Android Codes

Running a service in background on Android

2011-11-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here the code is generate to run some process in background through service. For example we are running the time in background and displaying it in the UI. The service coding will be in a seperate class MyService.java

MyService.java

package com.services.demo;

import java.util.Date;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Handler;
import android.os.IBinder;

public class MyService extends Service {
public static final String BROADCAST_ACTION = "com.services.demo.ServiceDemoActivity";
private final Handler handler = new Handler();
Intent intent;

int counter = 0;

@Override
public void onCreate() {
// Called on service created
intent = new Intent(BROADCAST_ACTION);
}

@Override

 public void onDestroy() {
// Called on service stopped
}

 @Override
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startid) {
int i = 0;
while (i < 101) {    if (i > 100) {
  this.onDestroy();
 } else {
  counter = i;
  i++;
  handler.removeCallbacks(sendUpdatesToUI);
        handler.postDelayed(sendUpdatesToUI, 1 * 1000); // 1 sec
 }


}

}

private Runnable sendUpdatesToUI = new Runnable() {
    public void run() {
        DisplayLoggingInfo();    
        handler.postDelayed(this, 1 * 1000); // 1 sec
    }

     };

   private void DisplayLoggingInfo() {

    intent.putExtra("time", new Date().toLocaleString());
    intent.putExtra("counter", String.valueOf(counter));
    sendBroadcast(intent);
   }

 public static boolean isRunning() {
return true;
}

@Override

 public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return null;
}
}

So for starting the service and stopping the service we will be using

Java

startService(new Intent(ServiceDemoActivity.this, MyService.class));
stopService(new Intent(ServiceDemoActivity.this, MyService.class));

For updating the UI we need to use the broadcast service. In that BroadcastReceiver we will update the UI

Java

private BroadcastReceiver broadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
updateDate(intent);
}

};

private void updateDate(Intent intent) {
String time = intent.getStringExtra("time");
TextView date = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.date);
date.setText(time);
}


In the MyService.java the method DisplayLoggingInfo() will send the broadcast to the activity to update the UI, the UI xml code is

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

 <TextView
 android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:id="@+id/date"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="" android:gravity="center" android:textSize="20sp" android:padding="20dp"/>
 <Button android:id="@+id/stop" android:text="Stop Service" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>

If we are opening the application on the first time means, it will be like this

and if we go out and come back to the page means, it will be showing a message like this

and if we stop the service means, it will be showing a message like this

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Android Keyboard Shortcuts - hotkeys

2011-11-08T02:05:00.000-08:00

We are going to see a set of keyboard shortcuts of Android OS to help you. Some hotkeys may vary from each device. Most of the them are listed here,

Android Keyboard Shortcuts:

• Spacebar: Page down in any Web page/document view

• Shift + Spacebar: Page up in any Web page/document view

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Typing

• Alt + Spacebar: Insert a special character

• Shift + Del: Delete the character to the right of the cursor

• Alt + Del: Delete an entire line

• Shift + Shift (press it twice): Activate caps-lock; press shift once more to exit

• Alt + Trackball-Left: Move cursor to beginning of line

• Alt + Trackball-Right: Move cursor to end of line

• Alt + Trackball-Up: Move cursor to top of page

• Alt + Trackball-Down: Move cursor to bottom of page

• Shift + Trackball-Left/Right: Highlight text for cutting or copying

• Menu + X: Cut text (will cut all text on-screen unless specific characters are highlighted)

• Menu + C: Copy text to clipboard (will copy all text on-screen unless specific characters are highlighted)

• Menu + V: Paste text from clipboard

• Menu + A: Select all text in the current field

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Browsing

• Menu + I: Zoom in

• Menu + O: Zoom out

• Menu + J: Go back a page

• Menu + K: Go forward a page

• Menu + R: Refresh current page

• Menu + F: Find on page

• Menu + B: Open bookmarks

• Menu + S: Open social network sharing menu

• Menu + H: View browsing history

• Menu + S: Open browser settings

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Gmail

• F: Forward current message (works only while inside the message)

• R: Reply to current message (works only while inside the message)

• A: Reply-all to current message (works only while inside the message)

• Y: Archive message (works from within message or while on main inbox list)

• Menu + U: Refresh inbox

• Menu + C: Compose new e-mail

• Enter: Open an e-mail (from the main inbox list)

• Alt + Trackball-Up: Jump to top of inbox

• Alt + Trackball-Down: Jump to bottom of inbox

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Apps

• Search + B: Open browser

• Search + C: Open contacts

• Search + E: Open e-mail

• Search + G: Open Gmail

• Search + I: Open calendar

• Search + M: Open maps

• Search + P: Open music

• Search + S: Open text messaging

• Search + Y: Open YouTube

You can also customize the keyboard shortcuts for applications: Just go into "Applications" off the main system settings menu, then select "Quick Launch." From there, you can change any of the above app-controlling hotkeys and add in your own.

Show or Hide soft keyboard on opening a dialog or activity in android

2011-11-07T23:23:00.000-08:00

For showing the soft keyboard on entering into the activity or to the dialog we can use this coding

Java



InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED,0);

and for hiding the keyboard

Java


InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(singleedittext.getWindowToken(),0);

Have a nice day!

Animation for view and activities with and without viewflipper in Android

2011-11-01T23:14:00.001-07:00

Now we are going to see some animations in android, three types of animation are given on this pack

Yes as shown in the image we are going to see all these types.
First we can see about Animation using ViewFlipper

Here i had added three views in the viewflipper and i had called the animation changes on scrolling using touchevent, the xml section will be like this

viewer.xml


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

<ViewFlipper xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_margin="5dip"
    android:id="@+id/layoutswitcher"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="500dp">
    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent">
        <TextView
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:padding="20dip"
            android:background="@android:color/background_light"
            android:text="Currently you are in Page 1. Scroll right or left to see next page"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:textStyle="bold" >
        </TextView>
    </LinearLayout>
    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent">
        <TextView
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:padding="20dip"
            android:background="@android:color/darker_gray"
            android:text="Currently you are in Page 2. Scroll right or left to see next page"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:textStyle="bold" >
        </TextView>
    </LinearLayout>
    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent">
        <TextView
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:padding="20dip"
            android:background="@android:color/white"
            android:text="Currently you are in Page 3. Scroll right or left to see next page"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:textStyle="bold" >
        </TextView>
    </LinearLayout>
</ViewFlipper>

and in the java we need to apply the animation on touchevent as

ViewerEffect.java


package com.animmer;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.animation.AccelerateInterpolator;
import android.view.animation.Animation;
import android.view.animation.TranslateAnimation;
import android.widget.ViewFlipper;

public class ViewerEffect extends Activity {
 
    private ViewFlipper vf;  
    private float oldTouchValue;
    
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.viewer);
        
        vf = (ViewFlipper) findViewById(R.id.layoutswitcher);
    }
    
  //for the previous movement
 public static Animation inFromRightAnimation() {

     Animation inFromRight = new TranslateAnimation(
     Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  +1.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f,
     Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,   0.0f
     );
     inFromRight.setDuration(400);
     inFromRight.setInterpolator(new AccelerateInterpolator());
     return inFromRight;
     }
    public static Animation outToLeftAnimation() {
     Animation outtoLeft = new TranslateAnimation(
      Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  -1.0f,
      Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,   0.0f
     );
     outtoLeft.setDuration(400);
     outtoLeft.setInterpolator(new AccelerateInterpolator());
     return outtoLeft;
     }    
    // for the next movement
    public static Animation inFromLeftAnimation() {
     Animation inFromLeft = new TranslateAnimation(
     Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  -1.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f,
     Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,   0.0f
     );
     inFromLeft.setDuration(400);
     inFromLeft.setInterpolator(new AccelerateInterpolator());
     return inFromLeft;
     }
    public static Animation outToRightAnimation() {
     Animation outtoRight = new TranslateAnimation(
      Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  +1.0f,
      Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,  0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_PARENT,   0.0f
     );
     outtoRight.setDuration(400);
     outtoRight.setInterpolator(new AccelerateInterpolator());
     return outtoRight;
     }
    
    @Override
    public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent touchevent) {
        switch (touchevent.getAction())
        {
            case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
            {
                oldTouchValue = touchevent.getX();
                break;
            }
            case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:
            {
                float currentX = touchevent.getX();
                if (oldTouchValue < currentX)
                {
                    vf.setInAnimation(inFromLeftAnimation());
                    vf.setOutAnimation(outToRightAnimation());
                    vf.showNext();
                }
                if (oldTouchValue > currentX)
                {
                    vf.setInAnimation(inFromRightAnimation());
                    vf.setOutAnimation(outToLeftAnimation());
                    vf.showPrevious();
                }
            break;
            }
        }
        return false;
    }
}

Likewise the next is animation between activities

Yes we here we will be giving animation effect between activities
For animation effects we need to put four files in the anim folder, they are slide_in_left, slide_out_left, slide_in_right and slide_out_right.

Java


overridePendingTransition( R.anim.slide_in_left, R.anim.slide_out_left );

The above code is used to move left to right

Java


overridePendingTransition( R.anim.slide_in_right, R.anim.slide_out_right );

The above code is used to move right to left

The final animation technique is to hide and show the views

Here we will be using touch event to assign the animation part, the animation objects will be assigned as shown below

Java


mAnimShow = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this, R.anim.slide_in_left);
mAnimHide = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this, R.anim.slide_out_right);

mAnimShow.setAnimationListener(new AnimationListener() {

   @Override
   public void onAnimationRepeat(Animation animation) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub

   }

   @Override
   public void onAnimationStart(Animation animation) {
    overridePendingTransition( R.anim.slide_in_left, R.anim.slide_out_left );

   }

   @Override
   public void onAnimationEnd(Animation animation) {
   
    
   }

  });

mAnimHide.setAnimationListener(new AnimationListener() {

   @Override
   public void onAnimationRepeat(Animation animation) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub

   }

   @Override
   public void onAnimationStart(Animation animation) {
    overridePendingTransition( R.anim.slide_in_right, R.anim.slide_out_right );

   }

   @Override
   public void onAnimationEnd(Animation animation) {
   
    
   }

  });

The full source code is provided below, you can apply these animation for any other purpose also, the animation technique is same, we need to put this in our logic.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Google unveils what's new in Android 4 'Ice Cream Sandwich'

2011-10-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Unified mobile OS for tablets and smartphones clones some iOS features and focuses on a slicker UI and new developer APIs

Google has finally unveiled Android 4.0, the unified version of its mobile OS for smartphones and tablets best known by its "Ice Cream Sandwich" code name. The revised Android, which made its debut on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone (video) also unveiled Tuesday, features a bevy of UI enhancements, social networking integration, and other APIs meant to encourage human and application-based sharing. Android has also beefed up some of its security capabilities, though most are in the form of API support that developers can use as desired.

Google did not provide a release date for Android 4, but did say the Galaxy Nexus running it would be available in November. Available now is the updated Android SDK, so developers can begin modifying or creating applications for Android 4.

[ Paul Krill shares developers' expectations for Android 4. | See how badly Apple's iOS 5 trounced Android 3.2 "Honeycomb" and Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" in InfoWorld's tests. | Subscribe to InfoWorld's Mobilize newsletter for the latest developments in mobile technology. ]

For business users, Android 4 integrates multiple email accounts more completely and now supports Exchange email folders. It also lets users take screenshots from their devices. (Both are longtime iOS capabilities.) Google made some minor adjustments to Android's security and management capabilities by supporting the most recent version of Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol, including newfound support for EAS certificate authentication, use of ABQ strings for device type and mode, an option for IT to disable automatic sync while roaming, and an option for IT to limit attachment size or disable attachments. Also added is support for disabling the device's camera via EAS.

On the security front, Android 4 adopts the better security capabilities found in the tablet version of Android ("Honeycomb") such as on-device encryption, but appears to be leaving deeper management APIs to third parties such as 3LM.

But Android 4 does have a new keychain API, and underlying encrypted storage lets applications store and retrieve private keys and their corresponding certificate chains. Applications can use the keychain API to install and store user certificates and certificate authorities. Android 4 also provides address space layout randomization (ASLR) -- a feature that has helped iOS lead in terms of onboard security capabilities -- to protect system and third-party applications from exploitation due to memory-management issues.

Android 4 also borrows some features introduced in Apple's iOS 5, such as the ability to apply silly effects to video (using the Photo Booth app in iOS), to edit and adjust photos (an enhancement to iOS 5's Photos app), and to sync Chrome browser bookmarks via the cloud (one component of Apple's iCloud service). Camera enhancements include single-motion panoramic capture, automatic facial focus, and stabilized image zoom. The latter two are enhancements found in the recently released Apple iPhone 4S.

Unique capabilities in Android 4 include face identification that can be used in lieu of passwords and the ability in the Chrome browser to tell websites to provide their full desktop vesions rather than their mobile-optimized versions.

In the revised OS, a new social API lets developers create applications that can integrate contacts, profile data, and calendar events from any of the user's activities or social networks. Calendar services are also now made accessible to apps. A new sharing API lets apps share data through a standard mechanism across the OS.

Android 4 also supports Wi-Fi Direct, a recent standard for creating ad hoc wireless networks among devices, and Bluetooth-based health care devices, such as wireless monitoring equipment. Android 4 now supports styli with a set of APIs that can distinguish pressure, angle, and other pen-oriented input nuances. The combination of support for Bluetooth-enabled medical equipment and pen input suggests Google may be making a push into the health care market with its tablets.

As previously promised, Android 4 also supports near-field communications for use in mobile payment systems and for "beaming" bursts of data between devices.

