xml contains this snippet:

<resources>
<dimen name="my_left_padding">20dp</dimen>
</resources>

Then the following snippet will also set the left padding to 20dp:

android:paddingLeft="@dimen/my_left_padding"

If you want to specify the same padding for all four attributes, you can do
so with the following type of code snippet:

android:padding="20px"

As an illustration, copy the Android project called LayoutAttributes

from the companion disc to a convenient location. Next, replace the
default contents of activity_main.xml with the contents of Listing 2.1.

LISTING 2.1 activity_main.xml
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:padding="16dp"
tools:context=".MainActivity" >

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="false"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="false" >
<Button
android:id="@+id/Button01"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
38 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Button1" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Button02"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Button2" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/Button03"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Button3" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:text="Text1" />
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
As you can clearly see, Listing 2.1 contains a root-level RelativeLayout
component with a nested LinearLayout component, which in turn con-
tains three Button components and one TextView component. The UI
components in Listing 2.1 use some of the attributes that are discussed
earlier in this chapter. You can experiment with these UI components by
specifying other attributes that you have seen in this chapter.
As a convenience, Android also provides two padding-related “setters”
methods setPadding(int, int, int, int) and setPaddingRel-
ative(int, int, int, int).
Moreover, Android providers various
“getters” for querying padding-related
values, such as getPaddingLeft(),
getPaddingTop(), getPaddin-
gRight(), getPaddingBottom(),
getPaddingStart(), and getPad-
dingEnd(). These methods are useful
when you need to programmatically
modify the values of attributes.
Figure 2.1 is a screenshot from after
launching the Android Layout-
Attributes project on a Samsung FIGURE 2.1 Three Buttons and One
Galaxy S5 with Android 6.0.1. TextView in an Android Application.
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 39

Working with Positional Attributes

Android supports the following positional attributes that specify the posi-
tion of a View component in relation to an existing View component that
is defined in an XML layout file:

android:layout_above
android:layout_below
android:layout_toLeftOf
android:layout_toRightOf

The attribute android:layout_above positions the bottom edge of a

View component above another View component. An example of placing
a TextView component above a Button component is here:
<Button android:id="@+id/clickme"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:text="@string/clickme" />

<TextView android:id="@+id/text1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hellot"
android:layout_above="@id/clickme"
/>

If you want to position a View component below, to the left of, or to the
right of another View component, you can use the corresponding attrib-
ute that is displayed in the beginning of this section.
While it’s helpful to read about how to render UI components, a good way
to learn how to change the layout of UI components is to experiment with
the various attributes that are available. Here are some examples that you
can try in Android applications. Note that some samples use layout man-
agers (such as FrameLayout) that have not been discussed yet, so you
need to defer those samples until later if you do not already know how to
use those layout managers.
Sample #1: Create a new layout file with a top-level RelativeLayout
component and position Button #1 so that it is displayed below Button
#2 (and both are on the top-right portion of the screen), as shown here:

<Button
android:id="@+id/button1"
40 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

android:layout_below="@id/button2"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Button1" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/button2"
android:layout_above="@id/button1"
android:layout_toLeftOf="@id/button1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Button2" />

Sample #2: You can shift the preceding two buttons to the bottom of the
screen by adding this property to both Button elements:

android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"

Sample #3: Create a new layout file with a top-level FrameLayout com-
ponent, center the second TextView component and place it on top of
the first TextView component (which is also centered on the screen):

<TextView
android:layout_width="100dp"
android:layout_height="100dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:text="First"
android:background="#00f" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="50dp"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:text="Second"
android:background="#f00" />

Sample #4: Experiment with the following gravity-related values in the

preceding code block:

android:layout_gravity="right"
android:gravity="center_horizontal|bottom"

Sample #5: Create a new layout file with a top-level LinearLayout com-
ponent, and display three TextView elements vertically:

<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 41

tools:context=".LinearLayout" >
<!-- specify three TextView elements here -->
</LinearLayout>

Sample #6: Change the line in bold in the preceding code block to this line:

android:orientation="horizontal"

Sample #7: create a new layout file with a top-level LinearLayout com-
ponent, and display a pair of TextView elements horizontally, and then
display another pair of TextView elements vertically:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/
apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
tools:context=".LinearLayout" >

<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" ...>

<!-- specify two TextView Elements -->
</LinearLayout>
<!-- specify three TextView Elements -->
</LinearLayout>

The sample layouts in this section give you enough information to create
a variety of layouts. You can also experiment with the effects of moving UI
components around the Android Studio Designer, and then inspect the
values of the attributes in the XML layout file.

Other Display-Related Attributes and Direction

You can specify the orientation of an Android mobile application with
the attribute android:orientation, which can be either portrait or
landscape. The attribute android:weight in a linear layout assigns a
“weight” property to its children. Layout weight is essentially a percent-
age of width that a View component is assigned in its linear layout parent.
Some additional attributes (with sample values in parentheses) include:
„„ android:columnWidth (250dp)
„„ android:gravity (center)
„„ android:layout_marginTop (2px)
„„ android:numColumns (auto_fit)
„„ android:stretchMode (columnWidth)
„„ android:textSize (20px)
42 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Additional information about Android attributes and their values is here:

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View.html.

Specifying Text and Component Direction

Android 4.1 introduced some support for RTL (right-to-left) text in the
TextView and EditText components, and then Android 4.2 introduced
full support for RTL. This functionality involves the following attributes:
„„ android:layoutDirection sets the direction of a component’s layout
„„ android:textDirection sets the direction of a component’s text
„„ android:textAlignment sets the alignment of a component’s text
„„ getLayoutDirectionFromLocale() gets the locale-specified direction

Working with Different Densities and Screen Sizes

If you define the dimensions of a PNG file in terms of the unit px, that
PNG file will be displayed as a small image on screens with higher densi-
ties. However, if you define the dimensions of a PNG file in terms of the
unit dp (“device independent pixels”) that PNG file will be displayed in
the same size, regardless of the density or the physical dimensions of a
screen on a mobile device.
Android supports small, normal, large, and xlarge screen sizes as
follows:
xlarge screens are at least 960dp x 720dp
large screens are at least 640dp x 480dp
normal screens are at least 470dp x 320dp
small screens are at least 426dp x 320dp

Android also supports the following densities: ldpi (~120dpi), mdpi

(~160dpi), hdpi (~240dpi), and xhdpi (~320dpi).
You can ensure that your Android application renders appropriately on
mobile devices with different screen sizes in the following ways:
„„ include a <supports-screens> element in the manifest
„„ specify the screen sizes that your application supports
„„ provide different layouts for different screen sizes
„„ provide different bitmap drawables for different screen densities
An example of the <supports-screens> element is here:
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 43

<manifest ...>
<supports-screens
android:largeScreens="true"
android:requiresSmallestWidthDp="600" />
...
</manifest>

Also keep in mind that Android 3.2 introduced the following attributes:
„„ android:requiresSmallestWidthDp
„„ android:compatibleWidthLimitDp
„„ android:largestWidthLimitDp

If you’re developing your application for Android 3.2 and higher, you
should use these attributes to declare your screen size support, instead of
the attributes based on generalized screen sizes.
The general format (note that android:resizeable is deprecated) is
shown here:

<supports-screens
android:resizeable=["true"| "false"]
android:smallScreens=["true" | "false"]
android:normalScreens=["true" | "false"]
android:largeScreens=["true" | "false"]
android:xlargeScreens=["true" | "false"]
android:anyDensity=["true" | "false"]
android:requiresSmallestWidthDp="integer"
android:compatibleWidthLimitDp="integer"
android:largestWidthLimitDp="integer"
/>

More information regarding support for multiple screen sizes is here:

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/
screens_support.html.
Now that you have a basic understanding about Android resources, lay-
out-related Android attributes, and different screen sizes, the code sam-
ples in this book will make more sense to you.
Before we start working with Android UI components, the next section
shows you how to detect a change in orientation of an Android mobile
device, which can be performed by adding a mere two lines of code in a
Java class. This will be the first useful Android application that you have
encountered in this book.
44 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Detecting Changes in Device Orientation

A change in orientation of an Android device is very simple to detect
because of the following fact: the main Activity in an Android appli-
cation is destroyed and recreated each time that users rotate their mobile
device from portrait to landscape and vice versa. The proof is simple.
Create an Android application and include the following import state-
ment in the main Activity class:

import android.util.Log;

Next, include the following statement in the onCreate() method:

Log.d("onCreate", "inside onCreate");

Deploy the Android application to a mobile device and observe that the
previous string is displayed in LogCat each time that you rotate your
mobile device. Moreover, computed values (such as the click count for
a button) that are displayed on the screen are reset to their initial values
when users rotate their device. Later in this chapter you will learn how to
retain computed values and to display their correct values.
The next section shows you how to create an Android application that
consists of an Android Button component, followed by a code sample
that shows you how to handle a Button click event.

Working with Buttons

The Android package android.widget contains the class Button that
provides button-like functionality.
Copy the directory called SimpleButton from the companion disc to a
convenient location. This sample application contains a Button control
and a TextView control.
Listing 2.2 displays the contents of SimpleButtonActivity.java,
which illustrates how to use a Button class in an Android application.

LISTING 2.2 SimpleButtonActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.simplebutton;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.Button;

public class SimpleButtonActivity extends Activity

 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 45

{
private Button myButton = null;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

this.setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
this.myButton = (Button)this.findViewById(R.id.button1);
}
}

Listing 2.3 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which contains

the definition of the Android Button that is referenced in Listing 2.2.

LISTING 2.3 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android
android:id="@+id/layout1"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>

<Button android:id="@+id/button1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hellob"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" />

<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hellot"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
Listing 2.3 is straightforward: the root element is a RelativeLayout
that contains a Button control and a TextView control as its child ele-
ments. The text that is displayed in the Button element is specified as
@string/button1 and the text for the TextView element is specified
as @string/hello. Whenever you see this type of expression, check the
XML document strings.xml for the actual strings that are substituted
for this expression.
As a side comment, if you display a grid-like pattern with two or more
columns of <button> elements that have text strings of different lengths,
sometimes the columns will have different widths. However, you can
insert the string &#10; in the middle of the longest text string so that
 46 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

its contents will span multiple lines,

which will decrease the width of the
column that contains this <button>
element. This technique will resize all
the <button> elements that occupy
the same column so that they have the
same width. Moreover, both columns
will be resized accordingly, which can
result in a more pleasing interface.
You can generalize this technique for
multiple columns and also for text
strings that require multiple inserts of
the string &#10;.
The string &#10; splits a text string
NOTE into multiple lines.

Listing 2.4 displays the contents of

strings.xml, which contains the defi-
nition of the strings that are used in the FIGURE 2.2 A Button in an Android
SimpleButton Android application. Application.

LISTING 2.4 strings.xml
<resources>
<string name="app_name">SimpleButton</string>
<string name="hellot">Hello Textfield</string>
<string name="hellob">Hello Button</string>
</resources>

The key point to observe in Listing 2.4 is the first XML <string> ele-
ment contains the actual text that is displayed in the TextView element.
In addition, the second XML <string> element contains the text that is
displayed as the Button label.
Figure 2.2 displays the rendering of the SimpleButton project on a
Samsung Galaxy S5 with Android 6.0.1.

Click Events in Android

Since there is no mouse connected to a smart phone, you might be won-
dering about the rationale for discussing click events. The reason is simple:
Android provides an onClick() method (shown later in this chapter) and
an onLongClick() method, both of which are described in the Android
documentation as follows:
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 47

onClick()
From View.OnClickListener. This is called when the user either
touches the item (when in touch mode), or focuses upon the item
with the navigation-keys or trackball and presses the suitable “enter”
key or presses down on the trackball.
onLongClick()
From View.OnLongClickListener. This is called when the user either
touches and holds the item (when in touch mode), or focuses upon
the item with the navigation-keys or trackball and presses and holds
the suitable “enter” key or presses and holds down on the trackball
(for one second).

The preceding information (along with details regarding other touch-

related events) is here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/ui-events.html.
Now let’s look at an Android application that handles button click events.
Despite the conceptual simplicity of this functionality, you might be sur-
prised by the Android-specific details that you will learn in this section.
An event listener in Android is an interface that contains a single
callback method. The Android interface android.view.View.
OnClickListener declares the onClick() method that you must
implement in your code in order to handle button clicks.
This example shows you how to handle click events, and the example
in the next section shows you how to handle click events and rotating
an Android device. Copy the directory called ClickButton from the
companion disc to a convenient location.
Listing 2.5 displays the contents of the Java class MainActivity.java
that illustrates how to use a Button class with an event handler in an
Android application.

LISTING 2.5 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.clickbutton;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

48 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

{
private RelativeLayout relLayout = null;
private Button myButton = null;
private int clickCount = 0;
private String TAG = "ClickMe";

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
this.setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

// uncomment this code block later (section #1)

/*
if(savedInstanceState != null)
{
clickCount = savedInstanceState.getInt("clickCount");
}
*/

this.myButton = (Button)this.findViewById(R.id.button1);
this.relLayout = (RelativeLayout)this.findViewById(R.id.layout1);

myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);

this.myButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
++clickCount;
myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);

// toggle the background color

if (clickCount % 2 == 0) {
relLayout.setBackgroundColor(0xFFFF0000);
} else {
relLayout.setBackgroundColor(0xFF0000FF);
}
}
});
}

// uncomment this code block later (section #2)

/*
@Override
protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState)
{
outState.putInt("clickCount", clickCount);
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
}
*/
}
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 49

The code in boldface in Listing 2.5 is the new Java code that has been
added to MainActivity.java in Listing 2.2 in order to add an event
listener that responds to button click events.
The first section of new code contains view-related import statements,
and the second section of new code contains event-handling statements,
as shown here:

this.myButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
++clickCount;
myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);

// toggle background color code omitted

}
});

The preceding code block contains an onClick() method that is invoked

whenever users click on the button, after which the clickCount varia-
ble is incremented and the new click count is displayed as a label for the
Button control.

The second part of the onClick()

method toggles the background
color of the screen, and alternates
between RED and BLUE. Although
best practices encourages you to place
onClick() methods in XML config-
uration files, many code samples use
this technique, so it’s probably worth
your while to learn this style.
Best practices suggest placing
NOTE onClick() methods in XML config-
uration files.
Launch the application, click the but-
ton several times, and notice how the
label of the Button control is updated
each time you click on that button.
Figure 2.3 displays the rendering
of ButtonClick on a Samsung FIGURE 2.3 A Button with an Event
Galaxy S5 with Android 6.0.1. Listener in an Android Application.
50 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Handling Android Device Rotation

Whenever users rotate an Android device, Android destroys and then rec-
reates the Activity class, which causes the onCreate() method to be
executed again. Hence, the values of variables are reinitialized, and so
intermediate values are lost.
Copy the directory RotateClickButton from the companion disc to a
convenient location. This application modifies the project ClickButton
by “uncommenting” the two sections of code in Listing 2.5.
Launch the application, click the button several times, and rotate your
Android device: notice that the program does not crash with a null pointer
exception. However, the value of clickCount is set to zero because the
MainActivity class is destroyed and recreated, which results in click-
Count being initialized to zero.

The solution involves two new blocks of code. The first code block involves
storing the value of clickCount in the savedInstanceState variable,
as shown here:

@Override
protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState)
{
outState.putInt("clickCount", clickCount);
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
}

The second code block needs to be inserted in the onCreate() method

after the super() invocation in order to retrieve the saved value for
clickCount:

if(savedInstanceState != null)
{
clickCount = savedInstanceState.getInt("clickCount");
}

Uncomment the two new code blocks in Listing 2.2 and launch the appli-
cation. When you click the button and then rotate your Android device,
you will see that the correct value for clickCount is displayed.
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 51

Using a Different File for Landscape

Mode (optional)
This section contains information about Android applications that use one
layout file for portrait mode and one layout file for landscape mode (oth-
erwise consider this section optional).
The following post describes how to create a layout file for landscape mode:
http://abhiandroid.com/androidstudio/add-create-landscape-
layout-android-studio.html.
If you add a different layout file for landscape mode in the
RotateClickButton code sample, users will encounter a null pointer
exception when they rotate an Android device. The solution is to place the
appropriate UI controls in both files.
Specifically, if the file for landscape mode does not contain a Button
control, the following code snippet returns a null pointer:

this.myButton = (Button)this.findViewById(R.id.button1);

Consequently, the following code snippet crashes the application:

myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);

Copy the Button control from activity_main.xml into the contents

of the file for landscape mode. The application will work correctly now
because the code will find the Button control in both layout files.
One other detail: screen orientation (landscape or portrait) is considered
a variation of screen size, which is a topic that is covered in more detail
here:
https://developer.android.com/training/basics/supporting-devices/
screens.html.

Other Event Listener Techniques

There are two other ways to define an event listener for a Button control.
One way is specify the click listener in code (in the onCreate() method),
and the other way is to specify the click listener method in the XML file.
52 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Method #1: Include the following code block in Listing 2.2:

// reference a button from layout

Button myButton = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button1);

// register an onClick listener with the implementation below

button.setOnClickListener(myButtonListener);

private OnClickListener myButtonListener = new OnClickListener() {

public void onClick(View v) {
// handle the button click
}
};

Method #2: Include the following code block in the <Button> definition:

<Button android:id="@+id/button1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:text="@string/clickme"
android:onClick="handleButtonClick" />

Next, in the MainActivity class define the handleButtonClick()

method and replace the click handling code in Method #1 in Listing 2.2
with this code block:
public void handleButtonClick(View v)
{
++clickCount;
myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);

// toggle the background color

if (clickCount % 2 == 0) {
relLayout.setBackgroundColor(0xFFFF0000);
} else {
relLayout.setBackgroundColor(0xFF0000FF);
}
}

The following link provides additional information regarding the manner

in which Android invokes the onSaveInstanceState() method:
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/activities.html.

Finding the id of a UI Component

Insert the following code inside the handleButtonClick() method:
int id = view.getId(); // a number that appears in R.java
String idStr = view.getResources().getResourceEntryName(id);
Log.i("Button Tap idStr = ",idStr);
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 53

int resourceId = getResources().getIdentifier(idStr, "raw",

"this.package.name");
Log.i("Button Tap resourceId = ",resourceId);

// play an audio file

MediaPlayer mPlayer = MediaPlayer.create(this, resourceId);
mPlayer.start();

The preceding technique is useful for Android applications with multiple

elements that have the same click handler, and you need to determine
which element has been clicked. Another approach is to define a unique
event listener for each UI component in the layout file, which can be sim-
pler to debug (but more code is required).

Differences between OnClickListener

and OnClick
The following stackoverflow post contains a very good summary and
comparison of the two techniques for handling click events:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21319996/android-onclick-in-
xml-vs-onclicklistener.
The details are given below:
OnClickListener is the interface you need to implement and can be set
to a view in Java code. On one hand, OnClickListener is what waits for
someone to actually click, whereas onClick determines what happens
when someone clicks.
Android added an XML attribute to views called android:onClick that
can be used to handle clicks directly in the view’s activity without the need
to implement any interface.
You could easily swap one listener implementation with another if you
need to do so. An OnClickListener enables you to separate the action/
behavior of the click event from the View that triggers the event. Although
this is a minor detail for simple cases, the situation might differ for com-
plex event handling in terms of improved readability and maintainability
of the code. Since OnClickListener is an interface, the class that imple-
ments this interface has some flexibility regarding instance variables and
methods for handling the event.
The onClick event with function binding in XML Layout is a bind-
ing between onClick and the function that it will call. The function
must have one argument (the View) in order for onClick to function
correctly.
54 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Although one technique involves “pure” Java code and another technique
involves specifying an event listener via an XML attribute, the result is
the same.
Now that you know how to define Button and TextView components
and event listeners in Android, you might also be interested in reading
the code in the Java class SimpleEditText.java on the companion disc
that illustrates how to enable users to enter text in an editable input field.

Event Listeners and Return Values

You probably noticed that some event listeners in Android (such as
onClick()) do not return a value. However, some event listeners, such as
onLongClick(), onKey(), and onTouch() return a Boolean value. This
Boolean value indicates whether or not the event has been consumed. In
the case of the onTouch() event listener, it’s possible to have multiple
consecutive touch-related actions, and therefore a return value is required
in order to indicate whether or not an action was taken in the code.

Android Annotations
Every Android project with an Activity class in this book uses the
@Override annotation that precedes the onCreate() method in the
main Activity class. This annotation indicates that your code is overrid-
ing a method with the same name in the parent class. Hence, if you mis-
spell the name of the method that you intend to override, a compilation
error will alert you about the misspelled method name.
Other annotations are available that can reduce the amount of code in
your Android applications, as described here:
http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/support-annotations.
In addition, there are various open source projects that provide additional
annotations for Android applications. For instance, the excilys project
provides Android annotations, and its home page is here:
https://github.com/excilys/androidannotations/tree/master.
As a simple example, Listing 2.5 contains this code block for handling a
click event on an Android Button control:
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 55

this.myButton = (Button)this.findViewById(R.id.button1);

this.myButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);
}
});

The excilys project enables you to replace the preceding code block
with the following code that contains an @Click annotation:

@Click(R.id.button1)
void button1Clicked() {
myButton.setText("Click Me: "+clickCount);
}

As you can see, the preceding code block with the annotation is much
simpler to understand, shorter in length, and less error-prone than the
original code block.
In addition to reducing the lines of code, Android annotations can make
your code more readable and also simplify maintenance in larger Android
applications.
Another open source project that provides Android annotations is here:
http://jakewharton.github.io/butterknife.
Perform an Internet search to find various other open source projects for
Android annotations and evaluate them to determine which one best suits
your needs.

Android Application Lifecycle

Although the information in this section is important, it’s not essential
for creating simple Android applications in Android Studio. If you prefer,
skim through its contents and then return to this section after you feel
more comfortable creating Android applications.
Figure 2.4 displays the Android Activity lifecycle diagram that is from
this website:
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html.
56 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

FIGURE 2.4 The Android Activity lifecycle.

Earlier in this chapter you saw the contents of HelloWorld.java that

contains a method called onCreate()that overrides the same method
in the superclass. In case you are wondering, the onCreate() method is
one of the seven Android methods that comprise the Android application
lifecycle that is described (very briefly) in this section.
An Android application executes the following methods (in the follow-
ing order) during the lifecycle of the application: onCreate(), onRe-
start(), onStart(), onResume(), onPause(), onStop(), and
onResume().

The onCreate() method is invoked when an Activity is created, and its

role is similar to init() methods in other languages. The onDestroy()
method is invoked when an Activity is removed from memory, and its
role is essentially that of a destructor method in C++.
 DESIGN AND UI CONTROLS • 57

The onPause() method is invoked when an Activity must be paused

(such as reclaiming resources). Include custom code for persisting
data and values of variables (if any) in this method. For example, since
Activitys are destroyed and recreated when users rotate their Android
device, you can save data values in this method, which is an alternative
to the technique that you saw in Chapter 2. Another point to remem-
ber is that Android invokes the onPause() method before terminating
an application, so the onPause() method is the logical place to include
data-saving code.
The onRestart() method is invoked when an Activity is being
restarted. By comparison, the onResume() method is invoked when
an Activity interacts with a user, whereas the onStart() method is
invoked when an Activity becomes visible on the screen. Finally, the
onStop() method is invoked in order to stop an Activity.

The methods onRestart(), onStart(), and onStop() are in the visi-

ble phase; on the other hand, the methods onResume() and onPause()
are in the foreground phase. An Android application can pause and
resume many times during the execution of that application; the details
are specific to the functionality of the application (and possibly the type
of user interaction as well).
Finally, each Android application runs in a Unix process on an Android
device and each application maintains its own lifecycle. Android applica-
tions rely on the virtual machine in order to interact with the operating
system of an Android device in accordance with the lifecycle described in
this section.

Android Memory Leaks

This section provides a brief summary of how memory leaks can occur in
Android applications, along with links that provide additional information.
The main culprits for potential memory leaks are listed here:
„„ Inner classes
„„ Anonymous classes
„„ Static activities or views
„„ Subclasses of AsyncTask
„„ Handlers
„„ Threads
„„ Timer tasks
„„ Sensor manager
58 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Two articles that contain code samples that illustrate memory leaks and
how to address them are here (make sure you read the comments in these
posts as well):
https://medium.com/freenet-engineering/memory-leaks-in-android-
identify-treat-and-avoid-d0b1233acc8#.y2duxl6dw
http://blog.nimbledroid.com/2016/05/23/memory-leaks.html
You won’t encounter some of these topics (such as the sensor manager)
until the second half of this book, or in an appendix (such as Threads), so
you don’t need to worry about dealing with memory leaks right now.
Fortunately, Android provides various tools to help you detect memory
leaks in Android applications, some of which are described in one of the
appendices for this book. In addition, Square provides a memory leak
detection library for Android as well as Java, and it’s downloadable here:
https://github.com/square/leakcanary.

Summary
This chapter showed you how to develop native Android applications with
simple UI controls, including buttons and text fields. You also learned how
to create event listeners so that your Android application can respond to
specific events, such as button clicks.
In addition, you learned about different types of constraint-based layouts,
padding-related attributes and positional attributes, orientation, weight,
and gravity. You saw how to maintain values of variables during device
rotation. Finally, you learned about the lifecycle methods for an Android
Activity and different types of memory leaks.
 CHAPTER

3
ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS

T
his chapter contains code samples with an assortment of Android
UI components. Please read Chapter 2 (if you have not already
done so) because it contains useful information regarding UI com-
ponents, event handlers, and so forth. Unless otherwise noted, the UI
components in this chapter are supported from Android version 2.0 and
higher.
The first part of this chapter briefly discusses UI components that provide
container-like functionality, followed by Android Alerts and TimePickers.
The second part of this chapter discusses Android Fragments (which are
essentially submodules of an Android Activity) that were introduced in
Android 3.x.
The third part of this chapter discusses some Android layout managers,
including LinearLayout and RelativeLayout (you saw the latter in
Chapter 2). This section also discusses briefly the Android RecyclerView,
which is a powerful and more efficient “successor” to the LinearLayout
manager and GridLayout manager. Note that Android provides other
layout managers (such as AbsoluteLayout, FrameLayout, and
TableLayout) that are not discussed in this chapter.

Many Android applications support user interaction, often consisting of

one or more buttons, perhaps a scroll list for displaying items, and also
input fields for data entry (or some combination). The Android applica-
tion with radio buttons introduces the Android Toast class that displays a
brief message whenever users click or tap on a radio button. The Android
code sample with an Android Spinner component also contains an
60 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Android Toast class. This approach of combining functionality in a single

application provides more value to you than just a simple copy/paste from
the Android SDK or from a website. For your convenience, the Android
code samples are presented alphabetically so that you can locate them
quickly, but feel free to read them in the order that interests you.

Alerts
Android Alerts enable your Android application to display a message
when a particular event has occurred.
Copy the directory MyAlert from the companion disc to a convenient
location. Listing 3.1 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which
illustrates how to display an Alert in an Android application.

LISTING 3.1 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.myalert;

import android.app.AlertDialog;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.

Builder(this);

builder
.setMessage("Are you sure you want to exit?")
.setCancelable(false)
.setPositiveButton("Yes",
new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int id){
MainActivity.this.finish();
}
})
.setNegativeButton("No",
new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int id){
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 61

dialog.cancel();
}
});

AlertDialog alert = builder.create();

// now display the alert

alert.show();
}
}

Listing 3.1 starts with the usual boilerplate Java code, and the onCre-
ate() method instantiates an AlertDialog.Builder object called
builder that uses method chaining in order to set three properties.
These properties are the cancel, yes, and no options that users can
select in an Alert dialog.
If you are unfamiliar with the Builder
pattern, read item #2 of this link:
https://github.com/mgp/book-
notes/blob/master/effective-
java-2nd-edition.markdown.
After creating (“building”) an instance
of AlertDialog.Builder, you
need to obtain an instance of the
AlertDialog class and then invoke
the show() method to launch the
alert, as shown here:
AlertDialog alert = builder.
create();

// now display the alert

alert.show();

Figure 3.1 displays the result of

launching the MyAlert project on a FIGURE 3.1 An Alert in an Android
Pixel Phone with Android 7.1. Application.

Time Pickers
The Android package android.widget contains the class TimePicker
that provides date-related functionality. In addition, Android supports a
date picker widget that enables users to select a date based on the year,
62 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

month, and day. The example in this section shows you how to use the
TimePicker component.

Copy the directory MyTimePicker from the companion disc to a con-

venient location. Listing 3.2 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to use a time picker control in an Android
application. Each time that you change the current time in the
TimePicker component, its value is displayed as a string in a TextView
component.

LISTING 3.2 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.mytimepicker;

import android.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.TimePicker;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
// a text field to display the selected date and time
private TextView mTimeDisplay;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

// instantiate a TimePicker class and set hours/

minutes
TimePicker timePicker =
(TimePicker) findViewById(R.id.timePicker);
timePicker.setHour(12);
timePicker.setMinute(15);

mTimeDisplay = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.timeDisplay);

timePicker.setOnTimeChangedListener(
new TimePicker.OnTimeChangedListener(){
public void onTimeChanged(
TimePicker view,int
hourOfDay,int minute){
updateTimeDisplay(hourOfDay, minute);
}
});
}
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 63

private void updateTimeDisplay(int hour, int minute)

{
String padHour = pad(hour);
String padMin = pad(minute);

mTimeDisplay.setText(padHour+":"+padMin);
}

private static String pad(int c)

{
if (c >= 10) {
return String.valueOf(c);
} else {
return "0" + String.valueOf(c);
}
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 3.2 creates an instance of the Android

TimePicker class and then sets the hour and minute with this block of
code:

TimePicker timePicker =
(TimePicker) findViewById(R.id.timePicker);
timePicker.setHour(12);
timePicker.setMinute(15);

The next portion of Listing 3.2 displays a string with the hour and minute
values in a TextView component after prepending a 0 (if necessary) to
this string. The last block of code in onCreate() adds an event listener to
the TimePicker component: whenever the time is changed, the method
updateTimeValue() is invoked with the new hour and minute values.

The updateTimeValue() method invokes the pad() method that (if

necessary) prepends a “0” to the hour and minute values, after which the
contents of the TextView component are updated with the concatena-
tion of the hour and minute values, as shown here:

mTimeDisplay.setText(padHour+":"+padMin);

The code sample in this section is a “bare bones” example of using the
TimePicker component. Regarding the DatePicker component: addi-
tional options are available, such as setting the mode to “spinner,” as well
as a CalenderView option. Consult the Android documentation for
details about the DatePicker component.
64 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

What Are Android Fragments?

Android Fragments were added to the Android API in Honeycomb
(API 11) and they are even supported in Android 1.6 (API 4) via the
Compatibility Package. This section discusses Fragments for
Android 3.0 or higher, and online documentation describes the differ-
ences for earlier versions of Android.
Fragments are reusable components, and they allow for better UI designs
such as cards and floating action buttons. Fragments are well-suited for a
Master-Detail UI design, as well as dynamic layouts to accommodate var-
ious screen sizes and configurations, for phones as well as tablets. Another
important point: the instantiation of a new Activity can be time-consum-
ing compared to a Fragment. (Comparing an Activity to a Fragment is
somewhat analogous to comparing a process to a thread.)
Think of a Fragment as a piece of an application’s user interface or behav-
ior that can be placed in an Activity. Interaction with Fragments is done
through FragmentManager, which is available via the Activity.get-
FragmentManager() method and also the Fragment.getFragment-
Manager() method.

In essence, the Fragment class represents a particular operation or inter-

face that is running within a larger Activity. A Fragment is closely tied
to its “enclosing” Activity, and cannot be used apart from an Activity.
Although a Fragment defines its own lifecycle, that lifecycle is dependent
on its Activity: if the Activity is stopped, no Fragments inside of it can be
started; when the Activity is destroyed, all Fragments will be destroyed.
All subclasses of Fragment must include a public empty constructor,
which is needed whenever the framework re-instantiates a Fragment
class (such as during state restore). If the empty constructor is unavail-
able, a runtime exception will occur in some cases during state restore.
A Fragment can only be used inside an Activity, and if the parent Activity
is stopped, no Fragments inside that Activity can be started. As you might
surmise, whenever an Activity is destroyed, all its Fragments are also
destroyed.
Activitys and Fragments have a one-to-many relationship: a best prac-
tice is to use at most four or five fragments in an Activity (but nothing will
stop you from using many more). In general, use an Activity to launch
existing Android resources (video player, browser, and so forth), and use a
Fragment to modify the UI components of application.
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 65

Fragment subclasses must include a public empty constructor, otherwise

NOTE a runtime exception will occur.

Fragment-Related Classes
The Android package android.app contains the Fragment class. A
Fragment has its own lifecycle (discussed later), with its own input events
that you can add or remove while the “parent” Activity is active.
The Android android.app package contains several Fragment subclasses,
including DialogFragment, ListFragment, PreferenceFragment,
and WebViewFragment.
The Android package android.sup-
port.v4.app provides a Fragment
NOTE
class for Android mobile applications
prior to Android 3.0 (API Level 11).
The package android.sup-
port.v4.app contains not only
the Fragment base class, but also
the Fragment-related classes
ListFragment, FragmentActivity,
and FragmentTransaction.

The Fragment Lifecycle Methods

Just to give you an idea (but without
delving into their details), the fol-
lowing methods are associated with a
Fragment lifecycle:

onAttach(Activity)
onCreate(Bundle)
onCreateView(LayoutInflater,
ViewGroup, Bundle)
onActivityCreated(Bundle)
onViewStateRestored(Bundle)
onStart()
onResume()

An Android Fragment is conceptually

like a modular section of an Activity that
also has its own lifecycle. A Fragment
also receives its own input events, and FIGURE 3.2 The Fragment lifecycle.
 66 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

you can add or remove while the “main” activity is running. More infor-
mation about Fragments is here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/fragments.html.
Figure 3.2 displays the Fragment lifecycle, which is also displayed in the
preceding link.
Google recommends the use of Fragments, which can be used as “con-
tainers” for Activitys. Fragments make it easier to reuse components
in different layouts.
Since Android 4 (ICS) supports both smart phones and tablets, you can
deploy the same Android application in both devices. However, the visual
display will probably be different on these two devices, and Fragments
provide a nice solution. Although Fragments are not mandatory, they do
make it easier to support multiple screen sizes.
If you intend to work extensively with Fragments, then you also need
NOTE to learn about the Fragment lifecycle, which is available in the online
Android documentation.

Working with Android Fragments

You can instantiate a Fragment as a whole-screen activity on a smart
phone or as a partial screen. You can distinguish between mobile phones
and tablets with conditional logic involving a few lines of code.

Types of Android Fragments

There are three main types of Fragments:
1) Static Fragments, which are placed in an Activity layout and never
change
2) Dynamic framework Fragments
3) Dynamic support Fragments from the v4 support library, which work
with AppCompatActivities
Later in this chapter you will see an example of a static Fragment.

Android Classes for Fragments

Android applications use one of the following classes for Fragments:
„„ android.app.Fragment: The base class for all fragment definitions
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 67

„„ android.app.FragmentManager: The class for interacting with

fragment objects inside an activity
„„ android.app.FragmentTransaction: The class for performing
an atomic set of fragment operations
You can create a Fragment programmatically or you can define a
Fragment in an XML layout file (which is also true of other UI compo-
nents). If a Fragment component is defined in an XML layout file, the
android:name attribute specifies the corresponding class. In the former
case, you define a Fragment by extending one of the following classes
that are in the package android.app:
„„ Fragment
„„ ListFragment
„„ DialogFragment
„„ PreferenceFragment
„„ WebViewFragment
Note that the Fragment class is the base class for the other classes in the
preceding list.

Creating Custom Fragments

Create a Fragment custom class by extending the Fragment
class and overriding lifecycle methods with your application-
specific logic, in much the same way that you override methods in an
Android Activity class.
However, an Android Fragment must use the onCreateView() callback
to define the layout. This callback method is the only method that you
need to implement in order to run an Android Fragment.
As you can probably guess, an Activity can communicate with each
of its Fragments (and vice versa). This approach is better than having
Fragments communicate directly with each other, because the former
approach increases the reusability of your custom Fragment classes.

An Android Fragment Example

This section contains a very simple example of creating a custom Fragment
class. Copy the Android project MyFragment from the companion disc
into a convenient location. Open the project in Android Studio and then
deploy the application to an Android device.
68 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The main files of interest are listed here:

./java/com/example/oswaldcampesato2/myfragment/
Fragment1.java
./java/com/example/oswaldcampesato2/myfragment/
Fragment2.java
./java/com/example/oswaldcampesato2/myfragment/
MyFragment.java
./res/layout/activity_my_fragment.xml
./res/layout/fragment1.xml
./res/layout/fragment2.xml

The main Activity is defined in MyFragment.java and its associated

layout file is activity_main.xml. Fragment one and fragment two are
defined in Fragment1.java and Fragment2.java, respectively, and
their corresponding layout files are fragment1.xml and fragment2.
xml.

Listing 3.3 displays the contents of activity_my_fragment.xml with

the contents of the main layout file. As you will see later, one fragment is
displayed in portrait mode and the other fragment is displayed in land-
scape mode (not both of them).

LISTING 3.3 activity_my_fragment.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/activity_my_fragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:context="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
myfragment.MyFragment">

<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/
res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

<fragment
android:id="@+id/fragment2"
android:name="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
myfragment.Fragment2"
android:layout_width="0px"
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 69

android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
/>

<fragment
android:id="@+id/fragment1"
android:name="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
myfragment.Fragment1"
android:layout_width="0px"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_weight="1"
/>
</LinearLayout>
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

Listing 3.3 contains a <LinearLayout> element that in turn contains two

XML <fragment> elements. The two fragments are bound to the Java
files Fragment1.java and Fragment2.java (shown later).
Listing 3.4 displays the contents of MyFragment.java, which is the main
Activity class for this code sample.

LISTING 3.4 MyFragment.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.myfragment;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class MyFragment extends AppCompatActivity

{
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
//setContentView(R.layout.activity_my_fragment);

Configuration config = getResources().getConfiguration();

FragmentManager fragmentManager = getFragmentManager();

FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction =
fragmentManager.beginTransaction();

// Check the device orientation

if (config.orientation == Configuration.
ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE)
{
// Landscape mode of the device
Fragment1 fragment1 = new Fragment1();
fragmentTransaction.replace(android.R.id.
content, fragment1);
70 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

}
else
{
// Portrait mode of the device
Fragment fragment2 = new Fragment2();
fragmentTransaction.replace(android.R.id.
content, fragment2);
}

fragmentTransaction.commit();
}
}

Listing 3.4 contains boilerplate code followed by the onCre-

ate() method that contains several sections of code. The first
section initializes the variable config (which is an instance of the
Configuration class) that is used later for determining the orienta-
tion of the Android device. The second section contains two lines of
code that initialize the variable fragmentTransaction that is used
for transaction-related purposes. The third section uses the config
variable and simple conditional logic to render content associated
with Fragment1 in landscape mode, and content associated with
Fragment2 in portrait mode.

Listing 3.5 displays the contents of Fragment1.java, which contains the

code for the first fragment.

