MOBILE APPLICATION

DEVELOPMENT

BY Sisay A.(MSc)
What is Android
• Android is a complete set of software for mobile devices such as
tablet computers, notebooks, smartphones, electronic book readers,
set-top boxes etc.
• It contains a linux-based Operating System, middleware and key
mobile applications.
• It can be thought of as a mobile operating system.
• But it is not limited to mobile only. It is currently used in various
devices such as mobiles, tablets, televisions etc.
• Android is a software package and linux based operating
system for mobile devices such as tablet computers and
smartphones.
• It is developed by Google and later the OHA (Open Handset
Alliance).
• Java language is mainly used to write the android code even
though other languages can be used.
• The goal of android project is to create a successful real-
world product that improves the mobile experience for end
users.
What is Open Handset Alliance (OHA)
• It's a consortium of 84 companies such as google, samsung,
AKM, synaptics, KDDI, Garmin, Teleca, Ebay, Intel etc.

• It was established on 5th November, 2007, led by Google.

• It is committed to advance open standards, provide services
and deploy handsets using the Android Plateform.
Features of Android
• The important features of android are given below:
• It is open-source.
• Anyone can customize the Android Platform.
• There are a lot of mobile applications that can be chosen by
the Consumer.
• It provides many interesting features like weather details,
opening screen, live RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds etc.
• It provides support for messaging services(SMS and MMS),
web browser, storage (SQLite), connectivity (GSM, CDMA,
Blue Tooth, Wi-Fi etc.), media, handset layout etc.
Categories of Android applications
• There are many android applications in the market. The top
categories are:
• Entertainment
• Tools
• Communication
• Productivity
• Personalization
• Music and Audio
• Social
• Media and Video
• Travel and Local etc.
History of Android
• Initially, Andy Rubin founded Android Incorporation in Palo Alto, California,
United States in October, 2003.
• In 17th August 2005, Google acquired android Incorporation. Since then, it
is in the subsidiary of Google Incorporation.
• The key employees of Android Incorporation are Andy Rubin, Rich
Miner, Chris White and Nick Sears.
• Originally intended for camera but shifted to smart phones later because of
low market for camera only.
• Android is the nick name of Andy Rubin given by coworkers because of his
love to robots.
• In 2007, Google announces the development of android OS.
• In 2008, HTC launched the first android mobile.
 Android
Versions,
Codename
and API
Android Architecture
• Android architecture or Android software stack is
categorized into five parts:
• Linux kernel
• Native libraries (middleware),
• Android Runtime
• Application Framework
• Applications
 Android
Architecture
Cont'd...
1. Linux kernel
• It is the heart of android architecture that exists at the root of
android architecture. Linux kernel is responsible for device drivers,
power management, memory management, device management
and resource access.
2. Native Libraries
• On the top of linux kernel, their are Native libraries such as
WebKit, OpenGL, FreeType, SQLite, Media, C runtime library (libc)
etc.
• The WebKit library is responsible for browser support, SQLite is for
database, FreeType for font support, Media for playing and
recording audio and video formats.
Cont'd...
3. Android Runtime
• In android runtime, there are core libraries and DVM (Dalvik Virtual Machine)
which is responsible to run android application.
• DVM is like JVM but it is optimized for mobile devices. It consumes less
memory and provides fast performance.
4. Android Framework
• On the top of Native libraries and android runtime, there is android
framework.
• Android framework includes Android API's such as UI (User Interface),
telephony, resources, locations, Content Providers (data) and package
managers.
• It provides a lot of classes and interfaces for android application
development.
Cont'd...
5. Applications
• On the top of android framework, there are applications.
• All applications such as home, contact, settings, games, browsers
are using android framework that uses android runtime and
libraries.
• Android runtime and native libraries are using linux kernal.
Android Core Building Blocks
• An android component is simply a piece of
code that has a well defined life cycle
e.g. Activity, Receiver, Service etc.

• The core building blocks or fundamental

components of android are activities, views,
intents, services, content providers,
fragments and AndroidManifest.xml.
Cont'd...
• Activity
• An activity is a class that represents a single screen. It is like a
Frame in AWT.
• View
• A view is the UI element such as button, label, text field etc.
Anything that you see is a view.
• Intent
• Intent is used to invoke components. It is mainly used to:
• Start the service Launch an activity
• Display a web page Display a list of contacts
• Dial a phone call etc. Broadcast a message
Cont'd...
• Service
• Service is a background process that can run for a long time.
• There are two types of services local and remote. Local service is
accessed from within the application whereas remote service is
accessed remotely from other applications running on the same
device.
• Content Provider
• Content Providers are used to share data between the
applications.
• Fragment
• Fragments are like parts of activity. An activity can display one or
more fragments on the screen at the same time.
Cont'd...
• AndroidManifest.xml
• It contains information about activities, content providers,
permissions etc.
• It is like the web.xml file in Java EE.
• Android Virtual Device (AVD)
• It is used to test the android application without the need for
mobile or tablet etc.
• It can be created in different configurations to emulate different
types of real devices.
Android Emulator

• The Android emulator is an Android Virtual Device (AVD), which

represents a specific Android device.
• We can use the Android emulator as a target device to execute and
test our Android application on our PC.
• The Android emulator provides almost all the functionality of a real
device.
• We can get the incoming phone calls and text messages. It also gives
the location of the device and simulates different network speeds.
• Android emulator simulates rotation and other hardware sensors and
much more
Requirement and recommendations
• The Android emulator takes additional requirements beyond the
basic system requirement for Android Studio.
• These requirements are given below:
• SDK Tools 26.1.1 or higher
• 64-bit processor
• Windows: CPU with UG (unrestricted guest) support
• HAXM 6.2.1 or later (recommended HAXM 7.2.0 or later)
How to setup Android for Eclipse IDE
• Software required to setup android for eclipse IDE manually.
• Install the JDK
• Download and install the Eclipse for developing android application
• Download and Install the android SDK
• Install the ADT plugin for eclipse
• Configure the ADT plugin
• Create the AVD
• Create the hello android application
• 1) Install the Java Development Kit (JDK)
• 2) Download and install the Eclipse IDE
• 3) Download and install the android SDK
• 4) Download the ADT plugin for eclipse
• ADT (Android Development Tools) is required for developing the android
application in the eclipse IDE.
• For downloading the ADT, you need to follow these steps:
• Start the eclipse IDE, then select Help > Install new software...
• In the work with combo box,
write https://dlssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
• select the checkbox next to Developer Tools and click next
• You will see, a list of tools to be downloaded here, click next
• click finish
• After completing the installation, restart the eclipse IDE
• 5) Configuring the ADT plugin
• After the installing ADT plugin, now tell the eclipse IDE for your
android SDK location. To do so:
• Select the Window menu > preferences
• Now select the android from the left panel. Here you may see a dialog box
asking if you want to send the statistics to the google. Click proceed.
• Click on the browse button and locate your SDK directory e.g. my SDK location
is C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk .
• Click the apply button then OK.
• 6) Create an Android Virtual Device (AVD)
• For running the android application in the Android Emulator, you
need to create and AVD. For creating the AVD:
• Select the Window menu > AVD Manager
• Click on the new button, to create the AVD
• Now a dialog appears, write the AVD name e.g. myavd. Now choose the target
android version e.g. android4.0.
• click the create AVD
• 7) create and run the simple android application
End of Topic #1