The UI changes appear meant to provide more customized information to users, such as sizable widgets and configurable alert displays, as well as more gesture controls for interacting with tasks rather than relying so heavily on Android's menus. Google has published a summary of the Android 4 changes at its website.

source is taken from http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/google-unveils-whats-new-in-android-4-ice-cream-sandwich-176549?page=0,0&source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2011-10-19

Check whether service is running or not in android application

2011-10-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

Using the below given code we can check whether a particular service in our application is running or not

Java


private boolean isMyServiceRunning() {
    ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
 if ("com.dir.pack.DemoService".equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
     return true;
 }
    }
    return false;
}

Here in the if condition we need to give the service file name with the package. So on the checking area you can simply call this function in the if statement like

Java


if(isMyServiceRunning()) {
  System.out.println("Service is running");
} else {
  System.out.println("Service is not running");
}

Have a nice day

Image and content is populated from Sqlite in Android

2011-09-23T22:05:00.001-07:00

In this below application we had populated the listview's data and image from the sqlite

Here we are using a java class for creating the table

PlaceDataSQL.java

package com.data.pack;

package com.data.pack;

import android.content.Context;
import android.database.SQLException;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;
import android.util.Log;

/** Helper to the database, manages versions and creation */
public class PlaceDataSQL extends SQLiteOpenHelper {
 private static final String DATABASE_NAME = "sample.db";
 private static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;

 private Context context;

 public PlaceDataSQL(Context context) {
  super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);
  this.context = context;
 }

 @Override
 public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
  db.execSQL("CREATE TABLE gallery (id varchar(20), image BLOB,caption varchar(160),description varchar(200))");
 }

 private void versionUpdation(SQLiteDatabase db) {

 }

 /**
  * Check if the database already exist to avoid re-copying the file each
  * time you open the application.
  * 
  * @return true if it exists, false if it doesn't
  */
 public boolean checkDataBase(String db) {

  SQLiteDatabase checkDB = null;

  try {
   String myPath = "data/data/com.data.pack/databases/" + db;
   checkDB = SQLiteDatabase.openDatabase(myPath, null,
     SQLiteDatabase.OPEN_READONLY);

  } catch (SQLiteException e) {

   // database does't exist yet.

  } catch (Exception e) {

  }

  if (checkDB != null) {

   checkDB.close();

  }

  return checkDB != null ? true : false;
 }

 @Override
 public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
  if (oldVersion >= newVersion)
   return;

  if (oldVersion == 1) {
   Log.d("New Version", "Datas can be upgraded");
  }

  Log.d("Sample Data", "onUpgrade : " + newVersion);
 }

}

Here in the onCreate function the table is created, here for image we are using blog, so that we can insert the image inside the table itself and the onUpgrade function is used to upgrade the table on the next release, for example you had create an application and published it in market and a guy is using your application, now suddenly you like to add another field on your table means you need to change the " DATABASE_VERSION " to 2 and in the onUpgrade funtion you need to write the alter query there. Likewise i had using a funtion checkDataBase(), this is to check whether the database is exist or not.

Then in the main activity we are calling delete to delete the table content, likewise we will be using a function insertData, inside this function we will be inserting data to the table, like that we will be using getDataAndPopulate(), here we will be retrieving data from the table and displaying in the list.

The main thing is we inserting the image to database for this we are using HttpClient and on the retriving time it is very easy to assign the data, so while calling on the next time we can assign and there is no need of url call for showing image.

SqliteDBActivity.java

package com.data.pack;


package com.data.pack;


import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;

import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
import org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class SqliteDBActivity extends ListActivity {
 private static PlaceDataSQL placeData;
 private ArrayList id = new ArrayList();
 private ArrayList image = new ArrayList();
 private ArrayList caption = new ArrayList();
 private ArrayList description = new ArrayList();
 private Button populate;
 
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        populate = (Button) findViewById(R.id.populate);
        placeData = new PlaceDataSQL(this);
        
        SQLiteDatabase db = placeData.getWritableDatabase();
        
        Cursor cursors = getRawEvents("select * from gallery");

  if (cursors.moveToNext()) {
   populate.setVisibility(View.GONE);
   getDataAndPopulate();
  } else {
   populate.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
  }
  
    
        db.delete("gallery", "id=?", new String[] {
    "12" });
        populate.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
   
   @Override
   public void onClick(View v) {
    try {
     callInsertion("1","http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bkmnlZUKXPs/TjZeTVCgp9I/AAAAAAAAAHI/SPnWJYqq4uQ/s1600/twitter_follow.gif","First","This is the first item");
     callInsertion("2","http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HDNFnyRU2Cw/TcuMbBaL70I/AAAAAAAAAGc/7eWN1qnZbAw/s320/seek.JPG","Second","This is the second item");
    } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
     // TODO Auto-generated catch block
     e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
     // TODO Auto-generated catch block
     e.printStackTrace();
    }  
        
    getDataAndPopulate();
   }
  });
  
    }
    
    private void callInsertion(String id, String url, String caption, String description) throws ClientProtocolException, IOException {
     DefaultHttpClient mHttpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
  HttpGet mHttpGet = new HttpGet(url);
  HttpResponse mHttpResponse = mHttpClient.execute(mHttpGet);
  if (mHttpResponse.getStatusLine().getStatusCode() == HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
    HttpEntity entity = mHttpResponse.getEntity();
      if ( entity != null) {
        // insert to database         
        insertData(id,EntityUtils.toByteArray(entity),caption,description);
      }
  }
    }
    
    private void insertData(String id, byte[] image, String caption, String description) {
     SQLiteDatabase db = placeData.getWritableDatabase();
     ContentValues values;
  values = new ContentValues();
  values.put("id", id);
  values.put("image", image);
  values.put("caption", caption);
  values.put("description", description);
  
  db.insert("gallery", null, values);
    }
    
    private void getDataAndPopulate() {
     id = new ArrayList();
     image = new ArrayList();
     caption = new ArrayList();
     description = new ArrayList();
     Cursor cursor = getEvents("gallery");
  while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
   String temp_id = cursor.getString(0);
   byte[] temp_image = cursor.getBlob(1);
   String temp_caption = cursor.getString(2);
   String temp_description = cursor.getString(3);
   id.add(temp_id);
   image.add(temp_image);
   caption.add(temp_caption);
   description.add(temp_description);
  }
  String[] captionArray = (String[]) caption.toArray(
    new String[caption.size()]);
  
  ItemsAdapter itemsAdapter = new ItemsAdapter(
    SqliteDBActivity.this, R.layout.item,
    captionArray);
  setListAdapter(itemsAdapter);
  populate.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    }
    
    
    private class ItemsAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
  String[] items;

  public ItemsAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId,
    String[] items) {
   this.items = items;
  }

  @Override
  public View getView(final int POSITION, View convertView,
    ViewGroup parent) {
   TextView desc;
   TextView cap;
   View view = convertView;
   ImageView img;
   if (view == null) {
    LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    view = vi.inflate(R.layout.item, null);
    
   } 
   img = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.image);
   cap = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.caption);
   
   desc = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.description);
   
   cap.setText(caption.get(POSITION));
   desc.setText(description.get(POSITION));
   img.setImageBitmap(BitmapFactory.decodeByteArray(image.get(POSITION), 0, image.get(POSITION).length));
   

   return view;
  }

  public int getCount() {
   return items.length;
  }

  public Object getItem(int position) {
   return position;
  }

  public long getItemId(int position) {
   return position;
  }
 }
    
    private Cursor getRawEvents(String sql) {
  SQLiteDatabase db = (placeData).getReadableDatabase();
  Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery(sql, null);

  startManagingCursor(cursor);
  return cursor;
 }

 private Cursor getEvents(String table) {
  SQLiteDatabase db = (placeData).getReadableDatabase();
  Cursor cursor = db.query(table, null, null, null, null, null, null);

  startManagingCursor(cursor);
  return cursor;
 }
}

In this example i had wrote two types of retrieving methods from the table, by writing the query and specifying the table name itself.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Customize the tab in Android

2011-09-19T23:08:00.001-07:00

I had attached two tab examples

First we are going to see about First example

CustomTabActivity.java


package com.customs.tabs;

import com.customs.tabs.R;
import android.app.TabActivity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TabHost;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class CustomTabActivity extends TabActivity{
 private TabHost tabHost;
 
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        setTabs();
    }
    
  private void setTabs() {
  tabHost = getTabHost();
  
  addTab(R.string.tab_1, R.drawable.info);
  addTab(R.string.tab_2, R.drawable.info);
  addTab(R.string.tab_3, R.drawable.info);
 }
 
 private void addTab(int labelId, int drawableId) {
  Intent intent = new Intent(this, TabAct.class);
  TabHost.TabSpec spec = tabHost.newTabSpec("tab" + labelId);  
  
  View tabIndicator = LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.indicator, getTabWidget(), false);
  
  TextView title = (TextView) tabIndicator.findViewById(R.id.title);
  title.setText(labelId);
  ImageView icon = (ImageView) tabIndicator.findViewById(R.id.icon);
  icon.setImageResource(drawableId);
  
  spec.setIndicator(tabIndicator);
  spec.setContent(intent);
  tabHost.addTab(spec);
  
 }
}

The class extends TabActivity and the header of the tab is provided in seperate activity which is called on the addTab method. The selection / unselection / active colors are mentioned in the indicator xml file in the layout

indicator.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="0dip"
    android:layout_height="64dip"    
    android:layout_weight="1"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:background="@drawable/indicator"
    android:padding="5dp">

    <ImageView android:id="@+id/icon"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    />

    <TextView android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        style="?android:attr/tabWidgetStyle"
    />    
</RelativeLayout>

Now we can see the Second example of Tab

Here we are not going to extend the tabactivity, instead of that we can set the tab headers through setting background images or colors using xml and without using xml

CustomTabs.java


package com.customized.tabs;

import com.customized.tabs.R;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TabHost;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.TabHost.TabContentFactory;
import android.widget.TabHost.TabSpec;

public class CustomTabs extends Activity {

 private TabHost mTabHost;
 private TextView mTabLayout;

 private void setupTabHost() {
  mTabHost = (TabHost) findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);
  mTabHost.setup();
  mTabLayout = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.taber);
  mTabHost.setOnTabChangedListener(new TabHost.OnTabChangeListener() {
   
   @Override
   public void onTabChanged(String tabId) {
    mTabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0)
    .setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.m2);
    if ("Tab 1".equals(tabId)) {
     mTabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0)
       .setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.m1);
     mTabLayout.setText("This is Tab 1");
    } else if("Tab 2".equals(tabId)) {
     mTabLayout.setText("This is Tab 2");
    } else {
     mTabLayout.setText("This is Tab 3");
    }
   }
  });
 }

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

  setupTabHost();
  
  //mTabHost.getTabWidget().setDividerDrawable(R.drawable.divider);

  setupTab(new TextView(this), "Tab 1");
  setupTab(new TextView(this), "Tab 2");
  setupTab(new TextView(this), "Tab 3");
 }

 private void setupTab(final View view, final String tag) {
  View tabview = createTabView(mTabHost.getContext(), tag);
  
  TabSpec setContent = mTabHost.newTabSpec(tag).setIndicator(tabview).setContent(new TabContentFactory() {
   public View createTabContent(String tag) {return view;}
  });
  mTabHost.addTab(setContent);
  if ("Tab 1".equals(tag))
   mTabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0).setBackgroundResource(
     R.drawable.m1);
  

 }

 private static View createTabView(final Context context, final String text) {
  View view = LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(R.layout.bg, null);
  TextView tv = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.tabsText);
  tv.setText(text);
  return view;
 }
}

In the above code i had commented the divider between each header, if you need means you can uncomment and i had set a different image for the Tab 1 alone, if you need you can set different images for each tab like that. Then in the bg_selector.xml i had commented the xml files for background color and i had set images for that

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Using Sqlite to populate a ListView in Android

2011-09-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

In this below application we had populated the listview using the data from the sqlite

Here we are using a java class for creating the table

PlaceDataSQL.java

package com.data.pack;

import android.content.Context;
import android.database.SQLException;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;
import android.util.Log;

/** Helper to the database, manages versions and creation */
public class PlaceDataSQL extends SQLiteOpenHelper {
 private static final String DATABASE_NAME = "sample.db";
 private static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;

 private Context context;

 public PlaceDataSQL(Context context) {
  super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);
  this.context = context;
 }

 @Override
 public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
  db.execSQL("CREATE TABLE gallery (id varchar(20), image varchar(2000),caption varchar(160),description varchar(200))");
 }

 private void versionUpdation(SQLiteDatabase db) {

 }

 /**
  * Check if the database already exist to avoid re-copying the file each
  * time you open the application.
  *
  * @return true if it exists, false if it doesn't
  */
 public boolean checkDataBase(String db) {

  SQLiteDatabase checkDB = null;

  try {
   String myPath = "data/data/com.data.pack/databases/" + db;
   checkDB = SQLiteDatabase.openDatabase(myPath, null,
     SQLiteDatabase.OPEN_READONLY);

  } catch (SQLiteException e) {

   // database does't exist yet.

  } catch (Exception e) {

  }

  if (checkDB != null) {

   checkDB.close();

  }

  return checkDB != null ? true : false;
 }

 @Override
 public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
  if (oldVersion >= newVersion)
   return;

  if (oldVersion == 1) {
   Log.d("New Version", "Datas can be upgraded");
  }

  Log.d("Sample Data", "onUpgrade : " + newVersion);
 }

}

Here in the onCreate function the table is created and the onUpgrade function is used to upgrade the table on the next release, for example you had create an application and published it in market and a guy is using your application, now suddenly you like to add another field on your table means you need to change the " DATABASE_VERSION " to 2 and in the onUpgrade funtion you need to write the alter query there. Likewise i had using a funtion checkDataBase(), this is to check whether the database is exist or not.