LISTING 3.5 Fragment1.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.myfragment;

import android.app.Fragment;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

public class Fragment1 extends Fragment

{
@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater,
ViewGroup container,
Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
return inflater.inflate(R.layout.
fragment1,container, false);
}
}
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 71

Listing 3.5 contains an onCre-

ateView() method that inflates
the XML layout file fragment1.
xml into the main container (i.e.,
the <LinearLayout> element in
Listing 3.3).
Similarly, Fragment2.java con-
tains an onCreateView() method
that also inflates the XML layout
file fragment2.xml into the main
container.
As you probably surmised, the con-
tents of Fragment2.java are almost
identical to Fragment1.java: simply
replace Fragment1 and fragment1
with Fragment2 and fragment2,
respectively. FIGURE 3.3 An Android Fragment in
portrait mode.
Listing 3.6 displays the contents of
fragment1.xml with the contents of
the layout file for the first fragment.

LISTING 3.6 fragment1.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.
com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is Fragment One View1"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

<CalendarView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/calendarView" />
</LinearLayout>

Listing 3.6 consists of a <LinearLayout> element that contains a

<TextView> element followed by a <CalendarView> element.
72 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 3.7 displays the contents of fragment2.xml with the contents of

the layout file for the second fragment.

LISTING 3.7 fragment2.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.
com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is Fragment Two View1"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/
textAppearanceLarge" />

<TimePicker
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/timePicker" />

<TextView
android:id="@+id/textView2"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is Fragment Two View2"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/
textAppearanceLarge" />

</LinearLayout>

FIGURE 3.4 An Android Fragment in landscape mode.

 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 73

Listing 3.7 consists of a <LinearLayout> element that in turn con-

tains three child elements: a <TextView> element, followed by a
<CalendarView> element, and then another <TextView> element.

Figure 3.3 displays the rendering of MyFragment in portrait mode on a

Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
Figure 3.4 displays the rendering of MyFragment in landscape mode on a
Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
There are various uses for Android Fragments, such as using a clickable
list of thumbnail images in a carousel, and then displaying the clicked
image in a “main” fragment. Similarly, Fragments can be used for playing
audio files or video files. In fact, Android TV applications (discussed in
Chapter 9) make significant use of Android Fragments.
This concludes the overview of Android Fragments. If you want to obtain
a deeper understanding of Fragments, additional information is available
in the Android documentation.

Lists and Array Adapters

Displaying a list is common in many mobile applications. Android provides
a ListView in the android.widget package that works well for many
situations. However, if your application enables users to scroll through
hundreds of items (such as a list of Twitter tweets), you need to use an
Android Adapter class and an ArrayAdapter (also in the android.
widget package) to improve performance, thereby creating a better user
experience. Keep in mind that you will not see a discernible performance
improvement with the Android Adapter class when the number of list
items is small (fewer than 100 items).
Copy the directory MyList from the companion disc to a convenient loca-
tion. Listing 3.8 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which
illustrates how to render a list of strings in an Android application.

LISTING 3.8 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.mylist1;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
74 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends ListActivity

{
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

// Create an array of Strings for the ListActivity

String[] names = new String[] {
"San Francisco", "New York", "Los Angeles",
"Tokyo", "Berlin", "Paris", "Istanbul",
"Delhi", "Rio de Janeiro", "Rome"};

// Create an ArrayAdapter that makes the Strings above

// appear in the ListView
this.setListAdapter(new
ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
android.R.layout.simple_list_item_checked,
names));
}

@Override
protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v,
int position, long id) {
super.onListItemClick(l, v, position, id);

// Get the item that was clicked

Object obj = this.getListAdapter().getItem(position);
String keyword = obj.toString();

Toast.makeText(this, "You selected: " + keyword,

Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}

Listing 3.8 declares the variable names that references an array of strings,
which is used to instantiate an Android Adapter class, as shown here:
this.setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
android.R.layout.simple_list_item_checked, names));

Whenever users check an item in the list of names, the onListItem-

Click() method is invoked. This method uses the position of the selected
item in the array in order to retrieve the actual item string and then dis-
play a toast with that item string:
Toast.makeText(this, "You selected: " + keyword,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 75

Listing 3.9 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which contains

a <List> element for rendering a list of items.

LISTING 3.9 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/activity_main"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
simplelist1.MainActivity">
<TextView
android:text="TextView"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="33dp"
android:id="@+id/textView" />
<ListView
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_below="@+id/textView"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="147dp"
android:id="@android:id/list" />
</RelativeLayout>

Listing 3.9 has a RelativeLayout component as the root compo-

nent, which in turn contains a TextView component and a ListView
component.
Notice the different syntax for the id attribute of the <ListView> ele-
ment, which is shown in bold in Listing 3.9. If you use the “regular” syntax
for the id attribute, you will get the following runtime error:

RuntimeException: Your content must have a ListView whose id

attribute is 'android.R.id.list'

Listing 3.10 displays the contents of the simple_list_item_checked.

xml layout file that specifies the layout details of a single item in the list,
which is simply one <TextView> element.
76 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

LISTING 3.10 simple_list_item_
checked.xml
<?xml version="1.0"
encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://
schemas.android.com/apk/res/
android"
android:id="@+id/
rowTextView"
android:layout_width="fill_
parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_
content"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textSize="16sp" >
</TextView>

Figure 3.5 displays the rendering of

SimpleList on a Samsung Galaxy S5 FIGURE 3.5 A List in an Android
with Android 6.0.1. Application.

Android Layout Managers

First, let’s review the following points: Android Layout Managers are sub-
classes of the ViewGroup subclass, and the ViewGroup class is a sub-
class of the View class. Android Layout Managers are container views
whose purpose is to control the screen layout of their child views (hence
their name). Android supports several Layout Managers, including
RelativeLayout that you saw in Chapter 2.

Some properties, such as Text, can be set directly on a View object. There
are other properties that you must set on an appropriate LayoutParam
object, after which the latter object is set at the View object’s LayoutParam
property.
One point to keep in mind: each Layout type has an associated class whose
name is the concatenation of the Layout type and the LayoutParam
class. As an example, LinearLayout has an associated class called
LinearLayout.LayoutParam (and similarly for the other Layout man-
agers). The LinearLayout.LayoutParam class is sort of like a “defini-
tion class” that defines the layout properties that are available to any View
object that is added to a LinearLayout object.
Instantiate the LinearLayout.LayoutParam class as follows:
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 77

LinearLayout.LayoutParam linLayoutParams =
new LinearLayout.LayoutParam(200,200);

Set the preceding class in View objects that you add to the LinearLayout
as follows:

btn.setLayoutParams(linLayoutParams);
linLayout.addView(b3);

After executing the preceding code block, the Button btn will be
200x200 pixels. However, keep in mind that the pixels are not device-in-
dependent pixels. In addition, more complex Layout objects have more
complex LayoutParams that must be initialized.
The LayoutParams class can also provide a constructor to set some prop-
erties (such as the weight), whereas other properties are set by invoking
the setProperty() methods after the constructor has been invoked,
where you need to replace Property with the property in question. The
details depend on the specific Layout manager.
For example, you can replace Property with Margins, an example of
which is here:

linLayout.setMargins(10,10,10,10);

The next section introduces you to the RecyclerView, which is

a powerful and flexible component that provides performance-
related advantages. In particular, the RecyclerView is well-suited for
Android applications that use constraint-based layouts.

The RecyclerView
Android 5.x introduced the RecyclerView, which is an improve-
ment over the ListView component. The RecyclerView “recycles”
View elements more efficiently in order to improve performance. The
RecyclerView simplifies the display and handling of large data sets by
providing layout managers (such as the CardView LayoutManager) for
positioning items.
A list of some supported built-in layout managers is here:
„„ LinearLayoutManager (vertical or horizontal scrolling list)
„„ GridLayoutManager (items in a grid)
„„ StaggeredGridLayoutManager (items in a staggered grid)
78 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The RecyclerView also supports custom layout managers: do so by

extending the RecyclerView.LayoutManager class.

Setting Up a RecyclerView
In order to use a RecyclerView, you must do two things: specify an
adapter and a layout manager. You create an adapter by extending the
RecyclerView.Adapter class: the actual details of the implementation
depend on the specifics of your dataset and the type of views in your
application.
The reason for specifying a layout manager is straightforward: the layout
manager positions item views inside a RecyclerView and determines
when to reuse item views that are no longer visible to the user. Moreover,
when a view is reused (or recycled), the layout manager may instruct the
adapter to replace the contents of such a view with a different element
from the dataset. This recycling technique improves performance by
avoiding the creation of unnecessary views or performing expensive find-
ViewById() lookups.

A RecyclerView Code Sample

The code sample in this section shows you how to use the basic features
of the RecyclerView with a list of items.
Copy the directory RecyclerViewTextView from the compan-
ion disc to a convenient location. Listing 3.11 displays the contents of
MainActivity.java, which illustrates how to set up a RecyclerView
in an Android application.

LISTING 3.11 MainActivity.java
package com.android_examples.recyclerview_android_examplescom;

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.Window;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 79

Context context;
RecyclerView recyclerView;
RelativeLayout relativeLayout;
RecyclerView.Adapter recyclerViewAdapter;
RecyclerView.LayoutManager recylerViewLayoutManager;

String[] wineList = {
"Merlot", "Barolo", "Cremona", "Tokai",
"Retsina", "Pinot Noir", "Cabernet",
"Merlot", "Barolo", "Cremona", "Tokai",
"Retsina", "Pinot Noir", "Cabernet",
"Merlot", "Barolo", "Cremona", "Tokai",
"Retsina", "Pinot Noir", "Cabernet",
"Merlot", "Barolo", "Cremona", "Tokai",
"Retsina", "Pinot Noir", "Cabernet",
"Merlot", "Barolo", "Cremona", "Tokai",
"Retsina", "Pinot Noir", "Cabernet"
};

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_ACTION_BAR);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

context = getApplicationContext();
// find the RelativeLayout component
relativeLayout =
(RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.relativeLayout);

// find the RecyclerView component

recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById
(R.id.recyclerView);

recylerViewLayoutManager =
new LinearLayoutManager(context);

// #1: set layout manager component in recyclerView

recyclerView. setLayoutManager(recylerViewLayoutManager);

// #2: set adapter component in recyclerView

recyclerViewAdapter =
new RecyclerViewAdapter(context, wineList);

recyclerView.setAdapter(recyclerViewAdapter);
}
}

Listing 3.11 contains boilerplate code, followed by the context variable,

which is used later when an instance of the RecyclerView manager is
80 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

initialized as an instance of the LinearLayoutManager. The comments

that start with #1 and #2 involve setting the layout manager and the view
adapter, respectively, for the RecyclerView.
Listing 3.12 displays the contents of RecycleViewAdapter.java, which
contains the code for the adapter that is required for a RecyclerView
component.

LISTING 3.12 RecyclerViewAdapter.java
package com.android_examples.recyclerview_android_examplescom;

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class RecyclerViewAdapter extends

RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder>
{
String[] wineList;
Context context;
View view;
ViewHolder viewHolder;
TextView textView;

public RecyclerViewAdapter(Context context,

String[] wineList)
{
this.wineList = wineList;
this.context = context;
}

public static class ViewHolder extends

RecyclerView.ViewHolder
{
public TextView textView;

public ViewHolder(View v){

super(v);
textView =
(TextView)v.findViewById(R.id.item_textview);
}
}

@Override
public RecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder
onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType)
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 81

{
view = LayoutInflater.from(context)
.inflate(R.layout.
recyclerview_items,parent,false);

viewHolder = new ViewHolder(view);

return viewHolder;
}

@Override
public void onBindViewHolder(ViewHolder holder,
int position){
holder.textView.setText(wineList[position]);
}

@Override
public int getItemCount(){
return wineList.length;
}
}

Listing 3.12 contains boilerplate code, a simple constructor to initialize the

variables wineList and context, followed by the custom ViewHolder
class that extends the Android class RecyclerView.ViewHolder. The
ViewHolder class contains the method that sets the variable textView
as a reference to the TextView component defined in the recycler-
view_items.xml layout file.

The onCreateViewHolder method associates an instance of the

ViewHolder class that is based on inflating the recyclerview_items.
xml layout file. Finally, the onBindViewHolder method coordinates an
instance of the ViewHolder class with an item in the wineList array.
Listing 3.13 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which con-
tains a top-level RelativeLayout component and a RecyclerView
component.

LISTING 3.13 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
82 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.android_examples.recyclerview_
android_examplescom.MainActivity"
android:id="@+id/relativeLayout">

<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
android:id="@+id/recyclerView"
android:scrollbars="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_
height="fill_parent"
/>
</RelativeLayout>

Figure 3.6 displays the rendering of

RecyclerViewTextView on a Pixel
phone with Android 7.1.
As you can see, this section contains
a minimalistic code sample whose
purpose is to help you understand
the components of a RecyclerView.
However, the RecyclerView is
much more powerful than the exam-
ple in this section, and can become
correspondingly more complex. One
option for managing some of that
complexity is the epoxy toolkit from
Airbnb, whose home page is here
FIGURE 3.6 A RecyclerView in an
https://github.com/airbnb/epoxy. Android Application.

Constraint-Based Layouts
This section discusses the constraint-based layout for Android applica-
tions that was introduced in Android Studio 2.2.
The ConstraintLayout is the Android layout type (introduced in
Android Studio 2.2) that provides several new features, along with
a sophisticated built-in Layout Editor. The ConstraintLayout
decreases the depth and complexity of the view hierarchy in Android
applications. ConstraintLayout helps you optimize the UI render-
ing phase of Android applications. In particular, ConstraintLayout
is well-suited for use with the RecyclerView. ConstraintLayout
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 83

is contained in the Android Support Library, it is compatible with

all currently available Views and ViewGroups, and it works down to
API level 9.
Android Studio enables you to convert existing Android applications to
the new constraint-based layout. Simply navigate to an existing layout
resource file, open the visual editor and right-click on a RelativeLayout
(for example), and then click the option to convert to a constraint layout.
The remainder of this section delves into some of the details of the con-
straint-based layout, along with an example.

What Is ConstraintLayout?
ConstraintLayout is a more recent type of layout for Android
Applications that is backward compatible down to API level 9 and is also
part of the support library. The purpose of the ConstraintLayout is to
reduce the depth of layout hierarchies, to improve performance of layouts,
and to reduce the complexity of trying to work with RelativeLayouts.
Fortunately, this new layout is compatible with other layouts, which
means that you are not forced to choose one particular layout.

Converting Existing Android Applications

In case you have not already done so, download the latest version of
Android Studio (version 2.2 or higher), which also provides a new layout
editor.
Step 1: add the following code snippet to your build.gradle
dependencies:

compile 'com.android.support.
constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.0-beta4'

Note that Android Studio automatically adds the ConstraintLayout

dependency to build.gradle when you create a new layout in Android
Studio.
Step 2: open activity_main.xml and click on the Design tab.
Step 3: click on the Component panel under the Palette panel.
Step 4: right-click and select Convert LinearLayout to
ConstraintLayout.
84 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

If your application uses a RelativeLayout, then in Step 4 you will see

the LinearLayout replaced with RelativeLayout.

Constraints and the Constraints System

Think of constraints as rules for the layout and alignment of var-
ious UI components in an application. When you use constraint-
based layouts, you can resize many components simply by dragging one
of the four vertices of the enclosing rectangle, which is a very nice feature
that is unavailable in other layout managers (more effort is required). The
small round circles on either side of a UI component enable you to add
horizontal constraints.
You need to spend time experimenting with the features of the Android
Studio Designer in conjunction with constraint-based layouts in order to
master its very rich set of features.
The layout engine uses sophisticated heuristics and all the constraints
associated with each UI component in order to calculate the positions
of the UI components on the screen. The designer provides buttons to
clear all the constraints and also to watch the constraints dynamically
added to UI components. Check the online documentation for addi-
tional details.
Incidentally, sometimes the designer displays confusing (misleading?)
error messages, such as this one:
Rendering Problems Preview timed out while rendering the
layout. This typically happens when there is an infinite loop or
unbounded recursion in one of the custom views. (Details) Tip:
Try to refresh the layout.
In general, refreshing the layout solves this error and various other types
of errors.
Keep in mind the following point: constraints are calculated based on the
top-to-bottom and left-to-right sequence of the UI components on the
screen. You can also drag a group of elements as follows:
1) locate the upper-left UI component that you want to move
2) perform a long press on that component
3) right-drag your mouse to encompass the desired group of elements
After Step 3 the group elements are highlighted inside a “dotted” rectan-
gle, which you can move around the screen to the desired location.
 ADDITIONAL UI CONTROLS • 85

Android 6.0 Features (Android M)

The main new features of Android Marshmallow are here:
„„ Applications permissions
„„ Application links
„„ Mobile Payments
„„ Fingerprint support
„„ Power and charging
Chapter 6 discusses the new permissions model, whereby users are
prompted to accept or deny permissions when a certain feature is used;
the web experience for Android will be improved by Chrome custom tabs
that open on top of applications; and application links will be more aware
of where they should open, whether in an application or a browser.
Google has added native fingerprint scanning support to Mobile pay-
ments with Android Pay. Doze for Android will provide smarter power
management, which uses motion detection to determine whether or not
the device has been used. According to Google, devices can last twice as
long when they are in standby mode, and devices will use USB Type-C
chargers.
The next section of this chapter briefly mentions some of the new features
in Android 7.

Features in Android 7 (Nougat)

The significant new features in Android 7 (Nougat) include Enhanced
UI, Multi-Window Capabilities, Daydream VR (discussed in Chapter 9),
and the Vulkan API. Android N also supports split-screen mode, which
allows you to run two applications simultaneously, either side by side or
one above the other in split-screen mode.
In addition, Android applications running on televisions can use pic-
ture-in-picture mode to continue video playback while users are inter-
acting with another application. Android N also supports application
shortcuts for specific actions in an application.
A short list containing some of the new features of Android Nougat is
here:
„„ App Shortcuts
„„ Image Keyboard Support
86 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

„„ New Professional Emoji

„„ Enhanced Live Wallpaper Metadata
„„ Round Icon Resources
„„ Storage Manager Intent
„„ Improved VR Thread Scheduling
„„ New Screen Densities for Wear Devices
More information about the preceding list of new features in Android N
is here:
https://www.android.com/versions/nougat-7-0/.
Note that you will see an example of app shortcuts, which involves an
Android Broadcast Receiver, and so the code sample is deferred until
Chapter 8 in the appropriate section.

Summary
This chapter showed you how to create Android applications that create
various UI controls, such as Android Alerts and TimePickers. Then you
learned about Android Fragments (which are essentially submodules of
an Android Activity) that were introduced in Android 3.x.
You also got an overview of some Android layout managers, including
LinearLayout and RelativeLayout. In addition, you saw an example
of the Android RecyclerView, which is a powerful and more efficient
“successor” to the LinearLayout manager and GridLayout manager.
Next you learned about ConstraintLayout, which is more power-
ful and more efficient than other list-based layouts, and it’s intended to
replace the RelativeLayout manager. You got a brief introduction to
some Android 6 features, followed by a list of some features of Android 7.
 CHAPTER

4
GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION

T
his chapter contains Android code samples for creating various
graphics and animation effects. You will learn how to render
2D shapes (code samples are on the companion disc), create
gradient effects and filter effects, how to render binary images, and how
to create 2D animation effects in Android applications. Additional open
source toolkits, such as Glide and Picasso, are discussed in Appendix A.
The first part of this chapter shows you how to render text strings with
gradient colors and how to render nested gradient rectangles. The com-
panion disc contains Android code samples that render other 2D shapes,
such as line segments, rectangles, circles, ellipses, and Bezier curves.
The second part of this chapter shows you how to apply filter effects to
PNG files, such as a Gaussian blur in a code sample. The final part of
this chapter discusses animation effects in Android, and also shows you
several techniques for creating animation effects.
This chapter contains code samples with graphics or animation effects
that are invoked via button clicks. However, you can enhance the code
samples in this chapter so that they incorporate various user gestures that
are discussed in Chapter 5. For example, after you learn how to render a
PNG image, you could add DnD (drag and drop) support so that users can
drag PNG images across the screen of an Android mobile device.

Overview of Graphics in Android

Android provides packages and Java classes with extensive feature sup-
port, some of which are discussed in the following sections. The graphics
88 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

library supports optimized 2D graphics and 3D graphics based on the

embedded version of OpenGL ES.
The techniques for creating graphics and animation effects in Android
vary in terms of their complexity. The point to keep in mind is that the
graphics-related Android APIs allow you to write to a View component or
directly on the Android Canvas.
Android provides a nice set of animation features through Java classes
that are in various Android packages. The main packages for graphics and
for processing images in Android are android.graphics and android.
graphics.drawable.
The Android package android.graphics provides low-level graphics
tools such as canvases, color filters, points, and rectangles that let you
handle drawing to the screen directly.
The Android package android.graphics.drawable provides classes
to manage a variety of visual elements that are intended for display only,
such as bitmaps and gradients. Android provides the android.graph-
ics.Bitmap class for processing images (because images are bitmaps).
The android.graphics.drawable.shapes package supports various
shapes, including arcs, ovals, paths, rectangles, and rounded rectangles.
You can also define your own custom shape via the PathShape class and
the Path class. The latter class supports standard shapes as well as cubic
and quadratic Bezier curves, all of which you can include as part of the
desired custom path.
Yet another option for graphics and animation is OpenGL, which is the
most sophisticated graphics and animation technology. Although it is more
complex to learn, OpenGL has the advantage of portability. The choice of
techniques obviously depends on your requirements and what you are
trying to accomplish in your Android application. A good introduction
to OpenGL is here: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/
opengl.html.
The next section introduces you to the (A,R,G,B) color model that is
available in Android.

The (A,R,G,B) Color Model

The use of colors is ubiquitous, so you need a basic understanding of how
to specify colors in Android. In brief, the (A,R,G,B) model for colors
specifies the red, green, blue, and opacity components of a color, where
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 89

the value for each component is an integer between 0 and 255. These
numbers can be expressed as decimal or as hexadecimal numbers.
In Android the opacity is between 0 and 255, but in other systems the
NOTE opacity can be a decimal number between 0 and 1.
Another point to keep in mind is that the hexadecimal values for colors
in many programming languages are of the following form: 0xRRGGBBAA.
However, the hexadecimal values for a color and opacity in Android are of
the following form: 0xAARRGGBB.
You can also set colors in an XML document. For example, the following
code snippet sets the background to Red:

android:background = "#FFFF000000"

This extremely brief overview about (A,R,G,B) colors is enough

information to work with colors in this chapter. A useful color con-
verter is here: http://rapidtables.com/web/color/RGB_Color.htm.
Another color model is (H,S,L), which represents the Hue, Saturation,
and Luminosity. This color model is not used in this book, but you can
perform an Internet search to find online tutorials with information about
the (H,S,L) color model.

Android Built-In Support for Gradients

You have probably seen linear gradients and radial gradients, either from
other programming languages or in pictures, and gradients are essentially
the same in Android.
The Android package android.graphics contains the LinearGradient
class and the RadialGradient class for creating linear and radial gradi-
ents, respectively. You can apply gradient effects to text fields by means of
an XML configuration that specifies values for gradients. Two useful links
with documentation for gradients are here:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/
LinearGradient.html
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/
RadialGradient.html
The next section contains a complete example that shows you how to dis-
play text strings with gradients.
90 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Gradient Effects with TextView Components

The Android example in this section shows you how to define color gra-
dients in an XML file, which is the simplest way to define color gradient
effects in Android. Then you will learn how to apply those gradient effects
to a text string. The key idea is to specify an XML file with gradient defi-
nitions via the Android android:background attribute.
Copy the directory MySimpleGradients from the companion disc to a
convenient location. The class MainActivity.java contains only the
code that was dynamically generated during the creation of the project, so
we don’t need to review its contents (i.e., pure boilerplate code).
Listing 4.1 displays the contents of activity_main.xml that defines
gradient effects.

LISTING 4.1 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.
com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<!-- Use gradient1.xml -->

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="80dp"
android:layout_margin="20dp"
android:background="@drawable/gradient1"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:padding="5dp" >

<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hello"
android:textColor="#000"
android:textSize="32dp" />
</LinearLayout>

<!-- Use gradient2.xml -->

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 91

android:layout_height="80dp"
android:layout_margin="20dp"
android:background="@drawable/gradient2"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:padding="8dp" >

<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hello"
android:textColor="#FFF"
android:textSize="20dp" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Listing 4.1 specifies a top-level LinearLayout component that contains

two child LinearLayout components. The first child LinearLayout
component references gradient1.xml and the second child references
gradient2.xml, both of which define gradient effects.

Listing 4.2 displays the contents of gradient1.xml and Listing 4.3 dis-
plays the contents of gradient2.xml.

LISTING 4.2 gradient1.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/
apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<stroke
android:width="8dp"
android:color="#FFFFFF" />

<corners android:radius="15dp" />

<padding
android:top="4px"
android:bottom="4px" />

<gradient
android:angle="270"
android:centerColor="#FFFFFF"
android:endColor="#FF0000"
android:startColor="#0000FF" />
</shape>
92 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 4.2 contains a top-level XML <shape> element with several XML
child elements that are used to define the properties of a radial gradient.
The XML <gradient> child element contains attributes whose values
specify the start color, center color, and the end color for the radial gradient.

LISTING 4.3 gradient2.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/
res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
>
<stroke
android:width="2dp"
android:color="#FFFFFF" />

<corners android:radius="5dp" />

<gradient
android:angle="90"
android:centerColor="#FF0000"
android:endColor="#0000ff"
android:startColor="#00FF00" />
</shape>

Listing 4.3 also defines a radial gradient, and since it is very similar to
Listing 4.2 and does not introduce any new concepts, we can skip the
details.

Using Custom Subviews for Graphics

You might be surprised to discover that you already know enough about
Android to create your own custom views. The key idea involves defining
a subclass of the Android View class and then putting your custom code
in the onDraw() method of the subclass. In fact, the technique in this
section is exactly the same technique that is used in the code samples to
create graphics effects.

LISTING 4.4 MyCustomSubviewActivity.java
public class MyCustomSubviewActivity
{
@Override
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 93

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)

{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
//setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
setContentView(new SimpleView(this));
}

private static class SimpleView extends View

{
public SimpleView(Context context) {
super(context);
setFocusable(true);

doSomethingInteresting();
}

public void doSomethingInteresting() {

// the fun stuff goes here
}

// override onDraw() for custom graphics

@Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
super.onDraw(canvas);
// render your graphics code here
}
}
}

Listing 4.4 contains a code snippet shown in bold that replaces the default
setContentView() method invocation, as shown here:

//setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
setContentView(new SimpleView(this));

The preceding code snippet instantiates the private Java class called
SimpleView (whose contents are written by you) that is defined in the
same file. The details of the private Java class are omitted from Listing 4.4,
but you will see an example shortly.

Graphics Effects in Android Canvas

There are actually two options available: you can write directly on the Android
Canvas element via a subview (as outlined in the previous section) in
94 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

conjunction with graphics APIs, or you can write to a SurfaceView (described

later in this chapter). The first approach is the simplest way to render graphics
directly in Android Canvas. If you are impatient, you can read the complete
code sample in the following section that renders a set of nested rectangles.
The relevant Java classes and available graphics APIs are in Java classes that
belong to the Android package android.graphics. This package con-
tains the Canvas class that enables you to render 2D shapes, and also apply
transforms and animation effects to those 2D shapes. The list of 2D shapes
includes line segments, rectangles, circles, polygons, and Bezier curves.
The Android Canvas class contains an onDraw() method that looks like
this:
@Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas)
{
super.onDraw(canvas);
// render your graphics here
}

As you can see from the preceding code block, an instance of the
Canvas class is automatically supplied as an argument of the onDraw()
method.
Incidentally, you can create a new Canvas object by first defining a
bitmap for drawing shapes using the Bitmap class, and then instantiating
a Canvas instance with the bitmap instance, as shown here:
Bitmap b = Bitmap.createBitmap(0, 0, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
Canvas c = new Canvas(b);

Graphics effects in Android Canvas typically use the Paint class (which
also belongs to the android.graphics package) to create color-related
effects. For example, the following code block renders a white Canvas:
@Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas)
{
super.onDraw(canvas);

// instantiate a Paint object:

Paint paint = new Paint();
paint.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL);

// render a white canvas inside onDraw():

paint.setColor(Color.WHITE);
canvas.drawPaint(paint);
}
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 95

The following code block (which you would place inside the onDraw()
method) renders a circle and a rectangle:
paint.setColor(Color.BLUE);
canvas.drawCircle(100, 50, 20, paint);

paint.setColor(Color.GREEN);
canvas.drawRect(50, 50, 200, 100, paint);

The following code snippet renders a text string:

canvas.drawText("Hello World", 50, 50, paint);

The following code snippet renders a bitmap that is a resource in an

Android application:
Resources res = this.getResources();
Bitmap bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(res, R.drawable.
icon);
canvas.drawBitmap(bitmap, 100, 100, paint);

The next section contains a complete code sample that creates a gradient
effect by rendering a set of nested rectangles.

Android Canvas 2D Transforms

The Android Canvas class supports 2D transforms that enable you to
rotate, scale, skew, and translate 2D shapes. The APIs for these trans-
forms are here:
void rotate(float degrees)
final void rotate(float degrees, float px, float py)
final void scale(float sx, float sy, float px, float py)
void skew(float sx, float sy)
void translate(float dx, float dy)

The preceding APIs are straightforward, and the documentation provides

examples that use the preceding methods. If you just want an overview
of these APIs, some details are here: http://developer.android.com/refer-
ence/android/graphics/Canvas.html.
The Android package android.graphics contains the Matrix class,
which supports many methods, including the following methods:
„„ void setRotate(float degrees): sets the matrix to rotate about (0,0) by
the specified number of degrees
„„ void setRotate(float degrees, float px, float py): sets the matrix to rotate
by the specified number of degrees, with a pivot point at (px, py)
96 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

„„ void setScale(float sx, float sy, float px, float py): sets the matrix to
scale by sx and sy, with a pivot point at (px, py)
„„ void setSkew(float kx, float ky, float px, float py): sets the matrix to
skew by sx and sy, with a pivot point at (px, py)
„„ void setTranslate(float dx, float dy): sets the matrix to translate by
(dx, dy)
There are many other methods available in the Matrix class, and you can
get additional information about this class here: http://developer.android.
com/reference/android/graphics/Matrix.html.
The next section shows you how to render a drawable PNG, which is to
say that you can display a PNG and then draw other graphics shapes on
top of the PNG.

Rendering Binary Images

PNG images are useful in a variety of Android applications. For instance,
many game-related Android applications (and also applications for edu-
cational purposes) contain various PNG files. Android makes it easy to
render PNG files in a mobile application, and the example in this section
shows you how this can be accomplished in Android. Later you will see
the methods for transforms (such as rotate and reflect) that you can apply
to PNG images, and also how to update the pixel values in a PNG image.
The Android package android.widget contains the class ImageView
for rendering PNG files in an Android application.
Copy the directory MyDrawablePNG from the companion disc to a con-
venient location. Listing 4.5 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to render a drawable PNG file in an Android
application.

LISTING 4.5 MyDrawablePNG.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.mydrawablepng;

import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 97

import android.view.View;

public class MyDrawablePNG extends AppCompatActivity

{
private MyGraphicsView graphicsView;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

graphicsView = new MyGraphicsView(this);

setContentView(graphicsView);
}

private class MyGraphicsView extends View

{
private boolean initialized = true;
private Context mContext;
Paint paint = new Paint();

public MyGraphicsView(Context context) {

super(context);
mContext = context;
}

protected void initialize(Canvas canvas)

{
paint.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL);

// a white canvas
paint.setColor(Color.WHITE);
canvas.drawPaint(paint);

Bitmap b = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
mContext.getResources(),
R.mipmap.sample1);

canvas.drawColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
canvas.drawBitmap(b, 0, 0, null);

canvas.save();
canvas.scale(0.5f, 0.5f);
canvas.drawBitmap(b, 600, 100, null);
canvas.restore();

canvas.save();
canvas.skew(0.2f, 0.3f);
canvas.drawBitmap(b, 500, 300, null);
canvas.restore();

canvas.save();
canvas.rotate(45);
98 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

canvas.drawBitmap(b, 400, 100, null);

canvas.restore();

// blue circle with anti aliasing turned off

paint.setAntiAlias(false);
paint.setColor(Color.BLUE);
canvas.drawCircle(200, 200, 100, paint);

// green circle with anti aliasing turned on

paint.setAntiAlias(true);
paint.setColor(Color.GREEN);
canvas.drawCircle(500, 200, 100, paint);

initialized = false;
}

@Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas)
{
super.onDraw(canvas);
if(initialized) { initialize(canvas); }
}
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{
return true;
}
}

Listing 4.5 contains boilerplate code and a code snippet that instantiates
an instance of the Bitmap class, which references the PNG sample1.
png, as shown here:

Bitmap b = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
mContext.getResources(),
R.mipmap.sample1);

Keep in mind that filenames of binary files must not contain uppercase
letters.
The actual directory names depend on the version of Android, and for
Android 4.2 they are as follows:

drawable-hdpi
drawable-ldpi
drawable-mdpi
drawable-xhdpi
drawable-xxhdpi
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 99

Figure 4.1 displays the rendering of

MyDrawablePNG on a Pixel phone with
Android 7.1.
If you plan to use graphics extensively in
Android applications, consider the Vulkan
Graphics API that is written specifically
for Android. Vulkan provides a cross-plat-
form API for 3D graphics, and detailed
information is here: https://developer.
android.com/ndk/guides/graphics/index.
html.
One other point: large binary images
require a significant amount of memory,
and sometimes you need to reduce them
dynamically (using a toolkit such as Glide,
which is discussed in an Appendix) in order FIGURE 4.1 Rendering a PNG
file in an Android application.
to make them small enough to load into
memory.
One alternative to binary images is SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics),
which is an XML vocabulary for rendering 2D shapes. SVG is not covered
in this book, so you can perform an online search for examples of using
SVG in Android applications.
The next section contains a code sample that uses the Bitmap class and
the Matrix class to rotate a PNG file.

Rotating PNG Files with the Matrix Class

The Android package android.graphics contains the Bitmap class for
displaying PNG files, after which you can apply methods in the Matrix
class to the PNG file in order to perform transforms (such as scaling and
rotation).
Copy the directory SimpleRotateImage from the companion disc to a con-
venient location. Listing 4.6 displays the contents of activity_main.xml,
which displays the UI components in this code sample.

LISTING 4.6 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
100 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/activity_main"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
simplerotateimage.MainActivity">

<ImageView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:srcCompat="@android:drawable/alert_dark_frame"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="204dp"
android:id="@+id/imageView" />
<Button
android:text="ClickMe"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/imageView"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="79dp"
android:id="@+id/button" />
</RelativeLayout>

As you can see, Listing 4.6 is a simple layout file containing an ImageView
component and a Button component.
Listing 4.7 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which illustrates
how to use the Bitmap class and the Matrix class to rotate a PNG file.

LISTING 4.7 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.simplerotateimage;

import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;

import android.graphics.Matrix;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.View;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 101

{
private Bitmap image;
private ImageView imageView;
private Button button;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

this.button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button);

this.imageView =
(ImageView) findViewById(R.id.imageView);
this.imageView.setImageBitmap(image);

this.button.setOnClickListener(new View.
OnClickListener() {
private int current = 0;

@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
Bitmap toRemove = image;
Matrix matrix = new Matrix();
matrix.setRotate(30, 0.5f, 0.5f);

image = Bitmap.createBitmap(image, 0, 0,
image.getWidth(),
image.getHeight(),
matrix, true);

imageView.setImageBitmap(image);

if(toRemove != null) {
toRemove.recycle();
}
}
});
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
return true;
}
}

Listing 4.7 contains the usual boilerplate code, followed by the onCre-
ate() method that references an image file and a Button component in
the layout file activity_main.xml. When users click on this button, the
code rotates the PNG by invoking the createBitmap() method of the
Bitmap class. Notice how the matrix variable, which is an instance of the
 102 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Matrix class (that also specifies a rotation of 30 degrees) is used in the

following code block:
Matrix matrix = new Matrix();
matrix.setRotate(30, 0.5f, 0.5f);

image = Bitmap.createBitmap(image, 0, 0,
image.getWidth(),
image.getHeight(),
matrix, true);

You can also crop a rotated image with

the following code snippet that defines
an instance of the RectF class (such as
the variable rectF), sets the rotation
value, and then crops the image:
RectF rectF = new RectF(0, 0,
source.getWidth(),

source.getHeight());
Matrix matrix = new Matrix();
matrix.mapRect(rectF);

Figure 4.2 displays the rendering of

SimpleRotateImage on a Pixel phone
with Android 7.1.
The project SimpleRotateImage
NOTE works on an Android device but not in
a simulator.
The next section discusses some other
FIGURE 4.2 A rotated image on a
graphics effects that you can apply to
Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
binary images.

Applying Other Effects to PNG Files

Android provides classes that enable you to apply various filters to PNG
files. A list of available Android classes for filter effects is here: http://devel-
oper.android.com/reference/android/graphics/package-summary.html.
The Android package android.graphics contains the class
EmbossMaskFilter for creating filter effects. You can also manip-
ulate the values of individual pixels in a PNG, an example of
which is here: http://www.developer.com/ws/android/programming/
Working-with-Images-in-Googles-Android-3748281-2.htm.
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 103

You might be surprised to discover that it’s possible to use JavaScript to

manipulate pixel values of a PNG file that is rendered in an HTML5 Web
page. Such a code sample is available in this book: http://www.amazon.
com/HTML5-Canvas-CSS3-Graphics-Primer/dp/1936420341.
You can apply a blur filter effect to a PNG file, and code samples are avail-
able through an online search.
One thing to keep in mind is performance, and one optimiza-
tion technique involves Fourier Transforms (FT) and Fast
Fourier Transforms (FFT). If you really need the performance
improvement (or you are highly motivated and you would enjoy
the complexity), more information about FFTs is here: http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Fourier_transform.

Transforms in Android
Transforms are available in many programming languages, and the seman-
tics are similar in Android graphics. A transform in graphics can involve a
change in the shape or location of a graphics image. Common transforms
include translate (move horizontally and/or vertically), scale (con-
tract or expand), rotate (spin), or skew (a twisting-like effect, and also
sometimes called shear).
Each of these transforms can be expressed in a matrix, for 2D as well
as 3D effects (skew is not defined for 3D). The Android Canvas class
provides the following intuitively named methods (and many other graph-
ics-related methods) for performing transforms:
„„ void rotate(float degrees);
„„ final void scale(float sx, float sy, float px,
float py);
„„ void skew(float sx, float sy)
„„ void translate(float dx, float dy)

Transforms can be applied sequentially or in parallel. For example, sequen-

tially translating a rectangle 50 units to the right and then doubling size cre-
ates an effect that is different from applying both transforms simultaneously.
Plenty of additional information about the Canvas class is here: https://
developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/Canvas.html.
One more fine point: sometimes you will see a distinction made between
a transform (as discussed above) and a transition: the latter involves a
104 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

change in an attribute or property. For example, changing the color of a

rectangle from white to red would be a transition (not a transform).
Android also provides a transitions framework whereby you can apply
transforms to the views in a hierarchy. The transitions framework also
provides abstractions for scenes, transitions, and transition managers.
A detailed description of the Android transitions framework is here:
https://developer.android.com/training/transitions/overview.html.

Overview of Animation in Android

Android added animation-related packages and classes in version 3.0, and
also enhanced the functionality in those packages in Android 4.1. Android
provides two main packages for creating animation effects: the package
android.animation and the package android.view.animation.