Then in the main activity we are calling delete to delete the table content, likewise we will be using a function insertData, inside this function we will be inserting data to the table, like that we will be using getDataAndPopulate(), here we will be retrieving data from the table and displaying in the list.

SqliteDBActivity.java

package com.data.pack;


import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class SqliteDBActivity extends ListActivity {
 private static PlaceDataSQL placeData;
 private ArrayList id = new ArrayList();
 private ArrayList image = new ArrayList();
 private ArrayList caption = new ArrayList();
 private ArrayList description = new ArrayList();
 private Button populate;
 
   /** Called when the activity is first created. */
   @Override
   public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
       setContentView(R.layout.main);
       populate = (Button) findViewById(R.id.populate);
       placeData = new PlaceDataSQL(this);
      
       SQLiteDatabase db = placeData.getWritableDatabase();
      
       Cursor cursors = getRawEvents("select * from gallery");

  if (cursors.moveToNext()) {
   populate.setVisibility(View.GONE);
   getDataAndPopulate();
  } else {
   populate.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
  }
  
  
       db.delete("gallery", "id=?", new String[] {
    "12" });
       populate.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
   
   @Override
   public void onClick(View v) {
    insertData("1","http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bkmnlZUKXPs/TjZeTVCgp9I/AAAAAAAAAHI/SPnWJYqq4uQ/s1600/twitter_follow.gif","First","This is the first item");
    insertData("2","http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HDNFnyRU2Cw/TcuMbBaL70I/AAAAAAAAAGc/7eWN1qnZbAw/s320/seek.JPG","Second","This is the second item");
    getDataAndPopulate();
   }
  });
  
   }
  
   private void insertData(String id, String image, String caption, String description) {
    SQLiteDatabase db = placeData.getWritableDatabase();
    ContentValues values;
  values = new ContentValues();
  values.put("id", id);
  values.put("image", image);
  values.put("caption", caption);
  values.put("description", description);
  
  db.insert("gallery", null, values);
   }
  
   private void getDataAndPopulate() {
    id = new ArrayList();
    image = new ArrayList();
    caption = new ArrayList();
    description = new ArrayList();
    Cursor cursor = getEvents("gallery");
  while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
   String temp_id = cursor.getString(0);
   String temp_image = cursor.getString(1);
   String temp_caption = cursor.getString(2);
   String temp_description = cursor.getString(3);
   id.add(temp_id);
   image.add(temp_image);
   caption.add(temp_caption);
   description.add(temp_description);
  }
  String[] captionArray = (String[]) caption.toArray(
    new String[caption.size()]);
  
  ItemsAdapter itemsAdapter = new ItemsAdapter(
    SqliteDBActivity.this, R.layout.item,
    captionArray);
  setListAdapter(itemsAdapter);
  populate.setVisibility(View.GONE);
   }
  
  
   private class ItemsAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
  String[] items;

  public ItemsAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId,
    String[] items) {
   this.items = items;
  }

  @Override
  public View getView(final int POSITION, View convertView,
    ViewGroup parent) {
   TextView desc;
   TextView cap;
   View view = convertView;
   ImageView img;
   if (view == null) {
    LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    view = vi.inflate(R.layout.item, null);
    
   }
   img = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.image);
   cap = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.caption);
   
   desc = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.description);
   
   cap.setText(caption.get(POSITION));
   desc.setText(description.get(POSITION));
   try {
    URL url = new URL(image.get(POSITION));
    HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url
      .openConnection();
    connection.setDoInput(true);
    connection.connect();
    InputStream input = connection.getInputStream();
    BitmapFactory.Options bfOptions = new BitmapFactory.Options();
    bfOptions.inDither = false; // Disable Dithering
           // mode
    bfOptions.inPurgeable = true; // Tell to gc that
            // whether it needs
            // free memory, the
            // Bitmap can be
            // cleared
    bfOptions.inInputShareable = true; // Which kind of
             // reference
             // will be used
             // to recover
             // the Bitmap
             // data after
             // being clear,
             // when it will
             // be used in
             // the future
    bfOptions.inTempStorage = new byte[16 * 1024];
    Bitmap bmp = null;
    bmp = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(input, null,
      bfOptions);
    img.setImageBitmap(bmp);
    connection.disconnect();
    input.close();

   } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
   } catch (IOException e) {
   } catch (IllegalAccessError e) {
   } catch (NullPointerException e) {
   }

   return view;
  }

  public int getCount() {
   return items.length;
  }

  public Object getItem(int position) {
   return position;
  }

  public long getItemId(int position) {
   return position;
  }
 }
  
   private Cursor getRawEvents(String sql) {
  SQLiteDatabase db = (placeData).getReadableDatabase();
  Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery(sql, null);

  startManagingCursor(cursor);
  return cursor;
 }

 private Cursor getEvents(String table) {
  SQLiteDatabase db = (placeData).getReadableDatabase();
  Cursor cursor = db.query(table, null, null, null, null, null, null);

  startManagingCursor(cursor);
  return cursor;
 }
}

In this example i had wrote two types of retrieving methods from the table, by writing the query and specifying the table name itself.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Creating keystore and google api key for android google maps

2011-07-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

Open the command prompt and follow the steps

D:\android-sdk-windows-1.6_r1\tools>keytool -genkey -v -keystore projectkey.keystore -alias aliasname -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 15000
Enter keystore password: ------------
What is your first and last name?
[Unknown]: ------------
What is the name of your organizational unit?
[Unknown]: ------------
What is the name of your organization?
[Unknown]: ------------
What is the name of your City or Locality?
[Unknown]: ------------
What is the name of your State or Province?
[Unknown]: ------------
What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
[Unknown]: ------------

D:\android-sdk-windows-1.6_r1\tools>keytool -list -alias aliasname -keystore projectkey.keystore
Enter keystore password:
aliasname, Dec 7, 2010, PrivateKeyEntry,
Certificate fingerprint (MD5): CA:CF:AA:0E:5A:2B:88:C8:64:F1:FA:F7:29:21:50:FF

Using your Certificate fingerprint (MD5) get google api key from this site
http://code.google.com/android/maps-api-signup.html

How to Install APK Files on Android Emulator using command prompt (cmd) without eclipse

2011-07-30T01:52:00.001-07:00

Here we are going to see how to run (install) the apk file to the Android emulator without using eclipse.

Installing in different OS:

1. a Windows, Mac OS X (intel) or Linux (i386) powered computer
2. the Android Software Development Kit (SDK).

You do not need Eclipse or Eclipse-plugin the Android Development Tools (ADT). The last two are required for the software development for Android, but are not necessary for application evaluation on emulator.

First download the Android SDK, which may be obtained here: http://code.google.com/android/download.html

Follow the instruction, described in the topic "Installing SDK" from the Google manual, which is located here: http://code.google.com/android/intro/installing.html#installingsdk or you can go with http://android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/search/label/installation

Steps need to be followed:

Installing the SDK

After downloading the SDK, unpack the .zip archive to a suitable location on your machine. For the rest of this document, we will refer to the directory where you installed the SDK as $SDK_ROOT.

Optionally, you can add $SDK_ROOT/tools and $SDK_ROOT/platform-tools to your path:

On Linux, edit your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file. Look for a line that sets the PATH environment variable and add the full path to your $SDK_ROOT/tools to it. If you don't see a line setting the path, you can add one:

export PATH=${PATH}:
On a Mac, look in your home directory for .bash_profile and proceed as for Linux. You can create the .bash_profile, if you haven't already set one up on your machine.
On Windows, right click on My Computer, and select Properties. Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, and in the dialog that comes up, double-click on Path under System Variables, and add the full path to the tools/ directory under $SDK_ROOT to it.

Adding $SDK_ROOT/tools to your path lets you run Android Debug Bridge (adb) and the other command line tools without needing to supply the full path to the tools directory. Note that, if you update your SDK, you should remember to update your PATH settings to point to the new location, if different.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Now navigate to the $SDK_ROOT/tools directory and execute the file 'emulator.exe'. This is the Android emulator itself. Wait couple of minutes until it loads. Now you must see the home screen of Android - wallpapers with snowy mountains on the background and the navigation bar below.

Enjoyed? Ok! Let's continue. Download and save locally a APK-file which you want to install/evaluate on the emulator. We recommend to save the APK file directly in the $SDK_ROOT/tools directory.

Note: APK probably stands for "Android package". It's an application distribution unit in the Android environment. If you are coming from the Windows Mobile world, think of APK as of CAB-files.

Ok, now start the console ("Start -> Run... -> type 'cmd'" for Windows computers). Type-in the following command: adb install $APK where $APK is the name of the APK file. For example: adb install Snake.apk

If you receive a "path not found" error, then you probably either didn't add path to the $SDK_ROOT/tools directory to your system PATH settings or the application you are trying to install is not in the $SDK_ROOT/tools or $SDK_ROOT/platform-tools directory.

If all went without errors then you should be seeing your newly installed APK on the emulator.

Design a linearlayout or textview and any component in android with border,corner radius and gradient

2011-07-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

We can design a linearlayout or relativelayout or framelayout... or even we can design a text view with this coding. The sample is given for linear layout, the result will be like this

here i had given corner radius for left top corner and left bottom corner for the linear layout, and i applied border for whole linearlayout.

For design the layout we need to use this xml file

layout_border.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item>
 <shape android:shape="rectangle">
  <stroke android:width="2dp" android:height="2dp"
   android:color="#FF0000" />
  <solid android:color="#000000" />
  <padding android:left="1dp" android:top="1dp" android:right="1dp"
   android:bottom="1dp" />

  <corners android:radius="1dp" android:bottomRightRadius="5dp"
   android:bottomLeftRadius="0dp" android:topLeftRadius="5dp"
   android:topRightRadius="0dp" />
 </shape>
</item>

</layer-list>

and we need to set the xml file as background for the linear layout as

In the main xml

<LinearLayout android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_width="200dp" android:layout_height="200dp" android:background="@drawable/layout_border" />

For gradient effect you can use the below xml, this will not be in the source, you can put this file and set this as background for gradient effect

layout_gradient.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle">
    <gradient
        android:startColor="#ffa5ba"
        android:endColor="#ff92af"
        android:angle="150"/>

</shape>

The code is fulling checked so you can run the code after downloading it itself.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Android interview questions

2011-07-04T05:02:00.000-07:00

What is an action?
The Intent Sender desires something or doing some task

What is activity?
A single screen in an application, with supporting Java code.

What is intent in Android?
A class (Intent) will describes what a caller desires to do. The caller will send this intent to Android's intent resolver, which finds the most suitable activity for the intent. E.g. opening a PDF document is an intent, and the Adobe Reader apps will be the perfect activity for that intent(class).

What is a Sticky Intent?
sendStickyBroadcast() performs a sendBroadcast (Intent) known as sticky, i.e. the Intent you are sending stays around after the broadcast is complete, so that others can quickly retrieve that data through the return value of registerReceiver (BroadcastReceiver, IntentFilter). In all other ways, this behaves the same as sendBroadcast(Intent).

One example of a sticky broadcast sent via the operating system is ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED. When you call registerReceiver() for that action -- even with a null BroadcastReceiver -- you get the Intent that was last broadcast for that action. Hence, you can use this to find the state of the battery without necessarily registering for all future state changes in the battery.

Is there anyway to determine if an Intent passed into a BroadcastReceiver's onReceive is the result of a sticky Boradcast Intent, or if it was just sent?

Example for sticky broadcast
When you call registerReceiver() for that action -- even with a null BroadcastReceiver -- you get the Intent that was last broadcast for that action. Hence, you can use this to find the state of the battery without necessarily registering for all future state changes in the battery.

How the nine-patch Image different from a regular bitmap? or Different between nine-patch Image vs regular Bitmap Image
It is one of a resizable bitmap resource which is being used as backgrounds or other images on the device. The NinePatch class allows drawing a bitmap in nine sections. The four corners are unscaled; the middle of the image is scaled in both axes, the four edges are scaled into one axis.

What Programming languages does Android support for application development?
Android applications supports using Java Programming Language. which is coded in Java and complied using Android SDK.

What is a resource?
A user defined JSON, XML, bitmap, or other file, injected into the application build process, which can later be loaded from code.

How will you record a phone call in Android? or How to handle on Audio Stream for a call in Android?
Permissions.PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS: Will Allows an application to monitor, modify, or abort outgoing calls. So through that we can monitor the Phone calls.

What's the difference between class, file and activity in android?
Class - The Class file is complied from .java file. Android will use this .class file to produce the executable apk.
File - It is a block of resources, srbitrary information. It can be any file type.
Activity - An activity is the equivalent of a Frame/Window in GUI toolkits. It is not a file or a file type it is just a class that can be extended in Android for loading UI elements on view.

Does Android support the Bluetooth serial port profile?
A. Yes.
Can an application be started on powerup?
A. Yes.

What is APK format.
The APK file is compressed AndroidManifest.xml file with extension .apk, Which have application code (.dex files), resource files, and other files which is compressed into single .apk file.

How to Translate in android
The Google translator translates the data of one language into another language by using XMPP to transmit data. You can type the message in English and select the language which is understood by the citizens of the country in order to reach the message to the citizens.

What is an action?
A description of something that an Intent sender desires.

What are the advantages of Android?
The following are the advantages of Android:

* The customer will be benefited from wide range of mobile applications to choose, since the monopoly of wireless carriers like Orange and AT&T will be broken by Google Android.
* Features like weather details, live RSS feeds, opening screen, icon on the opening screen can be customized
* Innovative products like the location-aware services, location of a nearby convenience store etc., are some of the additive facilities in Android.

What is the TTL (Time to Live)? Why is it required?

TTL is a value in data packet of Internet Protocol. It communicates to the network router whether or not the packet should be in the network for too long or discarded. Usually, data packets might not be transmitted to their intended destination within a stipulated period of time. The TTL value is set by a system default value which is an 8-bit binary digit field in the header of the packet. The purpose of TTL is, it would specify certain time limit in seconds, for transmitting the packet header. When the time is exhausted, the packet would be discarded. Each router receives the subtracts count, when the packet is discarded, and when it becomes zero, the router detects the discarded packets and sends a message, Internet Control Message Protocol message back to the originating host.

How is nine-patch image different from a regular bitmap?

It is a resizable bitmap resource that can be used for backgrounds or other images on the device. The NinePatch class permits drawing a bitmap in nine sections. The four corners are unscaled; the four edges are scaled in one axis, and the middle is scaled in both axes.

Explain IP datagram, Fragmentation and MTU ?

IP datagram can be used to describe a portion of IP data. Each IP datagram has set of fields arranged in an order. The order is specific which helps to decode and read the stream easily. IP datagram has fields like Version, header length, Type of service, Total length, checksum, flag, protocol, Time to live, Identification, source and destination ip address, padding, options and payload.

MTU:- Maximum Transmission Unit is the size of the largest packet that a communication protocol can pass. The size can be fixed by some standard or decided at the time of connection

Fragmentation is a process of breaking the IP packets into smaller pieces. Fragmentation is needed when the datagram is larger than the MTU. Each fragment becomes a datagram in itself and transmitted independently from source. When received by destination they are reassembled.

Explain about the exceptions of Android?

The following are the exceptions that are supported by Android
* InflateException : When an error conditions are occurred, this exception is thrown
* Surface.OutOfResourceException: When a surface is not created or resized, this exception is thrown
* SurfaceHolder.BadSurfaceTypeException: This exception is thrown from the lockCanvas() method, when invoked on a Surface whose is SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS
* WindowManager.BadTokenException: This exception is thrown at the time of trying to add view an invalid WindowManager.LayoutParamstoken.

Describe Android Application Architecture?

Android Application Architecture has the following components:

* Services ? like Network Operation

* Intent - To perform inter-communication between activities or services

* Resource Externalization - such as strings and graphics

* Notification signaling users - light, sound, icon, notification, dialog etc.

* Content Providers - They share data between applications

What are the advantages of Android?

The following are the advantages of Android:

* The customer will be benefited from wide range of mobile applications to choose, since the monopoly of wireless carriers like AT&T and Orange will be broken by Google Android.

* Features like weather details, live RSS feeds, opening screen, icon on the opening screen can be customized

* Innovative products like the location-aware services, location of a nearby convenience store etc., are some of the additive facilities in Android.

How to select more than one option from list in android xml file? Give an example.

Specify android id, layout height and width as depicted in the following example.

Explain about the exceptions of Android?

The following are the exceptions that are supported by Android

* InflateException : When an error conditions are occurred, this exception is thrown

* Surface.OutOfResourceException: When a surface is not created or resized, this exception is thrown

* SurfaceHolder.BadSurfaceTypeException: This exception is thrown from the lockCanvas() method, when invoked on a Surface whose is SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS

* WindowManager.BadTokenException: This exception is thrown at the time of trying to add view an invalid WindowManager.LayoutParamstoken.

What are the features of Android?

*Components can be reused and replaced by the application framework.

*Optimized DVM for mobile devices

*SQLite enables to store the data in a structured manner.

*Supports GSM telephone and Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G and EDGE technologies

*The development is a combination of a device emulator, debugging tools, memory profiling and plug-in for Eclipse IDE.

What are the differences between a domain and a workgroup?

In a domain, one or more computer can be a server to manage the network. On the other hand in a workgroup all computers are peers having no control on each other. In a domain, user doesn?t need an account to logon on a specific computer if an account is available on the domain. In a work group user needs to have an account for every computer.

In a domain, Computers can be on different local networks. In a work group all computers needs to be a part of the same local network.

What is android?

Android is a stack of software for mobile devices which has Operating System, middleware and some key applications. The application executes within its own process and its own instance of Dalvik Virtual Machine. Many Virtual Machines run efficiently by a DVM device. DVM executes Java languages byte code which later transforms into .dex format files.

What is needed to make a multiple choice list with a custom view for each row?

Multiple choice list can be viewed by making the CheckBox android:id value be “@android:id /text1". That is the ID used by Android for the CheckedTextView in simple_list_item_multiple_choice.

What are the dialog boxes that are supported in android? Explain.

Android supports 4 dialog boxes:

AlertDialog : An alert dialog box supports 0 to 3 buttons and a list of selectable elements, including check boxes and radio buttons. Among the other dialog boxes, the most suggested dialog box is the alert dialog box.

ProgressDialog: This dialog box displays a progress wheel or a progress bar. It is an extension of AlertDialog and supports adding buttons.

DatePickerDialog: This dialog box is used for selecting a date by the user.

TimePickerDialog: This dialog box is used for selecting time by the user.

How to Remove Desktop icons and Widgets?

Press and Hold the icon or widget. The phone will vibrate and on the bottom of the phone you will see an option to remove. While still holding the icon or widget drag it to the remove button. Once remove turns red drop the item and it is gone

Common Tricky questions

Remember that the GUI layer doesn't request data directly from the web; data is always loaded from a local database.
The service layer periodically updates the local database.
What is the risk in blocking the Main thread when performing a lengthy operation such as web access or heavy computation? Application_Not_Responding exception will be thrown which will crash and restart the application.
Why is List View not recommended to have active components? Clicking on the active text box will pop up the software keyboard but this will resize the list, removing focus from the clicked element.

For senior employees

Beyond a certain level of experience, the job interview questions cease to be "difference between abstract class and interface", and focus more on testing your technical acumen, collaboration and communication skills. A list of such questions, typically asked during interviews for senior positions is given below:

Explain the life cycle of an application development process you worked on previously.
What the interviewer looks for is communication of requirements, planning, modeling, construction and deployment on the back end.
Here's a hypothetical project. Explain how you would go about it.
They want to know how you would break your work down into tasks and how many weeks for each task. I'm really looking to find out about planning methods, their skill set and how quickly they can execute.
How do you respond to requirement changes in the middle of a cycle?
What type of methodology have you used in the past? What are its drawbacks?
What are different techniques for prototyping an application?
Similar question: Do you feel there is value in wireframing an application? Why?
How do you manage conflicts in Web applications when there are different people managing data?
Tell me something you learned from a team member in the last year.
What software testing procedures have you used to perform a QA?

Once the coding skills verified. Sample I

· The Activity life cycle is must. Ask about the different phases of Activity Life cycle. For example: when and how the activity comes to foreground?

· Check the knowledge on AndroidManifest file, For example: Why do we need this file, What is the role of this file in Android app development.

· Different Kinds of Intents

· Ask about different Kinds of context

· Ask about different Storage Methods in android

· Kinds of Log debugger and Debugger Configuration

· How to debug the application on real device.

· How do you ensure that the app design will be consistent across the different screen resolutions

· Thread concepts also plus points as we deal with the treads more.

· Can you able to build custom views and how?

· How to create flexible layouts, For example to place English, Chinese fonts.

· What is localization and how to achieve?

· What are 9-patch images

· How to avoid ANR status

· How to do Memory management

· Ask about IPC

· What is onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState), Have you used savedInstanceState when and why?

· To check how updated the person is just ask about what are Fragments in an Activity

If this is an Android specific job, just ask the obvious stuff. Sample II

Application lifecycle
When to use a service
How to use a broadcast receiver and register it both in the manifest and in code
Intent filters
Stuff about what manifest attributes and tags mean
The types of flags to run an application

FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK
FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP
etc

How to do data intensive calculations using threads
Passing large objects (that can't be passed via intents and shouldn't be serialized) via a service
Binding to a service and the service lifecycle
How to persist data (both savedInstanceState and more permanent ways)

Just go through http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html and see what sounds like it's important. Hopefully you're an android developer and know what all those things are, otherwise you're just waiting your interviewee's time =P

But like @Mayra said. A lot of android can be picked up fairly quickly if they're experienced programmers. If you just ask android specific questions, you'll get people who started off with android and that could be bad.

Getting source from different sites like www.coolinterview.com and stackoverflow.com

Seek Bar or Progress Bar or Slide Bar or Slider

2011-05-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

This bar will be like this, the name for this bar is seek bar

In the xml file we need to mention like this to call the seek bar

xml


<SeekBar
android:id="@+id/seekbar"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"   
android:layout_height="wrap_content"   
android:layout_margin="10px"  
/>

The java class file will be like this

Seek.java


package com.android.seek;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.media.AudioManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.SeekBar;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener;

public class Seek extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
  AudioManager audioManager;
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        final TextView reading = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.reading);
        SeekBar seekBar = (SeekBar)findViewById(R.id.seekbar);
        seekBar.setMax(100);
        seekBar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new OnSeekBarChangeListener() {
   
   @Override
   public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
   }
   
   @Override
   public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
   }
   
   @Override
   public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int progress,
     boolean fromUser) {
    reading.setText("Processing "+progress+"% ");
   }
  });
        }
}

The code is fulling checked so you can run the code after downloading it itself.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Download Android Sqlite books

2011-04-29T00:21:00.001-07:00

You can download ebooks

The Definitive Guide to SQLite
Second Edition
Grant Allen
Mike Owens

Download The Definitive Guide to SQLite - Grant Allen, Mike Owens

The Definitive Guide to SQLite
Michael Owens

Download The Definitive Guide to SQLite - Michael Owens

Have a good day.

Google map example in android with info window (Popup) and multiple markers and zoom controls

2011-04-21T02:58:00.001-07:00

Through this application we can populate a google map with the info window, zoom controls and marker features. The image of the running application is shown below

First of all, we can run the application with the google api sdk only, we can use from API level 3, but the Google api sdk should be used to run the application.

Custom Linear layout is used on this application

LocationViewers.java


package com.icons.draw.view;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import android.content.Context;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.ZoomControls;

import com.google.android.maps.MapController;
import com.google.android.maps.MapView;
import com.icons.draw.R;

public class LocationViewers extends LinearLayout {

 private MapLocationOverlay overlay;
 
    //  Known lat/long coordinates that we'll be using.
    private List mapLocations;
    
    public static MapView mapView;
    
 public LocationViewers(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
  super(context, attrs);
  init();
 }

 public LocationViewers(Context context) {
  super(context);
  init();
 }
 
 public void init() {  

  setOrientation(VERTICAL);
  setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));
  String api = getResources().getString(R.string.map_api_key);
  mapView = new MapView(getContext(),api);
  mapView.setEnabled(true);
  mapView.setClickable(true);
  addView(mapView);
  overlay = new MapLocationOverlay(this);
  mapView.getOverlays().add(overlay);
     mapView.getController().setZoom(5);
     mapView.getController().setCenter(getMapLocations().get(0).getPoint());
 }
 
 
 public List getMapLocations() {
  if (mapLocations == null) {
   mapLocations = new ArrayList();
   mapLocations.add(new MapLocation("Avinashi road, Coimbatore",11.0138,76.9871));
   mapLocations.add(new MapLocation("Marina Beach, Chennai",13.0548,80.2830));
   mapLocations.add(new MapLocation("Taj Mahal, New Delhi",28.6353,77.2250));
   mapLocations.add(new MapLocation("Meenakshi Temple, Madurai",9.9195,78.1208));
  }
  return mapLocations;
 }

 public MapView getMapView() {
  return mapView;
 }
}

In this LocationViewers.java only we are using the MapView, then this file will be called in the map.xml

map.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:id="@+id/home_container" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="fill_parent">

 <com.icons.draw.view.LocationViewers
  android:id="@+id/map_location_viewer" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

 
</com.icons.draw.view.LocationViewers>

<ZoomControls android:id="@+id/zoomcontrols"
  android:gravity="bottom"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</FrameLayout>

In the above mentioned xml file we had used the ZoomControls also, this will be given the zoom listener on the java file

DrawIcons.java


package com.icons.draw;

import com.google.android.maps.MapActivity;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;
import android.widget.ZoomControls;
import com.icons.draw.view.LocationViewers;

public class DrawIcons extends MapActivity {
 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
     
        super.onCreate(icicle);

        setContentView(R.layout.map);
        
        
        ZoomControls zoomControls = (ZoomControls) findViewById(R.id.zoomcontrols);
        zoomControls.setOnZoomInClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View v) {       
                 LocationViewers.mapView.getController().zoomIn();      
                }
        });
        zoomControls.setOnZoomOutClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View v) {
                 LocationViewers.mapView.getController().zoomOut();
                }
        });
    }

    /**
     * Must let Google know that a route will not be displayed
     */
 @Override
 protected boolean isRouteDisplayed() {
  return false;
 } 
}

While pressing the zoom controls plus or minus, this listener will be called and the zoom functionality will be occurs. Then we are going to see two files MapLocation.java and MapLocationOverlay.java, where in the MapLocationOverlay file we will be drawing the marker and the info window for each marker, you can get the code from the zip file below.