The Android package android.animation provides functionality for

the property animation system, which allows you to animate object prop-
erties of any type (such as int, float, and hexadecimal color values).
You can animate any other type by telling the system how to calculate the
values for that given type with a custom TypeEvaluator.
The Android package android.view.animation supports “tweened”
animation for simple transformations (such as position, size, and rotation)
in the content of a View.
The Android class AnimationDrawable provides frame-by-frame ani-
mation. This effect involves loading a series of Drawable resources
sequentially. Both tweening and frame-by-frame animation types can be
used in any View object to provide simple rotating timers, activity icons,
and other UI elements.
The Java class ViewPropertyAnimator in the Android package
android.view enables automatic and optimized animation of select
properties on View objects. This class is well-suited for animating multi-
ple properties simultaneously, whereas an ObjectAnimator is available
for animating one or two properties of a View object.
The ViewPropertyAnimator class enables you to animate proper-
ties that you set as android attributes in the configuration file (such as
activity_main.xml) for your Android application. For example, the
methods scaleX() and scaleY() animate the attributes specified as
android:scaleX and android:scaleY, respectively. Similar comments
apply to the two methods rotateX() and rotateY() in this Java class.
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 105

The next two sections provide additional (albeit brief) details about
tweening animation and frame-by-frame animation.

Tweened Animation in Android

The Android package android.view.animation contains classes that
handle tweened animation, which is animation that varies from an initial
value to a final value. Intermediate values are called interpolated values,
and the formula for calculating the interpolated values determines the
type of tweening effect. For example, linear interpolation (the simplest
type of interpolation) uses a linear equation to calculate the interpolated
values between the initial value and the final value. Other types of inter-
polation include Bezier interpolation, and you can perform an Internet
search to find the details of interpolation techniques.

Frame-by-Frame Animation in Android

The second type of animation involves frame-by-frame anima-
tion, which is handled by the AnimationDrawable class. This class
loads a series of Drawable resources one after the other. Both ani-
mation types can be used in any View object to provide simple rotat-
ing timers, activity icons, and other UI elements: http://developer.
android.com/guide/topics/graphics/view-animation.html.
The Animation abstract class in the package android.view.anima-
tion is the “base” class for animation, and the class AnimationUtils
provides common utility methods for working with animation. Other use-
ful animation-related classes are:
„„ TranslateAnimation (move)
„„ RotateAnimation (rotate)
„„ AlphaAnimation (change the transparency)
„„ ScaleAnimation (resize)
„„ AnimationSet (composite animation)

Android also provides a set of Interpolator classes that specify the

behavior of animation effects, as shown here:
„„ AccelerateDecelerateInterpolator (accelerate, decel-
erate, then accelerate)
„„ AccelerateInterpolator (accelerate)
„„ DecelerateInterpolator (decelerate)
„„ LinearInterpolator (constant rate)
„„ CycleInterpolator (repeats animation)
106 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The preceding animation classes can be applied to other animation

classes, such as TranslateAnimation and other animations in same list
shown above.
In addition to defining animation effects programmatically, you can spec-
ify animation effects in XML, as shown here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<alpha xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/
res/android"
android:fromAlpha="1.0"
android:toAlpha="0.0" />

Now that you know about the relevant animation-related classes, let’s look
at an example of creating a “fade in” effect for a PNG image, which is the
topic of the next section.

Fade Animation Effects via XML

The example in this section uses the classes Animation and
AnimationUtils (both belong to the Android package android.
graphics) in conjunction with the opacity value to create a “fade in”
animation effect.
Recall that the section about colors discussed the (A,R,G,B) color model
in which the component A represents the opacity, which can be a number
between 0 and 1. When the opacity value of a shape or image is 0, that
object is not visible; when the value is 1, the object is fully visible.
The code sample in this section changes the opacity of an image from 0
to 1 during a 5000-millisecond interval, which creates a “fade in” effect.
Copy the directory FadeAnimation from the companion disc to a con-
venient location. Listing 4.8 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to create a “fade in” effect with a PNG image.

LISTING 4.8 MainActivity.java
package com.example.fadeanimation;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.animation.Animation;
import android.view.animation.AnimationUtils;
import android.widget.ImageView;

public class MainActivity extends Activity

 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 107

{
ImageView image;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
image = (ImageView)findViewById(R.id.sample1);

Animation animationFadeIn =
AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this, R.anim.fadein);
image.startAnimation(animationFadeIn);
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
image.clearAnimation();
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items
// to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 4.8 first obtains a reference

to a PNG image that is defined in activity_main.xml, and then
defines the animationFadeIn variable, which is an instance of the
Animation class. The details of the animation effect are defined in the
XML document fadein.xml (shown in Listing 4.9). The animation
effect starts as soon as the Android application is launched because of
the following code:

Animation animationFadeIn =
AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this, R.anim.fadein);
image.startAnimation(animationFadeIn);

Listing 4.9 displays the contents of fadein.xml with the details of the
animation effect.

LISTING 4.9 fadein.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<set xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
108 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

android:shareInterpolator="false">
<alpha android:fromAlpha="0.0"
android:toAlpha="1.0"
android:duration="5000">
</alpha>
</set>

Listing 4.9 contains an XML <alpha> element that specifies the val-
ues 0.0, 1.0, and 5000 for the attributes fromAlpha, toAlpha, and
duration, respectively. These values cause the opacity to vary line-
arly from 0 to 1 (hence the “fade in” effect) during a period of 5000
milliseconds.
Listing 4.10 displays the contents of activity_main.xml with an
ImageView component and a TextView component.

LISTING 4.10 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/activity_main"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/
activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/
activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/
activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.example.
oswaldcampesato2.
fadeanimation.MainActivity">

<TextView

android:layout_width="wrap_content"

android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Hello World!"
android:id="@+id/textView" />

<ImageView

android:layout_width="match_parent"
FIGURE 4.3 A fade-in effect on
android:layout_height="wrap_content" a Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 109

app:srcCompat="@android:drawable/alert_light_frame"
android:layout_below="@+id/textView"
android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/textView"
android:layout_marginStart="69dp"
android:layout_marginTop="133dp"
android:id="@+id/imageView" />
</RelativeLayout>

Figure 4.3 displays a snapshot of a “fade in” on a Pixel phone with

Android 7.1.

Transforms via XML

The code sample in the previous section showed you how to create a “fade
in” effect with a PNG image in an Android application based on attributes
in an XML configuration file.
You can also use an XML configuration file to specify transforms, such
as rotate and scale, as well as “tweening” effects. As a simple example,
the following XML-based code block shows you how to apply a scale
transform:

<scale android:interpolator="@android:anim/
accelerate_decelerate_interpolator"
android:fromXScale="1.0"
android:toXScale="1.4"
android:fromYScale="1.0"
android:toYScale="0.6"
android:pivotX="50%"
android:pivotY="50%"
android:fillAfter="false"
android:duration="700" />

A good example of applying various transforms is here: http://

developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/view-animation.html.
The preceding link provides the following information about transforms:

The animation XML file belongs in the res/anim/ directory of your

Android project. The file must have a single root element: this
will be either a single <alpha>, <scale>, <translate>, <rotate>,
interpolator element, or <set> element that holds groups of these
elements (which may include another <set>). By default, all ani-
mation instructions are applied simultaneously. To make them
occur sequentially, you must specify the startOffset attribute.
110 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

This concludes the graphics and animation techniques for this chapter.
Although you could also learn about RenderScript for graphics and ani-
mation, the graphics and animation techniques in this chapter are suita-
ble for the majority of Android applications that do not involve intensive
game-related functionality.

Other Graphics and Animation Techniques

There are several other techniques for creating graphics effects in Android
applications, such as NinePatch, SurfaceView, and OpenGL. Starting
from Android Lollipop (API level 21), Google supports native support
for vector image assets, allowing for images to be represented geometri-
cally as a set of points, lines, and curves, as well as their associated color
information.
The following subsections contain very brief descriptions of the preceding
techniques (except for SVG). If you are unfamiliar with SVG but are inter-
ested in learning about some of its features, here is a modest introduc-
tion: https://www.amazon.com/SVG-Pocket-Primer-Oswald-Campesato/
dp/1944534598.

Nine-Patch
The Android android.graphics package contains the NinePatch
class that enables you to render a bitmap in nine sections (and hence
its name). Nine-patch (aka 9-patch) graphics are PNG files whose
names have an extended suffix of .9.png. These PNG files can
be edited in standard graphics tools, and because of their nam-
ing convention, Android applies nine-patch rules to their use:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/Nine
Patch.html.
You can experiment with the draw9patch program located in the tools
subdirectory of your Android SDK installation.

Drawing on an Android SurfaceView

The SurfaceView class is a subclass of the View class that provides a
dedicated drawing surface within the View hierarchy. Android provides
this “alternate” drawing surface so that an application can use it in a sep-
arate thread (which is discussed in an Appendix) instead of waiting until
the View hierarchy is ready to render on its Canvas.
 GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION • 111

This technique uses a SurfaceHolder to indirectly manipulate a

Surface object instead of manipulating the Surface directly. In brief,
there are two main steps involved:
1) create a custom subclass of SurfaceView
2) implement SurfaceHolder.Callback in the subclass
More information about SurfaceViews is available in the Android
documentation.

OpenGL Animation in Android

Yet another option for graphics and animation is OpenGL, which is the most
sophisticated graphics and animation technology (but not covered in this
book). Although it is more complex to learn, OpenGL has the advantage of
portability. The choice of techniques obviously depends on your require-
ments and what you are trying to accomplish in your Android application.

Other Useful Links

The DevBytes series of videos are on the Android develop-
ers channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=
PLWz5rJ2EKKc_XOgcRukSoKKjewFJZrKV0.
In addition, it’s worth watching other content in that channel, along with
the Google IO talks, all of which are also available on YouTube.
A useful tool for managing images is the open source project fresco,
whose home page is here: http://frescolib.org/index.html.
You can download fresco here: https://github.com/facebook/fresco.
A custom class that supports tinting of images (including Android Material
icons) is here: http://andraskindler.com/blog/2015/tinting_drawables/.
If you want to delve more deeply into the techniques that are discussed
in this chapter, the following links for Android graphics and animation
contain more information:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/2d-graphics.
html#frame-animation
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/prop-animation.
html
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/view-animation.
html
112 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Summary
This chapter showed you various techniques for creating graphics effects.
First you learned how to use XML-based configuration files to render gra-
dient effects. Next you learned how to use Java code to programmatically
create gradient effects. You also learned about NinePatch for creating
graphics effects. In addition, you saw how to apply filter effects to PNG
files.
In the animation-related portion of this chapter, you learned how to use
XML-based configuration files to create “fade in” effects as well as multi-
ple animation effects on PNG files.
 CHAPTER

5
USER GESTURES

T
his chapter shows you how to detect and respond to touch-related
events and various user gestures in Android applications. The
code samples show you how to handle simple gestures, and links
are provided for handling some of the more complex types of gestures in
Android. As you will see, the second half of this chapter contains code
samples that combine user gestures with graphics, partly because they
provide some pleasing visual effects, and also to provide you with “base
code” to which you can add your own enhancements.
The first part of this chapter contains an Android code sample that shows
you how to detect and process touch events. This section also shows
you how to add touch-related event handlers to the Android application
BarChart2D that is available on the companion disc. The second part of
this chapter contains Android code samples that show you how to detect
other gestures, such as pinch and swipe events. The final part of this chap-
ter contains code samples that create simple animation effects.
When you have completed this chapter, you will know how to create
Android applications that combine graphics and animation effects (dis-
cussed in Chapter 4) with user gestures. The basic examples in this
chapter will serve as a starting point for you to create richer and more
interesting Android applications.

Methods for Handling Touch Events

The code sample with a Button component in Chapter 2 showed
you that detecting click events in Android is straightforward.
114 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Fortunately, it’s also straightforward to detect various touch-

related events in Android. The recommended approach is to capture
events from the specific View object that users interact with. The View
class provides the means to do so, which works well because every UI
component in Android is a subclass of the View class.
The View class belongs to the Android package android.view, and the
following list contains some of the touch-related methods in the View class:
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onDoubleTap(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onDoubleTapEvent(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onSingleTapConfirmed(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event)
public void onClick(View v)
public boolean onKey(View v, int keyCode, KeyEvent event)
public boolean onDown(MotionEvent event)
public void onLongPress(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onScroll(MotionEvent e1, MotionEvent e2,...)
public void onShowPress(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onSingleTapUp(MotionEvent event)

The next section shows you how to write custom code for the Android
method onTouchEvent(), which enables you to detect and process a
very common event in Android applications.

The onTouchEvent() Method

Android provides APIs for handling touch-related events that correspond
to mouse-related events in a browser on a laptop or a desktop. The mouse
events mousedown, mousemove, and mouseup correspond to the touch
events touchstart, touchmove, and touchend, respectively.
The code sample in this section shows you how to implement the Android
onTouchEvent() that handles simple touch events. Listing 5.1 displays
the contents of this method.

LISTING 5.1 The onTouchEvent() Method

@Override
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event)
{
float touchX = event.getX();
float touchY = event.getY();

String xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";

 USER GESTURES • 115

switch (event.getAction()) {
case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
Log.i("ACTION_DOWN (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
break;

case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
Log.i("ACTION_MOVE (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
break;

case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
Log.i("ACTION_MOVE (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
break;
}

return true;
}

The first part of Listing 5.1 shows you that the Event object provides the
x coordinate and y coordinate of the location where users have performed
a touch event. This code sample merely displays a message containing the
coordinates of each touch event in the console via the Log.i() method.
The main section of code in Listing 5.1 is the switch statement that com-
pares the value of event.getAction() with three constants that corre-
spond to touch down, touch move, and touch up events. In this example,
the coordinates of the location of the touch event are displayed in the
console. Later in this chapter you will see examples where touch-related
events trigger other actions, such as redrawing the graphics on the screen.

A Multi-Line Graph with Touch Events

The code sample in this section illustrates how to add touch-related func-
tionality to graphics-related Android applications. This lengthy code sam-
ple contains mainly graphics code that is similar to code that you have
already seen, so we discuss just the touch-related code.
Copy the directory MultiLineGraph2D from the companion disc to a
convenient location. Listing 5.2 displays portions of the Android class
MainActivity.java, which is a multi-line graph with touch-related
functionality.

LISTING 5.2 Portions of MainActivity.java

package oac.xample.oswaldcampesato2.mutilinegraph2d;

// import statements omitted for brevity

116 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

public class MultiLineGraph2D extends Activity

{
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(new SimpleView(this));
}

public SimpleView(Context context)

{
super(context);
setFocusable(true);

// perform other initialization

// and render the multiple lines
initialize();
}

// details of all the methods in the

// onDraw() are omitted for brevity

@Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
renderLineSegments(canvas);
renderHorizontalAxis(canvas);
renderVerticalAxis(canvas);
labelHorizontalAxis(canvas);
labelVerticalAxis(canvas);
}

@Override
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
switch (event.getAction()) {
case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
randomizeMultiLines();
invalidate();
break;
case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
break;
case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
break;
}

return true;
}
}
}

The key point to notice in Listing 5.2 is the method onTouchEvent() that
contains a switch() statement with several case statements. The first
 USER GESTURES • 117

case statement handles a user touch event

by first invoking the randomizeMulti-
Lines() method to compute a new set
of randomly generated line segments. Next
this case statement invokes the built-in
invalidate() method, which indicates to
the application that it’s necessary to refresh
the screen. In this case, the new line seg-
ments are rendered on the screen.
This simple functionality shows you the
sequence for handling user gestures: detect
the occurrence of a gesture, execute some
custom code, and then invoke the Android
invalidate() method to update the screen.

Figure 5.1 displays the rendering of

MultiLineGraph2D on a Pixel phone with FIGURE 5.1 A Multi-line graph
that supports mouse events.
Android 7.1.
The next portion of this chapter provides an overview of touch-
related events and user gestures, followed by some code samples that illus-
trate how to detect those events in Android mobile applications.

Overview of Touch Events and Gestures

This section provides an encapsulated overview of the Android class,
interfaces, and methods that are available for handling gestures. Android
supports triple tap and two-finger swipe, both of which require Android 4
or higher. Android also provides support for other gestures, such as fling,
pan, pinch, swipe, and zoom.
The next subsections provide details about the android.gesture
package as well as the View.OnTouchListener interface that pro-
vide methods for handling an assortment of gestures in Android
applications.

The android.gesture Package

The Android package android.view contains the GestureDetector
class that detects various gestures and events using the supplied
MotionEvent instance. The GestureDetector class contains the fol-
lowing nested interfaces and class:
118 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

„„ the interface GestureDetector.OnDoubleTapListener, which is

used to notify the occurrence of a double-tap or a confirmed single-tap
„„ the interface GestureDetector.OnGestureListener, which is
used to notify the occurrence of gestures
„„ the class GestureDetector.SimpleOnGestureListener that you
can extend when you want to listen for only a subset of all the gestures
You use the GestureDetector class as follows:
1) Create an instance of the GestureDetector for your View
2) In the onTouchEvent(MotionEvent) method ensure you call the
method onTouchEvent(MotionEvent)
The methods defined in your callback will be executed when the events
occur. The GestureDetector class contains the following public methods:
boolean isLongpressEnabled()
boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent me): analyzes the given motion
event and if applicable, triggers the appropriate callbacks on the Ges-
tureDetector.OnGestureListener supplied.
void setIsLongpressEnabled(boolean isLongpressEnabled): set
when longpress is enabled; if this is enabled when a user presses and
holds down, you get a longpress event
void setOnDoubleTapListener(GestureDetector.OnDoubleTapLis-
tener onDoubleTapListener): sets the listener that is called for dou-
ble-tap and related gestures
The android.gesture package provides a way to create, rec-
ognize, load, and save gestures. Alas, this package does not
provide support for gestures such as tap and drag, nor support for multi-
touch gestures such as pinch zoom.

The View.OnTouchListener Interface

The Android package android.view.View contains the
OnTouchListener interface that defines the method onTouchEvent()
that you must implement in your custom code. This method has two argu-
ments: the first has type View (the affected component) and the second
has type MotionEvent (with information about the user gesture).
The Android class ZoomButtonsController implements the interface
View.OnTouchListener, and you can use this class for showing and hid-
ing the zoom controls and positioning it relative to an owner view. Consult
the online documentation for more information about this Android class.
The code sample in the next section shows you how to detect touch-
related events and user gestures in an Android mobile application.
 USER GESTURES • 119

Comprehensive Tap/Touch-Related Example

The previous sections provided an overview of handling touch events, and
the complete sample in this section shows you the code for handling tap
and touch events.
This code sample works on a Samsung Galaxy 5 with Android 6.0.1, but
NOTE might not work in a simulator.
Copy the directory SimpleTouch from the companion disc to a conven-
ient location. Listing 5.3 displays the contents of MainActivity.java,
which detects various touch-related events in the onTouch() method.

LISTING 5.3 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.simpletouch;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.GestureDetector.OnDoubleTapListener;
import android.view.GestureDetector.OnGestureListener;
import android.view.KeyEvent;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.view.View.OnKeyListener;
import android.view.View.OnTouchListener;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

implements OnClickListener,
OnGestureListener,
OnKeyListener,
OnDoubleTapListener,
OnTouchListener
{
float touchX = 0;
float touchY = 0;
String xyLoc = "";

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
}

@Override
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
120 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

touchY = event.getY();
xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";

switch (event.getAction()) {
case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
Log.i("ACTION_DOWN (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
break;

case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
Log.i("ACTION_MOVE (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
break;

case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
Log.i("ACTION_UP (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
break;
}

return true;
}

// override three methods for double-tap events...

@Override
public boolean onDoubleTap(MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("DOUBLE_TAP (x,y) = " , xyLoc);

return false;
}

@Override
public boolean onDoubleTapEvent(MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("DOUBLE_TAP E (x,y) = " , xyLoc);

return false;
}

@Override
public boolean onSingleTapConfirmed(MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("SINGLE_TAP C (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
 USER GESTURES • 121

return false;
}

// implement method for OnTouchListener...

@Override
public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("ON_TOUCH (x,y) = " , xyLoc);

return false;
}

// implement method for OnClickListener...

@Override
public void onClick(View v)
{
// TODO
}

// implement method for OnKeyListener...

@Override
public boolean onKey(View v, int keyCode, KeyEvent event)
{
// TODO
return false;
}

// implement method for OnGestureListener...

@Override
public boolean onDown(MotionEvent event)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
return false;
}

@Override
public boolean onFling(MotionEvent e1, MotionEvent e2,
float velocityX, float velocityY)
{
touchX = e1.getX();
touchY = e2.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("ON_FLING (x,y) = " , xyLoc);

return false;
}

@Override
122 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

public void onLongPress(MotionEvent event)

{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("LONG_PRESS (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
}

@Override
public boolean onScroll(MotionEvent e1, MotionEvent
e2, float distanceX, float distanceY)
{
return false;
}

@Override
public void onShowPress(MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("SHOW_PRESS (x,y) = " , xyLoc);
}

@Override
public boolean onSingleTapUp(MotionEvent event)
{
touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

xyLoc = "("+touchX+","+touchY+")";
Log.i("SINGLE_TAP_UP (x,y) = " , xyLoc);

return false;
}
}

The Java class in Listing 5.3 implements a number of touch-

related listeners, which means that the methods in those listeners must also be
implemented in Listing 5.3. The list of methods in Listing 5.3 is shown here:

public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event)

public boolean onDoubleTap(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onSingleTapConfirmed(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event)
public void onClick(View v)
public boolean onKey(View v, int keyCode, KeyEvent event)
public boolean onDown(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onFling(MotionEvent e1, MotionEvent e2,
float velocityX, float velocityY)
 USER GESTURES • 123

public void onLongPress(MotionEvent event)

public boolean onScroll(MotionEvent e1, MotionEvent e2,
float distanceX, float distanceY)
public void onShowPress(MotionEvent event)
public boolean onSingleTapUp(MotionEvent event)

As you can see in the preceding list, the onClick() method takes a
View argument and the onKey() method takes a KeyEvent argu-
ment. All the other methods take a MotionEvent argument (and
sometimes other arguments as well). Moreover, all the touch-
related methods obtain the coordinates of the touch point with the follow-
ing two lines of code:

touchX = event.getX();
touchY = event.getY();

Notice that the name of each method in Listing 5.3 indicates the type of ges-
ture. For example, when the method onTouchEvent() is being executed,
you know that the gesture is a touch event, whereas when you are inside the
onDoubleTap() method, you know that the gesture is a double tap, and so
forth for the other intuitively named methods in the preceding list.
Listing 5.3 also contains the method onFling() that is executed when-
ever a fling event is detected (and it displays information about that event).

A Sketching Program
The Android SDK contains a sketching program called FingerPaint.
java that enables users to create freestyle sketching or “finger painting”
on the screen. This Java class is three pages in length and you can find it in
the samples subdirectory of the Android SDK that you installed on your
machine. Listing 5.4 displays the contents of the onCreate() method
that illustrates how to initialize some variables (such as mPaint) and also
specify values of various attributes.

LISTING 5.4 The onCreate() Method of FingerPaint.java

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(new MyView(this));

mPaint = new Paint();

mPaint.setAntiAlias(true);
mPaint.setDither(true);
124 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

mPaint.setColor(0xFFFF0000);
mPaint.setStyle(Paint.Style.STROKE);
mPaint.setStrokeJoin(Paint.Join.ROUND);
mPaint.setStrokeCap(Paint.Cap.ROUND);
mPaint.setStrokeWidth(12);

mEmboss = new EmbossMaskFilter(

new float[] {1, 1, 1 }, 0.4f, 6, 3.5f);

mBlur = new BlurMaskFilter(8,BlurMaskFilter.Blur.NORMAL);

}

The onCreate() method in Listing 5.4 instantiates three variables

that are used during the rendering process in order to create a richer
visual effect. The first part of the code instantiates the mPaint variable,
which is an instance of the Paint class. The next seven lines of code
set various attributes in the mPaint variable. The remaining code in the
onCreate() method instantiates the mEmboss variable (an instance of
the EmbossMarkFilter class) as well as the mBlur variable (which is an
instance of the BlurMaskFilter class).
The FingerPaint class also contains the following touch-related meth-
ods that keep track of users’ movements on the screen:

private void touch_start(float x, float y)

private void touch_move(float x, float y)
private void touch_up()

The onDraw() method is very short, and it renders users’ finger move-
ments that are tracked in a path element, as shown here:

@Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
canvas.drawColor(0xFFAAAAAA);
canvas.drawBitmap(mBitmap, 0, 0, mBitmapPaint);
canvas.drawPath(mPath, mPaint);
}

Another example of drawing is the Java class TouchPaint.java (roughly

eight pages long) that “demonstrates the handling of touch screen, stylus,
mouse and trackball events.” This Java class is also available in the SDK
in the same directory as FingerPaint.java. Both of these code sam-
ples contain useful information and techniques for rendering freestyle
graphics.
The next portion of this chapter contains some information about
detecting other gestures in Android mobile applications.
 USER GESTURES • 125

Handling Other Types of Gestures

From a high-level perspective, there are essentially three steps required
in order to handle a pinch/zoom gesture in an Android mobile application.
Examples of handling this type of gesture are here:
http://javapapers.com/android/android-pinch-zoom/
http://www.theappguruz.com/blog/android-pinch-zoom
A pan gesture is common for maps and panels, where the pan ges-
ture is often accompanied by a scroll event. An example of handling
this type of gesture is here: http://blahti.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/
pan-zoom-examples-for-android/.
A fling/swipe gesture can occur in many mobile applications. A detailed
code sample of handling a fling/swipe gesture is here:
http://www.eridem.net/android-tip-010-left-and-right-
swipe-gesture-events
http://findnerd.com/list/view/how-to-detect-swipe-left-or-right-
function-on-listview-item-in-android/785/
The Android package android.view contains classes for handling Drag-
and-Drop (DnD) functionality. Code samples for handling a DnD gesture
are here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/drag-drop.html
http://www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidDragAndDrop/article.html

Multiple Animation Effects via XML

This section uses the AnimationDrawable class that belongs to the
Android package android.graphics to create an animation effect.
Copy the directory DrawableAnimation from the companion disc to a
convenient location. Listing 5.5 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to create multiple animation effects with
PNG images.

LISTING 5.5 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.drawableanimation;

import android.graphics.drawable.AnimationDrawable;
126 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.widget.ImageView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
AnimationDrawable imageAnimation;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)

{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

ImageView imageView = (ImageView) findViewById

(R.id.imageView);
imageView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.
spin_animation);
imageAnimation = (AnimationDrawable) imageView.
getBackground();
}

public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event)

{
if (event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN)
{
imageAnimation.start();
return true;
}
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
return true;
}

@Override
public void onStart() {
super.onStart();
}

@Override
public void onStop() {
super.onStop();
}
}

Listing 5.5 contains an onCreate() method that references an image

resource in the drawableAnimation.xml configuration file (shown in
 USER GESTURES • 127

Listing 5.6). Listing 5.5 also defines an onTouchEvent() that starts the
animation effect whenever users touch the screen.

LISTING 5.6 spin_animation.xml
<!-- Animation frames: sample1.png -> sample3.png in
res/drawable -->
<animation-list
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="@+id/selected" android:oneshot="false">
<item android:drawable="@drawable/sample1"
android:duration="150" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/sample2"
android:duration="150" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/sample3"
android:duration="150" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/sample2"
android:duration="150" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/sample3"
android:duration="150" />
<item android:drawable="@drawable/sample1"
android:duration="150" />
</animation-list>

Listing 5.6 specifies three PNG files called sample1.png, sample2.

png, and sample3.png. The animation effect is for 200 milliseconds
(which is the value of android:duration) and is performed once
(because android:oneshot is set to true).
Note that you need to add the three PNG images sample1.png, sam-
ple2.png, and sample3.png to the drawable subdirectories. Finally,
you need to add this code snippet to activity_main.xml:

<ImageView
android:id="@+id/sample1"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:scaleType="centerCrop"
android:src="@drawable/sample1"
/>

You need to include the preceding XML <ImageView> element for each
of the three PNG files.

Working with Sprites in Android

Sprites are static images that are shown in rapid succession in order to
create animation effects. Sprites are useful for creating various effects
128 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

(such as movement or interaction between character figures) in games.

A set of sprites can be placed in a so-called “sprite sheet,” and an individ-
ual sprite can be rendered by specifying the coordinates of the upper-left
corner of the sprite in a sprite sheet, as well as the width and height of
the sprite. Consequently, a sprite sheet can contain sprites of different
dimensions. A sprite sheet can be downloaded via a single HTTP request,
which is more efficient than making multiple HTTP requests to download
individual PNG files.
The following link displays an assortment of sprite sheets that show
the variety of sprite sheets that other people have created: https://
www.google.com/search?q=sample+sprite+sheet&hl=en&tbm=
isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=FT9XUdrSLu70igLR3YDw
Bw&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=960&bih=567.
Sprites are available in many programming languages, and you can even
use sprites in CSS3. There are various open-source toolkits available for
rendering and animating sprites in case you do not wish to write all the
code yourself. In addition, you can also work with sprites using toolkits
based on OpenGL.
In Chapter 4 you saw how to use the Android classes BitmapFactory and
Bitmap to perform manipulations on images, so you already have some
of the technical background to work with sprites in Android. Perform
an Internet search for detailed code samples illustrating how to create
mobile games with sprites that respond to touch-related events.

Summary
In this chapter you learned how to detect various touch-related events,
including single tap and multi-tap events. Next you learned how to add
touch-related functionality to a multi-line graph whose graphics code is
based on material from Chapter 4.
Then you learned about the package with Java classes for handling various
types of user gestures. In addition you learned about Sprites and why
they can be useful in Android applications.
 CHAPTER

6
SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA

T
his chapter discusses various sensors that are accessible on Android
mobile devices and also how to work with multimedia. Since sup-
port for sensors on Android devices does vary, you will learn how
to obtain a list of sensors that are available on a given Android device. You
will also see an example that combines graphics effects and gestures with
the output from a sensor. In addition, you will learn some details about
playing audio and video files on an Android device. As usual, the code
samples in this section were deployed to Android phones (but simulators
were not tested).
The first (and longest) part of this chapter contains code samples that
illustrate how to list the sensors that are supported on an Android device,
how to check for the availability of specific sensors on an Android device,
and then how to report information about values related to those sen-
sors. This section contains a “touch and shake” Android code sample that
combines graphics and sensors. This code sample enables users to render
circles by touching the screen, and then they can erase their “sketch” by
shaking their mobile device.
The second part of this chapter contains Android code samples with
media-related functionality, such as playing audio files and video files.
One interesting point is that the code sample for playing an MP4 video
file from YouTube works on a phone with Android 6.0.1 but not on a
Pixel phone with Android 7.1. After reading these code samples, you will
be in a better position to understand how to create Android applications
that record audio files and video files. The latter functionality is beyond
130 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

the scope of this chapter, but you can perform an Internet search to find
articles that discuss how to record audio and video files.
The third part of this chapter (which is very short) discusses some ideas
for Android applications that combine sensors and multimedia, along with
some links that provide potentially useful code blocks.
The final part of this chapter delves into Android permissions. Starting
from API level 23, Android permissions have become more user friendly
(e.g., runtime permissions are available), and correspondingly more
involved for developers.
As you will see, Android applications with multimedia—and examples
from earlier chapters—require various permissions. In some cases,
Android applications require multiple permissions.

Overview of Android Sensors

You are probably familiar with several types of sensors that are available
on mobile devices. Before we discuss the features of specific sensors, let’s
look at the three categories of sensors that Android supports:
„„ Motion Sensors
„„ Environmental Sensors
„„ Position Sensors
Motion Sensors involve the measurement of acceleration and rotational
forces in three dimensions, and they include accelerometers, gravity sen-
sors, gyroscopes, and rotational vector sensors.
Environmental Sensors involve the measurement of environmental
parameters, such as air temperature and pressure, illumination, and
humidity. Examples of these sensors are barometers, photometers, and
thermometers.
Position Sensors involve the measurement of the position of a device, and
they include orientation sensors and magnetometers.
Many Android devices have built-in sensors that belong to the three cat-
egories described above. The Android sensor framework enables you to
determine which sensors are available on a given Android device and to
determine the capabilities of each sensor. In addition to obtaining raw
sensor data, you can also specify the minimum rate at which you want to
obtain sensor data. Furthermore, you can register (and also unregister)
event listeners for sensors in order to monitor sensor changes.
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 131

If you prefer to use a sensor library, which is easier than reading raw
data, the following link is helpful: https://github.com/emotionsense/
SensorManager.

A List of Some Android Sensors

The following list displays the sensors that Android 4 supports on mobile
devices:

accelerometers
ambient temperature (added in Android 4.0)
gravity sensors
humidity sensor (added in Android 4.0)
gyroscopes
rotational vector
barometers
photometers
thermometers
orientation sensors
magnetometers

Each sensor typically has one or more constants associated with that
sensor. The associated constants for the new sensors that were added in
Android 4.0 are:
TYPE_AMBIENT_TEMPERATURE: A temperature sensor that provides
the ambient (room) temperature in degrees Celsius.
TYPE_RELATIVE_HUMIDITY: A humidity sensor that provides the
relative ambient (room) humidity as a percentage.

If TYPE_AMBIENT_TEMPERATURE and TYPE_RELATIVE_HUMIDITY sen-

sors are both available on a device, you can use them to calculate the dew
point and the absolute humidity.
Keep in mind that the temperature sensor TYPE_TEMPERATURE has been
deprecated, so you should use the TYPE_AMBIENT_TEMPERATURE sensor
instead.
In addition, Android’s three synthetic sensors have been greatly improved,
so they now have lower latency and smoother output. These sensors
include:
„„ the gravity sensor (TYPE_GRAVITY)
„„ the rotation vector sensor (TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR)
„„ the linear acceleration sensor (TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION)
132 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The improved sensors rely on the gyroscope sensor to improve their out-
put, so the sensors appear only on devices that have a gyroscope.
There are two ways to obtain sensor data in an Android application: either
deploy the application to an Android device, or use a simulator to test
most of the supported sensors on Android devices.

Instantiating Sensor Managers in Android

Android code for sensors starts by instantiating a sensor manager, fol-
lowed by some code that involves a particular sensor.
For example, the following code block instantiates a sensor manager and
then checks for the presence of a gyroscope:

private SensorManager mSensorManager;

private Sensor mSensor;
// some details omitted

mSensorManager = (SensorManager)
getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE);
mSensor = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.
TYPE_GYROSCOPE);

You can easily modify the preceding code block to check for differ-
ent sensors. For example, if you are interested in getting gravity-
related information, simply modify the final line of code in the preceding
code block as follows (shown in bold):

mSensor = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY);

Always check whether or not a given sensor is available on a mobile device

so that your Android application will not fail unexpectedly.

Listing the Available Sensors on a Mobile Device

The Android sensor framework is part of the android.hardware pack-
age, which includes the SensorManager that can check for available
sensors.
Copy the directory DeviceSensors from the companion disc to a con-
venient location. Listing 6.1 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to display the list of sensors on an Android
device.
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 133

LISTING 6.1 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.devicesensors;

import android.content.Context;
import android.hardware.Sensor;
import android.hardware.SensorEventListener;
import android.hardware.SensorManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.util.List;

public class DeviceSensors extends AppCompatActivity

implements SensorEventListener
{
private static final String TAG = "DeviceSensors";
private SensorManager mSensorMgr;
private TextView outView;
private int sensor = SensorManager.SENSOR_ORIENTATION;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_device_sensors);

mSensorMgr =
(SensorManager) getSystemService(Context.
SENSOR_SERVICE);
List<Sensor> sensors = mSensorMgr.
getSensorList(Sensor.TYPE_ALL);

// display list of sensors

Log.i("sensor count: ", Integer.toString(sensors.
size()));

for(Sensor s : sensors) {
Log.i(TAG, s.getName());
}
}

@Override
public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor sensor, int accuracy)
{
}

public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {}

}
134 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 6.1 contains boilerplate code, and the onCreate() method starts
by instantiating a SensorManager object, after which you can obtain a
list of sensors. Next, iterate over that list of available sensors on a device,
as shown in this code block:

private mSensorManager sensorManager;

mSensorManager =
(SensorManager) getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE);
List<Sensor> sensors = mSensorMgr.getSensorList(Sensor.TYPE_ALL);

// display list of sensors

Log.i("sensor count: ", Integer.toString(sensors.size()));

for(Sensor s : sensors) {
Log.i("sensor: ", s.getName());
}

The method onAccuracyChanged() is an abstract method in the inter-

face SensorEventListener that is invoked when the accuracy of the
registered sensor has changed. The other abstract method is onSensor-
Changed(), which is invoked when there is a new sensor event. In both
cases, sensor-related information is displayed via the Log.d() method.
Listing 6.2 displays the list of seventeen sensors that are available on a
Samsung Galaxy S5 with Android 6.0.1.

LISTING 6.2 Sensors on a Samsung Galaxy S5 with Android 6.0.1.

MPU6500 Acceleration Sensor
MPU6500 Gyroscope Sensor
MPU6500 Uncalibrated Gyroscope Sensor
AK09911C Magnetic field Sensor
AK09911C Magnetic Sensor UnCalibrated
Barometer Sensor
TMG399X Proximity Sensor
TMG399X RGB Sensor
MPL Rotation Vector
MPL Game Rotation Vector
SAMSUNG Step Detector Sensor
SAMSUNG Step Counter Sensor
SAMSUNG Significant Motion Sensor
Screen Orientation Sensor
Orientation Sensor
Gravity SensorLinear
Acceleration Sensor

Listing 6.3 displays the list of twenty-three sensors that are available on a
Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 135

LISTING 6.3 Sensors on a Pixel phone with Android 7.1

BMI160 accelerometer
BMI160 gyroscope
AK09915 magnetometer
BMP285 pressure
BMP285 temperature
TMD4903 Proximity Sensor
TMD4903 Light Sensor
Orientation
BMI160 Step detector
Significant motion
Gravity
Linear Acceleration
Rotation Vector
Geomagnetic Rotation Vector
Game Rotation Vector
Tilt Detector
BMI160 Step counter
AK09915 magnetometer (uncalibrated)
BMI160 gyroscope (uncalibrated)
Sensors Sync
Double Twist
Double Tap
Device Orientation

The next section shows you how to check for the presence of specific sen-
sors on an Android device.

Checking Sensor Availability on a Mobile Device

The number of sensors on Android smart phones varies from twelve to at
least thirty-two, and possibly even more sensors in newer smart phones.
Moreover, Google does not require hardware manufacturers to build any
specific sensors into a device, which means that testing for sensors on
Android devices is a necessity. For example, an application might require
the gravity sensor that’s of a particular version. The gravity sensor is actu-
ally a virtual sensor, but it still relies on a device having particular hard-
ware sensors available for it to work.
You can check for a specific sensor by using one of the sensor-
specific constants. For example, you can check for temperature, humidity,
and pressure with the following constants:

TYPE_TEMPERATURE
TYPE_RELATIVE_HUMIDITY
TYPE_PRESSURE
136 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

After you have chosen the constant that is associated with a particular sen-
sor, use the method getDefaultSensor()that accepts a sensor constant
to determine whether or not a sensor is available on a device.
Note that if a device has more than one sensor of a given type, one of
them is usually the default sensor. However, if no default sensor is avail-
able, then the method getDefaultSensor()returns null, which indi-
cates that the sensor is not present.
As a simple example, you can check for a gyroscope sensor using the
method getDefaultSensor(), as shown in the following code snippet:

if(mSensorMgr.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_GYROSCOPE) != null)

{
// determine the orientation of the gyroscope
}
else
{
// the gyroscope is unavailable on this device
}

The following code first checks if the gravity sensor is present. If so, it
then checks that the vendor is Google and that the sensor is version 3
(which you can replace with a different version number).

if(mSensorMgr.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY) != null)
{
List gravity = mSensorMgr.getSensorList(Sensor.
TYPE_GRAVITY);
for (int i = 0; i < gravity.size(); i++)
{
if (gravity.get(i).getVendor().contains("Google Inc.")
&&
gravity.get(i).getVersion() == 3)
{
// I've got the version 3 Google gravity sensor I need.
mGravity = gravity.get(i);
}
}
}
else
{
// No Google gravity sensor version 3
}

If an application requires a specific sensor, it’s also possible to use Google

Play to target only devices that have that particular sensor. For example,
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 137

for devices that must have an accelerometer, add the following to the
AndroidManifest.xml file:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.sensor.light" />

If users navigate to Google Play on a device that does not have a light
sensor and search for applications, Google Play will not show users any
applications that require a light sensor (which makes sense).
Another useful method is getMinDelay(), which determines the mini-
mum time interval (measured in microseconds) that a sensor requires in
order to obtain sensor data. If getMinDelay() returns a non-zero value,
then the sensor is a streaming sensor.
Streaming sensors were introduced in Android 2.3, and they can sense
data at regular intervals. On the other hand, non-streaming sensors only
report data when the sensor’s parameters change and will return zero
when getMinDelay() is invoked.

Device Orientation
This section shows you how to detect orientation changes (portrait mode
versus landscape mode) in a mobile device.
Copy the directory DeviceOrientation from the companion disc to a
convenient location. Listing 6.2 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to detect and report orientation changes of an
Android mobile device.

LISTING 6.2 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.deviceorientation;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.hardware.SensorEventListener;
import android.hardware.SensorManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

implements SensorEventListener
{
private static final String TAG = "SensorDemo";
private SensorManager sensorManager;
private TextView textView;
138 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

private int sensor = SensorManager.SENSOR_ORIENTATION;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView);

// Real sensor manager

sensorManager = (SensorManager)
getSystemService(SENSOR_SERVICE);
}

// Register for the updates when Activity is in foreground

@Override
protected void onResume()
{
super.onResume();
Log.d(TAG, "onResume");
sensorManager.registerListener(this, sensor);
}

// Stop the updates when Activity is paused

@Override
protected void onPause()
{
super.onPause();

Log.d(TAG, "onPause");
sensorManager.unregisterListener(this, sensor);
}

@Override
public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor sensor, int accuracy)
{
Log.d(TAG, String.format(
"onAccuracyChanged sensor: %d
accuracy: %d", sensor, accuracy));
}

public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event)

{
String apr = String.format(
"Azimuth: %.2f\nPitch: %.2f\nRoll: %.2f",
event.values[0], event.values[1], event.values[2]);

Log.i(TAG, apr);
textView.setText(apr);
}
}
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 139

The onCreate() method in Listing 6.2 obtains a reference to a TextView

component that is defined in activity_main.xml and then initializes
the variable sensorManager to the current sensor manager.
The method onAccuracyChanged() uses the Android Log class to print
the current values of the parameters sensor and accuracy. Specifically,
the output of the method Log.d() is displayed in the LogCat view.
The method onDeviceChanged() reports any changes in the sensor by
printing the three values in the array values that is a parameter of the
onDeviceChanged() method:
String apr = String.format(
"Azimuth: %.2f\nPitch: %.2f\nRoll: %.2f",
event.values[0], event.values[1], event.values[2]);

Log.d(TAG, apr);
outView.setText(apr);

The preceding code block displays the new values for the sensor in the
LogCat view as well as the TextField component outView that was
initialized in the onCreate() method.

Accessing the Compass

This section shows you how to create an Android mobile application that
obtains compass information.
Copy the directory SimpleCompass from the companion disc to a con-
venient location. Listing 6.3 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java that illustrates how to read compass information in an Android
application.

LISTING 6.3 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.simplecompass;

import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.graphics.Paint.Style;
import android.hardware.Sensor;
import android.hardware.SensorEvent;
import android.hardware.SensorEventListener;
import android.hardware.SensorManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
140 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.View;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

implements SensorEventListener
{
// View to draw a compass
Float azimuth;

public class CustomDrawableView extends View

{
Paint paint = new Paint();

public CustomDrawableView(Context context) {

super(context);

paint.setColor(0xff00ff00);
paint.setStyle(Style.STROKE);
paint.setStrokeWidth(2);
paint.setAntiAlias(true);
};

protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas)

{
int width = getWidth();
int height = getHeight();
int centerx = width/2;
int centery = height/2;

canvas.drawLine(centerx, 0, centerx, height, paint);

canvas.drawLine(0, centery, width, centery, paint);

// Rotate the canvas with the azimuth

if(azimuth != null) {
canvas.rotate(-azimuth*360/(2*3.14159f),
centerx, centery);
}

paint.setColor(0xff0000ff);

canvas.drawLine(centerx, -1000, centerx, +1000,

paint);
canvas.drawLine(-1000, centery, 1000,
centery, paint);
canvas.drawText("N", centerx+5, centery-10, paint);
canvas.drawText("S", centerx-10, centery+15, paint);

paint.setColor(0xff00ff00);
}
}

CustomDrawableView mCustomDrawableView;
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 141

private SensorManager mSensorManager;

Sensor accelerometer;
Sensor magnetometer;

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)

{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
//setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

mCustomDrawableView = new CustomDrawableView(this);

setContentView(mCustomDrawableView);

// Register the sensor listeners

mSensorManager = (SensorManager)
getSystemService(SENSOR_SERVICE);

accelerometer = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(
Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);

magnetometer = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(
Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD);
}

protected void onResume()

{
super.onResume();
mSensorManager.registerListener(this, accelerometer,
SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_UI);

mSensorManager.registerListener(this, magnetometer,
SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_UI);
}

protected void onPause()

{
super.onPause();
mSensorManager.unregisterListener(this);
}

public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor sensor, int

accuracy) {}

float[] mGravity;
float[] mGeomagnetic;

public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event)

{
if(event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER)
mGravity = event.values.clone();

if(event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.
TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD)
142 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

mGeomagnetic = event.values.clone();

if(mGravity != null && mGeomagnetic != null) {

float R[] = new float[9];
float I[] = new float[9];

boolean success = SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(

R,I,mGravity,mGeomagnetic);

if(success) {
float orientation[] = new float[3];
SensorManager.getOrientation(R, orientation);

// orientation contains: azimuth, pitch and roll

azimuth = orientation[0];
}
}

mCustomDrawableView.invalidate();
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
return true;
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 6.3 first instantiates mCustom-

DrawableView that is an instance of the CustomDrawableView custom
class. You saw an example of using this technique in Chapter 4 for ren-
dering custom graphics in the onDraw() method. The next portion of the
onCreate() method registers a sensor manager, an accelerometer, and
a magnetometer.
The method onSensorChanged() uses conditional logic to determine
which sensor has had its values modified, as shown here:

if(event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER)
mGravity = event.values.clone();
if(event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD)
mGeomagnetic = event.values.clone();

The next portion of this method uses conditional logic before initializing
a pair of arrays R and I, that are passed in to the getRotationMatrix()
method of the SensorManager class, as shown here:

if(mGravity != null && mGeomagnetic != null) {

float R[] = new float[9];
float I[] = new float[9];
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 143

boolean success = SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(

R,I,mGravity,mGeomagnetic);

// additional code block shown below

}

If the value of the Boolean variable success is true, the final portion of
code (which is nested inside the previous code block) passes the R array
(initialized earlier in the code) and a second array to the getOrienta-
tion() method of the SensorManager class, as shown here:

if(success) {
float orientation[] = new float[3];
SensorManager.getOrientation(R, orientation);

// orientation contains: azimuth, pitch and roll

azimuth = orientation[0];
}

The most up-to-date value for the azimuth is assigned in the last line of
code in the preceding code block.
Since the contents of the Canvas of this custom class has been modified,
we need to explicitly trigger the invalidate() method of the Canvas
class so that Android will refresh the contents of the Canvas with the
latest updated value of the azimuth.

Vibration
This section provides an outline of the code that is required to detect
vibrations in an Android mobile device. Copy the directory Vibrate from
the companion disc to a convenient location.
Include this permission in the file AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE"/>

Listing 6.4 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which illus-

trates how to generate a vibration in an Android phone.

LISTING 6.4 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.vibrate;

import android.app.Notification;
import android.app.NotificationManager;
144 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

import android.app.Service;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Vibrator;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
//import android.support.v7.app.NotificationCompat;
import android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat;

import android.view.View;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
// The vibration times in mSec are pairs
// of silent time and vibrate time values
private static final long[] THREE_CYCLES =
new long[] { 100, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000 };

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

vibrateOnce();
vibrateMulti(THREE_CYCLES);
}

public void shortVibrate(View v) {

vibrateOnce();
}

public void longVibrate(View v) {

vibrateMulti(THREE_CYCLES);
}

private void vibrateOnce() {

Vibrator vibrator = (Vibrator)
getApplication().getSystemService(
Service.VIBRATOR_SERVICE);

vibrator.vibrate(1000);
}

private void vibrateMulti(long[] cycles) {

NotificationManager notificationManager =
(NotificationManager)
getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

NotificationCompat.Builder builder =
new NotificationCompat.Builder(this)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher);

builder.setVibrate(
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 145

new long[] {2000, 500, 2000, 500, 2000, 500});

notificationManager.notify(0, builder.build());
}
}

Listing 6.4 contains some boilerplate code, followed by the onCreate()

method that invokes vibrateOnce() and vibrateMulti(), which
perform a single vibration and three vibrations, respectively.
The interesting code is the vibrateMulti() method, which contains
an instance of the NotificationManager class and an instance of the
Notification class. When you instantiate the variable builder, make
sure that you invoke the setSmallIcon() method (otherwise the appli-
cation will crash).
The method setVibrate() assigns an array of values that specify the
vibration pattern. This sequence contains pairs of values, where the first
number specifies the duration of the vibration and the second number
specifies the duration of the “paused” vibration.
As an example, the following sequence specifies a vibration of 2 seconds fol-
lowed by a pause of 500 milliseconds, and this pattern is specified three times:

builder.setVibrate(new long[] {2000,500,2000,500,2000,500});

This concludes the portion of the chapter regarding sensors. The remain-
der of this chapter provides an overview of multimedia, which includes
playing audio files and video files.

Overview of Android Media

Android provides the following media-related packages containing inter-
faces and classes:
„„ android.media
„„ android.media.audiofx
„„ android.media.effect

In brief, the Android package android.media contains the MediaPlayer

class that enables you to play audio files in an Android application. The
Android package android.media.audiofx contains the AudioEffect
base class for controlling audio effects, such as the bass (via the BaseBoost
class). The Android package android.media.effect contains classes
that enable you to apply visual effects to images and videos.
146 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

In addition, the MediaPlayer class allows you to control playback of

audio/video files and streams. As you probably expect, the Android
AudioPlayer class plays an audio resource, whereas the VideoView
class (which is a subclass of the Android View class) specifies a video
file to play. In your Java code, reference the VideoView control (spec-
ified in an XML file) and then instantiate a Java object to play a video
file.
Android applications often use one of the following locations for audio
clips:
„„ the res/raw subdirectory
„„ the assets subdirectory
„„ an application-local directory
„„ the SD card (/sdcard)
Note that Android Studio does not create the first two subdirectories, so
you must create them manually.
If you store audio files as raw resources in the res/raw subdirectory,
keep in mind that they cannot be replaced without upgrading the
application. You can reference audio clips in the assets subdirec-
tory using file:///android_asset/ for URLs (which you can do in
hybrid Android HTML5 mobile applications). This technique works with
APIs that expect Uri parameters instead of resource IDs, but you can-
not modify the assets without upgrading the application. Audio clips
that are stored in an application-local subdirectory can be replaced as
needed, but you need to be mindful of the amount of available storage
space.
The SD card typically provides more storage space, but remember that
other Android applications can also access the SD card. Files saved to the
external storage are world-readable and can be modified by users when
they enable USB mass storage to transfer files on a computer: https://devel-
oper.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#filesExternal.

Playing a Ringtone
The Android package android.media contains the MediaPlayer class
that enables you to play ringtones in an Android application.
Copy the directory RingTone from the companion disc to a convenient
location. Listing 6.5 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which
illustrates how to generate a ringtone.
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 147

LISTING 6.5 RingToneActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.ringtone;

import android.media.Ringtone;
import android.media.RingtoneManager;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;

public class RingToneActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
private Ringtone mCurrentRingtone;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_ring_tone);

// Get the default Phone Ringer RingTone

final Button ringtoneButton =
(Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);

ringtoneButton.setOnClickListener(new
OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
Uri ringtoneUri = RingtoneManager
.getDefaultUri(RingtoneManager.
TYPE_RINGTONE);

playRingtone(RingtoneManager.getRingtone(
getApplicationContext(),
ringtoneUri));
}
});
}

// Stop current Ringtone and play new one

private void playRingtone(Ringtone newRingtone)
{
if(null != mCurrentRingtone && mCurrentRingtone.
isPlaying())
mCurrentRingtone.stop();

mCurrentRingtone = newRingtone;

if (null != newRingtone) {
mCurrentRingtone.play();
148 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

}
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
playRingtone(null);
super.onPause();
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 6.5 initializes the variable ring-

toneButton by referencing a Button control in activity_main.xml
(displayed in Listing 6.6). The next portion of Listing 6.5 defines a click
handler for this button via an anonymous inner class, which overrides the
default onClick() method. As you can see, the onClick() method con-
tains two lines of code. The first line of code initializes the variable ring-
toneUri (of type Uri) that is a reference to the default ringtone on the
given Android device.
The second line of code invokes the playRingTone() method, which
takes an argument ringTone that is of type Ringtone. The play-
RingTone() method stops any currently playing ringtone, and starts
playing a new ringtone with the variable ringTone (provided that it is
not null).
Listing 6.6 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which contains
a Button control that is referenced in Listing 6.5.

LISTING 6.6 activity_main.xml
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<Button
android:id="@+id/button1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="10dip"
android:text="@string/ringtone_string" >
</Button>
</LinearLayout>

Listing 6.6 contains a top-level <LinearLayout> element that in turn

contains a <Button> element that (when pressed) will play a ringtone.
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 149

Playing an Audio File

In addition to playing ringtones, the MediaPlayer class in the Android
package android.media also enables you to play audio files in an
Android application.
Copy the directory SimpleAudio1 from the companion disc to a conven-
ient location. Listing 6.7 displays the contents of SimpleAudio1.java,
which illustrates how to play an m4a audio file in an Android application.

LISTING 6.7 SimpleAudio1.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.simpleaudio1;

import android.media.MediaPlayer;
import android.media.MediaPlayer.OnCompletionListener;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;

public class SimpleAudio1 extends AppCompatActivity

{
private String TAG = "SimpleAudio1";
MediaPlayer mp;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_simple_audio1);

// adjust the volume with these 2 lines:

//AudioManager audioManager = (AudioManager)
// getSystemService(Context.
AUDIO_SERVICE);
//audioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.
STREAM_MUSIC,20,0);

Button myButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.playsong);

myButton.setOnClickListener(new Button.OnClickListener()
{
public void onClick(View v) {
Log.i(TAG, "Playing audio file");

// create also invokes the prepare() method

150 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

mp = MediaPlayer.create(SimpleAudio1.this,
R.raw.japanese1);
mp.start();

mp.setOnCompletionListener(new
OnCompletionListener() {
public void onCompletion(MediaPlayer arg0) {
Log.i(TAG, "Inside onCompletion");
}
}
);
}
}
);
}

public void onDestroy() {

super.onDestroy();

if (mp != null) {
mp.stop();
mp.release();
mp = null;
}
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 6.7 initializes the variable myButton

by obtaining a reference to a Button component that is defined in the
XML document activity_main.xml. The next portion of onCreate()
defines a listener for this button, which contains the onClick() method
that plays the audio file whenever users click on the button. The code for
playing the audio file is reproduced here:

// create also invokes the prepare() method

mp = MediaPlayer.create(SimpleAudio1.this,
R.raw.japanese1);
mp.start();

The preceding code block initializes the variable mp (an instance of the
MediaPlayer class) by passing a reference to the current Java class
SimpleAudio1 as well as the audio file japanese1.m4a located in the
res/raw subdirectory. After the initialization step, the code invokes the
start() method order to play the audio clip.

The final portion of onCreate() defines a listener that invokes the

method onComplete() when the audio file has finished playing (and you
can put additional custom code in this method).
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 151

The onDestroy() method is included in order to deallocate resources,

which in this case is just the variable mp that is an instance of the
MediaPlayer class.

Another option for playing audio files is to use SoundPool class that is
documented here: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/
media/SoundPool.html.

Playing a YouTube Video

In addition to playing audio files, you can also play video files in an
Android application.
One way to do so is to use the YouTube Android API, as described here
(which also provides downloadable sample applications): https://develop-
ers.google.com/youtube/android/player/.
The YouTube Android API involves multiple configuration steps, such
as a JAR file, a developer key, an update to build.gradle, and so
forth. A detailed tutorial that provides step-by-step instructions for the
YouTube Android API is here: http://stacktips.com/tutorials/android/
youtube-android-player-api-example.
As an alternative, the code sample in this section uses an approach that is
simpler than the samples that are downloadable from the preceding link.
Compare the two approaches and decide which one is better for your
needs.
The video code sample in this section plays on a Samsung Galaxy S5 with
NOTE Android 6.0.1, but not on a Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
Copy the directory YouTubeVideo from the companion disc to a conven-
ient location. Listing 6.8 displays the contents of activity_you_tube.
xml, which contains a VideoView component where the YouTube video
will be played.

LISTING 6.8 activity_you_tube.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/activity_you_tube"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
152 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

tools:context="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
youtubevideo.YouTubeActivity">

<VideoView
android:id="@+id/myvideoview"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

Listing 6.9 displays the contents of YouTubeActivity.java, which

illustrates how to play a YouTube video clip in an Android application.

LISTING 6.9 YouTubeActivity.java
package com.example.youtubevideo;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;

public class YouTubeActivity extends Activity

{
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_you_tube);

String youTubeLink = "https://youtu.be/ESXgJ9-H-2U";

// see the next section for generating a 3gp link

Uri uri = Uri.parse("rtsp://r3---sn-a5mekned.

googlevideo.com/Cj0LENy73wIaNAll-4ffJ-AlERMYDSANFC0
zUl5YMOCoAUIASARgt__7jfLH3vdWigELZTZEV0NOTmNRck0M/
AFB58984FDF12A453C9C17F5D5DF848838D214A4.6228BEB2775
CD11CEB648058FA09D1A0AB12B72C/yt6/1/video.3gp");

VideoView myVideoView =
(VideoView)findViewById(R.id.myvideoview);

MediaController mediaController = new

MediaController(this);
mediaController.setAnchorView(myVideoView);

myVideoView.setMediaController(mediaController);
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 153

myVideoView.setVideoPath(youTubeLink);
myVideoView.setVideoURI(uri);

myVideoView.requestFocus();
myVideoView.start();
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
//getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 6.9 first initializes the variable

YouTubeLink to a URL that is the location of a video clip. Next, the
uri variable is constructed from an rtsp string (see the next section for
instructions) that is based on the specified YouTube video link.
Next, the myVideoView variable is initialized as a reference to the
VideoView component in activity_you_tube.xml and supplied as a
parameter to an instance of the MediaController class. The next three
lines of code set the values of the media controller, the video path, and
the video URI.
The last two lines of code in the onCreate() method set the focus to the
VideoView component and then start playing the video.

Make sure that you include the following snippet in AndroidManifest.

xml before you deploy the application to an Android device:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

The Android project YouTubeVideo works on a Samsung Galaxy S5

NOTE phone with Android 6.0.1, but does not work on a Pixel phone with
Android 7.1.

Generating a 3gp Link

Let’s start with the YouTube link that is used in the preceding section:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESXgJ9-H-2U.
Step 1: open a tab in your browser and navigate to the following URL:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ESXgJ9-H-2U&app=m
 154 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Step 2: right click on the desired video, select Copy Link Location, and
paste the result in another browser session, which will display something
like this:

rtsp://r3---sn-a5mekned.googlevideo.com/Cj0LENy73wIaNAll-4ffJ-
AlERMYDSANFC0zUl5YMOCoAUIASARgt__7jfLH3vdWigELZTZEV0NOTmNRc
k0M/AFB58984FDF12A453C9C17F5D5DF848838D214A4.
6228BEB2775CD11CEB648058FA09D1A0AB12B72C/yt6/1/video.3gp

Step 3: use the string in Step 2 as a parameter for in Uri.parse() in

Listing 6.9.
NOTE 3gp only works for mobile applications.

Other Scenarios for Playing Videos

In addition to playing a YouTube video, you can play a video from the
SD card or a video located in the res/raw subdirectory. However,
keep in mind that placing a video file in the res/raw subdirectory
increases the size of an Android application, whereas playing a video
stream from an external site does not increase the application size.
Moreover, you have more flexibility with external sites because you can
provide a drop-down list of videos (from multiple sites) that users can
play on their Android device, and even enable users to enter a link to a
video in an input field, none of which increases the size of your Android
application.
If you intend to use VideoView to read MP4 files from the SD card of
an Android phone, see the following post regarding a workaround
for a bug in VideoView for Android API 16: http://stackoverflow.
com/questions/25696237/videoview-and-mediaplayer-error1-
2147483648.
In addition, errors can arise due to incorrect or unsupported encod-
ing. The following link contains the list of supported media formats for
Android: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/media-for-
mats.html.
The following free Android application detects which codecs (encoders
and decoders) are available on an Android device: https://play.google.
com/store/apps/details?id=net.tyniw.mediacodecinfo.application&hl=en.
If you want to play video files that are included as part of an Android
application, you must manually create the subdirectory res/raw and
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 155

place MP4 files in that location. Next, use the following type of code snip-
pet to access an MP4 file:

Uri video = Uri.parse(

"android.resource://com.usecontentprovider/raw/
MyVideo.mp4");

Recording audio and video files via Android applications is more complex
than playing audio and video files, and they are beyond the scope of this
book. However, you can find code samples in the Android SDK, in online
tutorials, or from the following links:
https://github.com/steelkiwi/AndroidRecording
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/audio-capture.
html

A Runtime Check for Implicit Intents

When you develop multimedia applications, you sometimes need to use
Implicit Intents. However, if the device cannot find an Activity to
handle the Implicit Intent, then an ActivityNotFoundException
will occur.
Fortunately, you can prevent such an error by checking whether or not an
Activity is available to handle an Implicit Intent, as shown in the
following code block:

public void dispatchTakePictureIntent(Fragment fragment) {

Intent pIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.
ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);

// is an Activity component available to handle this

intent?
if(pIntent.resolveActivity(mContext.
getPackageManager())!=null){
pIntent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT,
getOutputPhotoFileUri());

fragment.startActivityForResult(pIntent,
TAKE_PHOTO_RC);
} else {
String toastText = (String) mContext.
getResources()
.getText(R.string.toast_need_camera_app);
156 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Toast.makeText(mContext,toastText,Toast.LENGTH_
SHORT).show();
}
}

The preceding method contains conditional logic to detect the presence

of an Activity to handle (in this case) the task of taking a picture. If so, a
new Activity is started; if not, a Toast is displayed with the appropriate
message.

ExoPlayer
As you have seen in this chapter, Android provides MediaPlayer for play-
ing media with minimal code, and the MediaCodec and MediaExtractor
classes are provided for building custom media players.
As an alternative, ExoPlayer is an open source project that supports fea-
tures that are not currently provided by MediaPlayer, such as Dynamic
adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH), SmoothStreaming, and Common
Encryption.
The ExoPlayer home page is here: http://google.github.io/ExoPlayer.
ExoPlayer can be customized and extended, allowing many compo-
nents to be replaced with custom implementations. You can include the
ExoPlayer library in Android applications. Keep in mind that ExoPlayer
is not part of the Android framework and is distributed separately from
the Android SDK. The ExoPlayer Github repository is here: https://
github.com/google/ExoPlayer.
The next section regarding Android permissions is quite lengthy, so you
might need to return to parts of this section as you encounter Android
applications that involve various types of Android permissions.

Android Permissions
Although the code samples in this chapter do not contain Android per-
missions, you will discover that they are used in practically every non-triv-
ial Android application. Android supports many types of permissions,
and forgetting to include them in AndroidManifest.xml is a common
error.
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 157

Android Permission Types

Android classifies permissions into three types: normal, dangerous, and
system permissions.
Normal permissions are those that do not access the file system or built-in
sensors, such as those that request access to network state, wifi state, and
Bluetooth. Normal permissions are discussed in detail here: https://devel-
oper.android.com/guide/topics/security/normal-permissions.html.
So-called “dangerous” permissions are permissions that enable applica-
tions to access sensors or to access the file system of a device. A par-
tial list of dangerous permissions includes: Calendar, Camera, Contacts,
Location, Microphone, Phone, Sensors, SMS, and storage.
System permissions include SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW and WRITE_
SETTINGS. Applications that require these permissions must declare
them in the manifest, and also send an intent requesting author-
ization from users. The system responds to the intent by show-
ing a detailed management screen to the user. More detailed
information regarding Android system permissions (including best
practices) is here: https://developer.android.com/training/permissions/
index.html.
One thing to keep in mind is that every Android application has a sepa-
rate “sandbox,” which shields the application from every other Android
application. Android Application A can access resources in Android
Application B if users grant permission (during installation time) for such
access.

Permissions in Android 5.1 or Lower

Handling permissions in Android 5.1 or lower is summarized here:
1) If the device is running Android 5.1 or lower, or the
targetSdkVersion of an application is 22 or lower, the system asks
users to grant the permissions when users install the application.
2) If you add a new permission to an updated version of the application,
the system asks users to grant that permission when users update the
application.
3) After users install the application, the only way they can revoke the
permission is by uninstalling the application.
 158 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Permissions in Android 6 or Higher

In Android permissions can be added dynamically and permissions can
be revoked on the device. When revoking permissions from older appli-
cations, you’ll see this message:
This app was designed for an older version of Android. Denying
permission may cause it to no longer function as intended.
If the device is running Android 6.0 or higher, and the targetSdkVer-
sion is 23 or higher, the application will request permissions from the
user at runtime. However, since users can revoke the permissions at any
time, the application needs to check whether it has the necessary permis-
sions every time it runs.

Android Permission Groups

Any permission can belong to a permission group, including normal per-
missions and permissions defined by your app. A permission’s group only
affects the user experience if the permission is dangerous, which means
that you can ignore the permission group for normal permissions.
All dangerous Android system permissions belong to permission groups.
If an application requests a dangerous permission that is listed in its
manifest, and the application does not currently have any permissions
in the permission group, the system displays a dialog box to the user
describing the permission group that the application wants to access.
The dialog box does not describe the specific permission within that
group.
NOTE All dangerous Android system permissions belong to permission groups.
For example, if an application requests the READ_CONTACTS permission,
the system dialog box simply indicates that the application needs access
to the device’s contacts. If the user grants approval, the system gives the
application only the permission it requested.

How to Specify Permissions in Android

You can specify various permissions in AndroidManifest.xml using the
XML <uses-permission> element. Examples of permissions for cam-
era and Internet access are here:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
 SENSORS AND MULTIMEDIA • 159

Listing 6.10 illustrates how to include an Android permission in the XML

document AndroidManifest.xml.

LISTING 6.10 Specifying Permissions in AndroidManifest.xml

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/
apk/res/android"
package="com.sample.graphics "
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0">

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="14"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>

<application
// details omitted
</application>
</manifest>

In Listing 6.10 the Android permission (shown in bold) appears outside of

the XML <application> element, which means that the permission is
granted to the entire Android application. If you specify an Android per-
mission inside the XML <application> element, but outside of an XML
<activity> element (there can be more than one such element), then the
permission applies to the Activity and not to the entire Android applica-
tion (remember this difference).
Consult the online documentation for more detailed information regard-
ing Android permissions: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/secu-
rity/permissions.html.
The entire list of Android permissions (there are many) is here: https://
gist.github.com/Arinerron/1bcaadc7b1cbeae77de0263f4e15156f.

Android M and Runtime Permissions

Prior to Android M, Android applications gave users an “all-or-nothing”
list of requested access during application installation, and users had to
make decisions about permissions that they might not have fully under-
stood. Android M supports a new permissions model: applications will ask
for permission to use resources (the camera, microphone, and so forth)
when first needed.
Android applications that target Android M can request permissions at
any time, whereas “legacy” applications still require all permissions when
160 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

the applications are installed on a device. Users can deny any permissions
upon request, or deny any permissions later (even for legacy applications).
Although Android M users can revoke those privileges after they have
been granted, it’s unclear whether they can grant and revoke individual
access permissions per application. The following link contains screen-
shots that illustrate how to manage permissions on Android 6:
http://www.howtogeek.com/230683/
how-to-manage-app-permissions-on-android-6.0.
Dealing with permission denial in Android M:
https://plus.google.com/+AndroidDevelopers/posts/8aaudh5n1zM.
An example of runtime permissions for Android Marshmallow:
https://github.com/googlesamples/android-RuntimePermissions.
Android Marshmallow has removed almost thirty permissions that are
listed here:
https://commonsware.com/blog/2015/08/17/random-musings-
android-6p0-sdk.html.
The preceding link discusses combinations of permissions that are pos-
sible (or required) when working with Android Marshmallow and older
versions of Android.

Summary
This chapter showed you how to create Android mobile applications to
detect the presence of various sensors on an Android device (which can
vary between devices). You saw how to use the accelerometer, the gyro-
scope, and also how to detect the battery level of an Android device.
Then you learned about multimedia for playing ringtones, audio files,
and video files. In particular, you learned how to play a YouTube video
on an Android device. Next, you learned how to determine whether or
not an Activity is available to handle an Implicit Intent, thereby
avoiding a runtime error. In addition, you learned about the open source
project ExoPlayer that supports features that are not currently provided
by MediaPlayer, such as SmoothStreaming and Common Encryption.
Finally, you learned about various types of permissions for Android appli-
cations, how to request them, and how they differ based on the Android
API level.
 CHAPTER

7
DATA STORAGE AND
FILE I/O

T
his chapter discusses context-related Android classes that
enable you to store data in a global context, followed by
a discussion of the storage feature of a mobile device to
maintain user-related information. You will learn about various storage-
related options, managing text files, working with a database, and invok-
ing system commands. As usual, the code samples in this section were
deployed to Android phones (but simulators were not tested).
This chapter also addresses Content Providers vis-à-vis Android API
level 23 and permissions. As you might have already discovered, code
samples that work correctly with lower API levels sometimes no longer
work when they are recompiled with Android Marshmallow or higher.
Some code modifications are required, as illustrated in the contacts-re-
lated code section, which contains an example of conditional logic that
compares the SDK version of an Android application against Android
Marshmallow and then executes the appropriate code.
The first part of this chapter shows you how to work with content provid-
ers so that you can update and access data on a mobile device. This section
also discusses various types of loaders for Android applications.
The second part of this chapter shows you how to create an Android appli-
cation that uses a SQLite database to persist data on a mobile device.
Next, you will learn about Realm, which is a good alternative to SQLite.
Note that Firebase is a cloud-based database, whereas you would install
Realm on your Android device.
162 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The third part of this chapter involves managing text files and also
how to store binary files on an Android device. The final section of
this chapter contains an Android application that invokes the ps com-
mand (which displays a list of processes) in order to display the list
of processes that are running on an Android device. Note that this
code sample assumes that you are familiar with Java classes such as
BufferedReader and InputStreamReader.

Before delving into Content Providers, let’s take a look at how to use
some Context-related classes in Android applications.

The Android Context Classes

The Android package android.app contains the abstract class
Context that has numerous concrete subclasses, such as Activity,
ApplicationContext, and Intent. An Android Context provides
information about an Activity or Application to newly created
components. The “relevant” Context (described shortly) should be
provided to newly created components (whether application context or
Activity context). There are two context-related methods available in
Android that are summarized below:

View.getContext(): returns the context the view is currently run-

ning in (usually the currently active Activity)
Activity.getApplicationContext(): returns the context
for the entire application (the process that contains all the active
Activitys). Use this method instead of the current Activity con-
text if you need a context tied to the lifecycle of the entire appli-
cation, not just the current Activity. Note that Activity is an
indirect subclass of Context, so you can use this to get the context
of that activity.

The Android ApplicationContext Class

The application context enables you to access resources that are shared
between Activity instances. The getApplicationContext() method
makes it easy to get the application context using the following code snippet:

Context context = getApplicationContext();

You can also use this object when writing code in your Activity class
(because the Activity class is derived from the Context class). After
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 163

getting this valid application context, you can access features and services
at a system level.
Listing 7.1 displays the contents of MyCustomApp.java, which illustrates
how to keep track of variables in a global context in an Android application.

LISTING 7.1 MyCustomApp.java
public class MyCustomApp extends Application
{
private static Context context;
private String state = "someState";
private String url = null;

public void onCreate()

{
super.onCreate();
context = getApplicationContext();
}

public static Context getApplicationContext(){

return context;
}

public String getState(){

return this.state;
}

public void setUrl(url){

this.url = url;
}

public String getUrl(){

return this.url;
}
}

Listing 7.1 is essentially a “value object” (VO) class, with “getters” and
“setters” for the private variables state and url. Listing 7.1 also contains
the onCreate() method that invokes the onCreate() method of its par-
ent class and then initializes the variable content, as shown here:

public void onCreate()

{
super.onCreate();
context = getApplicationContext();
}

Notice that Listing 7.1 contains the static method getApplicationCon-

tent() that simply returns the variable context. Another detail to keep
164 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

in mind is that you can access variables in the global context class with this
code snippet:

String state = MyCustomApp.getApplicationContext().getState();

The Android Lifecycle and Application Context

The application context enables you to access resources that are shared
between Activity classes. However, before you rely on the preceding
class to pass variables between two Activitys, consider the scenario in
which a url in Activity A is used in a WebView component in Activity
B, and the following occurs:
1) set the url in the global context
2) start Activity B
3) retrieve the url in the global context
4) the application is placed in the background
5) the application is killed in the background
6) retrieve the url in the onResume() method
After step 5) you have no guarantee that the global context is still valid,
so it’s possible that the value retrieved for the variable url is null. A
better approach is either to use the onSaveInstanceState() method
to store values of variables in a bundle, or to save the values of variables
in SharedPreferences.
In addition, you could also first check for a variable in the application
context, and if its value is null, then you can obtain its value from
SharedPreferences.

Content Providers and User Contacts

A Content Provider in Android allows unrelated applications to share
data based solely on the names of the tables and fields in the data. Android
also offers a more general Remote Procedure mechanism that is based on
IDL (interface definition language). However, this mechanism (which is
not directly related to Content Providers) is beyond the scope of this book.
The Android Contacts data is a Content Provider, which is very
straightforward to use in an Android application.
Copy the directory MyContactList from the companion disc to a conven-
ient location. Listing 7.2 displays the contents of MainActivity.java,
which illustrates how to display your list of contacts in an Android application.
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 165

LISTING 7.2 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.mycontactlist;

import android.Manifest;
import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.ContentResolver;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.ContactsContract;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import static com.example.oswaldcampesato2.mycontactlist.R.*;

public class MainActivity extends ListActivity

{
private String TAG = "CONTACTS";

// Request code for READ_CONTACTS (must be > 0)

private static final int PERMISSIONS_REQUEST_READ_
CONTACTS = 123;

private ListView listNames;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(layout.activity_main);

//---------------------------------------------
// ListView id MUST be '@android:id/list' else:
// Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException:
// Your content must have a ListView whose id
// attribute is 'android.R.id.list'
//---------------------------------------------

this.listNames =
(ListView) findViewById(android.R.id.list);

showContacts();
}

private void showContacts()

{
166 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

// Check the SDK version and also if

// the permission is already granted

if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M &&

checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.
READ_CONTACTS) !=
PackageManager.
PERMISSION_GRANTED)
{
requestPermissions(
new String[]{Manifest.permission.READ_CONTACTS},
PERMISSIONS_REQUEST_READ_CONTACTS);

// Wait for callback in the overridden method

// onRequestPermissionsResult(int,String[],int[])
}
else
{
// Android version is lesser than 6.0
// or the permission is already granted
List<String> contacts = getContactNames();

ArrayAdapter<String> adapter =
new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, contacts);

listNames.setAdapter(adapter);
}
}

private List<String> getContactNames()

{
int userCount = 0;
List<String> contacts = new ArrayList<>();

// Get the ContentResolver

ContentResolver cr = getContentResolver();

// Get the Cursor of all the contacts

Cursor cursor = cr.query(
ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_URI,
null, null, null, null);

// Move the cursor to first and

// check if the cursor is empty

if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
// Iterate through the cursor
do {
// Get the contacts name
String name = cursor.getString(
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 167

cursor.getColumnIndex(
ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME));

contacts.add(name);
++userCount;
} while (cursor.moveToNext());
}
cursor.close();

Log.i(TAG, "Contact count: "+userCount);

return contacts;
}
}

Listing 7.2 contains boilerplate code and then defines the MainActivity
class that extends the Android ListActivity class instead of the
AppCompatActivity class that you have seen in almost all the other
code samples.
The onCreate() method initializes the variable listNames as a refer-
ence to the ListView component in activity_main.xml. The last line
of code in onCreate() invokes the showContacts() method that con-
tains conditional logic to determine the SDK version and the build version.
If the API level of the Android application is at least Android Marshmallow
and permission has been already granted, then the readPermissions()
method is invoked with the READ_CONTACTS permission that has been
added to AndroidManifest.xml.
Otherwise, the API level is lower than Marshmallow (or permission has
been granted), in which case the contacts variable (which is a list of
strings) is initialized as the return value of the getContactNames()
method (discussed later). Then the adapter variable is initialized as an
instance of the ArrayAdapter class, and then initialized as the adapter
for the listNames variable.
The getContactNames() method initializes the cursor variable (an
instance of the Cursor class) as a “pointer” to the contacts that are avail-
able on your Android device. If cursor is non-null, the do-while loop
advances the cursor and simultaneously adds each user to the contacts
variable (which is a list of strings). When the do-while loop completes,
the cursor is closed and the contacts variable is returned.
The preceding description of the getContactNames() method is admit-
tedly light, but you can read the online documentation for more information
regarding cursors and the other classes that are referenced in this method.
168 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 7.3 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which contains

a ListView component in order to display a list of user contacts.

LISTING 7.3 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/activity_main"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.example.oswaldcampesato2.
mycontactlist.MainActivity">

<ListView
android:id="@android:id/list"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</RelativeLayout>

The following link contains good information about how to prompt users
for permissions (and other relevant aspects of permissions): https://mate-
rial.io/guidelines/patterns/permissions.html#.
Note that this code sample was deployed to a Pixel phone with Android 7.1,
but has not been tested on other devices or on a simulator.

Custom Content Provider Implementation

This section provides you with an overview of the main aspects of creating
custom content providers.
An Android ContentProvider (part of the android.content package)
shares content among applications. Android built-in ContentProviders
include Contacts and the MediaStore, both of which are in the
android.provider package.