The main thing to run the application is adding the internet permission and google library in the AndroidManifest.xml file

AndroidManifest.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="com.icons.draw"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <activity android:name=".DrawIcons"
                  android:label="@string/app_name">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
 <uses-library android:name="com.google.android.maps" />
    </application>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

</manifest>

The code is fulling checked so you can run the code after downloading it itself.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Android Books - you can download android ebooks

2011-04-06T20:27:00.001-07:00

You can download ebooks

Beginning Android 2
Begin the journey toward your own
successful Android 2 applications
Mark L. Murphy

Download Beginning Android 2 - Mark L. Murphy

Pro Android
Sayed Y. Hashimi and Satya Komatineni

Download Pro Android - Sayed Y. Hashimi and Satya Komatineni

Unlocking Android
A developer guide
Frank Ableson
Charlie Collins
Robi Sen
FOREWORD BY DICK WALL

Download Unlocking Android - Frank Ableson, Charlie Collins, Robi Sen FOREWORD BY DICK WALL

The Busy Codes Guide to
Android Developement
Mark L. Murphy

Download Android Developement - Mark L. Murphy

Beginning Android
Master Android from first principles
and begin the journey toward your
own successful Android applications!
Mark L. Murphy

Download Beginning Android - Mark L. Murphy

Have a good day.

Animated customized dialog or popup transparent layout with Button and Linear layout gradient effect in android

2011-04-05T02:03:00.000-07:00

The image shown below is an example of animated customized popup with transparent layout for button and linearlayout, and the linearlayout and button is given gradient effect

How to get a transparent layout? For that we need to use a transparent class

TransparentPanel.java

package com.popup.design.layers;

import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.graphics.RectF;
import android.graphics.Paint.Style;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.widget.LinearLayout;

public class TransparentPanel extends LinearLayout
{
private Paint innerPaint, borderPaint ;
  
public TransparentPanel(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
 super(context, attrs);
 init();
}

public TransparentPanel(Context context) {
 super(context);
 init();
}

private void init() {
 innerPaint = new Paint();
 innerPaint.setARGB(225, 0, 0, 0);
 innerPaint.setAntiAlias(true);

 borderPaint = new Paint();
 borderPaint.setARGB(255, 0, 0, 0);
 borderPaint.setAntiAlias(true);
 borderPaint.setStyle(Style.STROKE);
 borderPaint.setStrokeWidth(2);
}

public void setInnerPaint(Paint innerPaint) {
 this.innerPaint = innerPaint;
}

public void setBorderPaint(Paint borderPaint) {
 this.borderPaint = borderPaint;
}

   @Override
   protected void dispatchDraw(Canvas canvas) {
   
    RectF drawRect = new RectF();
    drawRect.set(0,0, getMeasuredWidth(), getMeasuredHeight());
   
    canvas.drawRoundRect(drawRect, 5, 5, innerPaint);
 canvas.drawRoundRect(drawRect, 5, 5, borderPaint);

 super.dispatchDraw(canvas);
   }
}

We need to use this transparentPanel class in the xml file, where we need the transparent layout, in the popup.xml we are using the com.popup.design.layers.TransparentPanel instead of LinearLayout, see in the code

popup.xml


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

<Button android:id="@+id/show_popup_button" android:layout_gravity="bottom"
 android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:layout_marginBottom="25px" android:text="Show Popup" />

<com.popup.design.layers.TransparentPanel
 android:id="@+id/popup_window" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
 android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:orientation="vertical"
 android:layout_gravity="bottom" android:gravity="left" android:padding="1px"
 android:background="@drawable/white">

 <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:orientation="vertical" android:gravity="right"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  android:background="@drawable/button_bar_gradient">

  <Button android:id="@+id/hide_popup_button"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:layout_alignParentRight="true" android:layout_marginTop="5px"
   android:layout_marginRight="10px" android:paddingLeft="5px"
   android:paddingRight="5px" style="?android:attr/buttonStyleSmall"
   android:textStyle="bold" android:textColor="@drawable/white"
   android:textSize="12px" android:text="  Close  " android:background="@drawable/button_close"/>

  <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="1px" android:layout_marginTop="5px"
   android:layout_below="@+id/hide_popup_button" android:background="@drawable/white" />
 </RelativeLayout>

 <TextView android:id="@+id/location_name"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:textStyle="bold" android:textSize="16px" android:textColor="@drawable/white"
  android:layout_marginTop="5px" android:layout_marginLeft="5px" />

 <TextView android:id="@+id/location_description"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:textColor="@drawable/white" android:layout_margin="5px" />

</com.popup.design.layers.TransparentPanel>

</FrameLayout>

Customized Popup is the com.popup.design.layers.TransparentPanel, initially we will hide this layout, and on the button click will show this layout. The java code is as follows

AnimatePopup.java

package com.popup.design;

import com.popup.design.layers.TransparentPanel;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.animation.Animation;
import android.view.animation.AnimationUtils;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.TextView;

/**
*
* @author http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/
*
*/
public class AnimatePopup extends Activity {

private Animation animShow, animHide;

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

       setContentView(R.layout.popup);
   
       initPopup();
   }
  
   private void initPopup() {
   
    final TransparentPanel popup = (TransparentPanel) findViewById(R.id.popup_window);

    //  Start out with the popup initially hidden.
    popup.setVisibility(View.GONE);
   
   
    animShow = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation( this, R.anim.popup_show);
    animHide = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation( this, R.anim.popup_hide);
   
    final Button   showButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.show_popup_button);
    final Button   hideButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.hide_popup_button);
    showButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
  public void onClick(View view) {
   popup.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
   popup.startAnimation( animShow );
   showButton.setEnabled(false);
   hideButton.setEnabled(true);
       }});
      
       hideButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
  public void onClick(View view) {
   popup.startAnimation( animHide );
   showButton.setEnabled(true);
   hideButton.setEnabled(false);
   popup.setVisibility(View.GONE);
       }});


    final TextView locationName = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.location_name);
       final TextView locationDescription = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.location_description);
      
       locationName.setText("Animated Popup");
       locationDescription.setText("Animated popup is created by http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/"
              + " Transparent layout is used on this example, and animation xml is also used"
              + " on this example. Have a Good day guys.");
}
}

For giving gradient effect we need to use this xml file as the background for the linearlayout or button. The xml file is

button_bar_gradient.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<gradient  android:startColor="#C0C0C0"
   android:endColor="#505050"
            android:angle="90"/>  
   <corners android:radius="2px" />
</shape>

In the popup.xml we had used the button_bar_gradient as a background. This button_bar_gradient.xml will be in drawable folder.

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

ListActivity with remembering the last clicks of the radio button in android

2011-04-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

We are going to see about using the ListActivity with radio button example and we are going to see, how to remember the last clicked on this listactivity before going to another activity. The view will be like this

The ListActivity with radio button can be done by using this xml code in the layout

XML


<ListView
android:id="@android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="#2c0bf9"
android:cacheColorHint="#2c0bf9"
android:drawSelectorOnTop="false"
/>

In the above mentioned xml, we used the android:id as @android:id/list, it is because we are going to use ListActivity. After that we need to insert the code in the java file as

Java


setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(this,
 android.R.layout.simple_list_item_single_choice, items));

and for check operation we need to call the selector function, in that itemClicked is a int array where we will be storing whether the row is clicked or not, this will be maintained of item click, the selector and item click functions are follows

Java


private void selector(int first,int total) {
 for (int i = 0; i < total; i++) {
 View v = getListView().getChildAt(i);
 CheckedTextView check = (CheckedTextView) v;
 if(itemClicked[first+i]==1)
  check.setChecked(true);
 else
  check.setChecked(false); 
 }
}

@Override
protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
 selectFlag = true;
 CheckedTextView check = (CheckedTextView) v;
 boolean click = !check.isChecked();
 check.setChecked(click);
 if (click) {
  itemClicked[position] = 1;
 } else {
  itemClicked[position] = 0;
 } 
}

We need the scroller listener, so that the last checked can be checked while scrolling, for implementing the scroll first we need to implement scroll listener as

Java


public class StoreClicks extends ListActivity implements ListView.OnScrollListener

then in the onscroll we need to call the selector method

Java


@Override
public void onScroll(AbsListView view, int firstVisibleItem,
  int visibleItemCount, int totalItemCount) {
 
 if(visibleItemCount == 6 && !firstTimeFlag) {
  selector(0,6);
  firstTimeFlag = true;
 }
}

@Override
public void onScrollStateChanged(AbsListView view, int scrollState) {
 switch (scrollState) {
 case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE:
  int first = view.getFirstVisiblePosition();
  int last = view.getLastVisiblePosition();
  int childCount = view.getChildCount();
  selector(first,childCount);
  break;

 case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_TOUCH_SCROLL:
  break;

 case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_FLING:
  break;
 }  

}

In the onScroll method the selector will be called only one time, after that onScrollStateChanged selector method will be called, this is why means, for the first page only the items will be visible, we can check or uncheck, so only we are doing like this. The full StoreClicks.java file will be like this

StoreClicks.java


package com.clicks.list;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AbsListView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.CheckedTextView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;
import android.widget.AbsListView.OnScrollListener;

/**
 * 
 * @author http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/
 * 
 */

public class StoreClicks extends ListActivity implements
  ListView.OnScrollListener {
 private static String[] items = { "Joseph", "George", "Mary", "Antony",
   "Albert", "Michel", "John", "Abraham", "Mark", "Savior",
   "Kristopher", "Thomas", "Williams", "Assisi", "Sebastian",
   "Aloysius", "Alex", "Daniel", "Anto", "Alexandar", "Brito",
   "Robert", "Jose", "Paul", "Peter" };
 private int[] itemClicked = new int[25];
 private boolean selectFlag = false; // this will be changed to true if a
 private boolean firstTimeFlag = false;
 // item is clicked

 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.main);
  Button click = (Button) findViewById(R.id.click);
  
  Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras();
  try{
  itemClicked = (int[])extras.getIntArray("clicks");
  }catch(NullPointerException e){}
  if(null == itemClicked)
  {
   itemClicked = new int[25];
   for (int i = 0; i < 25; i++) {
    itemClicked[i] = 0;
   }
  }
  click.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

   @Override
   public void onClick(View v) {
    if (selectFlag) {
     Intent intent = new Intent(StoreClicks.this, TabPage.class);
     Bundle extras = new Bundle();
     extras.putIntArray("clicks", itemClicked);
     intent.putExtras(extras);
     startActivity(intent);
     finish();
    } else {
     Toast.makeText(StoreClicks.this,
       "You must select atleast an item",
       Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
   }
  });
  setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(this,
    android.R.layout.simple_list_item_single_choice,
    items));
  getListView().setOnScrollListener(this);
 }

 private void selector(int first,int total) {
  for (int i = 0; i < total; i++) {
   View v = getListView().getChildAt(i);
   CheckedTextView check = (CheckedTextView) v;
   if(itemClicked[first+i]==1)
    check.setChecked(true);
   else
    check.setChecked(false); 
  }
 }

 @Override
 protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
  selectFlag = true;
  CheckedTextView check = (CheckedTextView) v;
  boolean click = !check.isChecked();
  check.setChecked(click);
  if (click) {
   itemClicked[position] = 1;
  } else {
   itemClicked[position] = 0;
  } 
 }

 @Override
 public void onScroll(AbsListView view, int firstVisibleItem,
   int visibleItemCount, int totalItemCount) {
  
  if(visibleItemCount == 6 && !firstTimeFlag) {
   selector(0,6);
   firstTimeFlag = true;
  }
 }

 @Override
 public void onScrollStateChanged(AbsListView view, int scrollState) {
  switch (scrollState) {
  case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE:
   int first = view.getFirstVisiblePosition();
   int last = view.getLastVisiblePosition();
   int childCount = view.getChildCount();
   selector(first,childCount);
   break;

  case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_TOUCH_SCROLL:
   break;

  case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_FLING:
   break;
  }  

 }

}

The itemClicked array should be passed in the bundle to the next activity and vice verse to this activity, so that the clicks will be maintained and we can check it explicitly

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

ListActivity with checkbox using AsyncTask with sleep time example in android

2011-03-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

We are going to see about using the ListActivity with checkbox example and we are going to see, how to using the AsyncTask with a good example, here we will be using sleep call, it is optional. The view will be like this

First we can see about using sleep option in android, in our code we used this

Java


 for (String item : items) {
 publishProgress(item);
 SystemClock.sleep(200);
 }

Here SystemClock.sleep(200); is used to sleep for a while, for this ListActivity with checkBox or AsyncTask this is not compulsory, this is used in this example for making to know about this sleep option.

The ListActivity with check box can be done by using this xml code in the layout

XML


<ListView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="@android:id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:drawSelectorOnTop="false"
/>

like that we need to insert the code in the java file as

Java


setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(this,
  android.R.layout.simple_list_item_checked, new ArrayList()));

and for check operation we need to override the function as

Java


@Override
protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
    CheckedTextView check = (CheckedTextView)v;
    check.setChecked(!check.isChecked());
}

That will do for showing a List view using the ListActivity, for using the AsyncTask, we need to call the AsyncTask class like

Java


new AddStringTask().execute();

On this call the AsyncTask class will be called

Java


class AddStringTask extends AsyncTask {
 @Override
 protected Void doInBackground(Void... unused) {
  for (String item : items) {
   publishProgress(item);
   SystemClock.sleep(200);
  }

  return (null);
 }

 @Override
 protected void onProgressUpdate(String... item) {
  ((ArrayAdapter) getListAdapter()).add(item[0]);
 }

 @Override
 protected void onPostExecute(Void unused) {
  setSelection(3);
  Toast.makeText(AsyncTaskDemo.this, "Done!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
 }
}

The full AsyncTaskDemo.java file will be like this

Java


package com.async.demo;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.SystemClock;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.CheckedTextView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;
import java.util.ArrayList;

/**
 * 
 * @author http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/
 *
 */

public class AsyncTaskDemo extends ListActivity {
 private static String[] items = { "Joseph", "George", "Mary", "Antony", "Albert",
   "Michel", "John", "Abraham", "Mark", "Savior", "Kristopher",
   "Thomas", "Williams", "Assisi", "Sebastian", "Aloysius", "Alex", "Daniel",
   "Anto", "Alexandar", "Brito", "Robert", "Jose",
   "Paul", "Peter" };

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

  setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(this,
    android.R.layout.simple_list_item_checked, new ArrayList()));

  new AddStringTask().execute();
 }

 class AddStringTask extends AsyncTask {
  @Override
  protected Void doInBackground(Void... unused) {
   for (String item : items) {
    publishProgress(item);
    SystemClock.sleep(200);
   }

   return (null);
  }

  @Override
  protected void onProgressUpdate(String... item) {
   ((ArrayAdapter) getListAdapter()).add(item[0]);
  }

  @Override
  protected void onPostExecute(Void unused) {
   setSelection(3);
   Toast.makeText(AsyncTaskDemo.this, "Done!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  }
 }
 
 @Override
 protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
     CheckedTextView check = (CheckedTextView)v;
     check.setChecked(!check.isChecked());
 }

 
}

You can download the full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Example code for OnKeyDown listener in Android

2011-03-29T02:57:00.000-07:00

In this example Toast is shown for the key presses.