The first point to understand is that custom content providers are sub-
classes of the class android.content.ContentProvider that is pro-
vided by Android. Custom content providers implement the following
methods:
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 169

„„ onCreate()
„„ delete()
„„ getType()
„„ insert()
„„ update()

The getType() method returns the MIME type of the data that is stored
by the content provider, and the other methods in the preceding list pro-
vide functionality that you would expect (based on their names).
The second point is that the Android system provides a Content URI
in order to identify different content providers that are available on
an Android device. The Android system stores references to content
providers according to an authority string that is part of the provider’s
content URI. The Android system looks up the authority in its list of
known providers and their authorities. The Authority section of the
content URI identifies the content provider, and it’s usually expressed
as the package name of the content provider, an example of which is
here:

com.iquarkt.myapp.myprovider

You can access the table employee in a content provider by appending

the table name to the authority, as shown here:

com.iquarkt.myapp.myprovider/employee

You can access a specific row in the table employee by appending its
rowID to the table name, as shown here:

com.iquarkt.myapp.myprovider/employee/50

Additional information regarding Android Authority is here:

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/provider-
element.html.
The third point is that the CRUD-related methods listed at the beginning of
this section must determine whether a given URI involves a single row or
multiple rows in a table, which can create complexity in the implementation
details of these methods. Fortunately, the Android UriMatcher class can
help you reduce this complexity. The UriMatcher class is a convenience
class that supports a many-to-one mapping via pattern matching, which
170 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

simplifies the design communication in a list-style representation. The

numeric assignment allows you to insert, remove, and rearrange patterns
without affecting the match. This feature is useful when the match is part of a
“case” value in a switch statement. More details regarding the UriMatcher
class are here: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/
content/UriMatcher.html.
In summary, if you want to define custom content providers, you must do
the following:
„„ subclass the Android class android.content.ContentProvider
„„ implement CRUD operations
„„ make them accessible via a Content URI
If you want to learn more about how to create a custom content
provider, the following link contains useful information: https://
developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content-provider-
creating.html.

Data Storage
You can store data on a mobile device in several ways (for different pur-
poses), some of which are listed here:
„„ Shared Preferences
„„ Internal Storage
„„ External Storage
„„ SQLite Databases
„„ Network Connection

Shared Preferences is useful for storing private primitive data in key-

value pairs.
Internal Storage can be used for storing private data on the device
memory.
External Storage is handy for storing public data on shared external
storage.
SQLite Databases are convenient for storing structured data in a pri-
vate database.
Network Connection is good for storing data on the Web with your
own network server.
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 171

The method that you select for persisting application data depends on
factors such as:
„„ the volume of data
„„ private versus public data
„„ accessibility to other Android apps
You can use an Android ContentProvider to share data among multiple
Android applications. The following sections discuss these storage tech-
niques in more detail, along with some code samples that you can use in
Android applications.

User Preferences
The Android package android.app contains the PreferenceActivity
(a subclass of android.app.ListActivity) that is the base class for pref-
erence-related Android classes. According to the Android documentation:
Prior to HONEYCOMB this class only allowed the display
of a single set of preference; this functionality should now be
found in the new PreferenceFragment class. If you are using
PreferenceActivity in its old mode, the documentation there
applies to the deprecated APIs here.
This activity shows one or more headers of preferences, each of
which is associated with a PreferenceFragment to display the
preferences of that header.
The Android SharedPreferences class provides APIs for saving a rela-
tively small collection of key-value pairs. A SharedPreferences object
points to a file containing key-value pairs and provides simple methods to
read and write them. Each SharedPreferences file is managed by the
framework and can be private or shared. The SharedPreferences APIs
enable you to store and retrieve simple values.
Keep in mind that the SharedPreferences APIs are only for reading
and writing key-value pairs. By contrast, the Preference APIs are use-
ful for creating a user interface for application settings.
Create a shared preference file or access an existing one by invoking one
of two methods:
1) getSharedPreferences() is for multiple shared preference files
2) getPreferences() is invoked from an Activity when a single shared
preference file is needed in the activity
172 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

More detailed information about shared preferences is here: https://devel-

oper.android.com/training/basics/data-storage/shared-preferences.html.

Loaders
This section provides a brief overview of Android Loaders, which include
the main classes that Loaders use in order to provide data access to
Android applications.
Starting with Android 3.0, loaders became the preferred way to access
data of databases or content providers.
Loaders load data asynchronously and notify listeners when the results
are ready. Loaders involve the following Android classes:
„„ LoaderManager
„„ LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks (interface)
„„ Loader
„„ AsyncTaskLoader
„„ CursorLoader
The LoaderManager class manages loaders and it’s also responsible for
dealing with the Activity or Fragment lifecycle. The LoaderManager.
LoaderCallbacks interface contains methods that you must implement.
The Loader class is the base class for all Loaders. The AsyncTaskLoader
class is an implementation that uses an AsyncTask to do its work. Finally,
the CursorLoader class is a subclass of AsyncTaskLoader for accessing
ContentProvider data.

In addition, the older technique for handling a Cursor is deprecated,

which means that you need to avoid the use of the two methods start-
ManagingCursor() and managedQuery() in Android projects.

Managed cursor queries are executed on the UI thread, so it’s possible

that your application will appear sluggish. On the other hand, loaders do
not use the UI thread, so your Android applications will be responsive.

AsyncTask versus Observables (RxJava)

Many Android applications use AsyncTask for handling long-
running tasks. However, as you learned in Chapter 2, an Android Activity
is destroyed whenever users rotate their Android device from portrait to
landscape (or vice versa). If you intend to update the UI with the result
of the long-running task, you will encounter a NullPointerException
if you attempt to access the original Activity. The solution involves
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 173

writing custom code because AsyncTask does not provide a mechanism

to handle this scenario.
As you will see in Chapter 10, RxJava provides a better solution. If you
have Android applications that use AsyncTask and AsyncTaskLoader,
consider replacing them with rx.Observable and RxJava, as discussed
in Chapter 10.

SQLite Versus ContentProvider on Android

A SQLite database is convenient when you need to store a larger amount
of data (involving thousands of records) in persistent storage. Moreover,
you can also query (retrieve, update, insert, delete) the data in SQLite
database and the data retrieval is much more robust. However, there are
two important points to keep in mind:
„„ SQLite is not multi-threaded
„„ SQLite data is only accessible to the app that created the instance
On the other hand, if you need to share data between Android appli-
cations, the recommended model for Android is the content provider
model. This following article contains useful information about content
providers and also how to implement one: http://www.devx.com/wireless/
Article/41133.
A ContentProvider is essentially a facade that provides an API that
you can implement in order to expose databases to other processes. If
you need to expose data to multiple Android applications, consider
using a ContentProvider. Incidentally, it’s possible to implement a
ContentProvider in various ways; in fact, you can even store the data
in a SQLite database.

A SQLite Example
The Android package android.database.sql contains classes for creating
and opening a SQLite database on an Android mobile device. In addition,
the Android package android.view contains the Cursor class that enables
you to iterate through the result set that returned from a database query.
Copy the directory SaveDataToSQLite from the companion disc to a
convenient location. Listing 7.4 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how to store and retrieve a set of names in a
SQLite database in an Android application.
174 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

LISTING 7.4 MainActivity.java
package com.iquarkt.savedatatosqlite;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

saveData();
TextView tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.text1);
tv.setText("Data saved on SQLite database!");

loadData();
}

private void saveData() {

MySQLiteHelper db = new MySQLiteHelper(this);

db.addUser(new User("John", 1829));

db.addUser(new User("Zoe", 2060));
db.addUser(new User("David", 2377));
db.addUser(new User("Sandy", 1934));
}

private void loadData() {

MySQLiteHelper db = new MySQLiteHelper(this);
User user = db.getUser(2);

TextView tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.text1);
//tv.setText(user.toString());
tv.setText("Name: "+user.name+" Rating: "+user.
rating);
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
saveData();
}

@Override
protected void onResume() {
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 175

super.onResume();
loadData();
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 7.4 contains six steps (as you can
see from the comments in the code) that start with obtaining a reference
to the DAODelegate class (displayed in Listing 7.5). Next, the code
deletes the current list of friends, populates a new list of friends, and
displays that new list in a TextView component.

LISTING 7.5 MySQLiteHelper.java
package com.iquarkt.savedatatosqlite;

import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;

public class MySQLiteHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper

{
private static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;
private static final String DATABASE_NAME = "UsersDB";
private static final String TABLE_USERS = "users";

public MySQLiteHelper(Context context) {

super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);
}

@Override
public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
String CREATE_USERS_TABLE = "CREATE TABLE "
+ TABLE_USERS + " ( " +
"id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, " +
"name TEXT, " +
"rating INTEGER )";

db.execSQL(CREATE_USERS_TABLE);
}

@Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db,
int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
db.execSQL("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS " + TABLE_USERS);
this.onCreate(db);
}
176 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

public void addUser(User user)

{
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();

ContentValues values = new ContentValues();

values.put("name", user.name);
values.put("rating", user.rating);

db.insert(TABLE_USERS, null, values);

db.close();
}

public User getUser(int id)

{
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getReadableDatabase();

Cursor cursor = db.query(TABLE_USERS,

new String[]{"id", "name", "rating"},
" id = ?", new String[]{ String.valueOf(id) },
null, null, null, null);

if (cursor == null) return null;

cursor.moveToFirst();

User user = new User();

user.id = Integer.parseInt(cursor.getString(0));
user.name = cursor.getString(1);
user.rating = Integer.parseInt(cursor.getString(2));

return user;
}
}

Listing 7.5 starts with some boilerplate code and some database-
related initialization, such as defining the INSERT variable, which is a
SQL statement for inserting new rows into the database.
The constructor in Listing 7.5 is passed a reference to the MainActivity
class that is used for obtaining a reference to the current database.
Listing 7.5 also contains an assortment of “helper” methods with straight-
forward code for inserting and deleting rows from the friends table
in the database called database1. As you can see in Listing 7.5, these
helper methods are invoked from an instance of the SaveDataToSQLite
class.
Listing 7.6 displays the contents of User.java, which is a convenience
class for keeping track of user-related information.
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 177

LISTING 7.6 User.java
package com.iquarkt.savedatatosqlite;

public class User

{
public int id;
public String name;
public int rating;

public User() {}

public User(String name, int rating)

{
this.name = name;
this.rating = rating;
}
}

As you may recall from other examples,

the preceding class is a “VO” (value
object) that contains field-level data,
and also setters and getters. In this
case such methods are not required
because the user-related fields have
public scope.

Figure 7.1 displays the result of

launching SaveDataToSQLite on a
Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
At this point you understand how
to create SQLite databases, create
tables, and also how to store and read
both text data and binary data. In
the case of binary data, you can use
the concepts that you have learned
in order to write a complete Android
mobile application for reading and FIGURE 7.1 A SQLite table in an
Android application.
writing binary data.

Working with Other Databases

There are various alternatives to SQLite (with varying levels of feature
support), some of which are NoSQL databases. This section touches on
two of the available alternatives to SQLite.
 178 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The Debug Database

The Android Debug Database allows you to view databases and shared
preferences directly in your browser, and its home page is here:
https://github.com/amitshekhariitbhu/Android-Debug-
Database.
Features of the Debug Database include:
„„ view all databases
„„ view all data in shared preferences in your application
„„ run any sql query on a database to update/delete data
„„ directly edit database values
„„ perform data searches
„„ perform data sorting
Create an Android application in Android Studio and add the following
code snippet in build.gradle:

debugCompile 'com.amitshekhar.android:debug-db:0.3.0'

Use debugCompile so that it will only compile in your debug build and
not in your release apk.
Now start the application, and logcat will contain the following type of
entry:

D/DebugDB: Open http://XXX.XXX.X.XXX:8080 in your browser

You can also always get the debug address URL from your code by invok-
ing the following method:

DebugDB.getAddressLog();

Now open the provided link in your browser.

Your Android phone and laptop should be connected to the same Network
NOTE (Wifi or LAN).
If you want use a different port other than 8080, make the following
change in the build.gradle file under buildTypes:

debug {
resValue("string", "PORT_NUMBER", "8081")
}
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 179

The Realm Database

One of the most popular database alternatives to SQLite is Realm, which
is available on multiple platforms. Realm is a mobile database that is a
replacement for SQLite and ORMs, and runs directly inside phones, tab-
lets or wearables: https://github.com/realm/realm-java.
As you have already seen, SQLite enables you to store data in a relational
database. Although the code sample uses SQL statements, it’s also possi-
ble to use an Object-Relational Mapper (ORM) as an abstraction layer.
However, Realm is an alternative to SQLite that is not an ORM: instead of a
relational model, Realm is based on an object store. In addition, Realm “lazy
loads” data as it’s required, which provides a performance advantage over
ORMs that usually perform an initial load of all the data from SQL rows.
Realm provides support for Android, iOS (Objective-C as well as Swift),
Xamarin, and React Native. All components from the Realm Mobile
Database are available here: https://github.com/realm.
In addition to Realm, there are many other alternatives to SQLite, which
includes relational databases as well as NoSQL databases. A quick Internet
search will yield many links that will help you explore those alternatives.

File I/O and Supported Image Formats in Android

Android supports multiple binary file formats, including PNG, JPG, and
GIF. If you consider using the transparency feature for the image, the
PNG format would be a better choice.
If you need to read an image file that is part of your application, place that
file under the res/drawable folder relative to the top-level directory of
the Android project. After importing the image into this folder, a resource
ID will be generated automatically when you recompile the package. For
example, if you import the image file called sample1.jpg, the corre-
sponding entry in the Java class R.java is R.drawable.sample1 (with-
out the file extension).
The following code snippet shows you how to reference an image by its
resource ID:

Bitmap mBitmap = BitmapFactory.

decodeResource(getResources(), R.drawable.pic1);
int mPhotoWidth = mBitmap.getWidth();
int mPhotoHeight = mBitmap.getHeight();
180 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Each Android application starts with its own user and group ID, so
some file folders are accessible through a given Android application
only if they are specifically given the following access permission in
AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

The following code block ensures that the subdirectory sampleimages

exists:

String dirname = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() +

"/sampleimages/";

File sddir = new File(dirname);

if (!sddir.mkdirs()) {
if (sddir.exists()) {
}
else {
Toast.makeText(TutorialOnImages.this,
"Folder error", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
.show();
return;
}
}

The following code block saves the resulting image onto the SD card
under our folder:

try {
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(
dirname + "sample1.png");
mBitmap.compress(CompressFormat.JPEG, 75, fos);

fos.flush();
fos.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.e("MyLog", e.toString());
}

The fos variable is an instance of the FileOutStream class, and the

mBitmap variable is an instance of the Bitmap class. Notice how the com-
pression rate is set to 75%. Next, the compressed image is “flushed” to the
file system, and the stream is explicitly closed. Any error that occurs in
this code block is displayed as an error in the LogCat view.
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 181

Overview of Accessing Files in Android

Earlier in this chapter you saw code samples with file-related code with-
out delving into the details of file I/O, whereas this section contains an
overview of file-related operations in Android.
Android provides a File class that represents a file system entity that is
identified by a pathname. According to the Android documentation for
the File class:
[The File class is] An “abstract” representation of a file system
entity identified by a pathname. The pathname may be absolute
(relative to the root directory of the file system) or relative to the
current directory in which the program is running.
The actual file referenced by a File may or may not exist. It
may also, despite the name File, be a directory or other non-
regular file.
This class provides limited functionality for getting/setting file
permissions, file type, and last modified time.
NOTE A File object can reference a file, a directory, or a non-regular file.
The java.io.File class contains the methods list() and list-
Files() that you can use to list the contents of a directory. As a simple
example, the following code snippet returns the list of filenames in the
current directory:

String list = new File(".").list();

The following code snippet returns an array of File objects (where each
object is associated with one filename) in the current directory:

File arrayOfFiles = new File(".").listFiles();

In Android you can easily retrieve the list of files in a directory on the SD
card, as shown here:

File mFile = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()

+ "yourDirectory");
File myList = Arrays.asList(mFile.list());
182 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Another technique for retrieving the list of files in a directory is to use the
FileFilter class, as shown here:

File dir = new File("directoryPath");

FileFilter fileFilter = new FileFilter() {
public boolean accept(File file) {
return file.isDirectory();
}
}
File[] files = dir.listFiles(fileFilter);

The next several sections contain code samples that illustrate how to write
data to files and how to write data to the /sdcard directory of Android
devices.

Writing to Files
Listing 7.7 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which illus-
trates how to write to a file in an Android application.

LISTING 7.7 MainActivity.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.writetofile;

import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;

import static android.provider.Telephony.Mms.Part.FILENAME;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
private String TAG = "WRITEFILE";

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

String text1 = "Text for a File";

try {
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 183

OutputStreamWriter oStreamWriter =
new OutputStreamWriter(
openFileOutput(FILENAME,
Context.MODE_PRIVATE));

oStreamWriter.write(text1);
oStreamWriter.close();

Log.i(TAG, "File write successful");

}
catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "File write failed: " + e.toString());
}
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 7.7 is straightforward: a try/catch

block contains stream-related code to open a file for output and then write
a text string to that file. If an error occurs, the error message is displayed
via the Log.e() method.

Working with the SD Card

The SD Card is a storage area on an Android mobile device. All Android
applications can read or write data to the SD Card, provided that they
have the following permission in their AndroidManifest.xml file:

<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Earlier in this chapter you learned how to work with files and directories
on an Android mobile device. You can also process the contents of a direc-
tory on the SD Card, as shown here:

File file[] = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().

listFiles();
for (File f : file)
{
if (f.isDirectory()) {
// append to the list of directories
}
else {
// do something with a non-directory file
}
}
184 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

You can determine the total and available space on the SD Card by using
the StatFs and Environment classes from the android.os package, as
shown here:

StatFs statFs = new StatFs(Environment

.getExternalStorageDirectory()
.getPath());

double totalBytes = (long) statFs.getBlockSize()*

(long) statFs.getBlockCount();

double totalMB = totalBytes/1048576;

You can display the value with two decimal places via a DecimalFormat
object in java.text, as shown here:

DecimalFormat twoDecimalForm = new DecimalFormat("#.##");

If you need to create, read, or write files on the SD Card, consult the
Android documentation for sample code.

Writing PNG Files to the SD Card

This section shows you how to programmatically save a JPG file to the
sdcard on an Android device. One of the Appendices describes how
to perform various file-related tasks from the command line using the
Android adb utility (as discussed in Chapter 1). Listing 7.8 displays the
contents of the method saveImageToSDCard(), which saves JPG files to
the /sdcard directory on an Android mobile device.

LISTING 7.8 SaveImages.java
public void saveImageToSDCard(byte[] data, String targetName)
{
FileOutputStream outStream = null;
String location = "/sdcard/" +targetName;
String TAG = "saveImageToSDCard";

try {
// write to sdcard
outStream = new FileOutputStream(location);
outStream.write(data);
outStream.close();

Log.d(TAG, "Saved image to filename: " + targetName);

Log.d(TAG, "Number of bytes written: " + data.length);
}
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 185

catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
finally {}

Log.d(TAG, "saveImageToSDCard completed");

}

Listing 7.8 displays the contents of the method saveImageToSDCard()

that can be invoked (in an Android application) to save an image, and you
need to pass two parameters. The first parameter is a byte array data with
the contents of a JPG file, and the second parameter is a filename tar-
getName which will contain the contents of the byte array and is saved
under the /sdcard directory. Next, this method defines a location varia-
ble that appends the target filename to the directory /sdcard, as well as
two other variables that are used in the code.
The next portion of code consists of a standard try/catch block that
creates the output file.
You can enhance Listing 7.8 in at least two ways. First, you can generalize
this method by including a third parameter that specifies the directory
location to save a file. Note that you must check if the directory exists
and if the application has the permissions to create files in the directory.
Second, notify users when the target file already exists and give users
the option of canceling the file creation and the option to overwrite the
existing file.
The following code block illustrates how to create a directory and check
whether or not it was successfully created:

String dirname =
Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/
newdirectory/";

File sddir = new File(dirname);

if (!sddir.mkdirs())
{
if (sddir.exists())
{
// save the file here
}
else
{ Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,
"Folder creation error", Toast.LENGTH_
SHORT).show();
}
}
186 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The following projects on the companion disc contain some relevant

file-related functionality:

ReadTextFilel
SaveDataToFile
SaveTextFile

In Chapter 3 you saw an example of an AlertDialog to prompt

users for a response, which you can use in one of the aforementioned
enhancements.

Making System Calls in Android

The Android application in this section executes the system command
ps that displays the list of processes (and status-related information) that
are running on an Android mobile device. Although you can obtain infor-
mation about running processes via third-party applications that you can
install on an Android device, this is a “fun” code sample that illustrates
how you can obtain the result programmatically.
In addition, you can use this code as a starting point for code that involves
other commands. For example, the following command displays the
binary executables on an Android device:

adb shell ls /system/bin

A very short partial list of the binary executables on a Samsung Galaxy S5

includes: cat, chmod, cmp, cut, dd, df, grep, uniq, and xargs.
After you have read the code in this section, experiment with the code by
replacing the ps command with one of the preceding commands (or some
other combination). Some of the available binary executables access the
file system, which is the rationale for the inclusion of this code sample in
this chapter.
The code sample in this section uses a LinearLayout as the main layout,
and the list of processes is displayed in a ListView component. In addi-
tion, each process has its status information displayed in a TextView com-
ponent that is defined in the onerow.xml configuration file. Although
the details about streams and buffered readers are omitted, you can still
understand the overall logic and the other code details. If necessary, you
can perform an Internet search to find documentation regarding streams
and buffered readers in Java.
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 187

This code sample displays a different output on a Samsung Galaxy S5

NOTE phone with Android 6.0.1 than on a Pixel phone with Android 7.1 (root-
owned processes are not displayed in the latter).
Copy the directory ExecCommand from the companion disc to a conven-
ient location. Listing 7.9 displays the contents of MainActivity.java,
which illustrates how to obtain information about processes that are run-
ning on an Android mobile device.

LISTING 7.9 MainActivity.java

package com.iquarkt.execcommand;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class ExecCommandActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
private String TAG = "ExecCommand";
private ListView mainListView;
private ArrayAdapter<String> listAdapter;
Process process = null;
String line;
BufferedReader in = null;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

mainListView = (ListView) findViewById(R.

id.mainListView);

listAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>

(this, R.layout.onerow, new ArrayList());

runCommand();
}

private void runCommand()

{
try {
188 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("ps");

in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(

process.getInputStream()));

while((line = in.readLine()) != null) {

if(line.length() != 0) {
listAdapter.add(line);
}
}
}
catch (IOException ioex) {
ioex.printStackTrace();
}

// Set the ArrayAdapter as the adapter for ListView

mainListView.setAdapter( listAdapter );
}
}

Listing 7.9 starts with boilerplate code, followed by the onCreate()

method with the usual functionality. This method also instantiates the
variables mainListView and listAdapter that are instances of the
ListView component and the ArrayAdapter class, respectively.

The private method runCommand() starts by executing the ps command

to obtain a list of current processes on an Android device with the follow-
ing code snippet:

process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("ps");

The next step obtains a buffered input stream with all the details of the
running processes on the Android device:

in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(

process.getInputStream()));

The next portion of code contains a loop that reads one “line” at a time
from the input stream, where each “line” contains the information about
a single process. Each line of data is then added to listAdapter, as
shown here:

while((line = in.readLine()) != null) {

if(line.length() != 0) {
listAdapter.add(line);
}
}
 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 189

Note that the code in runCommand() is inside a try/catch block in

order to handle a possible IOException error (which is ignored in this
code sample).
Listing 7.10 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which con-
tains a ListView inside a LinearLayout manager.

LISTING 7.10 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">

<ListView android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:id="@+id/mainListView">
</ListView>
</LinearLayout>

The XML <ListView> element in Listing 7.10 specifies that the data
returned from the ps command will be displayed as a list of items.
However, the format for each row in the list of items needs to be specified
as well. This format is defined in Listing 7.11: it displays the contents of
onerow.xml, which contains a single TextView component.

LISTING 7.11 onerow.xml
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/
apk/res/android"
android:id="@+id/rowTextView"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textSize="16sp" >
</TextView>

Listing 7.11 defines a TextView component that specifies the format for
rendering a single row of data, where each row corresponds to a “line” of
output from the ps command.
Figure 7.2 displays the result of launching the ExecCommand project on a
Pixel phone with Android 7.1.
Figure 7.3 displays the result of launching the ExecCommand project on a
Samsung Galaxy S5 phone with Android 6.0.1.
190 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

FIGURE 7.2 A List of processes on a Pixel phone with Android 7.1.

As another example, you can display the output from the LogCat com-
mand with the following onCreate() method:

FIGURE 7.3 A List of processes on a Samsung Galaxy phone with Android 6.0.1.

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_my_log_cat);

try {
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d");

BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(

 DATA STORAGE AND FILE I/O • 191

new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));

StringBuilder log=new StringBuilder();

String line = "";

while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {

log.append(line+"\n");
}

TextView tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textView1);
tv.setText(log.toString());
}
catch (IOException e) {}
}

The preceding code block contains one code snippet that differs from
Listing 7.9:

Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d");

Keep in mind that you need to provide additional code in order to improve
the alignment of the data that is displayed on an Android device.

Summary
The first part of this chapter described how to work with content pro-
viders and loaders for Android applications. Then you saw how to create
an Android application that uses a SQLite database to persist data on a
mobile device, and also how to work with the Realm database.
Next you learned how to manage text files in Android, and also how to
store binary files on an Android device. Finally, you saw an Android
application that invokes the ps command in order to display the list of
processes that are running on an Android device.
 CHAPTER

8
ServiceS and BroadcaSt
receiverS

T
his chapter discusses Android services and Android broadcast
receivers, both of which provide useful functionality in Android
applications. One use case for an Android Service involves down-
loading music in the background. A use case for an Android Broadcast
Receiver involves detecting a change in the battery level of a mobile
device; another use case involves receiving a notification when your
Android device has rebooted.
The first part of this chapter delves into Android Services, which are suit-
able for various tasks. A Service runs in the main UI thread, and you can
launch a separate Thread in a Service in order to perform long-running
tasks. This section discusses several types of services and also contains
code samples. If you are unfamiliar with threads, read the appropriate
Appendix that discusses threads and networking, which also contains an
example of a custom Service that uses a custom thread.
The second part of this chapter discusses Broadcast Receivers, which
can respond to system-wide broadcasts as well as broadcast messages
from other Android applications on the same device. The system delivers
broadcasts for system events, and you can use a Broadcast Receiver
to receive a notification about those events. This section also contains an
example of an Android Alarm that performs a simple background task.

Android Intents, Services, and

Broadcast Receivers
As you read the material in this chapter, keep in mind the following con-
densed set of use cases, because they can help you understand the differ-
ences among various features of Android.
194 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Intent listeners are good for showing notifications. AsyncTasks provide

a reasonable solution for non-critical background tasks (on behalf of the
UI) that are completed in under one or two seconds. Services are useful
for tasks that require more than a few seconds to complete, or need to
run continuously in the background. Broadcast receivers are good for sys-
tem-related events (e.g., a device has rebooted) or sensor-related events
(e.g., the battery level has changed). In addition, if you need to execute
jobs in the background, consider the following Android library: https://
github.com/evernote/android-job.
ReactiveNetwork is an Android library that uses RxObservables (dis-
cussed in Chapter 10) to listen for network connection state and Internet
connectivity: https://github.com/pwittchen/ReactiveNetwork.
One additional point: the component types Service,
BroadcastReceiver, and ContentProvider have their own lifecycle
(simpler than the Activity lifecycle). A lifecycle is useful for memory
management of various components. Chapter 2 discusses the Activity
lifecycle, but this chapter does not delve into the details about the other
lifecycles. More information is available in the Android documentation,
and some relevant links are here:
https://developer.android.com/guide/components/services.
html#Lifecycle
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/
BroadcastReceiver.html#ReceiverLifecycle

Android Services
Android supports Services via a <service> element. Every Service in
an Android application must have its associated XML <service> ele-
ment included in AndroidManifest.xml. These XML elements are
placed as siblings of the Activity element(s).
An Android Service provides a mechanism to communicate with the
Android system regarding a background task or operation. The associated
method in this case is Context.startService(), which starts the exe-
cution of the task.
In addition, an Android Service provides a mechanism for exposing
functionality to other Android applications. The associated method in this
case is Context.bindService(), which makes available a long-lasting
connection with the Service.
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 195

An Android Service is part of the android.app package, and a custom

service is a subclass of the Android Service class. A custom Android
Service must be a subclass of android.app.Service or one of its sub-
classes (such as the Android class android.app.IntentService).
Keep in mind that a Service is a component that performs operations
without a user interface, along with other features that are discussed
later. Another important point: although a Service performs in the fore-
ground, a Service can also create and launch a custom Thread that per-
forms a task in the background. You can start a Service to perform a
one-time operation (such as downloading a file) by passing an Intent
to startService(). The Intent describes the service to start and also
provides any necessary data.
Since Android Services run in the main thread of the main process,
Android Services typically start a new thread when they need to perform
work without blocking the UI (which is handled in the main thread) of the
Android application. Thus, an Android application can “bind” to a service
through a set of APIs that are exposed by that service.
An Android Service is defined via an XML <service> element in the
XML document AndroidManifest.xml, as shown here:

<service android:name=".subpackagename.SimpleService"/>

Features of Android Services

The following list contains characteristics of Android services, some of
which have been discussed in previous sections:
„„ They are an application component
„„ They can perform long-running background tasks
„„ They do not have a user interface
„„ They cannot communicate directly with an activity
„„ They usually run in a separate thread

Android Services can run in the foreground and as well as the back-
ground. Note that Services can run in the background indefinitely, even if
the component that started the service is destroyed. In general, a service
performs a single operation and stops after completing its task. If a service
involves any long running blocking operation, it’s better to place that code
in a separate Thread, thereby avoiding an Application Not Responding
(ANR) event.
196 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Now that you have an overview of Android Services, let’s take a look at a
simple example, after which we’ll discuss the Service lifecycle methods.

A Minimalistic Android Service

This section shows you how to create a minimalistic Android application
that contains a custom Service.
Copy the directory MySimpleService from the companion disc to a
convenient location. Listing 8.1 displays the contents of MainActivity.
java, which illustrates how an Activity can communicate with a cus-
tom Service.

LISTING 8.1 MainActivity.java
package com.iquarkt.mysimpleservice;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity

{
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

// use this to start and trigger a service

Intent intent = new Intent(this, MyBasicService.class);

// add data to the intent

intent.putExtra("APP1", "A value for my service");
this.startService(intent);
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{
//getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 197

{
// Handle action bar item clicks here. The action
bar will
// automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button,
so long
// as you specify a parent activity in
AndroidManifest.xml.
int id = item.getItemId();

//noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
return true;
}

return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
}

Listing 8.1 contains familiar code. The new section of code is in the
onCreate() method, which defines an Android Intent, places some
extra information in the intent, and then involves the startService()
method.
Now let’s look at Listing 8.2, which displays the contents of the class
MyBasicService.java that illustrates how to define a custom Service
class.

LISTING 8.2 MyBasicService.java
package com.iquarkt.mysimpleservice;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.util.Log;

public class MyBasicService extends Service

{
private String TAG = "MyBasicService";

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags,
int startId)
{
String extra = intent.getStringExtra("APP1");
Log.i(TAG, "onStartCommand APP1 = "+extra);
return Service.START_NOT_STICKY;
}

@Override
198 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

public IBinder onBind(Intent intent)

{
// for communication return IBinder implementation
return null;
}
}

Listing 8.2 contains two new methods: the onStartCommand() and the
onBind() method, both of which are part of the Service lifecycle that
is discussed in the next section. The only thing that this code does is to
retrieve the “extra” information (specified on the onCreate() method in
MainActivity.java) and then use the Log.i() method to display the
value of the extra information.
Next, update AndroidManifest.xml by inserting the following code
immediately after the closing tag for the <activity> element in order to
register the custom service:

<service android:name="MyBasicService"
android:icon="@drawable/samplel"
android:label="@string/service_name">
</service>

Finally, insert this code snippet in the strings.xml file:

<string name="service_name">My Basic Service</string>

Note that if you want to display a custom icon for this application, change
the icon attribute in the <application> element, which in this case
equals sample1, and therefore refers to the sample1.png file.
Launch this application from Android Studio and deploy to an Android
device, after which you will see the familiar “Hello, World” text string on
the screen. If you list the applications on our device and search for the
MySimpleService application, you will see your custom icon if you have
made the preceding change; otherwise you will see the default Android icon.
As noted above, Listing 8.2 contains two methods that belong to the
Service class lifecycle, which are briefly discussed in the next section.

Service Lifecycle Methods

Whenever you define a custom Service, one or more of the follow-
ing superclass callback methods must be overridden, depending on the
nature of the service being created:
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 199

„„ onStartCommand()
„„ onBind()
„„ onCreate()
„„ onDestroy()
The onStartCommand() method is invoked (via the startService()
method) when the service is started by another component. This method
does not need to be implemented for bound services.
The onCreate() method, which handles initialization tasks, is invoked
before the method onStartCommand() or the initial invocation of the
onBind() method (discussed later). As you probably expect, the onDe-
stroy() method is invoked when the service is being destroyed.

The onBind() method is invoked when a component binds to the ser-

vice via a call to the bindService() method. Keep in mind the fol-
lowing detail: when you implement a bound service, this method must
return an IBinder object whose purpose is to communicate with the
client. In the case of started services, make sure that this method returns
a NULL value.
Listing 8.3 displays the contents of MyService.java, which illustrates
how to override the methods that belong to the Service lifecycle.

LISTING 8.3 MyService.java
public class MyService extends Service
{
@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return null;
}

@Override
protected void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
startservice(); // defined elsewhere
}

@Override
protected void startService() {
// insert your code here
}

@Override
protected void onStart() {
// insert your code here
}
}
200 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 8.3 shows you a minimalistic example of overriding lifecycle meth-

ods that you can use as a template for custom code.
For example, if you need to execute something on a regular basis, you
can include an instance of a Timer class that schedules and executes a
TimerTask as often as required for your application needs. In addition,
you need some code to start the Timer class as well.

Managing Android Services

You can perform various actions with an Android Service, some of which
are described in the following sections.

How to Start and Stop an Android Service

Start a Service from an Activity (or some other component) by pass-
ing an Intent to the startService() method. The Android system
then invokes the onStartCommand() method of the Service and also
passes the Intent to the Service.
For example, suppose that HelloService.java is an Android Service
class, and that the UI contains a <button> element for starting the
Service. In the click handler for the <button> element, add the follow-
ing code snippet:

Intent intent = new Intent(this, HelloService.class);

startService(intent);

When users click on the <button> element, the custom code in the
startService() method of the HelloService class is executed.

On the other hand, a Service can be stopped in two ways. The first way
is to invoke the stopSelf() method after the Service finishes its task.
The second way is to invoke the method stopService(). In this case,
the method stopService() invokes the onDestroy() method that is
defined in the custom Service.

Restricting Access to Services

You can ensure that only your Android application can access your custom
Service by including the android:exported attribute with a value of
false, as shown here:
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 201

<service android:name=".HelloService"
android:exported="false"/>
</application>

In fact, not even an explicit Intent can start the preceding service.
Set the android:exported attribute to false in order to restrict access
NOTE to a custom Service.

Types of Services
Although Android Services have a simple foundation, there are various
types of Services available, and they can become quite complex. Just to
summarize, Android supports the following types of Services:
„„ bound and unbound services
„„ sticky and non-sticky services
„„ IntentService services
The preceding services differ in terms of their lifespan, whether or not
their methods can be accessed directly from other components, and
whether or not they are restarted. The following subsections provide
more details about these Services.

Bound and Unbound Services

A bound Service is a Service that is bound to an Android com-
ponent via the bindservice() method. There are two points to
keep in mind. First, the duration of a bound service is the same as
the Android component to which it is bound. Second, the bound
Service destroys itself as soon as it is unbound from its Android
component.
In addition, a bound Service involves a ServiceConnection instance
whose methods can be invoked directly. The binding is performed via the
bindService() method, which has the following signature:

bindService(Intent, ServiceConnection, int)

By contrast, an unbound Service is started by an application component

and then runs in the background, which continues to execute even if the
original component that initiated it is destroyed. An unbound Service is
useful for playing music continuously in the background.
202 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Non-Sticky and Sticky Services

Non-sticky Services are more short-lived than a bound Service: they always
terminate after completing their task. By contrast, a bound Service termi-
nates only after it is unbound. Non-sticky Services are terminated by the
service itself via the stopSelf() method, which can take 0 or 1 arguments.
If you invoke stopSelf(), the service is stopped unconditionally; if you
invoke stopSelf(int), then the Service whose id matches the integer-
valued argument is stopped.
On the other hand, a sticky service remains “alive” until an external com-
ponent instructs the service to terminate itself. Thus, a sticky service is
similar to an unbound service; however, the former can be stopped and
restarted multiple times, whereas the latter runs continuously.

Restarting Non-Sticky and Sticky Services

The onStartCommand() callback method returns the following integer
values in the event that Android destroys a service. There are three cases
to consider, as discussed in the following:
Case #1: START_NOT_STICKY restarts a service only if there are
pending intents awaiting delivery.
Case #2: START_STICKY restarts a service as soon as possible if it
was destroyed after the onStartCommand() method returned.
If there are no pending intents waiting to be delivered, the
onStartCommand() callback method is called with a NULL
intent value. The intent being processed at the time that the ser-
vice was destroyed is discarded.
Case #3: START_REDELIVER_INTENT restarts a service that was
destroyed after returning from the onStartCommand() callback
method, using the current intent redelivered to the onStart-
Command() method, followed by any pending intents.

JobScheduler
The Android JobScheduler class provides APIs for scheduling various
types of jobs that will be executed in the same process as your application.
For example, you can extend the JobScheduler class in order to batch
network requests in order to improve the performance of your Android
application. The JobScheduler class is an abstract class that is available
from API level 21.
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 203

The JobScheduler API provides an interface for scheduling back-

ground tasks when certain tasks apply. The prerequisites for using the
JobScheduler API are here:
„„ Android SDK 25
„„ Android Build Tools v25.0.2
„„ Android Support Repository
The JobInfo class is used for scheduling Job requests via the
JobScheduler, and more information about this class is here: https://
developer.android.com/reference/android/app/job/JobInfo.html.
Now download the code from this repository: https://github.com/
googlesamples/android-JobScheduler.
Listing 8.4 displays the contents of AndroidManifest.xml with <per-
mission> elements and a <service> element that are shown in bold.

LISTING 8.4 AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
Copyright 2013 The Android Open Source Project
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
"License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the
License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in
writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS
IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either
express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing
permissions and
limitations under the License.
-->

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/
apk/res/android"
package="com.example.android.jobscheduler" >

<!-- Min/target SDK versions (<uses-sdk>) managed

by build.gradle -->

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.
INTERNET" />
204 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_
COMPLETED" />

<application
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.
action.MAIN" />
<category
android:name="android.intent.
category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>

<service
android:name=".service.MyJobService"
android:permission="android.permission.
BIND_JOB_SERVICE"
android:exported="true"/>
</application>
</manifest>

Listing 8.4 contains boilerplate code and a <service> element that refer-
ences the class MyJobService. As you can see, the <service> element
specifies the permission android.permission.BIND_JOB_SERVICE,
and the Android documentation states that: “If a job service is declared in
the manifest but not protected with this permission, that service will be
ignored by the OS.”
Additional information about the JobScheduler class and the
JobService class is here:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/job/
JobScheduler.html
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/job/JobService.
html

A good blog post that provides more detailed information about various
options for a JobScheduler is here: http://toastdroid.com/2015/02/21/
how-to-use-androids-job-scheduler/.
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 205

This concludes the Service-related portion of this chapter. The remain-

der of this chapter discusses Broadcast Receivers, along with code sam-
ples that contain both Services and Broadcast Receivers.

Android Broadcast Receivers

A Broadcast Receiver (part of the android.content package) is a pub-
lish-and-subscribe system that is based on an Intent. In a sense, the pur-
pose of an Android BroadcastReceiver is to “listen” to Android Intents.
A Broadcast Intent is a system-wide intent that is sent to all applica-
tions that have registered an interested Broadcast Receiver. When
the Android system sends Broadcast intents to indicate changes on a
device, Android applications that contain a corresponding <receiver>
element can handle those Broadcast events.
For example, you can define an Android Broadcast Receiver that
receives a notification when your Android device is rebooted or when
the battery level has changed (shown later in this chapter). Note that a
Broadcast Receiver is defined via a <receiver> element that must
be included in AndroidManifest.xml.
You can also think of a broadcast as simply a message that any applica-
tion can receive. The Android system delivers different broadcasts for
different system events, which can be delivered to other applications by
passing an Intent to sendBroadcast(), sendOrderedBroadcast(),
or sendStickyBroadcast() methods.
With the preceding points in mind, let’s take a look at a basic broadcast
receiver, which is the topic of the next section.

A Simple Broadcast Receiver

The code samples in this section contain two Java classes: MainActivity.
java (which is the main Activity class) and MyBroadcastReceiver.
java (which is launched from the main Activity class).

Copy the directory MySimpleBroadcastReceiver from the com-

panion disc to a convenient location. Listing 8.5 displays the contents
of MainActivity.java, which prompts users for an input string, and
when they click the “send” button, this class invokes a custom Broadcast
Receiver that displays the transmitted text string as a “toast.”
206 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

After creating these two Java classes, you will see how to register the
custom Broadcast Receiver in AndroidManifest.xml and update
activity_main.xml with an <EditText> element for user input and a
<Button> element to submit the text string.

LISTING 8.5 MainActivity.java
package com.iquarkt.mysimplebroadcastreceiver;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;

public class MainActivity extends Activity

{
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
return true;
}

public void broadcastCustomIntent(View view)

{
Intent intent = new Intent("MyCustomIntent");

EditText editText =
(EditText)findViewById(R.id.intent_data);

// add data to the Intent

intent.putExtra("message",
(CharSequence)editText.getText().toString());

intent.setAction(
"com.iquarkt.mysimplebroadcastreceiver.
A_CUSTOM_INTENT");

// send the string...

sendBroadcast(intent);
}
}
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 207

Listing 8.5 contains familiar boilerplate code, and the relevant code is
specified in the broadcastCustomIntent method. When users click
the Button component, this method reads the text string supplied by
users and populates the message property with that text string. This
method also sets the “action” to a custom string via the setAction()
method, and this custom string is required in Listing 8.5 in order to cor-
rectly match the launched Intent. The final portion of this method spec-
ifies the action property and then invokes the sendBroadcast() method
with the populated Intent.
One more detail: Listing 8.5 does not contain click-related code because
the XML file activity_main.xml (displayed in Listing 8.6) specifies that
the method broadcastCustomIntent will be invoked when users click
on the Button control, as shown here:

<Button android:id="@+id/startBroadcastButton"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_below="@+id/intentdatat"
android:onClick="broadcastCustomIntent"
android:text="@string/myBroadcastIntent" />

The Java class MyBroadcastReceiver.java in this Android applica-

tion processes the Intent that is launched from MainActivity.java
in Listing 8.5.
Listing 8.6 displays the contents of MyBroadcastReceiver.java, which
provides some “skeleton” code for the definition of a custom Android
BroadcastReceiver class.

LISTING 8.6 MyBroadcastReceiver.java
package com.iquarkt.mybroadcastreceiver;

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MyBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver

{
@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
// Extract data included in the Intent
CharSequence intentData =
208 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

intent.getCharSequenceExtra("message");

Toast.makeText(context,
"Message from Intent: "+intentData,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}

Listing 8.6 contains the onReceive() method that has a Context argu-
ment and an Intent argument. The Intent argument contains the text
string that users entered in the EditText control, and the getChar-
SequenceExtra() method is used to extract that text string (as a
CharSequence instead of a String). Next, the onReceive() method
launches a Toast via the makeText() method in order to display the
users’ text string in the form of a Toast.
Listing 8.7 displays the contents of AndroidManifest.xml, which reg-
isters the custom Broadcast Receiver.

LISTING 8.7 AndroidManifest.xml
package com.iquarkt.mybroadcastreceiver;
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/
android"
package="com.iquarkt.mysimplebroadcastreceiver" >

<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.
category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>

<receiver android:name="MyBroadcastReceiver">
<intent-filter>
<action
android:name="com.iquarkt.
mysimplebroadcastreceiver.A_CUSTOM_INTENT">
</action>
</intent-filter>
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 209

</receiver>
</application>

</manifest>

Listing 8.7 contains a <receiver> element that specifies the custom

Broadcast Receiver that is defined in MyBroadcastReceiver.
java. The <receiver> element also contains an <intent-
filter> child element that in turn contains an <action> child element.
The <action> element contains a name property whose value is the
same custom string that is specified in Listing 8.6.
Lastly, Listing 8.8 displays the contents of activity_main.xml, which
contains an EditText control and a Button control.

LISTING 8.8 activity_main.xml
<receiver android:name="MySimpleBroadcastReceiver">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="com.iquarkt.
mysimplebroadcastreceiver.A_CUSTOM_INTENT">
</action>
</intent-filter>
</receiver>

<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity">

<EditText android:id="@+id/intent_data"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:hint="@string/send_message" />

<Button
android:id="@+id/startBroadcastButton"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_below="@+id/intentdata"
android:onClick="broadcastCustomIntent"
android:text="@string/myBroadcastIntent" />
</RelativeLayout>
210 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 8.8 contains basic layout details, as well as the onClick attribute
for the Button control that specifies the method broadcastCustom-
Intent() in Listing 8.5 as the method to be executed whenever users
click on the Button control.

Alarms
The code sample in this section shows you how to create an
Android Alarm that uses an Android Toast as well as an Android
Notification.

Earlier you saw how to create an Android Alert in an Android applica-

tion, which you can use for simple situations (somewhat analogous to an
alert in JavaScript). On the other hand, an Android Alarm is something
that you can schedule to execute at some point in the future (comparable
to setting an alarm clock). Although an Android Alarm is conceptually
simple (i.e., do something at a future point in time), the code is more
complex than the code for an Android Alert.
The code in this Android application requires two Java classes. The Java
class that schedules an alarm is SimpleAlarm1.java. The Java class
ReceiveAlarm1.java contains code that executes the alarm-related
code at the appropriate point in time. In this code sample, the code in
ReceiveAlarm1.java displays a toast-based message on the screen.

Copy the directory MySimpleAlarm from the companion disc to a con-

venient location. Listing 8.9 displays the contents of SimpleAlarm1.
java, which illustrates how to define an Alarm in Android.

LISTING 8.9 SimpleAlarm1.java
package com.iquarkt.gui;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.AlarmManager;
import android.app.Notification;
import android.app.NotificationManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 211

import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.Calendar;

public class SimpleAlarm1 extends Activity

{
private int APP_NOTIFICATION_ID = 123;
private int alarmDelay = 5; // seconds
private Toast mToast;
private NotificationManager nm;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

Button button = (Button) findViewById(R.

id.set_alarm_button);
button.setOnClickListener(this.onClickListener);
}

private void showNotification(int statusBarIconID,

int statusBarTextID,
int detailedTextID,
boolean showIconOnly)
{
Log.i("showNotification ", "showNotification");

Intent contentIntent = new Intent(this,

SimpleAlarm1.class);
PendingIntent theappIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(
SimpleAlarm1.this, 0,
contentIntent, 0);

CharSequence from = "Alarm Manager";

CharSequence message = "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ";

String tickerText =
showIconOnly ? null : this.
getString(statusBarTextID);

Notification notif = new Notification(statusBarIconID,

tickerText,
System.
currentTimeMillis());

notif.setLatestEventInfo(this, from, message,

theappIntent);

notif.setLatestEventInfo(this, from, message,

theappIntent);
212 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

this.nm.notify(this.APP_NOTIFICATION_ID, notif);
}

private OnClickListener onClickListener = new

OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View v) {
Intent intent =
new Intent(SimpleAlarm1.this,
ReceiveAlarm.class);

PendingIntent appIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(

SimpleAlarm1.this, 0, intent, 0);

Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();

calendar.setTimeInMillis(System.
currentTimeMillis());
calendar.add(Calendar.SECOND, alarmDelay);

AlarmManager am =
(AlarmManager) getSystemService(Context.
ALARM_SERVICE);

am.set(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP,
calendar.getTimeInMillis(),
appIntent);

// first cancel any active Toast:

if(SimpleAlarm1.this.mToast != null) {
SimpleAlarm1.this.mToast.cancel();
}

// now create and launch a new Toast:

SimpleAlarm1.this.mToast = Toast.makeText(SimpleAlarm1.this,
R.string.alarm_message,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
SimpleAlarm1.this.mToast.show();
}
};
}

The first part of Listing 8.9 contains an extensive list of import

statements, some of which are needed for alarm-related and
notification-related functionality. The method onCreate() obtains a
reference to a Button component and then sets a listener that is defined
later in the code.
Next, the private method showNotification() handles the details
of instantiating an Android Intent that sends the notification-
related information to the Android device.
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 213

The private inner class onClickListener contains the method

onClick() that is executed whenever users click on the lone Android
Button component in this Android application. This method instan-
tiates an Intent called intent that is used to create an Android
PendingIntent called appIntent, as shown here:

PendingIntent appIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(

SimpleAlarm1.this, 0, intent, 0);

The next portion of this method creates a Calendar instance called cal-
endar and an AlarmManager instance called am in order to set the time
at which the alarm will be invoked, as shown here:

am.set(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP,
calendar.getTimeInMillis(),
appIntent);

The final portion of the onClick() method uses conditional logic to

determine whether or not to display a toast-based message, as shown here:

SimpleAlarm1.this.mToast = Toast.makeText(SimpleAlarm1.this,
R.string.alarm_message,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
SimpleAlarm1.this.mToast.show();

Listing 8.10 displays the contents of ReceiveAlarm1.java, which

illustrates how to define a Java class that receives an alarm from the
SimpleAlarm1 class in Listing 8.8.

LISTING 8.10 ReceiveAlarm1.java
package com.iquarkt.gui;

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class ReceiveAlarm extends BroadcastReceiver

{
@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
Log.i("onReceive: ", "received intent2");
214 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Toast.makeText(context,
"hello from
received alarm",
Toast.
LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}

As you can see, Listing 8.10 is much

simpler than Listing 8.9. The first part
of Listing 8.10 contains some boiler-
plate code with various import state-
ments. The next portion of Listing 8.10
involves the method onReceive()
that is invoked when a broadcast event
is received, which in this example dis-
plays a toast-based message.
Figure 8.1 displays the result of
launching the Alarm1 project on a
FIGURE 8.1 An Alarm in an Android
Pixel phone with Android 7.1. Application.

Accessing the Battery

This section contains a code sample that reads the battery level of a mobile
device via a Broadcast Receiver.
Copy the directory SimpleBattery1 from the companion disc to a con-
venient location. Listing 8.11 displays the contents of SimpleBattery1.
java, which illustrates how to read the battery level of a mobile device
from an Android application.

LISTING 8.11 SimpleBattery1.java
package com.example.simplebattery1;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.IntentFilter;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends Activity

 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 215

{
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

//Set layout we created

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

//Register the receiver that triggers an

//event when the battery charge is changed
registerReceiver(mBatInfoReceiver, new IntentFilter(
Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED));
}

//Create Broadcast Receiver Object and class definition

private BroadcastReceiver mBatInfoReceiver =
new BroadcastReceiver() {
@Override
//When Event is published, onReceive method is called
public void onReceive(Context c, Intent i) {
//Get Battery percentage
int level = i.getIntExtra("level", 0);

//Find the progressbar creating in main.xml

ProgressBar pb =
(ProgressBar) findViewById(R.
id.progressbar);

//Set progress level with battery percentage value

pb.setProgress(level);

//Find textview control created in main.xml

TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.
id.textfield);

//Set TextView with text

tv.setText("Battery Level: "+Integer.
toString(level)+"%");
}
};

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}
}

The onCreate() method in Listing 8.11 registers a broadcast receiver

that responds to changes in the battery by specifying mBatInfoRe-
ceiver, which is an instance of the BroadcastReceiver class that is
216 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

defined later in the code. The onCreate() method also specifies an

IntentFilter with the ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED event, as shown
here:

registerReceiver(mBatInfoReceiver, new IntentFilter(

Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED));

The next portion of Listing 8.11 instantiates mBatInfoReceiver and

overrides the method onReceive() in order to render the current value
of the battery whenever it has changed. This method references the two
UI components that are defined in Listing 8.12.

LISTING 8.12 activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<TextView
android:id="@+id/textfield"
android:layout_marginTop="40dip"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"/>

<ProgressBar
android:id="@+id/progressbar"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="20dip"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:minWidth="200dip"
android:minHeight="100dip"
android:max="100"
style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"/>
</LinearLayout>

Listing 8.12 contains an XML <LinearLayout> root element that con-

tains an XML <TextView> element and an XML <ProgressBar> child
element that are used for displaying the battery level as a decimal value
and as a percentage of the progress bar, respectively.
 SERVICES AND BROADCAST RECEIVERS • 217

Application Shortcuts (Android 7)

The Android SDK (API 25) provides an example of “app” shortcuts, which
you can also download from here: https://github.com/googlesamples/
android-AppShortcuts/.
Download the code (or clone the repository) in a convenient location,
after which you will see that the Java-related directory contains four Java
classes:
„„ Main.java
„„ MyReceiver.java
„„ ShortcutHelper.java
„„ Utils.java
Listing 8.13 displays the contents of MyReceiver.java, which illustrates
how to set up app shortcuts in an Android application.

LISTING 8.13 MyReceiver.java
*
* Copyright (C) 2016 The Android Open Source Project
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
"License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with
the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in
writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an
"AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either
express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing
permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
package com.example.android.appshortcuts;

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
218 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

import android.content.Intent;
import android.util.Log;

public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver

{
private static final String TAG = Main.TAG;

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
Log.i(TAG, "onReceive: " + intent);

if (Intent.ACTION_LOCALE_CHANGED.equals(intent.
getAction()))
{
// Refresh all shortcut to update the labels
// (Right now shortcut labels don't contain
// localized strings though)
new ShortcutHelper(context).
refreshShortcuts(/*force=*/ true);
}
}
}

Listing 8.13 extends the BroadcastReceiver class, and also overrides

the method onReceive that displays a log message via the Log.i()
method and uses conditional logic to determine when to create a new
instance of the custom ShortcutHelper class (not shown here) to
refresh the list of available shortcuts.
You can deploy this application to an Android device that supports version
7.x of Android.

Summary
This chapter discussed Android Services, their lifecycle, and also an
example of creating a custom Service in an Android application. Next
you learned about Android Broadcast Receivers, and a simple example of
implementing a Broadcast Receiver. You also saw how to use a Broadcast
Receiver to receive a notification whenever the battery levels change on
an Android device.
 CHAPTER

9
ANDROID VR, TV,
AUTO, AND THINGS

T
his chapter contains an introduction to an assortment of Android
topics, including Android VR (Virtual Reality), Android TV,
Android Auto, and Android Things (formerly Android IoT).
There are a few things (such as limitations) that you need to know before
delving into the material. First of all, this chapter provides a cursory intro-
duction to VR. If you plan to acquire a deeper knowledge of VR, the last
part of the VR section makes a recommendation based on a high-level
comparison between Google VR and Unity.
In addition, some code samples require Android 7 (Nougat), and the
screenshots for those code samples are from a Google Pixel phone. Since
the Pixel phone is designed to work with the DayDream headset, we’ve
used a Pixel to generate screenshots in this chapter. In addition, you will
only be able to see the full VR effects and the 360-degree panorama of
Macchu Picchu, Peru on a Pixel phone (or one with comparable power).
Moreover, the Google VR code samples require a Google “certified”
phone, and the setup with the Pixel phone is straightforward. However,
if you don’t have a Pixel phone, it’s possible to use a Nexus 6P (see the
online documentation for the setup steps) with Android VR, as well as
Android-based simulators to view the code samples.
The first part of this chapter provides a modest overview of some features
of Android VR (Virtual Reality), which you can view on Google Cardboard
(about USD 35) and also with the Google DayDream headset (about USD
80). This section also discusses portions of an Android VR application that
220 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

is available in a Github repository. The companion disc for this chapter

contains several video files running on a Pixel phone, including one of
Macchu Picchu in Peru, which illustrates a 360-degree panoramic view.
The second part of this chapter discusses Android TV, along with a code
sample that you can create in Android Studio. As you will see, Android TV
applications make significant use of Android Fragments (which are dis-
cussed in Chapter 3). The code sample for Android TV can be rendered on
an Android device by installing a simulator, which is an Android apk that is
part of the Android SDK.
The third part of this chapter discusses how to create Android Auto appli-
cations in Android Studio. Android Auto applications can be created for
music and also for messaging, and this section contains code samples for
both types. Furthermore, the code samples can also be rendered on an
Android device by installing a simulator, which is another Android apk in
the Android SDK.
The fourth part of this chapter discusses Android Things, which is a suc-
cessor to Brillo. The code sample in this section consists of a template
that is based on a Github repository, and there is no emulation involved
for this code sample.
The fifth (optional) portion of this chapter introduces you to TensorFlow,
which is an open-source tool from Google or machine learning. You will
see where to download the TensorFlow code, how to build an Android
apk, and then how to deploy TensorFlow to an Android device. (An iOS
version for TensorFlow is available as well.)

Android VR (Virtual Reality)

One of the goals of this section is to provide information for config-
uring a Pixel phone with Daydream and Cardboard, along with some
screenshots of VR applications, and also discuss a section of code in a
VR application.
If you are new to Virtual Reality, you can learn about the con-
cepts by reading an article such as this Wikipedia article: https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality.
In brief, Google Daydream is an Android-powered VR platform that
involves hardware and software. Daydream is more advanced than
Cardboard (released two years earlier), which consists of a very inexpen-
sive headset.
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 221

The Daydream headset (made of lightweight fabric) is paired with a

controller, along with a Pixel phone (other options are possible) that is
mounted in the Daydream headset. You launch a VR application on the
phone, and the controller enables you to navigate around the available
menu options that are displayed in the headset.
If you are able to view the Google VR applications in a DayDream headset,
you will immediately notice that they move slightly whenever you hover
over any of them with the controller: this behavior is called a parallax effect.
The VR applications in the Play Store will provide motion intensity ratings.
DayDream-compatible phones have low persistence display, no “ghosting”
effects, low latency, the ability to render at 60fps, and high quality sen-
sors. Android 7.x utilizes the sensors on a Pixel phone with head-tracking
algorithms.
Incidentally, Google services such as YouTube, Street View, Play Movies,
Play Store, and Google Photos will be available through dedicated VR
applications.

Android VR SDK
The Android VR SDK supports both Daydream and Cardboard, with an
API to create applications. A more complex API is available that supports
Daydream-ready phones and the Daydream controller. The Android VR
SDK can handle various VR development tasks such as:
„„ Lens distortion correction
„„ Spatial audio
„„ Head tracking
„„ 3D calibration
„„ Side-by-side rendering
„„ Stereo geometry configuration
„„ User input event handling
The Google VR NDK for Android provides a C/C++ API for develop-
ers writing native code (not covered in this chapter). After creating such
applications, deploy them to a Pixel phone and then insert the phone into
the DayDream headset or the Cardboard viewer.

Configuring Android DayDream and Cardboard

First navigate to the Google Play Store and install the Google DayDream
application on an Android Pixel phone. Next, pair the DayDream
222 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

application with the DayDream headset by following the prompts of

the set-up program. You also need to pair the remote control with the
DayDream headset. In both cases, the built-in software provides prompts
for you to follow during the setup process.
Similar setup steps are required for Cardboard: navigate to the
Google Play Store and install the Google Cardboard application on
an Android device. In fact, most Cardboard devices have a QRcode
that takes you to the correct location in the Google Play Store. Pair the
Cardboard application with Cardboard; note that no setup is nec-
essary for a remote control device, such as the one that accompanies
DayDream.

The Android VR Sample Applications

Download the Google VR SDK and NDK by cloning the following repos-
itory: https://github.com/googlevr/gvr-android-sdk.git.
The SDK libraries of the repository are .aar files in the libraries
directory.
The sample projects are in the samples directory as Gradle projects
ready for Android Studio. Currently the following projects are available
(the ndk-based samples involve C++ code):
ndk-controllerpaint
ndk-treasurehunt
sdk-controllerclient
sdk-simplepanowidget
sdk-simplevideowidget
sdk-treasurehunt
sdk-videoplayer

Two sample applications demonstrate the VR View functionality in the

SDK: simplepanowidget and simplevideowidget. Both samples are
single-activity applications that display an embedded panoramic image or
video using VrPanoramaView and VrVideoView, respectively.

Pixel Phone and Android VR Screenshots

The screenshots in this section are from the Android VR projects in the
gvr-android-sdk-master directory that you downloaded from Github
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 223

FIGURE 9.1 Android Studio launch options for the VR projects.

in the previous section. The screenshots were taken via Vysor, which
is a Chrome extension that allows you to “mirror” the contents of an
Android device on a MacBook (and vice versa). As you navigate around
your Android device, you will see the contents updated on your MacBook
(and vice versa).
The code samples in previous chapters
contain single Android Studio projects.
By contrast, the VR code samples in this
section are in the top-level directory
gvr-android-sdk-master, and you
can launch different projects at runtime
in Android Studio. For your conveni-
ence, Figure 9.1 displays a screenshot of
a section of Android Studio that displays
the list of the VR projects after you navi-
gate to Run > Run.
Figure 9.2 displays a screenshot with the
simplepanowidget project rendered
on a Pixel phone.
Figure 9.3 displays a screenshot with the
treasurehunt project rendered on a
Pixel phone.
Figure 9.4 displays a screenshot with the
FIGURE 9.2 Pixel Phone and the simplevideowidget VR project ren-
simplepanowidget VR project. dered on a Pixel phone.
224 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

FIGURE 9.3 Pixel Phone and the treasurehunt VR project.

Figure 9.5 displays a screenshot with the controllerclient VR project

rendered on a Pixel phone.

The next section discusses some of the code samples associated with the
screenshots in this section.

FIGURE 9.4 Pixel Phone and the FIGURE 9.5 Pixel Phone and the
simplevideowidget VR project. controllerclient VR project.
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 225

Android VR Code Samples

This section contains code blocks from some of the VR projects whose
screenshots are shown in the previous section.
Important: In Android Studio make sure that you open the top-level direc-
tory gvr-android-sdk-master and not the individual projects. The top-
level directory contains a build.gradle file that specifies various resources
that are required for the sample projects, whereas the build.gradle file in
each project contains project-specific information.
The Android VR sample projects allow users to view different parts of
the panorama by rotating their phone. The simplevideowidget sam-
ple also allows users to pause and play their video by tapping on the VR
View, and seek through the video using the slider. The samples expose the
fullscreen mode and Cardboard mode buttons in the VR View that allow
users to change modes.
Listing 9.1 displays the contents of the onCreate() method from the
Java file SimpleVrVideoActivity.java that is included in the project.

LISTING 9.1 SimpleVrVideoActivity.java
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main_layout);

seekBar = (SeekBar) findViewById(R.id.seek_bar);

seekBar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new SeekBarListener());
statusText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.status_text);

// Make the source link clickable.

TextView sourceText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.source);
sourceText.setText(Html.fromHtml(getString(R.
string.source)));
sourceText.setMovementMethod(LinkMovementMethod.
getInstance());

// Bind input and output objects for the view.

videoWidgetView = (VrVideoView) findViewById(R.
id.video_view);
videoWidgetView.setEventListener(new
ActivityEventListener());

volumeToggle = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.

id.volume_toggle);
volumeToggle.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View v) {
226 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

setIsMuted(!isMuted);
}
});

loadVideoStatus = LOAD_VIDEO_STATUS_UNKNOWN;

// Initial launch of the app or an

// Activity recreation due to rotation
handleIntent(getIntent());
}

Listing 9.1 displays the onCreate() method that simply references the
UI components in the main XML layout file, and also defines relevant lis-
teners. For example, the TextView component has a motion-associated
listener, whereas the VrVideoView component has an associated event
listener.
Listing 9.2 displays a portion of the contents of main_layout.xml, which
is associated with this VR project.

LISTING 9.2 main_layout.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ScrollView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/
apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="@android:color/white">

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:id="@+id/main_layout"
android:padding="10dip"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<TextView
android:id="@+id/title"
style="@style/ContentText"
android:textSize="@dimen/title_text_size"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textColor="@color/textDark"
android:text="@string/title" />

<com.google.vr.sdk.widgets.video.VrVideoView
android:id="@+id/video_view"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:scrollbars="@null"
android:layout_height="250dip"/>
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 227

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal" >
<!-- Seeking UI & progress indicator.-->
<SeekBar
android:id="@+id/seek_bar"
style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleHorizontal"
android:layout_height="32dp"
android:layout_weight="8"
android:layout_width="0dp"/>
<ImageButton
android:background="@android:color/transparent"
android:id="@+id/volume_toggle"
android:paddingTop="4dp"
android:paddingStart="0dp"
android:layout_width="0dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:src="@drawable/volume_on"/>
</LinearLayout>
// omitted elements are on the companion disc
</LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

Listing 9.2 contains a top-level <ScrollView> element that contains

several child elements, including a <LinearLayout> element (the other
elements are not shown). The <LinearLayout> element contains a
<TextView> element and a <VrVideoView> element (shown in bold)
and then another <LinearLayout> element.
You can also create VR applications in Android Studio, which
involves updating the contents of build.gradle, creating mod-
ules, and importing library files. Detailed instructions are here:
https://developers.google.com/vr/android/get-started#start_your_
own_project.

Android VR SDK and OpenGL versus Unity/Unreal

Now that you have read about Android VR and have seen some examples,
this section provides information that will help you decide how to delve
further into VR.
First, the Android VR SDK provides a number of Java interfaces and
classes that deal mostly with stereoscopic rendering and head tracking.
However, this SDK does not provide any functionality for building 3D
228 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

applications. One alternative involves the use of OpenGL directly (which

is a complicated technology, especially for beginners), and another alter-
native is to use a game engine (such as jMonkey).
The Android VR SDK for Android provides access to Android (Nougat)
native-level OS APIs for VR. These APIs will be available in Android
Nougat phones (such as the Pixel phone) to provide Daydream-ready
capability. Developers who use the Android VR NDK will use a C/C++
API to write native code. In addition, developers who are familiar with
OpenGL can quickly create VR applications using the Android VR SDK.
The development kit simplifies a number of common tasks, such as lens
distortion correction, spatial audio, head tracking, 3D calibration, and so
forth.
The Android VR SDK for Unity provides access to the API that plugs in
with the Unity game engine, which is an extremely powerful 3D graphics
engine with strong mobile support. Developers who use the Google VR
SDK can do the following:
1) “prefab” a new VR Unity project from scratch
2) adapt existing Unity 3D apps to VR
3) create apps that can easily swap in and out of VR mode
The SDK also has many additional features specific to the Unity engine,
such as simulating head movement with a mouse, controlling approximate
field-of-view, and so forth.
By contrast, the Unity SDK is a plugin for the Unity 3D game engine,
which is fully featured for creating 3D applications. Developers who cur-
rently use Unity can create Cardboard applications simply by attaching
one script to the main camera. The Unity plugin “sits” on top of the
Android SDK and basically translates it from Java to C# in Unity, and
also adds some extra features such as gaze control.
Conclusion: Developing VR applications with Unity will be considera-
bly easier for most new developers.

Useful Links
The following link shows you how to create a VR video: http:
//mashable.com/2016/04/20/lg-360-cam-camera-review/#GCsZJ0DfAuqp.
Play the VR in an Android VR video viewer in an Activity, as described
here: https://developers.google.com/vr/concepts/vrview.
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 229

A Reddit link with additional information about VR: https://

www.reddit.com/r/GoogleCardboard/comments/39jnyo/
new_to_vr_development_what_is_the_difference/.
The next section gives you an overview of Android TV, along with instruc-
tions for creating Android TV applications in Android Studio.

Android TV
Android Studio enables you to create Android TV applications, which
rely on Android Fragments and Lists. Fragments are very useful in
these applications, especially for reducing the amount of time to load
different videos in a section of an Activity (i.e., for performance
reasons).
Google released the TV Input Framework (TIF), which is an easier
alternative for creating Android applications for Android TV. The TIF
provides an API for creating TV Input Modules and live TV search and
recommendations, where the latter facilitates meeting regional digital TV
broadcast standards.
The TIF provides implementations of various TV input service features,
along with various components, such as HDMI-CEC, TV Input, and TV
Input HAL. For more information about building Android TV appli-
cations, navigate to the website developer.android.com and search for
“Building Apps for TV.”

Useful Links
A video for Android TV: https://developer.android.com/training/tv/index.
html.
Android TV documentation: https://developer.android.com/
training/tv/tif/tvinput.html.
A sample Android TV application on Github: https://github.com/
googlesamples/androidtv-sample-inputs.

Android TV Applications
Before we look at a code block in an Android TV application, this section
provides a condensed description of what you will encounter when you
230 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

create Android TV applications. Android TV applications that are created

in Android Studio consist of the following thirteen Java files:
„„ BrowseErrorActivity.java
„„ CardPresenter.java
„„ DetailsActivity.java
„„ DetailsDescriptionPresenter.java
„„ ErrorFragment.java
„„ MainActivity.java
„„ MainFragment.java
„„ Movie.java
„„ MovieList.java
„„ PlaybackOverlayActivity.java
„„ PlaybackOverlayFragment.java
„„ Utils.java
„„ VideoDetailsFragment.java
The preceding list of Java files contain a total of nearly 1800 lines of code
(which does not include any custom code), so obviously this section is
limited to a cursory description of their contents.
Four of those Java classes contain Android Fragments, and another four
Java classes contain Android Activitys. The class MainActivity.java
contains pure boilerplate code that is automatically generated during the
creation of the project. The onCreate() method sets the content to the
layout file activity_main.xml that “defers” to MainFragment.java,
which contains UI initialization code.
The class VideoDetailsFragment.java creates an instance
of the class PlaybackOverlayActivity for video playback
that handles user events and sets the content to the playback_
controls.xml layout file.

The layout file playback_controls.xml contains a VideoView com-

ponent (an example of this component is discussed in Chapter 6) and a
Fragment component (Fragments are discussed in Chapter 3) in order to
play a selected video.
The remaining Java classes contain an assortment of functionality, such
as handling errors and displaying lists of movies. Now let’s take a look at
how to create an Android TV application, which is discussed in the next
section.
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 231

Creating Android TV Applications

Launch Android Studio and create an Android TV application and select
only the option for TV, which will generate the project files that you saw
in an earlier section.
When you create a new Android TV application in Android Studio, make
NOTE
sure that you select only the option for TV (i.e., deselect tablet).
Alternatively, copy the directory AndroidTV from the companion disc
to a convenient location. Listing 9.3 displays some of the methods in
MainFragment.java. Keep in mind that the code below will only give
you a flavor of one section of the code sample.

LISTING 9.3 MainFragment.java
@Override
public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
Log.i(TAG, "onCreate");
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);

prepareBackgroundManager();
setupUIElements();
loadRows();
setupEventListeners();
}

private void loadRows()

{
List<Movie> list = MovieList.setupMovies();

mRowsAdapter = new ArrayObjectAdapter(new

ListRowPresenter());
CardPresenter cardPresenter = new CardPresenter();

int i;
for (i = 0; i < NUM_ROWS; i++) {
if (i != 0) {
Collections.shuffle(list);
}

ArrayObjectAdapter listRowAdapter =
new ArrayObjectAdapter(cardPresenter);

for (int j = 0; j < NUM_COLS; j++) {

232 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

listRowAdapter.add(list.get(j % 5));
}

HeaderItem header =
new HeaderItem(i, MovieList.MOVIE_CATEGORY[i]);

mRowsAdapter.add(new ListRow(header, listRowAdapter));

}

HeaderItem gridHeader = new HeaderItem(i, "PREFERENCES");

GridItemPresenter mGridPresenter = new GridItemPresenter();

ArrayObjectAdapter gridRowAdapter =
new ArrayObjectAdapter(mGridPresenter);

gridRowAdapter.add(
getResources().getString(R.string.grid_view));

gridRowAdapter.add(getString(R.string.error_fragment));

gridRowAdapter.add(
getResources().getString(R.string.personal_settings));

mRowsAdapter.add(new ListRow(gridHeader, gridRowAdapter));

setAdapter(mRowsAdapter);
}

FIGURE 9.6 An Android TV app on a Pixel phone with Android 7.1.

 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 233

Listing 9.3 contains the onActivityCreated() method that acts as an

“initializer” by invoking several other methods to set up a manager, UI
components, initialize lists, and set up event listeners.
Next, the loadRows() method starts by initializing the list variable with
a set of movies, followed by an adapter called mRowsAdapter for the list
of movies. The next part of loadRows() contains a loop that in essence
constructs a displayable list of movies based on the category of each movie.
There is a considerable amount of additional code in this sample project
that has not been discussed here, which you need to read if you want a more
thorough understanding of the inner workings of this sample application.
Figure 9.6 displays the result of launching the AndroidTV project on a
Pixel phone with Android 7.1.

Android Auto Applications

Android Auto applications involve <service> elements (discussed in
Chapter 8), <receiver> elements (also discussed in Chapter 8), and also
a Thread/Handler class (see Appendix C). Review the appropriate sec-
tions of Chapter 8 and Appendix C before you delve into the code details
of Android Auto Applications.
In addition, before you can use the Simulator for Android Auto applica-
tions, you need to install the Desktop Head Unit (DHU), which is dis-
cussed in the next section.
You can create two types of Android Auto applications in Android Studio:
one type is for music and the other type is for messaging. Subsequent
sections briefly discuss both types of applications, including portions of
the code for both types.

Useful Links
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/androidauto-
messaging/index.html
A free Android Auto course is offered by Udacity: https://www.udacity.
com/course/android-auto-development--ud875C.
An Android Auto book is available here: http://www.apress.com/us/
book/9781484217832.
The Github repository for the Android Auto book is here: https://github.
com/apress/android-tv-apps-dev.
234 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Android Auto Setup and Testing

You need to install the Desktop Head Unit (DHU) in order to test your
Android Auto applications. The complete set of steps is listed here: https://
developer.android.com/training/auto/testing/index.html.
After completing the DHU setup steps, you can run and test audio appli-
cations on an Android device. The required steps are listed here:
„„ install the Android Media Browser simulator
„„ enable developer options on the test device
„„ install your application on that device
„„ launch the Android Media Browser simulator
Go to the <sdk>/extras/google/simulators/ directory and
install the Android Media Browser simulator media-browser-
simulator.apk on an Android test device. Next, enable developer
options on the test device, and then install your application on that device.
Now launch the Android Media Browser simulator to see how your audio
application appears in Auto. If your app does not appear, stop the simula-
tor from Settings > Apps and restart it.
Go here to install Android Auto application on an Android device: https://
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.projection.
gearhead&hl=en.
In case you’re interested, the directory <sdk>/extras/google/auto/
voice contains a good collection of sound files for common voice
commands.

Android Auto Music Applications

Create an Android Auto application for music in Android Studio. The file
MainActivity.java contains only boilerplate code: the onCreate()
method contains but two lines of code, so it won’t be displayed here.
Listing 9.4 displays some of the methods in MyMusicService.java.

LISTING 9.4 MyMusicService.java
public class MyMusicService extends MediaBrowserService
{
private MediaSession mSession;

@Override
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 235

public void onCreate() {

super.onCreate();

mSession = new MediaSession(this, "MyMusicService");

setSessionToken(mSession.getSessionToken());

mSession.setCallback(new MediaSessionCallback());

mSession.setFlags(
MediaSession.FLAG_HANDLES_MEDIA_BUTTONS |
MediaSession.FLAG_HANDLES_TRANSPORT_CONTROLS);
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
mSession.release();
}

// code omitted
}

Listing 9.4 is straightforward: the onCreate() method that initializes

mSession as an instance of the MediaSession object, and also sets the
callback method. The last portion of the onCreate() method sets two
flags for buttons and controls.

Android Auto Messaging Applications

Create an Android Auto application for messaging in Android Studio. The
file MainActivity.java contains just boilerplate code (the same as the
previous example).
Listing 9.5 displays the contents of MessageReceiver.java.

LISTING 9.5 MessageReceiver.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.myandroid2auto;

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.support.v4.app.NotificationManagerCompat;
import android.util.Log;

public class MessageReadReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver

{
private static final String TAG =
236 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

MessageReadReceiver.class.getSimpleName();

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
if(MyMessagingService.READ_ACTION.
equals(intent.getAction()))
{
int conversationId =
intent.getIntExtra(
MyMessagingService.CONVERSATION_ID, -1);

if (conversationId != -1) {
Log.d(TAG,
"Conversation " +conversationId+" was read");

NotificationManagerCompat notificationManager =
NotificationManagerCompat.from(context);

notificationManager.cancel(conversationId);
}
}
}
}

Listing 9.5 contains boilerplate code, followed by the contents of the custom
class MessageReadReceiver that extends the BroadcastReceiver
class. As you know from Chapter 8, a Broadcast Receiver must imple-
ment the onReceive() method that is invoked when the associated
event occurs.
The code compares the action specified in the intent that is the second
argument of the onReceive() method with the value of MyMessaging.
READ_ACTION (not shown here). If they match, then the extra data of the
same intent is retrieved: if this value differs from -1, then the current
notification is cancelled.

Getting Started with Android Things (IoT)

Android Things is a “rebranding” of Android Brillo, which is the code-
name for a developer preview of an Android-based embedded operating
system platform by Google, announced at GIO 2015, to be used with low-
power and memory-constrained IoT devices. One key difference: Brillo
used C++ as the primary development environment, whereas Android
Things targets Java developers.
Android Things is integrated with Weave, the communication platform
for IoT devices. Keep in mind that Android Things OS supports a subset
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 237

of the original Android SDK, and can also be integrated with Firebase.
Android Things enables you to develop Android applications for various
boards that are listed here: https://developer.android.com/things/hard-
ware/developer-kits.html.
Supported devices include Intel Edison Arduino, Intel Edison Sparkfun,
NXPixo, and Raspberry PI. You must use API Level 24 or higher and a
device with Android 7.x. When you create an application (discussed later)
you must update build.gradle as follows:

dependencies {
...
provided 'com.google.android.
things:androidthings:0.1-devpreview'
}

You must also add the things shared library entry in AndroidManifest.
xml:

<application ...>
<uses-library android:name="com.google.android.things"/>
...
</application>

The supported boards and the GPIO pins are assumed on each board.