The approach is simple, just we need to put this code, thats all

Java


@Override
    public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
        switch(keyCode)
        {
        case KeyEvent.KEYCODE_CAMERA:
         Toast.makeText(KeyActions.this, "Pressed Camera Button", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;
        case KeyEvent.KEYCODE_1:
         Toast.makeText(KeyActions.this, "Pressed 1", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;
        case KeyEvent.KEYCODE_HOME:
         Toast.makeText(KeyActions.this, "Pressed Home Button", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;
            
        case KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK:
         Toast.makeText(KeyActions.this, "Pressed Back Button", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
         Intent result = new Intent("Complete");
            setResult(Activity.RESULT_OK, result);
            finish();
            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }

For every key there is the code, after entering the KeyEvent. the eclipse will show the list of codes available.

If you have doubts means

The full source code

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Have a good day.

Customized ListView item's selection color can be changed on touching or selecting the item in the list

2011-03-23T20:52:00.001-07:00

On selection, on focus, on touch of the items we can change the color of the item, by default android will show a color, we can change it as we like. For that we need this xml to be stored inside the color folder, here only we need mention the colors for each listeners

list_bg.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item 
 android:state_selected="false"
    android:state_pressed="false" 
    android:drawable="@color/grey" />
<item android:state_pressed="true" 
    android:drawable="@color/blue" />
<item android:state_selected="true"
 android:state_pressed="false" 
    android:drawable="@color/blue" />
</selector>

That list_bg.xml will be called in the customized list xml as background

list.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:layout_margin="2dp" android:background="@color/list_bg">

 <TextView android:id="@+id/post" android:gravity="center_vertical"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="50dp"
  android:textSize="20sp" android:textColor="#D0640D" 
  android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/bite_image" /> 

</RelativeLayout>

This one is the main xml for the Lister.java

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">

 <ListView android:id="@android:id/list" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:smoothScrollbar="true"
  android:background="#fff" android:cacheColorHint="#fff"
  android:fastScrollEnabled="false" android:clickable="true"
  android:layout_marginBottom="36dp" />

</LinearLayout>

The Lister.java will be like this, the main thing is the list_bg.xml only

Lister.java


package com.list.viewer;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class Lister extends ListActivity{

 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.main);
  String[] captionArray = { "USA","India","England","Russia","Europe","Canada","Srilanka","Singapore","Thailand","Australia"};
  ItemsAdapter ItemsAdapter = new ItemsAdapter(
    Lister.this, R.layout.list,
    captionArray);
  setListAdapter(ItemsAdapter);
 }
 
  
 private class ItemsAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
  String[] items;

  public ItemsAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId,
    String[] items) {
   // super(context, textViewResourceId, items);
   this.items = items;
  }

  // @Override
  public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
   
   View v = convertView;
   if (v == null) {
    LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    v = vi.inflate(R.layout.list, null);
   } 
   TextView post = (TextView) v
     .findViewById(R.id.post);
   post.setText(items[position]);
   
   return v;
  }

  public int getCount() {
   return items.length;
  }

  public Object getItem(int position) {
   return position;
  }

  public long getItemId(int position) {
   return position;
  }
 }
}

The full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

Multiple ListView and custom listview example with click listener functions

2011-03-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Multiple listview can be placed inside a Activity. Here i am having two listviews

As shown in the above image, the left side displaying list view is customized listview, it that listview we will be showing a imageview and a textview, On clicking the item of that listview, the second listview will be generated.

The xml layout for that page will be like this

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:gravity="center"
 android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:background="#cccccc">
 <TextView android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:textColor="#000"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Multiple ListView Example" />
 <LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_marginTop="10dp" android:gravity="center_horizontal"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
  <ListView android:id="@+id/ListView1" android:layout_width="130dp"
   android:background="#fff" android:cacheColorHint="#fff"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
  <TextView android:text="==>" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:textColor="#000"
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"></TextView>
  <ListView android:id="@+id/ListView2" android:layout_width="130dp"
   android:background="#4c6f7e" android:cacheColorHint="#4c6f7e"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
 </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

For the customized listview the coding will be like this, it will show the customized listview with a imageview and textview for each item

Java


private String[] list1 = {"Icon", "Icon Creator", "Image", "Image Creator"}; 
private ListView lister1; 
lister1=(ListView)findViewById(R.id.ListView1);
ItemsAdapter itemsAdapter = new ItemsAdapter(
    ListViewExample.this, R.layout.list,
    list1);
lister1.setAdapter(itemsAdapter);

In the above example we need to explicitly use a layout, the layout will be

list.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_width="100dp"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    >
<ImageView
 android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
 android:src="@drawable/icon" android:id="@+id/image"/>
<TextView android:textColor="#000"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:text="" android:id="@+id/desc"
    />
</LinearLayout>

For the second listview, is normal listview, which is used with the pre defined layout android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1

The full ListViewExample.java file will be like this

ListViewExample.java


package com.list.viewer;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.BaseAdapter;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener;

/** http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/ */
public class ListViewExample extends Activity {

 private String[] list1 = { "Icon", "Icon Creator", "Image", "Image Creator" };
 private String[] list21 = { "Design", "Creation", "Selection", "Caller" };
 private String[] list22 = { "Investor", "Producer", "Controller",
   "Publisher" };
 private String[] list23 = { "Designer", "Maker", "Creator", "Asignment" };
 private String[] list24 = { "Arranger", "Caller", "Solution", "Result" };

 private ListView lister1;
 private ListView lister2;

 /** Called when the activity is first created. */
 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.main);
  lister1 = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.ListView1);
  lister2 = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.ListView2);
  ItemsAdapter itemsAdapter = new ItemsAdapter(ListViewExample.this,
    R.layout.list, list1);
  lister1.setAdapter(itemsAdapter);
  lister2.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(ListViewExample.this,
    android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, list21));
  lister1.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {

   @Override
   public void onItemClick(AdapterView arg0, View arg1,
     int positon, long arg3) {
    String[] lister = null;
    switch (positon) {
    case 0:
     lister = list21;
     break;
    case 1:
     lister = list22;
     break;
    case 2:
     lister = list23;
     break;
    case 3:
     lister = list24;
     break;
    default:
     lister = list21;
    }
    lister2.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(
      ListViewExample.this,
      android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, lister));
   }
  });
 }

 private class ItemsAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
  String[] items;

  public ItemsAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId,
    String[] items) {
   this.items = items;
  }

  @Override
  public View getView(final int position, View convertView,
    ViewGroup parent) {
   TextView mDescription;
   View view = convertView;
   ImageView image;
   if (view == null) {
    LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    view = vi.inflate(R.layout.list, null);
   }
   image = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.image);
   mDescription = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.desc);
   mDescription.setText(items[position]);
   image.setBackgroundResource(R.id.image);
   return view;
  }

  public int getCount() {
   return items.length;
  }

  public Object getItem(int position) {
   return position;
  }

  public long getItemId(int position) {
   return position;
  }
 }
}

The full source code

Download source

Have a good day.

How to display Custom Dialog and designing a page without xml layout is given with example?

2011-03-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Custom Dialog appears like this

First we can see how we are going to display a button without using the xml layout,

Java


Button show = new Button(this);
show.setText("Click to view a Custom Dialog");
/** Setting FILL_PARENT for the width and height of the button */
show.setLayoutParams(new Gallery.LayoutParams(
   LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));
/** Without the layout xml we are going to add the button to the screen */
setContentView(show);

Instead of using the xml layout in setContentView() we are using the new created Button's variable, likewise if we are using the linearlayout's variable means, we can display the component without using the layout xml.

In this example we used the layout params

Java


show.setLayoutParams(new Gallery.LayoutParams(
   LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));

Actually this is used for setting the layout width and height for the button.

Now we can come to showing Custom Dialog, for that we need to create a class which exetends Dialog, the class will be like this

CustomizeDialog.java


package com.custom.dialog;

import android.app.Dialog;
import android.content.Context;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.Window;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;

public class CustomizeDialog extends Dialog implements OnClickListener {
 Button close;

 public CustomizeDialog(Context context) {
  super(context);
  /** It will hide the title */
  requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);  
  setContentView(R.layout.main);
  
  close = (Button) findViewById(R.id.close);
  close.setOnClickListener(this);
 }

 @Override
 public void onClick(View v) {  
  if (v == close)
   dismiss();
 }

}

Then in the main class CustomDialog.java we need to call the CustomizeDialog.java class to show the custom dialog, like this

Java


CustomizeDialog customizeDialog = new CustomizeDialog(CustomDialog.this);
customizeDialog.show();

The full code of the CustomDialog.java will be like this

CustomDialog.java


package com.custom.dialog;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.Gallery;
import android.view.WindowManager.LayoutParams;

public class CustomDialog extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
 private Button show;
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        
        show = new Button(this);
        show.setText("Click to view a Custom Dialog");
        /** Setting FILL_PARENT for the width and height of the button */
        show.setLayoutParams(new Gallery.LayoutParams(
    LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));
        /** Without the layout xml we are going to add the button to the screen */
        setContentView(show);
        show.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
   
   @Override
   public void onClick(View v) {
    CustomizeDialog customizeDialog = new CustomizeDialog(CustomDialog.this);
    customizeDialog.show();
   }
  });
        
        
    }
}

The full source code

Download source

For AlertDialog you can see this blog http://android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-display-alertdialog-and.html

Have a good day.

How to display AlertDialog and selection in Alert Dialog and selection with radio buttons with example?

2011-03-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

We are going to see the Alert Dialog in detail.

First we going to see how to use a normal AlertDialog

The below code is enough to call AlertDialog,

Java


AlertDialog.Builder alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(ShowDialog.this);

alert.setTitle("This is Alert Dialog");
alert.setMessage("Sample alert dialog from http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com");
alert.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
alert.setPositiveButton("Yes",
 new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
  public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
   Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Success", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  }
 });
alert.setNegativeButton("No",
 new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
  public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
   Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Fail", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  }
 });

alert.show();

Next we are going to see how to call a AlertDialog with ListView for selection purpose

Java


final CharSequence[] items = {"India", "US", "UK", "Australia"};

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(ShowDialog.this);
builder.setTitle("Alert Dialog with ListView");
builder.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
builder.setItems(items, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int item) {
 Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), items[item], Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
});
AlertDialog alert = builder.create();

alert.show();

Next we are going to see how to call a AlertDialog with ListView with Radio button for selection purpose

Java


final CharSequence[] items = {"India", "US", "UK", "Australia"};

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(ShowDialog.this);
builder.setTitle("Alert Dialog with ListView and Radio button");
builder.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
builder.setSingleChoiceItems(items, -1, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int item) {
 Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), items[item], Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
});

builder.setPositiveButton("Yes",
 new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
  public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
   Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Success", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  }
 });
builder.setNegativeButton("No",
 new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
  public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
   Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Fail", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  }
 });
AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
alert.show();

A sample with all the three examples of alertdialog is follows:

ShowDialog.java


package com.display.dialog;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.AlertDialog;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class ShowDialog extends Activity {
/** http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/ */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 setContentView(R.layout.main);
 Button alert = (Button) findViewById(R.id.alert);
 Button customList = (Button) findViewById(R.id.customList);
 Button customListRadio = (Button) findViewById(R.id.customListRadio);
 
 alert.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

 @Override
 public void onClick(View v) {
  AlertDialog.Builder alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(ShowDialog.this);

  alert.setTitle("This is Alert Dialog");
  alert
    .setMessage("Sample alert dialog from http://www.android-codes-examples.blogspot.com");
  alert.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
  alert.setPositiveButton("Yes",
    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
      Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Success", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
     }
    });
  alert.setNegativeButton("No",
    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
      Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Fail", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
     }
    });

  alert.show();
 }
 });
 
 customList.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

 @Override
 public void onClick(View v) {
  final CharSequence[] items = {"India", "US", "UK", "Australia"};

  AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(ShowDialog.this);
  builder.setTitle("Alert Dialog with ListView");
  builder.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
  builder.setItems(items, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
      public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int item) {
   Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), items[item], Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
      }
  });
  AlertDialog alert = builder.create();

  alert.show();
 }
 });
 
 customListRadio.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

 @Override
 public void onClick(View v) {
  final CharSequence[] items = {"India", "US", "UK", "Australia"};

  AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(ShowDialog.this);
  builder.setTitle("Alert Dialog with ListView and Radio button");
  builder.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
  builder.setSingleChoiceItems(items, -1, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
      public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int item) {
   Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), items[item], Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
      }
  });
  
  builder.setPositiveButton("Yes",
    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
      Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Success", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
     }
    });
  builder.setNegativeButton("No",
    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
     public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
      Toast.makeText(ShowDialog.this, "Fail", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
     }
    });
  AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
  alert.show();
 }
 });
}
}

Likewise for multiple choice in the alertdialog we need to use this line

Java


new DialogInterface.OnMultiChoiceClickListener() {
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton,
     boolean isChecked) {
          /** ... */
    }
});

The full source code

Download source

The different types of AlertDialog images will be like this

For Custom Dialog you can see this blog http://android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-display-custom-dialog-and.html

Have a good day.

Make a phone call using Android code in application?

2011-03-14T04:06:00.001-07:00

We can write code to make a call from the android application that we created.

The below code is enough to make a call from the application,

Java


Intent sIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_CALL, Uri.parse("tel:919894643826"));
startActivity(sIntent);

We can put this code in a click event, so that on clicking a button or textview the call be done.

Likewise we need to add this line inside the Manifest.xml file

XML


<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CALL_PHONE"></uses>

The java code will be like this

Caller.java


package com.phone.calller;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;

public class Callers extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        Button Phone = (Button) findViewById(R.id.call);
        Phone.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
   @Override
   public void onClick(View v) {
    Intent sIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_CALL, Uri
      .parse("tel:919894643826"));
    startActivity(sIntent);
   }
  });
    }
}

and the manifest.xml file will be like this

AndroidManifest.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="com.phone.calller"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <activity android:name=".Callers"
                  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-permission android:name="android.permission.CALL_PHONE" />

</manifest>

Have a good day.

The full source code

Download source

How to run a Runnable thread or UI thread in Android?

2011-03-07T22:05:00.001-08:00

On the launching time of the application itselef the system creates a thread called "main" in the application. This main thread is also called as UI thread, it will only interact with the components of Android UI toolkit.

Here is an example for using the runnable thread in a click event, while clicking the image will be loaded, as it will take time to load the image, we can use the thread as shown below :

Java


public void onClick(View v) {
  new Thread(new Runnable() {
    public void run() {
      final Bitmap bm = loadImage();
      mImage.post(new Runnable() {
        public void run() {
          mImage.setImageBitmap(bm);
        }
      });
    }
  }).start();
}

Using Handler in Runnable thread

Here we are using the runnable thread using the handler. When we send a message to the Handler it will get saved into a queue and get executed by the UI thread as soon as possible.

Java


public class ProgressThread extends Activity implements Runnable {
    private String result;
    private TextView showResult;
    private ProgressDialog progress;
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedBundleInstance) {
            super.onCreate(savedBundleInstance);
            setContentView(R.layout.main);
            showResult = (TextView) this.findViewById(R.id.main);
            showResult.setText("Press any key to start calculation");
    }
    @Override
    public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent keyEvent) {
     progress = ProgressDialog.show(this, "Working..", "Calculation is going on...", true,
                            false);
            Thread thread = new Thread(this);
            thread.start();
            return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, keyEvent);
    }
    public void run() {
            result = MyClass.calculate(800).toString();
            handler.sendEmptyMessage(0);
    }
    private Handler handler = new Handler() {
            @Override
            public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
             progress.dismiss();
             showResult.setText(result);
            }
    };
}

The runnable thread can be called like this way too

Java


final Runnable runner = new Runnable()
{
    public void run() 
    {
        tv.append("Hello World");
        handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
    }
};

handler.postDelayed(runner, 1000);

Otherwise we can use the original runnable thread that we are using in the java

Java


Thread thread = new Thread()
{
    @Override
    public void run() {
        try {
            while(true) {
                sleep(1000);
                handler.post(runner);
            }
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
};

thread.start();

Have a good day.

Amazing Android Phone Secret Codes

2011-03-03T01:50:00.001-08:00

I had listed some secret codes of Android phone, these information will be more helpful for you, for using this you should need the Android software. The following are the secret codes...

Android Phone Information Secret Code: ##4636##

To get the information of your phone and battery. including Phone information, Battery information, Battery history, and Usage statistics.

Android Phone Reset Secret Code: ##7780##

To reset your Android phone back to factory data. It will delete the things including Google account settings stored in your phone, System and application data and settings, and Downloaded applications too. I wont delete, including current system software, bundled applications, SD card files e.g. photos, music files.

Android Phone Factory Format Secret Code: 27673855#

It is used for factory format, which will delete all files and settings, including the internal memory storage. It will also reinstall the firmware.

Android Phone Camera Information Secret Code: ##34971539##

It is used to get information about the camera. It includes following 4 menus: Update camera firmware in image, Update camera firmware in SD card, Get camera firmware version, and Get firmware update count. You should never use the first option otherwise your phone camera may stop working, and there is really no reason to update the camera firmware anyway.

Android Phone Secret Code: ##7594##

It will change the "End Call / Power" button action on your phone. By default, if you long press the button, it shows a screen asking you to select any option from Silent mode, Airplane mode and Power off. You can change this action using this code. You can enable direct power off on this button so you don't need to waste your time in selecting the option.

Android Phone Backup Secret Code: ##273283255663282##*

It opens a File copy screen where you can backup your media files e.g. Images, Sound, Video and Voice memo.

Android Phone Service mode Secret Code: ##197328640##

It can be used to enter into Service mode. You can run various tests and change settings in the service mode.

Android Phone WLAN, GPS and Bluetooth Test Secret Codes:

*#*#232339#*#* OR *#*#526#*#* OR *#*#528#*#* ¨C WLAN test (Use "Menu" button to start various tests)

*#*#232338#*#* ¨C Shows WiFi MAC address

*#*#1472365#*#* ¨C GPS test

*#*#1575#*#* ¨C Another GPS test

*#*#232331#*#* ¨C Bluetooth test

*#*#232337#*# ¨C Shows Bluetooth device address

Android Phone GTalk Secret Codes: ##8255##

It can be used to launch GTalk Service Monitor.

Android Phone Firmware version information Secret Codes:

*#*#4986*2650468#*#* ¨C PDA, Phone, H/W, RFCallDate

*#*#1234#*#* ¨C PDA and Phone

*#*#1111#*#* ¨C FTA SW Version

*#*#2222#*#* ¨C FTA HW Version

*#*#44336#*#* - PDA, Phone, CSC, Build Time, Changelist number

Android Phone Factory Tests Secret Codes:

*#*#0283#*#* ¨C Packet Loopback

*#*#0*#*#* ¨C LCD test

*#*#0673#*#* OR *#*#0289#*#* ¨C Melody test

*#*#0842#*#* ¨C Device test (Vibration test and BackLight test)

*#*#2663#*#* ¨C Touch screen version

*#*#2664#*#* ¨C Touch screen test

*#*#0588#*#* ¨C Proximity sensor test

*#*#3264#*#* ¨C RAM version

How to underline a textview in android

2011-02-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

We can underline the Textview in android through this codings

Java


SpannableString contentUnderline = new SpannableString("http://www.android-codes-examples.com");
contentUnderline.setSpan(new UnderlineSpan(), 0, contentUnderline.length(), 0);
TextView mPage = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.page);
mPage.setText(contentUnderline);

Through the SpannableString we can underline the text, it can be static or dynamic text no problem, first we have to set the string to the SpannableString and then we need to setSpan, and then we need to set that variable to the TextView.

Android Market License Verification Library (LVL)

2011-02-28T00:55:00.000-08:00

Android Market offers a licensing service that lets you enforce licensing policies for paid applications that you publish through Android Market. With Android Market Licensing, your applications can query Android Market at run time to obtain their licensing status for the current user, then allow or disallow further use as appropriate.

When an application checks the licensing status, the Market server signs the licensing status response using a key pair that is uniquely associated with the publisher account. Your application stores the public key in its compiled.apk file and uses it to verify the licensing status response.

Application, Android Market client, and server

In the licensing service, an application does not query the licensing server directly, but instead calls the Android Market client over remote IPC to initiate a license request. In the license request:

· The application provides its package name and that is later used to validate any response from the server, as well as a callback over which the response can be returned asynchronously.

· The Android Market client, which has greater permissions than the application, collects the necessary information about the user and the device, such as the device's primary Google account username, IMSI, and other information. It then sends the license check request to the server on behalf of the application.

· The server evaluates the request using all available information, attempting to establish the user's identity to a sufficient level of confidence. The server then checks the user identity against purchase records for the application and returns a license response, which the Android Market client returns to the application over the IPC callback.

Licensing Verification Library

The Android SDK includes a License Verification Library (LVL) that you can download and use as the basis for your application's licensing implementation. The key LVL interfaces are:

· Policy - Your implementation determines whether to allow access to the application, based on the license response received from the server and any other data available. It also lets you manage the handling of license checks that result in errors, such as network errors

· LicenseCheckerCallback - Your implementation manages access to the application, based on the result of the Policy's handling of the license response. Your implementation can manage access in any way needed, including displaying the license result in the UI or directing the user to purchase the application

To help you get started with a Policy, the LVL provides two fully complete Policy implementations that you can use without modification or adapt to your needs:

1. ServerManagedPolicy - Flexible Policy that uses settings provided by the licensing server to manage response caching and access to the application while the device is offline (such as when the user is on an airplane). For most applications, the use of ServerManagedPolicy is highly recommended.

2. StrictPolicy – Restrictive Policy that does not cache any response data and allows the application access only when the server returns a licensed response

Requirements and limitations

· Only paid applications published through Market can use the service.

· An application can use the service only if the Android Market client is running Android 1.5 (API level 3) or higher.

· To complete a license check, the licensing server must be accessible over the network.

· The security of your application's licensing controls ultimately relies on the design of your implementation itself.

· Adding licensing to an application does not affect the way the application functions when run on a device that does not offer Android Market.

· Licensing is currently for paid apps only, since free apps are considered licensed for all users. If your application is already published as free, you won't be able to upload a new version that uses licensing

Replacement for copy protection

Android Market Licensing is a flexible, secure mechanism for controlling access to your applications. It effectively replaces the copy-protection mechanism offered on Android Market and gives you wider distribution potential for your applications. For example, a copy-protected application cannot be downloaded from Market to a device that provides root access, and the application cannot be installed to a device's SD card.

Setting up a Publisher Account

To register as an Android Market developer and set up your publisher account, visit the Android Market publisher site: http://market.android.com/publish

Once your publisher account is set up, use the account to:

· Obtain a public key for licensing

· Debug and test an application's licensing implementation, prior to publishing the application

· Publish the applications to which you have added licensing support

Implementing a Policy

The Policy interface declares two methods, `allowAccess()` and `processServerResponse()`, which are called by a LicenseChecker instance when processing a response from the license server. It also declares an enum called `LicenseResponse`, which specifies the license response value passed in calls to `processServerResponse()`.

· processServerResponse() - Lets you pre-process the raw response data received from the licensing server, prior to determining whether to grant access.

A typical implementation would extract some or all fields from the license response and store the data locally to a persistent store, such as through SharedPreferences storage, to ensure that the data is accessible across application invocations and device power cycles. For example, a Policy would maintain the timestamp of last successful license check, the retry count, the license validity period, and similar information in a persistent store, rather than resetting the values each time the application is launched.

· allowAccess() - determines whether to grant the user access to your application, based on any available license response data. For example , an implementation of allowAccess() should only return true if the user is licensed to use the application, as determined by the licensing server

If you are designing a custom policy, we recommend that the Policy:

1. Caches (and properly obfuscates-encrypting) the most recent successful license response in local persistent storage.

2. Returns the cached response for all license checks, for as long as the cached response is valid, rather than making a request to the licensing server.

3. Uses an exponential backoff period, if retrying any requests the result in errors. Note that the Android Market client automatically retries failed requests, so in most cases there is no need for your Policy to retry them.

4. Provides for a "grace period" that allows the user to access your application for a limited time or number of uses, while a license check is being retried.

Implementing an Obfuscator

Because the Policy will use stored license response data to determine whether to allow or disallow access to the application, it must ensure that any stored data is secure and cannot be reused or manipulated by a root user on a device.

The LVL includes a full and recommended implementation of the Obfuscator interface called AESObfuscator. The implementation is integrated with the LVL sample application and serves as the default Obfuscator in the library.

AESObfuscator - The Obfuscator seeds the encryption using three data fields provided by the application:

1. A salt — an array of random bytes to use for each (un)obfuscation.

2. An application identifier string, typically the package name of the application.

3. A device identifier string, derived from as many device-specific sources as possible, so as to make it as unique.

Setting Up the Development Environment

1. Downloading the Market Licensing component - SDK tools using the Android SDK and AVD Manager

In the Available Packages panel, select Market Licensing package and click install

2. Setting up the runtime environment for development

There are two types of runtime environment that you can use:

· An Android-powered device that includes the Android Market application, or

· An Android emulator running the Google APIs Add-on, API level 8 (release 2) or higher

3. Setting up the Licensing Verification Library – In Ecplipse

1. Use the New Project Wizard to create a new project from existing sources. Select the LVL's library directory (the directory containing the library's AndroidManifest.xml file) as the project root.

2. When you are creating the library project, you can select any application name, package, and set other fields as needed.

3. For the library's build target, select Android 1.5 (API level 3) or higher.

4. Including the LVL library project in your application

Next, open the application's project properties window, as shown below. Select the "Android" properties group and click Add, then choose the LVL library project (com_android_vending_licensing) and click OK.