Environment Setup and Samples

The Android Things SDK is downloadable here: https://developer.
android.com/things/sdk/index.html.
Setting up your environment is described here: https://developer.android.
com/things/preview/index.html.
Some Android Things code samples are downloadable here: https://devel-
oper.android.com/things/sdk/samples.html.
Additional code samples are here: https://github.com/androidthings.
The following link contains the details for building your first device:
https://developer.android.com/things/training/first-device/index.html.

Important Caveats for Android Things

Although Android Things applications use the same tools, there are
some important differences between “regular” Android applications and
Android Things applications.
238 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Permissions and Notifications

Runtime Permissions are not supported because embed-
ded devices aren’t guaranteed to have a UI to accept the runt-
ime dialog. Declare permissions that you need in the manifest file.
All normal and dangerous permissions declared in the manifest file are
granted at install time.
Since there is no system-wide status bar and window shade in Android
Things, notifications are not supported. Hence, avoid calling the
NotificationManager APIs in applications.

Content Providers
Android Things does not include the standard suite of system applications
and content providers. In particular, avoid using common intents as well
as the following content provider APIs in applications:
„„ CalendarContract
„„ ContactsContract
„„ DocumentsContract
„„ DownloadManager
„„ MediaStore
„„ Settings
„„ Telephony
„„ UserDictionary
„„ VoicemailContract

Peripheral I/O API and User Driver API

The Peripheral I/O APIs enable applications to communicate with sen-
sors and actuators using industry standard protocols and interfaces. The
following interfaces are supported: GPIO, PWM, I2C, SPI, and UART.
User drivers extend existing Android framework services and allow appli-
cations to inject hardware events into the framework that other apps can
access using the standard Android APIs.
Android Things expects one application to expose a “home activity” in its
manifest as the main entry point for the system to automatically launch
on boot. This activity must contain an intent filter that includes both
CATEGORY_DEFAULT and IOT_LAUNCHER.

For ease of development, this same activity should include the intent fil-
ter CATEGORY_LAUNCHER so Android Studio can launch it as the default
Activity when deploying or debugging.
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 239

Listing 9.6 displays a portion of AndroidManifest.xml.

LISTING 9.6 AndroidManifest.xml
<application
android:label="@string/app_name">
<activity android:name=".HomeActivity">
<!-- Launch activity as default from Android Studio -->
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.
category.LAUNCHER"/>
</intent-filter>

<!-- Launch activity automatically on boot -->

<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category
android:name="android.intent.category.
IOT_LAUNCHER"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.
category.DEFAULT"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>

Listing 9.6 contains a standard Intent Filter that launches

HomeActivity as the default Activity when the application is launched
from Android Studio. The second Intent Filter is for launching the
Activity during boot-up time of the device.

Android Things Sample-Button Project

Navigate to the following link and download the sample-button project:
https://github.com/androidthings/sample-button.
Listing 9.7 displays part of the contents of ButtonActivity.java in
this project.

LISTING 9.7 ButtonActivity.java
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Log.i(TAG, "Starting ButtonActivity");

PeripheralManagerService pioService =
new PeripheralManagerService();
240 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

try {
Log.i(TAG, "Configuring GPIO pins");
mLedGpio = pioService.openGpio(BoardDefaults.
getGPIOForLED());
mLedGpio.setDirection(Gpio.
DIRECTION_OUT_INITIALLY_LOW);

Log.i(TAG, "Registering button driver");

// Initialize and register the InputDriver that

// will emit SPACE key events on GPIO state changes.
mButtonInputDriver = new ButtonInputDriver(
BoardDefaults.getGPIOForButton(),
Button.LogicState.PRESSED_WHEN_LOW,
KeyEvent.KEYCODE_SPACE);

mButtonInputDriver.register();
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "Error configuring GPIO pins", e);
}
}

Listing 9.7 contains an onCreate() method that starts by initializing the

variable pioService as an instance of the PeripheralManagerService
class. Next, a try/catch block contains code to initialize the GPIO
(General Purpose Input Output) pins on the attached device.
The next section of code in the onCreate() method is for the button
input UserDriver that listens to GPIO pin changes and key events, and
then changes the state of an LED accordingly.
The next section discusses some aspects of the Android Things template.

Android Things Project Template

The following Github repository contains a minimalistic Android applica-
tion that provides a template for an Android Things application: https://
github.com/androidthings/new-project-template.
Listing 9.8 displays the contents of MainActivity.java in this project
template.

LISTING 9.8 MainActivity.java
/*
* Copyright 2016, The Android Open Source Project
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 241

* you may not use this file except in compliance with

the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in
writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an
"AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either
express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing
permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/

package com.example.androidthings.myproject;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;import android.util.Log;

/**
* Skeleton of the main Android Things activity.
Implement your
* device's logic in this class.
*
* Android Things peripheral APIs are accessible
through the class
* PeripheralManagerService. For example, the snippet
below will
* open a GPIO pin and set it to HIGH:
*
* <pre>{@code
* PeripheralManagerService service = new
PeripheralManagerService();
* mLedGpio = service.openGpio("BCM6");
* mLedGpio.setDirection(Gpio.DIRECTION_OUT_
INITIALLY_LOW);
* mLedGpio.setValue(true);
* }</pre>
*
* For more complex peripherals, look for an existing
user-space driver, or implement one if none
* is available.
*
*/
public class MainActivity extends Activity
{
private static final String TAG =
MainActivity.class.getSimpleName();
242 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Log.d(TAG, "onCreate");
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
Log.d(TAG, "onDestroy");
}
}

Listing 9.8 contains the standard onCreate() method and the onDe-
stroy() method, both of which simply invoke their corresponding
method in the parent class.
Notice that the initial portion of Listing 9.6 contains a comment section
with the following code block:

PeripheralManagerService service =
new PeripheralManagerService();
mLedGpio = service.openGpio("BCM6");
mLedGpio.setDirection(Gpio.DIRECTION_OUT_INITIALLY_LOW);
mLedGpio.setValue(true);

The preceding code block opens a GPIO (General Purpose Input Output)
pin of an attached device and sets it to HIGH.

Useful Links
The IoT Starter is a sample Android application for interacting with the
IBM Watson IoT Platform, and you can download the code from this Github
repository: https://github.com/ibm-messaging/iot-starter-for-android.
More information regarding the Watson IoT Platform is here: https://
docs.internetofthings.ibmcloud.com/index.html.

Google TensorFlow (optional)

TensorFlow is an open source software library for numerical computa-
tion using data flow graphs. Nodes in the graph represent mathematical
operations, while the graph edges represent the multidimensional data
arrays (tensors) communicated between them.
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 243

The flexible architecture allows you to deploy computation to one or more

CPUs or GPUs in a desktop, server, or mobile device with a single API.
Researchers and engineers working on the Google Brain Team developed
TensorFlow in order to conduct machine learning and deep neural net-
works research. However, the system is general enough to be applicable
in a wide variety of other domains as well.
TensorFlow provides a framework that enables you to create Deep
Learning Neural Networks. Other similar frameworks (prior to
TensorFlow) include Theano, Torch, Caffe, Nervana, H2O, DL4J
and many other variations. TensorFlow also provides greater flexibility in
deploying to distributed environments.
TensorFlow supports a Python-based REPL. In addition, you can deploy
TensorFlow to Android devices as well as iOS devices (the latter is not
discussed in this chapter).

Simple Examples of TensorFlow

TensorFlow programs use a tensor data structure to represent
all data: only tensors are passed between operations in the com-
putation graph. You can think of a TensorFlow tensor as an n-
dimensional array or list. A tensor has a static type, a rank, and a shape.
After you have installed TensorFlow and Python (the latter is precon-
figured on MacBooks), type python from a command shell to launch
the Python REPL. Next, enter the following Python commands to access
TensorFlow functionality in order to display a text string:

>>> import tensorflow as tf

>>> hello = tf.constant('Hello, TensorFlow')
>>> sess = tf.Session()
>>> sess.run(hello)
Hello, TensorFlow

If you see the preceding text string on the screen, then TensorFlow is
installed correctly on your machine.
The following Python commands access TensorFlow in order to add two
numbers:

>>> a = tf.constant(10)
>>> b = tf.constant(32)
>>> sess.run(a+b)
42
244 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The following code block shows you how to define two matrices and com-
pute their product:

>>> import tensorflow as tf

>>> matrix1 = tf.constant([[3., 3.]])

>>> matrix2 = tf.constant([[2.],[2.]])
>>> product = tf.matmul(matrix1, matrix2)
>>> sess = tf.Session()
>>> result = sess.run(product)
>>> print(result)
[[ 12.]]
>>> sess.close()

The preceding code block can be rewritten in the following manner:

>>> import tensorflow as tf

>>> with tf.Session() as sess:
>>> matrix1 = tf.constant([[3., 3.]])
>>> matrix2 = tf.constant([[2.],[2.]])
>>> product = tf.matmul(matrix1, matrix2)
>>> result = sess.run([product])
>>> print(result)
[array([[ 12.]], dtype=float32)]

If you have more than one GPU available on your machine, you can assign
specific GPU beyond the first, and you must assign a value to it explicitly.
Devices are specified with strings, and the currently supported devices
are:

"/cpu:0": The CPU of your machine

"/gpu:0": The GPU of your machine (if one exists)
"/gpu:1": The second GPU of your machine

Use with...Device statements to specify which CPU or GPU to use

for operations, as shown here for the CPU:

>>> import tensorflow as tf

>>> with tf.Session() as sess:
... with tf.device("/cpu:0"):
... matrix1 = tf.constant([[1., 2.]])
... matrix2 = tf.constant([[3.],[4.]])
... product = tf.matmul(matrix1, matrix2)
... result = sess.run(product)
... print(result)
...
[[ 11.]]
 ANDROID VR, TV, AUTO, AND THINGS • 245

The following code block specifies a GPU, followed by an error message

if the GPU does not exist:

with tf.Session() as sess:

with tf.device("/gpu:0"):
matrix1 = tf.constant([[1., 2.]])
matrix2 = tf.constant([[3.],[4.]])
product = tf.matmul(matrix1, matrix2)
result = sess.run(product)
print(result)

Here is the error message:

tensorflow.python.framework.errors.InvalidArgumentError: Cannot
assign a device to node 'MatMul_2': Could not satisfy explicit
device specification '/device:GPU:1' because no devices
matching that specification are registered in this process;
available devices: /job:localhost/replica:0/task:0/cpu:0

Launching the Graph in a Distributed Session

To create a TensorFlow cluster, launch a TensorFlow server on each of
the machines in the cluster. When you instantiate a Session in your cli-
ent, you pass it the network location of one of the machines in the cluster:
with tf.Session("grpc://example.org:2222") as sess:
# Calls to sess.run(...) will be executed on the cluster.
...

This machine becomes the master for the session. The master distrib-
utes the graph across other machines in the cluster (workers), much as
the local implementation distributes the graph across available computer
resources within a machine.
You can use with tf.device(): statements to directly specify workers
for particular parts of the graph:
with tf.device("/job:ps/task:0"):
weights = tf.Variable(...)
biases = tf.Variable(...)

See the Distributed TensorFlow “How To” for more information

about distributed sessions and clusters.

Deploying TensorFlow to an Android Device

Install one of the TensorFlow binary packages, as described here: https://
github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow.
 246 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The companion disc contains ten-

sorflow_demo.apk that was created
NOTE from the TensorFlow source code and
deployed to a Nexus 7 2 tablet with
Android 6.0.1.
If you prefer to compile the source code
to generate an apk file, the necessary
steps are described here: https://github.
com/tensorflow/tensorflow/tree/master/
tensorflow/examples/android/.
After you have completed the preced-
ing steps, you can deploy the generated
Android apk to Android devices and
then launch TensorFlow.
Figure 9.7 displays the screen of a Nexus FIGURE 9.7 Google TensorFlow
7 2 tablet with Android 6.0.1 that is run- on a Nexus 7 2 tablet with
ning TensorFlow. Android 6.0.1.

Summary
This chapter started with a brief introduction to Android VR, with sample
videos of VR on a Pixel phone, and a discussion of how to use Cardboard,
the DayDream headset, and a Pixel phone for viewing Android VR appli-
cations. You also saw some Java classes that are part of Android VR
applications.
Then you learned about Android TV applications, which make
heavy use of Fragments and Lists. Next you saw how to create two
types of Android Auto applications: music-based and messaging-
based applications. Then you learned about Android Things (IoT)
applications.
Finally, you got an introduction to TensorFlow, along with information
for installing the TensorFlow apk to an Android device.
 CHAPTER

10
FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE
PROGRAMMING

T
his chapter discusses Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) as
a segue for RxAndroid for Android applications. If you are new to
FRP, you might be surprised to discover that it originated almost
twenty years ago. In fact, Microsoft has been involved in FRP since 2009
(more or less), and early contributors to ReactiveX are current or former
Microsoft employees.
Moreover, FRP is available not only as RxAndroid for Android, but also
for fifteen or more programming languages, including JavaScript (RxJS),
Java (RxJava2), Scala (RxScala), and even Swift (RxSwift). FRP has
undergone a sort of “resurgence” recently, perhaps popularized through
the use of FRP in Angular 2 and (to a lesser extent) ReactJS. FRP argua-
bly has the potential to become a significant technology in the near future,
which is the rationale for this chapter.
If you plan to use FRP in Android mobile applications, the good news
is that RxAndroid is an Android-specific extension of RxJava2, so the
knowledge that you gain from the RxJava2 material in this chapter will
serve you well. If you are already familiar with the material in any of the
preliminary sections, feel free to skim those sections.
The first part of this chapter provides a very brief (and equally fast) “dive”
into operators and then an analogy to help you understand Observables.
The purpose of this section is for readers who have never worked with an
Observable, and there’s a decent chance that the other portions of this
chapter will become easier to understand.
248 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The second part of this chapter briefly discusses Lambda expressions in

Java8, why they are supported in Java8, and some basic examples of how
to define Lambda expressions.
The third part of this chapter discusses Java Streams, along with some
basic examples. This chapter discusses Java8 Streams because a) Android
supports Java8 and b) the preponderance of the code that you will
encounter is based on Java8 instead of Java9 (or Java10). Recall that in
Chapter 4 you saw how to use some Java classes in the java.io package,
such as InputStreamReader and DataInputStreamReader. However,
the Stream-related functionality in this chapter is based on Java classes
that belong to the java.util.stream package.
One other important point to keep mind: in Java8 Streams are pro-
cessed synchronously and Java8 provides support for Parallel
Streams. On the other hand, Java9 provides the Flow API that sup-
ports asynchronous processing of data streams: https://community.
oracle.com/docs/DOC-1006738.
The fourth part of this chapter discusses RxJava2, which provides sup-
port for FRP by means of Observables. You will see Java code samples
that use Observables, along with some of the operators that are available
in RxJava2. The final portion of this chapter discusses RxAndroid, along
with some code samples.
As you will soon discover, this lengthy chapter contains a lot of informa-
tion, and if you are new to FRP, don’t be surprised if you find your head
“swimming” in some sections of this chapter. Hence, some concepts (e.g.,
Java8 Streams versus Observables) are mentioned multiple times in this
chapter in order to reinforce them, but ultimately the recommendation
is to re-read sections to raise your comprehension level of the plethora of
topics in this chapter.

A Fast Dive into Observables: An Analogy

If you are new to Observables, or if you struggle with code samples that
contain Observables, please read this section about intermediate oper-
ators, and then the next section that contains a humorous analogy by
Venkat Subramanian with a clever insight into the world of Observables.
Let’s start discussing core aspects about Observables: there are inter-
mediate operators (such as map(), filter(), and so forth) that you can
chain together, and there are terminal operators (such as subscribe()
or forEach) that you can invoke in order to “make stuff happen” (which
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 249

will become clearer in the analogy). In other words, an Observable com-

prises one or more intermediate operators that transform a stream of data,
followed by a terminal operator that actually “kicks off” the Observable
in order to generate a stream of data.

Intermediate Operators are Passive

Skipping the syntax-related details for the moment, consider the follow-
ing pair of Observables in JavaScript that involve the intermediate opera-
tors map() and filter():
var source = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6];

var result1 = source.map(x => 3*x)

.filter(x => x % 4 == 0);
console.log("result1: "+result1);

var result2 = source.map(x => 3*x)

.filter(x => x % 4 == 0)
.subscribe();
console.log("result2: "+result2);

Question: What is the difference between result1 and result2?

Answer: Only result2 contains the terminal operator subscribe(), so
only result2 will contain any output.
Both observables start with the numbers 0 through 6, which are multi-
plied by 3 because of the map() operator, and then only the numbers
that are multiples of 4 will be displayed. Thus, the output consists of the
numbers 0 and 12.

Terminal Operators are Active

Venkat Subramanian explains the difference between intermediate oper-
ators and terminal operators in Observables by recounting a story of his
wife and two teenaged sons (paraphrased below), all of whom are watch-
ing television in their living room:

Mother: "It’s time to switch off the TV."

Sons: [No response.]
Mother: "It’s time to take out the trash."
Sons: [Nobody moves.]
Mother: "You need to start working on your homework."
Sons: [Still nothing.]
250 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Some time passes . . .

Mother: "I’m going to get your father."
Sons: [Leaping into action . . .]

If this analogy has triggered a “lightbulb moment” for you regarding inter-
mediate operators and terminal operators, the good news is that many of the
code samples in this chapter will be much simpler to understand. If you still
aren’t sure, think of the first three “requests” (by the mother) as analogous
to intermediate operators. The mother’s final statement acts like a terminal
operator, which then results in the execution of the first three “requests.”
With these observations in mind, let’s rewind to the beginning with
Lambda Expressions in Java8, which is the topic of the next section.

Lambda Expressions in Java8

Lambda Expressions are included in this chapter because such expres-
sions appear in Java classes that use RxJava2. The examples involving
Lambda Expressions will give you enough knowledge to understand
basic expressions, and you can find online material that delves more
deeply into Lambda Expressions if you are interested in doing so.
In essence, Java8 Lambda Expressions are a replacement for anony-
mous inner classes in Java. As you know, a method must belong to a Java
class, whereas a Lambda Expression can exist outside of a Java class.
Hence, you will sometimes see a Lambda Expression described as an
“anonymous function.”
Here are some other properties of Lambda Expressions:
„„ single as well as multi-line code for the “body”
„„ the body can throw exceptions
„„ an explicit return statement is not required
„„ round brackets represent a no-argument list
„„ curly braces are not required for single-line body
Java8 supports Lambda Expressions that enable you to replace anon-
ymous inner classes. As a simple example, the following code block illus-
trates how to start an instance of the Java Thread class via an anonymous
inner class:

new Thread(new Runnable() {

public void run() {
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 251

showName();
}
}).start();

The preceding code block is very compact: the new operator creates
an instance of the Thread class, and the run() method invokes the
showName() method (defined elsewhere), after which the start()
method is invoked in order to execute the Thread.
In Java8 you can replace the preceding code block with this code snippet:

new Thread(() -> showName()).start();

The preceding code snippet uses the new Java8 syntax for Lambda
Expressions and, as you can see, the code is much shorter and sim-
pler than the first code block that contains an anonymous inner class. In
addition, the Java compiler performs the necessary code generation and
compilation “behind the scenes.”
Notice that both code blocks reference a method showName() that is
defined elsewhere. In fact, Listing 10.1 displays the contents of the class
Lambda1.java that contains both of the preceding code blocks and also
an example of the showName() method.

LISTING 10.1 Lambda1.java

public class Lambda1

{
private String fname = "John";
private String lname = "Smith";

public void showName()

{
System.out.println("Name: "+fname+" "+lname);
}

public Lambda1() {}

public void performTest()

{
System.out.println("Old style invocation...");
new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
showName();
}
}).start();
252 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

System.out.println("New style invocation...");

new Thread(() -> showName()).start();
}

public static void main(String[] args)

{
Lambda1 l1 = new Lambda1();
l1.performTest();
}
}

Listing 10.1 contains two code blocks, both of which were discussed ear-
lier in this section (please read them if you have not already done so).

Other Aspects of Lambda Expressions

This section contains an overview of the following topics that are dis-
cussed in subsections:
„„ Functional Interfaces
„„ Type Inferencing
„„ Method References

Functional Interfaces
A functional interface is a Java interface that contains a single abstract
method. For example, the Runnable interface consists only of the run()
method. In case you are new to Java programming, Java8 introduced
default methods (which are not abstract) in Java8 interface definitions,
and also introduced interfaces with static methods.
In addition, Java8 and higher support the @FunctionalInterface
annotation (in order to support Lambda Expressions), an example of
which is here:

@FunctionalInterface
public interface MyInterface {
int doSomething();
}

The preceding annotation (shown in bold) indicates that MyInterface is

a functional interface, which is clearly true because this interface contains
only the doSomething() method.
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 253

Type Inferencing
Java8 and higher also support type inferencing, which means that the
compiler can often infer the parameter types in an expression. Java8 sup-
ports type inferencing for Lambda Expressions, an example of which
is here:

T void sort(List<T> l, Comparator<? Super T> c);

The preceding method sorts an array of objects based on the order

induced by the specified comparator. All array elements must be mutually
comparable by the specified comparator. Specifically, c.compare(e1,
e2) must not throw a ClassCastException for any elements e1 and
e2 in the array.

Method References
Method references enable the reuse of a method as a Lambda
Expression. Method references use a double colon (“::”) instead of an
arrow (“->”) syntax that you see in definitions of Lambda Expressions
(an example is given later in the chapter).
There are three types of method references in Java8:
„„ a static method
„„ an instance method of an existing type
„„ an instance method of an arbitrary type
As an illustration of a defining a static method reference, suppose that
you want to convert a given string to an integer. The latter can be accom-
plished via the parseInt() method of the Integer class. The Lambda
Expression for the conversion has a very simple definition, as shown
here:

(String str) -> Integer.parse(int(str)

This concludes the material regarding Lambda Expressions, and the

next section discusses Streams in Java8.

Working with Streams

A Stream is an abstraction that is a layer above actual data and objects. A
Stream involves the flow of data and operators that can be “applied” to
 254 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

a Stream. Examples of data streams include: a Twitter stream, a Netflix

movie that is streaming through a browser (or other device), a live stream
of a remote presentation, a stock market stream, and so forth.
NOTE The goal is to realize that everything is a stream.
A Stream is evaluated “lazily,” which means evaluation is delayed as long
as possible. The types of operators that you can use to evaluate data items
in a Stream are discussed in the next section.

Stream Operators
A Stream supports two types of operators: intermediate (“eager”) opera-
tors and terminal (“lazy”) operators. Terminal operators minimize mem-
ory consumption, so they are well-suited for large data streams. On the
other hand, intermediate operators are well-suited for performance, but
they also consume large amounts of memory. An intermediate operator
manipulates the data in the stream, after which subsequent operators (if
any) can perform additional data manipulation.
For example, suppose that a data stream consists of positive integers.
The filter() operator enables you to “extract” only the numbers
that meet some criteria that is expressed via conditional logic. Simple
examples of conditional logic include determining whether or not a
number is an even number, or a multiple of 7, or a multiple of 3 that
is also a multiple of 10, and so forth. The conditional logic can be
placed in a single filter() operator, or split into multiple filter()
invocations.
Intermediate operators are executed after a terminal operator is
NOTE invoked.
The following stream illustrates how to define a filter() operator to
retrieve only even numbers:

Arrays.stream(new int[] {1, 2, 3, 4})

.filter(n -> n % 2 == 0)
.forEach(System.out::println);

In the preceding code snippet, the stream() operator and the filter()
operator are intermediate operators, and the forEach() operator is the
terminal operator. When we discuss Observables, you will see that the
filter() operator is also available, and the subscribe() method is the
terminal operator instead of the forEach() operator.
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 255

Marble Diagrams
“Marble diagrams” are popular because of their visually oriented rep-
resentation of the execution sequence of intermediate operators in FRP.
An example of a marble diagram involving the filter() operator is here:
http://rxmarbles.com/#filter.
If you prefer marble diagrams, then by all means study them for the other
operators that are co-located in the preceding link.

Order of Data Evaluation

By way of analogy, Unix enables you to combine multiple commands via
the Unix pipe ("|") symbol, whereby the output of one “stage” becomes
the input of the next “stage.” Some Unix commands reduce the output
between successive stages, whereas other Unix commands create a new
set of data. Here is a simple example:

find . –print | grep "\.java$" |xargs grep Observable >mylist.

txt

However, the preceding comparison between Unix pipes and Streams

(or Observables) is imprecise. On one hand, each executable in a Unix
pipe performs its entire operation before sending its output to the next
command. On the other hand, each object in a Stream (or Observable)
“winds its way” through all the operators that are included in the Stream,
and then the next object is similarly processed, and so on until every
object has been processed. This difference has implications regarding the
impact on performance due to the order of operators. In general, specify
the filter() operators (if any) before any map() operators, provided that
you do not change the output (more about this later).

Collections versus Streams

In very brief terms, a Collection is a number of objects defined at one
point in time, and they occupy storage in memory. By contrast, streams
process on-demand data and do not store data. One analogy is to compare
a DOM-based XML parser versus a SAX-based parser. An even simpler anal-
ogy: a Collection is like a set of cars in a parking lot, whereas a Stream
is like sitting on the side of a road and watching cars drive past you.
Another important difference is that a Stream can represent an infinite
number of data elements, such as data retrieved from periodically
256 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

making HTTP requests from an external data source. Although Streams

and Collections iterate on a number of elements, Streams use internal
iteration while Collections use external iteration.

Infinite Streams
Infinite Streams are streams that do not “impose” a terminal value. An
example of such a stream is here:

System.out.println(
Stream.iterate(1, e -> e+1)
.filter(e -> e > 40)
.findFirst()
.orElse(3));

The preceding stream contains the iterate() operator that starts from
the integer 1 and then “maps” each integer to its successor (i.e., the inte-
ger incremented by 1). The filter() operator returns a given integer
only if its value is greater than 40.
Next the findFirst() operator returns the first value if one exists, which
in this case is the integer 41. If a first value does not exist, the orElse()
operator returns the integer 3.
The interesting point to notice is that the iterate() method can start
with initial value and return all the numbers that are greater than that
initial value (which is an infinite stream).

Java Streams and Operators

The material in this section is included in this chapter because this material
will greatly facilitate your understanding of Observables (so you only need to
“struggle” once). However, keep in mind that while a Stream is very similar
to an Observable, there is a key difference: a Java8 Stream is processed syn-
chronously whereas an Observable is processed asynchronously. Moreover,
a Java8 Stream is pull-based whereas an Observable is push-based.
The previous sections described Streams and the types of Stream opera-
tors, and also how Streams are evaluated. This section discusses some of
the details regarding Streams in Java8.
A Java Stream is a source of objects, where the objects are produced at dif-
ferent points in time. Java Streams support a diverse set of operators, such
as filter(), map(), merge(), range(), sorted(), findFirst(),
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 257

ifPresent(), anyMatch(), noneMatch(), and numeric operators

such as sum(), max(), and min().
The preceding operators have intuitive names, whereas some other
operators have similar-sounding names with non-intuitive differences in
behavior. For example, the map-related operators flatMap(), flatMa-
pLatest(), mergeMap(), concatMap(), switchMap(), and flat-
ten() have different semantics. This chapter contains code samples that
illustrate some of those differences (and some of them are left as an exer-
cise). As pointed out earlier, marble diagrams provide a very nice visual
illustration of how operators are executed.

Java Stream Classes

The Java package java.util.stream contains Stream-related classes
and interfaces. For example, the StreamsFilter1.java class (shown
later in this chapter) contains the following import statements:

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.*;

As a quick preview, this Java class contains the following stream definition:

Stream.of("d2", "a2", "b1", "b3", "c")

.filter(s -> {
System.out.println("filter1: " + s);
return true;
});

As you will see in the Java class Streams2.java (discussed later in this
chapter), Streams can be obtained from a range of numbers, as shown
here:

IntStream.range(1,4).forEach(System.out::println);

A Stream can be applied to any collection, which obviates the necessity

of for loops in functional programming. A Stream can also be obtained
from a Java Array, as shown here (notice the absence of for loops):

Arrays.stream(new int[] {1, 2, 3, 4})

.map(n -> 3*n)
.average()
.ifPresent(System.out::println);
258 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Although the preceding code snippets might not be 100% clear, you can
probably get a sense of what they do, and you can see how to chain oper-
ators together.

Java8 and Parallel Streams

Java 8 provides Parallel Streams for parallel programming. A Stream can
process a Collection, and any Collection.stream() can be “par-
allelized” by replacing it with the Collection.parallelStream()
method.
As an exercise, replace the stream() method with the parallel-
Stream() method in the code samples that involve a Collection: doing
so will utilize all the available cores on your machine.

A Java Stream Example (1)

Before you can work with the code samples in this section, down-
load rxjava.jar here: http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/io.reactivex/
rxjava/1.1.5.
Next, include rxjava.jar in the CLASSPATH environment variable in
order to create Java programs with Observables.
Listing 10.2 displays the contents of the Streams1.java that illustrates
how to create a simple Stream in a Java program. Notice that the code
invokes the stream() method in the Arrays class in order to convert a
List of items into a Stream.

LISTING 10.2 Streams1.java
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class Streams1

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
List<String> myList =
Arrays.asList("a1", "a2", "b2", "b1", "b3");

// output: B1 B2 B3 (on separate lines)

myList
.stream()
.filter(s -> s.startsWith("b"))
.map(String::toUpperCase)
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 259

.sorted()
.forEach(System.out::println);

// output: a1
Arrays.asList("a1", "a2", "a3")
.stream()
.findFirst()
.ifPresent(System.out::println);
}
}

Listing 10.2 contains a main() method that starts by initializing the var-
iable myList as a list of strings. The next code block creates a Stream
from the myList array by invoking the stream() method. Next, the
Stream chains the intermediate operators filter(), map(), and sort()
that retrieve the strings which start with lowercase “b,” then converts those
strings to uppercase, and then sorts the matching strings. The terminal
operator forEach() causes the result set to be printed. The third code
block in Listing 10.2 uses the findFirst() operator to extract the first data
item from a stream of strings and then prints that data item (if it exists).
Compile and launch the code in Listing 10.2 (make sure CLASSPATH is set
correctly) and you will see the following output:

B1
B2
B3
a1

A Java Stream Example (2)

Listing 10.3 displays the contents of the Streams2.java that illustrates
how to use Streams in a Java program. Unlike the code in Listing 10.1, this
code sample uses the Stream class and the IntStream class in the java.
util.stream package in order to create Streams.

LISTING 10.3 Streams2.java

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.*;

public class Streams2

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
260 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

// #1 output: a1
Stream.of("a1", "a2", "a3")
.findFirst()
.ifPresent(System.out::println);

// #2 output: 1 2 3 4 (on separate lines)

IntStream.range(1, 4)
.forEach(System.out::println);

// #3 output: 7.5
Arrays.stream(new int[] {1, 2, 3, 4})
.map(n -> 3*n)
.average()
.ifPresent(System.out::println);

// #4 output: 3
Stream.of("a1", "a2", "a3")
.map(s -> s.substring(1))
.mapToInt(Integer::parseInt)
.max()
.ifPresent(System.out::println);

// #5 output: Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 (on separate lines)

IntStream.range(1, 5)
.mapToObj(i -> "Z" + i)
.forEach(System.out::println);

// #6 output: X1 X2 X3 X4 (on separate lines)

Stream.of(1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0)
.mapToInt(Double::intValue)
.mapToObj(i -> "X" + i)
.forEach(System.out::println);
}
}

Listing 10.3 contains a main() method that defines six Streams, and each
stream is preceded with a comment line that displays the output of that
stream. For instance, stream #4 is a stream consisting of the strings a1,
a2, and a3, followed by the map() operator that “extracts” the charac-
ter in the second position of each string via the substring() function.
When the first element of the stream reaches the map() operator, the
string 1 is passed to the mapToInt() operator that returns the integer 1,
which is assigned the current maximum via the max() operator.
In a similar manner, the string a2 is processed, after which the number 2
(from the string a2) becomes the new maximum value, and then the num-
ber 3 becomes the new (and final) maximum value after the third stream
element a3 is processed.
Compile and launch the code in Listing 10.3 and you will see the output
that is listed in the comments in Listing 10.3.
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 261

How Stream Items Are Processed

The “intuitive” (and incorrect) thought is that the strings a1, a2, a3 in
Listing 10.3 are passed “in bulk” to the map() operator, after which the
numbers 1, 2, and 3 are passed “in bulk” to the mapToInt() operator,
and so forth.
However, each element in a Stream is processed from “top to bottom”
and not in a “bulk” manner. Consequently, the first item a1 is processed
all the way down to the max() operator before the second item a2 is pro-
cessed (and then a3 is processed).
Thus, Streams—and Observables—are different from Unix pipe com-
mands that send all the output of one command in the pipe as the “full”
input to the next command in the pipe.
Why is this point important? Consider a Collection class, such as
an array, that needs to allocate memory for a set of items. In an (albeit
extreme) case where the array contains 1,000,000,000 items, a large
amount of memory is required for those items, which could cause in an
out-of-memory error. On the other hand, Streams and Observables do not
need to pre-allocate memory for all the items in the Stream because the
items appear over a period of time instead of “all at once.”
Intermediate operators in Observables process stream elements in a
NOTE “depth-first” manner, not in a “breadth-first” manner.

A Java Stream Example (3)

Listing 10.4 displays the contents of the StreamsFilter1.java that
illustrates how to use Streams in a Java program.

LISTING 10.4 StreamsFilter1.java
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.*;

public class StreamsFilter1

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// #1 output: nothing
Stream.of("d2", "a2", "b1", "b3", "c")
.filter(s -> {
System.out.println("filter1: " + s);
return true;
});
262 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

// #2 output: (on separate lines)

Stream.of("d2", "a2", "b1", "b3", "c")
.filter(s -> {
System.out.println("filter2: " + s);
return true;
})
.forEach(s -> System.out.println("forEach:
" + s));

// #3 output: (on separate lines)

Stream.of("d2", "a2", "b1", "b3", "c")
.map(s -> {
System.out.println("map: " + s);
return s.toUpperCase()+s;
//return s.toUpperCase();
})
.anyMatch(s -> {
System.out.println("anyMatch: " + s);
return s.startsWith("A");
});
}
}

Listing 10.4 contains three Streams that are preceded with a comment
line that indicates the output of each Stream. Compile and launch the
code in Listing 10.4 and you will see that the output is the concatenation
of the output listed in the comment lines.
So far you have seen examples of chaining intermediate operators
together. Due to their simplicity, performance was not an issue. However,
performance can become an important consideration in more complex
Streams, and the following article (along with its accompanying code)
provides some insight regarding filters and streams:
https://dzone.com/articles/
single-filter-perform-better-than-multiple-one-in
https://github.com/rokon12/stream-filter-benchmark
As you learned earlier, Java8 Streams are processed synchronously.
However, the JDK9 Flow API processes streams asynchronously,
which makes it well-suited for reactive programming, and also pro-
vides methods such as Flow.Publisher and Flow.Subscription.
In case you are interested in a comparison of JDK9 Flow API ver-
sus RxJava Observables in order to see the differences, the fol-
lowing link is useful: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30216979/
difference-between-java-8-streams-and-rxjava-observables.
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 263

This concludes the section in this chapter regarding Java Streams.

Hopefully you have a reasonable understanding of a Stream, which will
serve you well in the discussion regarding Observables in the next section.

What Is Functional Reactive Programming (FRP)?

There are various definitions of FRP that you can find on the Web. For
our purposes, FRP is based on a combination of the Observer pattern,
the Iterator pattern, and functional programming. Also navigate to the
Reactive home page: http://reactivex.io/.
If you’re really impatient to get started with FRP, here is a very good start-
ing point: https://gist.github.com/staltz/868e7e9bc2a7b8c1f754.
Conal Elliott created the Functional Reactive Programming para-
digm, and his definition has very specific semantics, some of which
is described here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1028250/
what-is-functional-reactive-programming.
A looser definition of FRP involves a combination of two other concepts:
1) Reactive Programming focuses on asynchronous data streams, which
you can listen to and react to accordingly
2) Functional Programming emphasizes calculations via
mathematical-style functions, immutability and expressiveness, and
minimizes the use of variables and state
Reactive Programming supports a number of operators that provide pow-
erful functionality when working with asynchronous streams. The Reactive
Programming paradigm avoids “callback hell” that can occur in other
environments, which is arguably an important consideration. Moreover,
Observables provide greater flexibility than working with Promise-based
toolkits and libraries.
Regarding the use of functional programming: this style of programming
can reduce the amount of state in a program, which in turn can help you
reduce the number of bugs in your code. Hence, the combination of
Reactive Programming and functional programming enables you to write
more succinct yet powerful code.
According to the Reactive home page, FRP handles errors properly in
asynchronous streams and also avoid the necessity of writing custom code
to deal with threads, synchronization, and concurrency. From another
(perhaps more familiar) perspective, FRP is the “culmination” of the
264 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

progression that starts from Collections, then to Streams, and finally to

asynchronous Streams.
The previous part of this chapter showed you how to create Java Streams
from Java Collections. The next section introduces you to RxJava2, along
with code samples that illustrate how to use Observables and various
operators that are available in RxJava2.

The Observer Pattern

The Observer pattern is a powerful pattern that is implemented in many
programming languages. In simplified terms, the Observer pattern
involves an Observable (i.e., something that is observed or “watched”)
and one or more Observer objects. An Observer (also called a sub-
scriber) “watches” for changes in data or the occurrence of events in
another object. In general, an Observable is “tracked” by one or
more Observer objects. When a state change or an event occurs, the
Observable notifies those Observer objects.

What Is RxJava2?
RxJava2 is a library of APIs for asynchronous and event-based programs
using observable sequences for the Java VM. RxJava was created as a
port from Netflix and is available with an Apache 2.0 License, and its
home page is here: https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxJava/tree/2.x.
Note that the preceding link is the Github repository for RxJava2, which
supersedes RxJava 1.x. If you are using an older version of RxJava, it’s
probably a good idea to plan on updating your code. Fortunately, sup-
port for version 1.x will be available for several years, according to the
RxJava2 documentation.

RxJava2 is a Java VM implementation of Reactive Extensions, which is a

library for composing asynchronous and event-based programs by using
observable sequences.
The relevant code snippet for build.gradle is here:

compile 'io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:x.y.z'

RxJava2 and Observables

RxJava2 extends the observer pattern to support sequences of data/
events and adds operators that allow you to compose sequences together
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 265

declaratively while abstracting away concerns about things like low-level

threading, synchronization, thread-safety and concurrent data structures.
RxJava2 supports Observables and Subscribers. Observables notify
Subscribers when Observables emit data or events. In addition, Subscribers
are notified about an “end of data” event (onCompleted) or about any
errors (onError). The three scenarios involving events, an error, and an
end of data event have corresponding functions called onNext, onEr-
ror, and onCompleted() that are included in the Observer interface.
A Subscriber also has an unsubscribe() method that “breaks” the
connection between an Observer and a Subscriber. The support for
this method is one important way in which FRP differs from IPC (Inter
Process Communication).

Operators
Observables support various operators that can be chained together in
order to transform data that is emitted by an Observable, and the des-
tination of the transformed data is a subscriber. Operators are methods
in Observables that enable you to compose new observables and also to
create custom operators based on RxJS operators. Examples of interme-
diate operators include filter(), map(), reduce(), merge(), and
flatMap(), and you will see code samples involving these operators later
in this chapter.

RxJava with Observables

Make sure that you update the CLASSPATH environment variable to
include the appropriate JAR file (mentioned earlier in this chapter), oth-
erwise the Java code samples referencing an Observable class will not
compile correctly.
Listing 10.5 displays the contents of RxObservable1.java that illus-
trates how to use an Observable to print a message in a Java program.

LISTING 10.5 RxObservable1.java
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import rx.Observable;
import rx.Observer;

public class RxJavaObservable1

{
266 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

public static void main(String[] args)

{
List<String> list = Arrays.asList("one", "two",
"three");
Observable<List<String>> listObservable =
Observable.just(list);

listObservable.subscribe(new
Observer<List<String>>() {
@Override
public void onCompleted() {}

@Override
public void onError(Throwable e) {}

@Override
public void onNext(List<String> list) {
System.out.println(list);
}
});
}
}

Listing 10.5 initializes the list variable as a List of the 3 strings one,
two, and three, followed by the listObservable variable that is an
Observable created from the list variable.

The next section in Listing 10.5 implements the subscribe() operator

by defining the methods onCompleted(), onError(), and onNext()
that are invoked when the Observable is complete, when an error occurs,
or when the next item in the Observable is available, respectively.
Compile and launch the code in Listing 10.5 and you will see the 3 strings
one, two, and three displayed on separate output lines.

A Simple Observable with the map() Function

Listing 10.6 displays the contents of the MyObservableMapJ.java that
illustrates how to use Observables in a Java program.

LISTING 10.6 MyObservableMapJ.java
import rx.Observable;
import rx.functions.Func1;
import java.util.List;
import rx.functions.Action1;
import rx.Subscriber;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class MyObservableMapJ

 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 267

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Observable
.interval(200, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
.take(10)
.map(new Func1<Long, String>() {
@Override
public String call(Long x) {
return "x = "+x+" "+x+"*10 = "+(x*10);
}
})
.toBlocking()
.forEach(new Action1<String>() {
@Override
public void call(String s) {
System.out.println(s);
}
});
}
}

Listing 10.6 defines an Observable that starts when 200 millisec-

onds have elapsed, and after each “clock tick” of duration TimeUnit.
MILLISECONDS an integer is emitted. The integers start from 0, and only
the first 10 integers are “taken” via the take() operator.
Each integer is supplied to the map() operator, which generates an out-
put of the following form (x is replaced successively by the integers 0
through 10):

"x = "+x+" "+x+"*10 = "+(x*10);

Next, the toBlocking() method in the main method of a Java program

prevents the program from exiting prematurely: comment out this line of
code to confirm that no output is displayed.
Finally, the forEach() operator (which is a terminal operator) displays
the output, which is shown below:
x = 0 0*10 = 0
x = 1 1*10 = 10
x = 2 2*10 = 20
x = 3 3*10 = 30
x = 4 4*10 = 40
x = 5 5*10 = 50
x = 6 6*10 = 60
x = 7 7*10 = 70
x = 8 8*10 = 80
x = 9 9*10 = 90
268 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The next section contains another example of an Observable and the

map() function in a Java program.

Another Observable with the map() Function

Listing 10.7 displays the contents of the MyObservableMapJ.java that
illustrates how to use Observables in a Java program.

LISTING 10.7 MyObservableMap2J.java
import rx.Observable;
import rx.functions.Func1;
import java.util.List;
import rx.functions.Action1;
import rx.Subscriber;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class MyObservable2J

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Observable
.interval(200, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
.take(10)
.map(new Func1<Long, String>() {
@Override
public String call(Long x) {
if (x % 3 == 0) {
return x+": Multiple of 3";
} else if (x % 5 == 0) {
return x+": Multiple of 5";
} else {
return x+": NEITHER";
}
}
})
.toBlocking()
.forEach(new Action1<String>() {
@Override
public void call(String s) {
System.out.println(s);
}
});
}
}

Listing 10.7 contains the operators interval(), take(), map(),

toBlocking(), and forEach() that you saw in the previous section.
The difference is the conditional logic in the call() method, which
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 269

checks whether or not a number is a multiple of 3, a multiple of 5, or

neither.
Compile and launch the code in Listing 10.6 and you will see the follow-
ing output:

0: Multiple of 3
1: NEITHER
2: NEITHER
3: Multiple of 3
4: NEITHER
5: Multiple of 5
6: Multiple of 3
7: NEITHER
8: NEITHER
9: Multiple of 3

Exercise: Change Listing 10.7 to take 30 numbers and to display the numbers
that are multiples of 3 and 5 before the numbers that are multiple of 3 or 5.

An Observable with Multiple Operators

Listing 10.8 displays the contents of the RxJavaOperators1.java that
illustrates how to use Observables in a Java program.

LISTING 10.8 RxJavaOperators1.java
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import rx.Observable;

public class RxJavaOperators1

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
List<String> list = Arrays.asList("Hello",
"World", "RxJava");

Observable.from(list)
.filter(s -> s.contains("e"))
.map(s -> s.toUpperCase())
.reduce(new StringBuilder(),
StringBuilder::append)
.subscribe(System.out::print,
e -> {},
() -> System.out.println("!")
);
}
}
270 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

Listing 10.8 creates an Observable from a list of three strings, and then
invokes several intermediate operators. The from()operator converts
other objects and data types into Observables, which in this example cre-
ates an Observable from the variable list. Next, the filter() operator
returns a string if it contains the letter e, followed by the map()operator
that returns the result of converting the string to uppercase letters.
Next the reduce() operator uses an instance of the Java StringBuilder
class and invokes its append() method in order to concatenate the
strings that it “receives.” Finally, the subscribe() operator invokes the
print() method of the Java System.out class in order to display the
result, which is shown here:

HELLOWORLDRXJAVA!

Cold versus Hot Observables

A cold observable is comparable to watching a recorded movie (e.g.,
viewed in a browser). Although users navigate to the same URL at differ-
ent times, all of them see the entire contents of the movie, from the start
of the movie until the end of the movie (or whenever they navigate away
from the website). In the case of cold observables, a new producer (movie
instance) is created for each consumer (which is analogous to a person
watching the movie).
By contrast, a hot observable is comparable to watching a live online pres-
entation. Users navigate to a website at different times, and instead of
seeing the entire presentation, they only see the portion from the point in
time that they launched the presentation. In the case of cold observables,
the same producer (streaming presentation) is used for each consumer
(person watching the presentation).

What Is Back Pressure?

Back pressure refers to the situation in which an Observable emits items
faster than an operator or observer can consume them. For example, the
zip operator combines data from two (or more) Observables. If the first
Observer emits items faster than the second Observer, this will result
in back pressure.
RxJava 1.1 supports the onBackpressureBuffer operator that keeps a
buffer of all unobserved emissions from the source Observable. You can
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 271

specify the capacity of the buffer, and an Observable will terminate with
an error in the event of a buffer overflow.
More information is here: http://reactivex.io/RxJava/javadoc/rx/
Observable.html#onBackpressureBuffer(long,%20rx.functions.Action0).
An RxMarbles diagram is here: http://rxmarbles.com/#pausable
Buffered.
The key point to understand is that an Observer controls the rate (and
stop/start points) at which cold Observables can produce items.
By contrast, hot Observables generate items immediately and at their own
pace, which can result in back pressure. For instance, a simple example of
a hot Observable involves mouse-related events, which are generated by
users (and can be extremely rapid), and hence are not under the control
of any Observers. As an additional point, note that the hot Observable
for a live online presentation (discussed in the previous section) does not
create back pressure.
This concludes the portion of the chapter regarding Observables. There
are many other intermediate operators available (such as flatMap, merge,
and concat) that you can read about in the online documentation.

What Is RxBinding?
RxBinding is a set of libraries for handling UI events in a fashion that
is similar to RxJava. By way of comparison, consider the following code
block, which is a typical way to handle a button-click event:

Button btn = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button);

btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
// do something
}
});

The following code block illustrates how to rewrite the preceding code
block using RxBinding:

Button btn = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button);

Subscription buttonSub =
RxView.clicks(btn).subscribe(new
Action1<Void>() {
272 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

@Override
public void call(Void aVoid) {
// do something
}
});
// make sure to unsubscribe the subscription

Keep in mind the following points. First, avoid the use of weak references
(read the documentation for a detailed explanation). Second, the packages
and classes in each RxBinding library have a corresponding counterpart
in Android. For example, the package android.widget.* contains
views and widgets, and their RxBinding counterparts are located in the
package com.jakewharton.rxbinding.widget.*.
Finally, RxBinding also provides libraries for the support libraries, an
example of which is shown here:

compile 'com.jakewharton.rxbinding:rxbinding:0.4.0'
compile 'com.jakewharton.
rxbinding:rxbinding-design:0.4.0'

An Android Code Sample with RxBinding

Listing 10.9 displays the contents of MyRxBinding.java, which illus-
trates how to use the RxBinding library.

LISTING 10.9 MyRxBinding.java
package com.example.oswaldcampesato2.myrxbinding;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.Button;
import com.jakewharton.rxbinding.view.RxView;
import rx.Subscription;
import rx.functions.Action1;

public class MyRxBinding extends AppCompatActivity

{
private String TAG = "MyRxBinding";

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_my_rx_binding);

Button btn = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button);

 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 273

Subscription buttonSub =
RxView.clicks(btn).subscribe(new
Action1<Void>() {
@Override
public void call(Void aVoid) {
Log.i(TAG, "Inside call method");
}
});

// remember to unsubscribe the subscription

}
}

Listing 10.9 contains boilerplate code and RxBinding-related import

statements. Next the onCreate() method initializes btn as a reference
to a Button component defined in the layout file, which is shown below:
<Button
android:text="Button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/button"
app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/textView"
android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="@+id/activity_
my_rx_binding" />

Next the buttonSub variable in Listing 10.9 is an instance of the

Subscription class, which subscribes to click events on the Button
element. Whenever users click on the Button, the Log.i() method dis-
plays a message in the console.
Before you compile the preceding code, make sure to include the follow-
ing snippet in build.gradle:

compile 'com.jakewharton.rxbinding:rxbinding:0.4.0'

An “alternative” to RxBinding is Butterknife (not discussed in this

book), whose home page is here: http://jakewharton.github.io/butterknife/.
Butterknife uses annotations and might be more intuitive for people
who have not made the transition to FRP.

What Is RxAndroid?
RxAndroid is an extension of RxJava that provides additional function-
ality, and its home page is here: https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxAndroid.
 274 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

RxAndroid adds a Scheduler that schedules on the main thread or any

given Looper. Download the JAR files that are required for RxAndroid
from this website: https://jar-download.com/.
Enter the string rxandroid into the search box of the preceding link, and
after a few moments the website will return a clickable link to download
a zip file called jar_files.zip. Unzip the downloaded zip file, and you
will see something like this:

jar xvf jar_files.zip

inflated: rxjava-1.0.12.jar
inflated: rxandroid-framework-0.25.0.jar
inflated: rxandroid-0.25.0.jar

As this book goes to print the latest version for the RxAndroid JAR files is
0.25, which might be different when you download this zip file.
After uncompressing jar_files.zip, add the JAR files to the CLASSPATH
NOTE environment variables in order to compile the code samples that are pre-
sented later in this chapter.
Use FRP in Android for the scenario in which users rotate their Android
device from portrait to landscape mode while a currently running Android
application is executing a long-running task.

Examples of RxAndroid Operators

Create a project in Android Studio and then add the following lines to
build.gradle:

compile 'io.reactivex:rxandroid:1.1.0'
compile 'io.reactivex:rxjava:1.1.0'

The preceding additions to build.gradle will handle the download of

the required RxAndroid classes that are imported in Android mobile
applications that use RxAndroid. Two common import statements are
here:

import rx.Observable;
import rx.functions.Action1;

The following subsections show you how to use the RxAndroid opera-
tors just(), filter(), and map() in an Android application. For your
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 275

convenience, the stand-alone Java class RxOperators.java contains

the Observables (with Log.i() replaced with System.out.println())
that you will see in the following subsections, which you can launch from
the command line.

Using the just() Operator

Listing 10.10 displays the contents of MainActivity.java, which illus-
trates how to use the just() operator.

LISTING 10.10 MainActivity.java

package com.example.rxandroid1;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.util.Log;

import rx.Observable;
import rx.functions.Action1;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

{
private String TAG = "RxAndroid";

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

Observable<String> myObservable =
Observable.just("Hello");

myObservable.subscribe(new Action1<String>() {
@Override
public void call(String s) {
Log.i(TAG, "s = "+s);
}
});
}
}

Listing 10.10 contains boilerplate code and an onCreate() method

that initializes the variable mObservable so that it emits “just” the
string Hello. Next, the Action1 interface contains a single method
276 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

named call. Simply pass an instance of Action1 to the subscribe

method, and the call method is invoked whenever the Observable
emits data.
However, you can also pass an instance of the Observer class, which ena-
bles you to invoke its other methods called onCompleted and onError.
You will see an example of doing so later in this section.
Launch the Android application and you will see the following output in
logcat:

07-20 21:11:35.089 21465-21465/com.example.oswaldcampesato2.

rxandroid1 I/RxAndroid: s = Hello

Using the from() Operator

Replace the code for MyObservable in Listing 10.10 with the following
code block:

//Log.i(TAG, "The from operator:");

Observable<Integer> myObservable2 =
Observable.from(new Integer[]{1,2,3,4,5,6});

myObservable2.subscribe(new Action1<Integer>() {
@Override
public void call(Integer i) {
Log.i(TAG, "i = "+String.valueOf(i));
}
});

Compile the modified code and launch the application, and you will see
the following output in logcat:

07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/

RxAndroid: i = 1
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 2
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 3
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 4
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 5
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 6
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 277

Using the skip() and filter() Operators

Replace the code for MyObservable in Listing 10.10 with the following
code block:

import rx.functions.Func1;

//Log.i(TAG, "The skip/filter operators:");

Observable<Integer> myObservable3 =
Observable.from(new Integer[]{1,2,3,4,5,6});

myObservable3
.skip(2) // Skip the first two items
.filter(new Func1<Integer, Boolean>() {
@Override
public Boolean call(Integer num ) {
return num % 2 == 0;
}
})
.subscribe(new Action1<Integer>() {
@Override
public void call(Integer i) {
Log.i(TAG, "i = "+String.valueOf(i));
}
});

Compile the modified code and launch the application, and you will see
the following output in logcat:

07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/

RxAndroid: i = 2
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 4
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: i = 6

Using the from() and map() Operators

Replace the code for MyObservable in Listing 10.10 with the following
code block:

//Log.i(TAG, "The from/map operators:");

Observable<Integer> myObservable4 =
Observable.from(new Integer[]{1,2,3,4,5,6});

myObservable4
278 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

.map(new Func1<Integer, Integer>() {

@Override
public Integer call(Integer num) {
return num*num;
}
})
.subscribe(new Action1<Integer>() {
@Override
public void call(Integer i) {
Log.i(TAG, "i = "+String.valueOf(i));
}
});

Compile the modified code and launch the application, and you will see
the following output in logcat:

07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/

RxAndroid: 1
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: 4
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: 9
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: 16
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: 25
07-20 21:33:24.747 7209-7209/com.example.rxandroid1 D/
RxAndroid: 49

An Observable with RxAndroid

For your convenience, the Java code sample in this section can be com-
piled and launched from the command line. The Java code contains an
Observable, and you can modify the code to specify other operators.
Then when you create an Android project, just copy the relevant por-
tions of code from Listing 10.10 into the main Activity class of that
new Android project. Keep in mind that whenever you need to test actual
functionality (such as user input from an Android text field), you need to
create an Android application.
Listing 10.11 displays the contents of RxObservable1.java, which
illustrates how to use an Observable in a Java class.
Note that the code sample in this section requires the inclusion of the
RxAndroid JAR file in the CLASSPATH environment variable (described
below).
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 279

LISTING 10.11 RxObservable1.java
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import rx.Observable;
import rx.Observer;

public class RxObservable1

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
names.add("Sally");
names.add("Dave");
names.add("Sarah");
names.add("John");
names.add("Edward");

Observable<List<String>> listObservable =
Observable.just(names);

listObservable.subscribe(new
Observer<List<String>>() {
@Override
public void onCompleted() {
System.out.println("Inside onCompleted");
}

@Override
public void onError(Throwable e) {
System.out.println("Inside onError");
}

@Override
public void onNext(List<String> names) {
System.out.println("Inside onNext names =
"+names);
}
});
}
}

Listing 10.11 contains boilerplate code and then initializes the variable
names (which is an instance of the Java ArrayList class) and populates
its contents with five user names. The next portion of Listing 10.11 ini-
tializes the the listObservable variable that is an Observable created
from the list variable.
280 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The next section in Listing 10.11 implements the subscribe() operator

by defining the methods onCompleted(), onError(), and onNext()
that are invoked when the Observable is complete, when an error occurs,
or when the next item in the Observable is available, respectively.
Now add the JAR file rxjava-1.1.5.jar to the CLASSPATH envi-
ronment variable, compile the Java code, and then launch the class in
Listing 10.11. The output is shown here:

Inside onNext names = [Sally, Dave, Sarah, John, Edward]

Inside onCompleted

What about RxJS?

RxJS code and RxAndroid are very similar: after you learn one, the
other is much simpler to learn. However, there are some code differences
between RxJS code and RxAndroid code. For example, the following
code block is for RxJS:

RxTextView.textChanges(textInput)
.filter(text -> text.length() >= 3)
.debounce(150, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
.subscribe(this::updateSearchResults);

On the other hand, the corresponding code block for RxAndroid is here:

final EditText textInput =

(EditText)findViewById(R.id.text_input);

RxTextView.textChanges(textInput)
.filter(text -> text.length() >= 3)
.debounce(150, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(this::updateSearchResults);

Notice the extra Thread-related line of code (shown in bold) in the

preceding code block.

Working with RxKotlin

Kotlin provides various extensions to the Java language that you can use
in Android applications, and its home page is here: https://kotlinlang.org/.
Since Kotlin has gained traction in Android development, this section
shows you how to create a basic Kotlin application for Android in Android
 FUNCTIONAL REACTIVE PROGRAMMING • 281

Studio (which requires the Kotlin plugin) and also how to convert an exist-
ing Android application to a Kotlin application.
In case Kotlin is not already installed in Android Studio on your machine,
launch Android Studio, navigate to Configure > Plugins > Browse
repositories, and search for Kotlin. Install the Kotlin plugin (which also
installs its dependencies) and then perform the following steps:
„„ create a new Android project
„„ open the MainActivity.java file
„„ click on the “Help” menu
„„ enter “Convert Java file to Kotlin file”
More information about Kotlin is here:
http://blog.gouline.net/2014/08/31/kotlin-the-swift-of-android/
http://kotlinlang.org/docs/tutorials/kotlin-android.html
https://github.com/ahmedrizwan/RxRealmRetroKotlin/tree/master
An RxKotlin Code Sample is here:
https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxKotlin.

Miscellaneous Topics
This section contains an assortment of links that might be helpful for
learning about Observables.
Examples of Observables and Click Events are here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25457737/
how-to-create-an-observable-from-onclick-event-android
http://fernandocejas.com/2015/07/18/architecting-android-
the-evolution/
Working with SQLite, Android, and RxJava:
http://java.dzone.com/articles/easy-sqlite-android-rxjava
http://blog.danlew.net/2015/09/01/how-to-upgrade-to-
rxandroid-10/
Reductor is essentially Redux for Android, an example of which is here:

http://yarikx.github.io/Reductor-prologue
https://github.com/Polidea/RxAndroidBle
282 • ANDROID POCKET PRIMER

The following Github repository contains an Android application that cre-

ates animation effects with RxAnimation: https://github.com/0ximDigital/
RxAnimations.

Summary
This chapter provided an introduction to FRP (Functional Reactive
Programming). Then you learned about RxJava, which is a port from
Netflix, along with some Java code samples that use FRP.
Next you learned about RxAndroid, which is an extension of RxJava.
You saw some Java code samples that rely on an RxAndroid JAR file to
use the Observable class. These code samples are convenient because
they can be launched from the command line, and you can easily “blend”
the RxAndroid-related code into your Android applications.
In addition, you learned about various operators that are supported by
Observables, such as map(), filter(), reduce(), and also how to use
Observables in RxAndroid.
INDEX

A AlertDialog, 61
AlertDialog.Builder, 61
<action> element, 28
alerts, 60–61
Action1 interface, 275–276
alignParentLeft, 24
active terminal operators, 249–250
alignParentRight, 24
Activity, 18–19
Android 3.0, 32
<intent-filter> attribute of, 27–28
Activity.
Android 4.0, 32
getApplicationContext(), 162 android.animation, 104
activity_main.xml, 21, 168, 189, android.app.Fragment, 66
209–210, 216 android.app.FragmentManager, 67
fade animation effects via XML, android.app.FragmentTransaction, 67
108–109 Android application, structure of, 5–7
gradient effects, 90–91 Android Auto
lists and array adapters, 75 applications, 233
padding-related attributes, 37–38 messaging applications, 235–236
playing a ringtone, 148 music applications, 234–235
RecyclerView, 81–82 setup and testing, 234
rotating PNG files, 99–100 android.content.ContentProvider,
working with Buttons, 45–46 168
activity_main.xml file Android designer, working in
HelloWorld, 12 layout properties, 24
meta-characters in, 14–17 RelativeLayout, 23
activity_my_fragment.xml, 68–69 Android 6.0, features, 85
activity_you_tube.xml, 151–152 Android 7 (Nougat), features in, 85–86
adapters, 35 android.gesture package, 117–118
Alarm android.graphics, 88, 94, 95
ReceiveAlarm1.java, 213–214 android.graphics.Bitmap, 88
SimpleAlarm1.java, 210–214 android.graphics.drawable, 88
284 • INDEX

android.graphics.drawable (A,R,G,B) color model, 88–89

.shapes, 88 array adapters, 35, 73–76
Android M, 159–160 ART, see Android Runtime
features, 85 AsyncTaskLoader, 172
AndroidManifest.xml, 198, 203–205, AsyncTasks, 194
208–209, 239 versus Observables (RxJava), 172–173
HelloWorld, 9–11 audio file play, 149–151
specifying permissions in, 159 AVD, see Android Virtual Device
android.media, 145
android.media.effect, 145 B
android:onClick, 53 Back Pressure, 270–271
android:orientation, 41
Bezier interpolation, 105
android prefix, 16
binary images, rendering, 96–99
Android Runtime (ART), 4
Bitmap class, 98
Android SDK, 123, 217, 220–222,
“boilerplate” code, 8
227–229
boolean onTouchEvent, 118
Android Studio, 3–4, 32
Boolean value, 54
creating applications in, 4–5
Brillo, 236
launching Android apps from, 5
broadcastCustomIntent method, 207
android:text, 15
Broadcast Intent, 26, 205
Android Things (IoT), 236–237
Broadcast Receiver, 194, 205
caveats for, 237–239
activity_main.xml, 209–210
project template, 240–242
AndroidManifest.xml, 208–209
sample-button project, 239–240
MainActivity.java, 205–207
Android TV, 229
applications, 229–230 MyBroadcastReceiver.java,
creating, 231–233 207–208
android.view.animation, 104 build.gradle file, 11, 225
Android Virtual Device (AVD), 3 ButtonActivity.java, 239–240
Android VR NDK, 228 Button class, 20
android:weight, 41 Button component, 35–36, 39
animation, 104–105 Button, working with, 44–46
frame-by-frame, 105–106 C
OpenGL, 88, 111
other techniques, 110–111 Canvas, 103
tweened, 105 2D transforms, 95–96
AnimationDrawable, 104 graphics effects in, 93–95
AnimationUtils class, 105 Cardboard, configuring, 221–222
annotations, 54–55 CardView LayoutManager, 77
API Level 23, 21 <category> element, 28
ApplicationContext() class, 162–163 classes, importing, 20–21
lifecycle and, 164 clickCount, 49, 50
MyCustomApp.java, 163–164 Click Events, 46–49
application lifecycle, 55–57 cold versus hot Observables, 271–272
Application Shortcuts (Android 7), Collection, 255–256
217–218 Collection.parallelStream(), 258
 INDEX • 285

Collection.stream(), 258 dp unit of measure, 36

color model, (A,R,G,B), 88–89 Drag-and-Drop (DnD), 125
common display views, 33 Dynamic support Fragments, 66
compass information, accessing, 139–143
E
component direction, 42
constraint-based layouts, 13 EditText component, 42
ConstraintLayout, 82–83 EmbossMaskFilter, 102
constraints, and constraints system, 84 environmental sensors, 130
content_main.xml, 21 event listener, 54
ContentProvider, 164–168, 194, 238 techniques, 51–52
SQLite versus, 173 events, 34
Context.bindService(), 194 in Android studio designer, 20
Context classes, 162 ExecCommand, 189
Context.startService(), 194 ExoPlayer, 156
converting existing Android applications, explicit Intent, 26
83–84 External Storage, 170
CursorLoader, 172 F
custom content provider
fade animation effects via XML, 106–109
implementation, 168–170
fadein.xml, 107–108
custom fragments, creating, 67
Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT),
D 103
File class, 181
Dalvik VM, 4
file I/O, 179–180
“dangerous” permissions, 157
filter() operator, 249, 254, 256, 270,
database1, 176
277
<data> element, 28
findFirst() operator, 256, 259
data storage, 170–171 findViewById() method, 33
DatePicker, 63
FingerPaint.java, onCreate()
DayDream, 220 method, 123–124
configuring, 221–222 fling/swipe gesture, 125
Debug Database, 178 forEach() method, 259, 267
default configuration file, bypassing, 22 fos variable, 180
default layout files, 21 Fourier Transforms (FT), 103
densities, 42–43 Fragment.getFragmentManager(), 64
Desktop Head Unit (DHU), 233, 234 Fragment1.java, 70–71
DeviceOrientation, 137–139 FragmentManager, 64
device orientation, detecting changes fragments, 64–66
in, 44 activity_my_fragment.xml,
device rotation, handling, 50 68–69
DHU, see Desktop Head Unit classes for, 66–67
directed Intent, 26 custom, creating, 67
display-related attributes and direction, example, 67–73
41–42 lifecycle methods, 65–66
DnD, see Drag-and-Drop types, 66
do-while loop, 167 fragment1.xml, 71–72
286 • INDEX

fragment2.xml, 72–73 AndroidManifest.xml file, 7, 9–11

frame-by-frame animation, 105–106 R.java file, 8–9
FrameLayout component, 40 strings.xml file, 11
from() operators, 270, 276, 277–278 structure, 6–7
functional interfaces, 252 HelloWorld.java, 7, 8, 56
Functional Reactive Programming (H,S,L) color model, 89
(FRP), defined, 263–364 humidity sensor, 131

G I
GestureDetector class, 117–118 id
GestureDetector. attribute, 15–16
OnDoubleTapListener, 118 of UI component, 52–53
GestureDetector. ImageButton component, 35
SimpleOnGestureListener, 118 ImageView, 33
gestures implicit Intent, 26
handling other types of, 125 runtime check for, 155–156
overview, 117–118 import statements, 20–21
getCharSequenceExtra() method, 208 Infinite Streams, 256
getContactNames() method, 167 Intent, 24–25, 208, 213
getDefaultSensor(), 136 with action, category, data, and extra,
getMinDelay(), 137 28–29
getType() method, 169 creating, 25–26
Google TensorFlow, 243–244 types of, 26–27
deploying to Android device, <intent-filter> attribute of
245–246 Activity, 27–28
launching graph in distributed Intent listeners, 194
session, 245 IntentService, 201
simple examples of, 243–245 intermediate operators, 249, 254
gradient effects, with TextView Internal Storage, 170
components, 90–92 Interpolator class, 105
gradient1.xml, gradient effects, iterate() operator, 256
91–92
graphics
J
effects in Android Canvas, 93–95 JAR file, 151
other techniques, 110–111 Java8
overview, 87–88 Lambda Expressions in, 240–252
using custom subviews for, 92–93 functional interfaces, 252
GridView, 33 method references, 253
gvr-android-sdk-master, 223, 225 type inferencing, 253
and Parallel Streams, 258
H Stream, 253–254
height attributes, 13 classes, 257–258
HelloService.java, 200 collections versus, 255–256
HelloWorld, 4–5, 21 Infinite, 256
activity_main.xml file, 7, 12 Marble diagrams, 255
 INDEX • 287

Operators, 254, 256–257 M

order of data evaluation, 255
MainActivity, 18
processing, 261
MainActivity.java, 205–207
StreamsFilter1.java, 261–262
click events, 47–49
Streams1.java, 258–259
communicating, 196–197
Streams2.java, 259–260
comprehensive tap/touch, 119–123
Java Array, 257
device orientation, 137–139
java.io.File class, 181
displaing sensors on mobile device,
Java StringBuilder, 270 132–134
Java Thread, 250 displaying contents in project
java.util.stream, 257 template, 240–241
JDK9 Flow API, 262 displaying user contacts, 164–167
JobInfo class, 203 fade animation effects via XML,
JobScheduler, 202–205 106–107
just() operators, 275–276 lists and array adapters, 73–75
K multiple animation effects, 125–127
obtain information, 187–189
Kotlin, 280–281 reading compass information,
L 139–143
RecyclerView, 78–80
Lambda Expressions in Java8, rotating PNG files, 100–102
240–252 store and retrieve a set of names,
functional interfaces, 252 173–175
method references, 253 use of the just() operator, 275–278
type inferencing, 253 vibrations, 143–145
Lambda1.java, 251–252 writing to files, 182–183
landscape mode, 51–53 MainFragment.java, 231–233
Layout Managers, 76–77 main_layout.xml, 226–227
layout_margin, 24 map() function, Observables with,
LayoutParams class, 76–77 266–269
layouts, 34 map()operators, 249, 267, 270, 277–278
LinearGradient, 89 Marble Diagrams, 255
LinearLayout component, 40–41 Marshmallow, 167
LinearLayout.LayoutParam class, match_parent attributes, layout rules
76–77 for, 13–14
listObservable variable, 266, 279 Matrix class, rotating PNG files, 99–102
lists, 73–76 mBatInfoReceiver, 215, 216
ListView, 33 MediaPlayer, 146
L10NLanguages, 15 MediaStore, 168
LoaderManager, 172 memory leaks, 57–58
LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks, MessageReceiver.java, 235
172 method references, 253
loaders, 172 motion sensors, 130
loadRows() method, 233 mRowsAdapter, 233
288 • INDEX

multiple Activity classes, 22 onAccuracyChanged(), 134, 139

Multiple animation effects via XML, onActivityCreated() method, 233
125–127 onBackpressureBuffer operator, 270
Multiple Operators, Observables with, onBind() method, 198, 199
269–270 onClick() event listeners, 54
MyBasicService.java, 197–198 OnClickListener, 47, 53–54
MyBroadcastReceiver.java, 207–208 onClick() method, 46–47, 49, 53–54, 150
MyCustomApp.java, 163–164 onCompleted(), 265
MyCustomSubviewActivity.java, onCreate() method, 19, 50, 56, 139,
92–93 148, 150, 199, 233, 240
MyDrawablePNG.java, rendering FingerPaint.java, 123–124
binary images, 96–99 onCreate() operator, 275
MyFragment.java, 69–70 onDestroy(), 199
TimePicker, 62–63 onDestroy() method, 56, 151, 199
MyInterface, 252 onDeviceChanged(), 139
MyJobService class, 204 onDraw() method, 124
MyMusicService.java, 234–235 onerow.xml, 189–191
MyObservableMapJ.java, 266–268 onError, 265
MyObservableMap2J.java, 268–269 onFling() method, 123
MyReceiver.java, 217–218 onLongClick() method, 46–47
MyRxBinding.java, 272–273 onNext, 265
MyService.java, 199–200 onPause() method, 57
MySimpleService, 196 onRestart() method, 57
MySQLiteHelper.java, 175–176 onResume() method, 57
onSaveInstanceState() method, 164
N onStartCommand(), 198, 199, 202
ndroid.media.audiofx, 145 onStart() method, 57
Netflix, 264 onStop() method, 57
Network Connection, 170 onTouch() event listener, 54
NinePatch, 110 onTouchEvent() method, 114–115,
Non-Sticky Services, restarting, 202 123
Nougat, features in, 85–86 OpenGL
animation, 88, 111
O versus Unity/Unreal, 227–229
Object-Relational Mapper (ORM), 179 Operators Stream, 254
Observables, 248–249, 256 orElse() operator, 256
cold versus hot, 271–272 ORM, see Object-Relational Mapper
intermediate operators are passive, @Override annotation, 54
249
with map() function, 266–269 P
with Multiple Operators, 269–270 padding-related attributes, 36–38
with RxAndroid, 278–280 pan gesture, 125
RxJava2 and, 264–265 Parallel Streams, 258
terminal operators are active, 249–250 passive intermediate operators, 249
Observer pattern, 264 Peripheral I/O APIs, 238
 INDEX • 289

Permissions RingToneActivity.java, playing a

Android M, 159–160 ringtone, 146–148
in Android 6 or higher, 158 ringtone play, 146–148
Android 5.1 or lower, 157 ringtoneUri, 148
groups, 158 rotate, 103
Runtime, 159–160 runCommand(), 189
specifying, 158–159 runtime check, for implicit Intents,
types, 157 155–156
pinch/zoom gesture, 125 Runtime Permissions, 159–160, 238
pixel phone, 222–223 RxAndroid, 280
playback_controls.xml, 230 defined, 273–274
playing an audio file, 149–151 Observables with, 278–280
playing a ringtone, 146–148 Operators, 274–275
playing a YouTube video, 151–155 filter(), 277
playRingTone() method, 148 from(), 276, 277–278
PNG files just(), 275–276
applying other effects to, 102–103 map(), 277–278
rotating using Matrix class, 99–102 skip(), 277
positional attributes, 39–41 RxBinding
position sensors, 130 Android code sample with, 272–273
PreferenceActivity, 171 defined, 271–272
ps command, 186 RxJava, 172–173
Python commands, 243 RxJava2, 250
and Observables, 264–265
R with Observables, 264–265
RadialGradient, 89 MyObservableMapJ.java,
ReactiveNetwork, 194 266–268
READ_CONTACTS permission, 158 MyObservableMap2J.java,
Realm Database, 179 268–269
ReceiveAlarm1.java, 213–214 RxJavaOperators1.java,
RectF, 102 268–269
RecyclerView, 77–78 RxObservable1.java, 265–266
activity_main.xml, 81–82 rxjava.jar, 258
code sample, 78–82 RxJavaOperators1.java, 268–269,
MainActivity.java, 78–80 278–280
setting up, 78 RxJS code, 280
RecycleViewAdapter.java, RxKotlin, 280–281
80–81 RxObservable1.java, 265, 278,
reduce() operator, 270 279–280
Reductor, 281
RelativeLayout, 34, 39, 45
S
rendering binary images, 96–99 sample1.jpg, 179
res directory, 17 SaveDataToSQLite, 177
resource types, 17–18 savedInstanceState, 19
return values, 54 SaveImages.java, 184–186
290 • INDEX

SaveImageToSDCard(), 184–185 Debug Database, 178

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), 99 MainActivity.java, 173–175
scale, 103 MySQLiteHelper.java, 175–176
screen sizes, 42–43 Realm Database, 179
SD card, 146 User.java, 177
working with, 183–184 StackView layout, 24
writing PNG files to, 184–186 START_NOT_STICKY, 202
sensor managers, instantiating, 132 START_REDELIVER_INTENT, 202
sensors START_STICKY, 202
checking availability on a mobile Static Fragments, 66
device, 135–137 sticky Service, restarting, 202
lists of, 131–132 stopSelf() method, 200, 202
overview, 130–131 stopService() method, 200
on a Pixel phone with Android 7.1, Stream, Java8, 253–254
135 classes, 257–258
on a Samsung Galaxy S5 with collections versus, 255–256
Android 6.0.1, 133–134 Infinite, 256
Services, 194–195 Marble Diagrams, 255
features of, 195–196 Operators, 254, 256–257
lifecycle methods, 198–200 order of data evaluation, 255
managing, 200–201 processing, 261
minimalistic, 196–198 StreamsFilter1.java, 261–262
restricting access to, 200–201 Streams1.java, 258–259
start and stop, 200 Streams2.java, 259–260
types, 201–202 StreamsFilter1.java, 257, 261–262
setVibrate(), 145 Streams1.java, 258–259
Shared Preferences, 170, 171 Streams2.java, 259–260
SimpleAlarm1.java, 210–214 strings.xml file
SimpleBattery1.java, 214–216 HelloWorld, 11
SimpleButtonActivity.java, 44–45 working with Buttons, 46
SimpleCursorAdapter, 35 subscribe(), 249, 266, 270
simple_list_item_checked.xml, Subscriber, 265
lists and array adapters, 75–76 SurfaceView, drawing on, 110–111
SimpleVrVideoActivity.java, SVG, see Scalable Vector Graphics
225–226 SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW, 157
sketching program, 123–124 System Calls
skew, 103 activity_main.xml, 189
skip() operators, 277 MainActivity.java, 187–189
spin_animation.xml, 127 onerow.xml, 189–191
Spinner, 33
sprites, 127–128
T
sprite sheet, 128 targetName, 185
SQLite targetSdkVersion, 158
versus ContentProvider, 173 temperature sensor, 131
databases, 170 terminal operators, 249–250, 254
 INDEX • 291

text direction, 42 vibrations, 143–145

TextView class, 20, 33 VideoDetailsFragment.java, 230
TextView component, 14, 42, 45, 46, 63, View, 33
186, 189 View component, 12–13, 33
3gp link generation, 153–154 View.getContext(), 162
TimePicker, 61–63 ViewGroup, 34
Timer class, 200 ViewPropertyAnimator, 104
toBlocking() method, 267 Virtual Reality (VR), 220–221
touch events code samples, 225–227
methods for handling, 113–114 sample applications, 222
multi-line graph with, 115–117 screenshots, 222–223
overview, 117–118 SDK, 221, 227–229
TouchPaint.java, 124 void setIsLongpressEnabled, 118
transforms, 103–104 void setOnDoubleTapListener, 118
via XML, 109–110 VR, see Virtual Reality
translate, 103 Vulkan Graphics API, 99
TranslateAnimation, 106 Vysor, 223
try/catch block, 185
TV Input Framework (TIF), 229 W
tweened animation, 105 width attributes, 13
type inferencing, 253 wrap_content attributes, layout rules
for, 13–14
U WRITE_SETTINGS, 157
UI component, finding the id of, 52–53 writing to files, 182–183
UI controls
working with, 33–35
X
in XML files versus dynamic XML
creation, 32 elements and attributes, 21
UI design, for smart phones versus fade animation effects via, 106–109
tablets, 32–33 transforms via, 109–110
unbound Service, 201 XML <application> element, 10, 11
units of measure, 36 XML <data> element, 27
Unity game engine, 228 XML <action> element, 27
Unix commands, 255 XML <category> element, 27, 28
updateTimeValue() method, 63 XML <RelativeLayout> element, 12
UriMatcher class, 169 XML <resources> element, 11
User Driver API, 238 XML <string> element, 46
User.java, 177
User Preferences, 171–172
Y
YouTubeActivity.java, 152–153
V YouTube video play, 151–155
value object (VO), 177
versions of Android, 2–3
Z
vibrateMulti() method, 145 ZoomButtonsController, 118