Checking the license from your application's main Activity

1. Add imports - First, open the class file of the application's main Activity and import LicenseChecker and LicenseCheckerCallback from the LVL package.

import com.android.vending.licensing.LicenseChecker;
import com.android.vending.licensing.LicenseCheckerCallback;
import com.android.vending.licensing.ServerManagedPolicy;
import com.android.vending.licensing.AESObfuscator;

2. The first step w ould be to add the check license permission to the AndroidManifest.xml inside < />

3. Now time to implement the actual code.

public class Splash extends Activity {
private LicenseChecker mChecker;
private LicenseCheckerCallback mLicenseCheckerCallback;

private static final String BASE64_PUBLIC_KEY = "Copy from developer account";

// Generate 20 random bytes, and put them here.
private static final byte[] SALT = new byte[] {
-20, 30, 50, -70, 33, -100, 32, -90, -88, 104, 12,
-10, 72, -34, 115, 21, 62, 35, -12, 97
};

private AESObfuscator mObsfuscator;
private String android_id;

The BASE64_PUBLIC_KEY you can find by going to Developer Console and clicking on edit. If you scroll down the page you will see your public key.

Next is the 20 random numbers. This is called an Obfuscator which basically takes these numbers to make your code harder for pirates to crack. Find a random number generator and fill out this array.(I don't know what the limit for numbers is so I just randomly chose between -100 and 100)

The android_id string will be a persons unique phone id which will coincide with the license checking.

Next we have the onCreate function.

/** Called when the activity is first created. */

@Override

public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {

super.onCreate(icicle);

setContentView(R.layout.splash);

android_id = Secure.getString(this.getContentResolver(), Secure.ANDROID_ID);

mObsfuscator = new AESObfuscator(SALT, getPackageName(), android_id);

ServerManagedPolicy serverPolicy = new ServerManagedPolicy(this,mObsfuscator);

mLicenseCheckerCallback = new MyLicenseCheckerCallback();

mChecker = new LicenseChecker(

this, serverPolicy,

BASE64_PUBLIC_KEY // Your public licensing key.

);

mChecker.checkAccess(mLicenseCheckerCallback);

}

The here we are getting the unique android id, putting it into the Obsfuscator variable along with out 20 random numbers. And it is recommended to use the pre-configured ServerManagedPolicy which I have done here as well.

Next we implement ourselves what to do if the license check returns "allow" or "don't allow"

private class MyLicenseCheckerCallback implements LicenseCheckerCallback {

public void allow() {

if (isFinishing()) {

// Don't update UI if Activity is finishing.

return;

}

// Should allow user access.

Log.w("LicenseChecker", "Allow");

Intent i = new Intent(Splash.this, Main.class);

startActivity(i);

finish();

}

public void dontAllow() {

if (isFinishing()) {

// Don't update UI if Activity is finishing.

return;

}

Log.w("LicenseChecker", "Don't Allow");

showDialog(0);

}

Here when license checker returns allow, I start my main activity. If it returns do not allow then I show a dialog that states that the app is not licensed properly and to please buy the real version on the android market. It also has a link directly to the app in the market. This is kind of neat because if someone does manage to get your apk and tries to install it on their phone, they will get this message and might decide to just buy it.

This next code is part of the license checker callback and it is required by Android just in case something goes wrong that it will catch the error and notify the user. I just added a popup message that someone suggested to put in here.

@Override

public void applicationError(ApplicationErrorCode errorCode) {

if (isFinishing()) {

// Don't update UI if Activity is finishing.

return;

}

toast("Error: " + errorCode.name());

}

Almost there =P This next part is implementing the showDialog and toast.

@Override

protected Dialog onCreateDialog(int id) {

// We have only one dialog.

return new AlertDialog.Builder(this)

.setTitle("Application Not Licensed")

.setCancelable(false)

.setMessage(

"This application is not licensed. Please purchase it from Android Market")

.setPositiveButton("Buy App",

new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {

@Override

public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,

int which) {

Intent marketIntent = new Intent(

Intent.ACTION_VIEW,

Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + getPackageName()));

startActivity(marketIntent);

finish();

}

})

.setNegativeButton("Exit",

new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {

@Override

public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,

int which) {

finish();

}

}).create();

}

public void toast(String string) {

Toast.makeText(this, string, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

}

Standard alert dialog, where you can see the buy app button is linked to the uri.parse which equals to the Android market link, plus your application package. This will open the Android Market and link directly to your app. And the exit button just exits your application.

This last piece of code is just removing the license checker so the app doesn't FC on close

@Override

protected void onDestroy() {

super.onDestroy();

mChecker.onDestroy();

}

And thats it! Here is the full source code: Android License

A simple implementation that will hopefully do its job. Hope this helps!

For testing the license code follow this link: License Testing

http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html#test-env

Publishing a Licensed Application

When you are finished testing your license implementation, you are ready to publish the application on Android Market. Follow the normal steps to prepare, sign, and then publish the application.

Removing Copy Protection

After uploading your licensed application, remember to remove copy protection from the application, if it is currently used. To check and remove copy protection, sign in to the publisher site and go the application's upload details page. In the Publishing options section, make sure that the Copy Protection radio button selection is "Off".

Considerations for Free Apps

Licensing is currently supported only for paid applications. If you already published your application as free, you won't be able to upload an updated version that includes licensing (that is, an application that uses the same package name and that includes the licensing permission). Here are some points to keep in mind:

· If you want to offer a free version of your application that provides a reduced feature set (or that offers the full feature set for trial period), the free version of your application must not include the licensing permission and must use a different package name than the paid version of the app.

· If you want to offer a paid version of your free application that uses licensing, you can do so under a new package name.

Source : http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html

Insertion and Deletion of Calendar Events

2011-02-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

We can add events to our android mobiles through our android application using the Calendar Events. This is specially for 2.2 version

Follow the below steps to do the insertion and deletion operations in Calendar events.

Step 1:

Firstof all we need to get the Calendar Name and Id,

As there is a chance of having many calendar configurations in a mobile, we must find out available calendar's. Using that calendars name and id only we can proceed further

Java


Cursor cursor=getContentResolver().query(Uri.parse("content://com.android.calendar/calendars"), new String[]{"calendar_id", "displayname"}, null, null, null);
cursor.moveToFirst();
// Get calendars name
String calendarNames[] = new String[cursor.getCount()];
// Get calendars id
calendarId = new int[cursor.getCount()];
for (int i = 0; i < calendarNames.length; i++)
{
         calendarId[i] = cursor.getInt(0);
         calendarNames[i] = cursor.getString(1);
         cursor.moveToNext();
}

Step 2:

After getting the name and id of the calendar, we need to add the event

Java


ContentValues contentEvent = new ContentValues();
// Particular Calendar in which we need to add Event
contentEvent.put("calendar_id", calendarIds[0]);                                                  
// Title/Caption of the Event     
contentEvent.put("title", "Wedding");                                                           
// Description of the Event
contentEvent.put("description", "Wedding Party");                                  
// Venue/Location of the Event
contentEvent.put("eventLocation", "New York");                                                   
// Start Date of the Event with Time  
contentEvent.put("dtstart", StartDate);                                                          
// End Date of the Event with Time
contentEvent.put("dtend", EndDate);                  
// All Day Event                                       
contentEvent.put("allDay", 1);                     
// Set alarm for this Event                                              
contentEvent.put("hasAlarm",1);                                                                  
Uri eventsUri = Uri.parse("content://com.android.calendar/events");    
// event is added successfully
getContentResolver().insert(eventsUri, contentEvent);
cursor.close();

Step 3:

If you like to delete the event means we can use this code

Java


getContentResolver().delete(Uri.parse("content://com.android.calendar/events"), "calendar_id=? and description=? and eventLocation=? ", new String[]{String.valueOf(calendarIds[0]), "Wedding Party", "New York"});

The same event can be insert or delete in 2.1, for that we can use like this

Step 1:

For this we can use the same code as mentioned in the Step 1 of 2.2 version.

Step 2:

We need to change the path as "content://calendar/calendars" from "content://com.android.calendar/calendars"

Step 3:

Don't take the above 2.2 version code, we need to use like this

Java


Uri CALENDAR_URI = Uri.parse("content://calendar/events");
Cursor cursors = getContentResolver().query(CALENDAR_URI, null, null, null, null);
if (cursors.moveToFirst())
{
        while (cursors.moveToNext())
 {
  String desc = cursors.getString(cursors.getColumnIndex("description"));
  String location = cursors.getString(cursors.getColumnIndex("eventLocation"));   
                // event id
  String id = cursors.getString(cursors.getColumnIndex("_id"));
  if ((desc==null) && (location == null))
  {
  }
  else
  {
   if (desc.equals("Birthday Party") && location.equals("Delhi"))
                         {
    Uri uri = ContentUris.withAppendedId(CALENDAR_URI, Integer.parseInt(id));
    getContentResolver().delete(uri, null, null);
   }
  }
 }
}

Download Source code

Have a good day.

Running the emulator from eclipse

2011-02-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

Configured eclipse and create the "Hello, Android" project. After that you need to note some important points

1. Make sure you ran it as an android application (Run As -> Android Application)
2. Check wheather java is installed before installing the eclipse software
3. If all is done correctly means, just close the eclipse and start it again, it will work.

If there is problem means comment the problem

Android Error: cannot execute binary file - on running SDK commands

2011-02-19T21:58:00.000-08:00

While installing sdk for Mac OS X version of the SDK there is a chance for this error.
For that make sure that wheather the OS is x86

Command Prompt


poseidon:~ jj$ aapt 
-bash: /Users/check/android_sdk_m3-rc20a/tools/aapt: cannot 
execute binary file

Android 2.2 Platform Advantages

2011-02-18T23:39:00.000-08:00

1. The phone and browser apps will now have dedicated shortcuts that flank the app launcher. Now you can access them from any of the Home screens (and free up space for other oft-used apps).
2. Auto-discovery makes it easy to set up and sync an Exchange email account, and the Calendar app now supports Exchange as well. Plus, there are improved security features for users and administrators.
3. Camera controls are no longer hidden under a pull-down menu. Buttons for zoom, flash,
white balance, geo-tagging, focus and exposure are right on-screen (but transparent).

4. Users will now be able to share contacts with other phones over Bluetooth.
5. For those so addicted to apps that internal storage just isn’t enough, Android developer APIs now allow apps to give users the choice of where to install them: phone memory.

6. Another developer API makes it possible for apps to “participate in data backup
and restore” so users who want to switch Android phones or restore after a hard reset can keep their data and apps.

Ref:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html

ANdroid installation steps

2011-02-18T19:53:00.001-08:00

1. Download SDK : Download Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

2. Installing the SDK :

On Windows, right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, and in the dialog that comes up, double-click on Path (under System Variables). Add the full path to the tools/directory to the path.

3. Download Eclipse: Download Eclipse from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

4. Download ADT Plug-in:

· Start Eclipse, then select Help > Install New Software.

· In the Available Software dialog, click Add....

· In the Add Site dialog that appears, enter a name for the remote site in the "Name" field. (

E.g. Android Plug-in

· In the "Location" field, enter this URL:

https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

· Click OK.

· Back in the Available Software view, you should now see "Developer Tools" added to the list. Select the checkbox next to Developer Tools, which will automatically select the nested tools Android DDMS and Android Development Tools. Click Next.

· In the resulting Install Details dialog, the Android DDMS and Android Development Tools features are listed. Click Next to read and accept the license agreement and install any dependencies, then click Finish.

· Restart Eclipse.

5. Configuring ADT plug-in:

· Select Window > Preferences... to open the Preferences panel

· Select Android from the left panel.

· For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse... and locate your downloaded SDK directory.

· Click Apply, and then OK.

6. Create AVD:

Click on Android SDK and AVD Manager icon or Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager

7. Running Application:

Import the source code to eclipse

Import required JAR files on project properties > Java build path > Libraries.

Now run the application

8. Reference link : http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

9. Signing your Applications:

· Open AndroidManifest.xml which is at project root.

· Open Manifest Tab which is at left-bottom of the page.

· In the Export portion, click "Use the Export Wizard" link. It will open a window with browse project textbox. Select your project and click Next.

· In the Key store selection, check "Use existing key store" radio button and browse location and enter password(veradis). Click Next.

· In key alias selection, check "Use existing key" radio button and select "alias_name" from Alias dropdown box, enter password (veradis). Click Next.

· In Destination and key/certificate check, browse the location in which you want to save the APK file. Click Finish.

Create an AVD in Eclipse for Android

2011-02-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

To create an AVD:

1. In Eclipse, we need to choose Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.
2. Select Virtual Devices in the left panel of the eclipse.
3. Click the New and a new AVD dialog appears.
4. Type a name for the AVD.
5. Next step we need to choose a target. The target is the platform (that is, the version of the Android SDK - it will be shown in drop down) you want to run on the emulator.Remaining fields can be ignore for now.
6. Click Create AVD.

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Android Phone Information Secret Code: *#*#4636#*#*

Android Phone Reset Secret Code: *#*#7780#*#*

Android Phone Factory Format Secret Code: *2767*3855#

Android Phone Camera Information Secret Code: *#*#34971539#*#*

Android Phone Secret Code: *#*#7594#*#*

Android Phone Backup Secret Code: *#*#273283*255*663282*#*#*

Android Phone Service mode Secret Code: *#*#197328640#*#*

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Android Phone GTalk Secret Codes: *#*#8255#*#*

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Android Phone Information Secret Code: ##4636##

Android Phone Reset Secret Code: ##7780##

Android Phone Factory Format Secret Code: 27673855#

Android Phone Camera Information Secret Code: ##34971539##

Android Phone Secret Code: ##7594##

Android Phone Backup Secret Code: ##273283255663282##*

Android Phone Service mode Secret Code: ##197328640##

Android Phone GTalk Secret Codes: ##8255##