Beginning Android 2 [Paperback]

Mark Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1430226293 | ISBN-13: 978-1430226291 | Edition: 1

The Android development platform, created by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, is a platform in its truest sense, encompassing hundreds of classes beyond the traditional Java classes and open source components that ship with the SDK.

With Beginning Android 2, you’ll learn how to develop applications for Android 2.x mobile devices, using simple examples that are ready to run with your copy of the software development kit. Author, Android columnist, writer, developer, and community advocate Mark L. Murphy will show you what you need to know to get started programming Android applications, including how to craft graphical user interfaces, use GPS, and access web services.

What you’ll learn

• Discover Android and how to use it to build Java-based mobile applications for a wide range of phones and other devices.
• Create user interfaces using both the Android widget framework and the built-in WebKit-powered Web browser components.
• Utilize the distinctive capabilities of the Android engine, including location tracking, maps, and Internet access.
• Use and create Android applications incorporating activities, services, content providers, and broadcast receivers.
• Support Android 1.5, 1.6, and 2.0 devices, including dealing with multiple Android OS versions, multiple screen sizes, and other device-specific characteristics.

Who this book is for

This book is aimed at people new to mobile development, but with some knowledge of Java.

Table of Contents

1. The Big Picture
2. Projects & Targets
3. Creating a Skeleton Application
4. Using XML-Based Layouts
5. Employing Basic Widgets
6. Working with Containers
7. Using Selection Widgets
8. Getting Fancy With Lists
9. Employing Fancy Widgets and Containers
10. The Input Method Framework
11. Applying Menus
12. Fonts
13. Embedding the WebKit Browser
14. Showing Pop-Up Messages
15. Dealing with Threads
16. Handling Activity Lifecycle Events
17. Creating Intent Filters
18. Launching Activities and Sub-Activities
19. Handling Rotation
20. Working with Resources
21. Using Preferences
22. Managing and Accessing Local Databases
23. Accessing Files
24. Leveraging Java Libraries
25. Communicating via the Internet
26. Using a Content Provider
27. Building a Content Provider
28. Requesting and Requiring Permissions
29. Creating a Service
30. Invoking a Service
31. Alerting Users Via Notifications
32. Accessing Location-Based Services
33. Mapping with MapView and MapActivity
34. Handling Telephone Calls
35. Development Tools
36. Handling Multiple Screen Sizes
37. Dealing with Devices
38. Handling Platform Changes
39. Where Do We Go From Here?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Murphy is the founder of CommonsWare and the author of The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development. A three-time entrepreneur, his experience ranges from consulting on open source and collaborative development for Fortune 500 companies to application development on just about anything smaller than a mainframe. He has been a software developer for over 25 years, working on platforms ranging from the TRS-80 to the latest crop of mobile devices. A polished speaker, Mark has delivered conference presentations and training sessions on a wide array of topics internationally. Mark writes the "Building Droids" column for AndroidGuys and the "Android Angle" column for NetworkWorld. Outside of CommonsWare, Mark has an avid interest in how the Internet will play a role in citizen involvement with politics and government. He is a contributor to the Rebooting America essay collection, and his personal blog features many posts discussing "cooperative democracy."

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (March 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430226293
• ISBN-13: 978-1430226291
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #396,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Murphy is the founder of CommonsWare and the author of the Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development and other books on Android application development. A three-time entrepreneur, his experience ranges from consulting on open source and collaborative development for the Fortune 500 to application development on just about anything smaller than a mainframe. He has been a software developer for over 25 years, from the TRS-80 to the latest crop of mobile devices. A polished speaker, Mr. Murphy has delivered conference presentations and training sessions on a wide array of topics internationally.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So far so good, May 17, 2010

By 

James E. White (Oak Park, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning Android 2 (Paperback)

I just recently bought this book and it is a solid introduction to Android. However, please understand that this book makes 2 assumptions:

1. You have a decent understanding of how to code Java SE and OO concepts such as inheritance, encapsulation, etc.
2. You have already set up your Android environment be it via command line or through Eclipse.

If your experience is like mine you probably will use a little of both types of setups to get things going. I found the eclipse simulator set up horribly slow to boot up once you have created it using eclipse. I had to use the command line version to see code I ran.

With that said I think this book provides a nice start and covers enough topics to give you at least a taste of what Android can do. I will buy the follow up Pro Android 2 once I have completed this book. This book flows pretty quickly and is small (370 or so pages) compared to most books like this that can easily go above and beyond 700 pages.

Again if you have a decent grasp of Java and OO concepts, I would suggest trying this book out if you are interested in trying your hand at Android 2 development.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book feels rushed, October 10, 2010

By 

Me - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Android 2 (Paperback)

I am a software engineer with 15 years experience in C++/Java and hold several Sun Java certifications. I was looking for a way to fast track my understanding of Android development.

This book is not a reference, and neither is it a tutorial. I would call it a "discussion" of beginning Android development.

The first half of book (chapters 1-14) are a description of the ADT UI elements. The book starts to get interesting in chapter 15-21 with a brief description of multithreading and life cycle events. The remaining chapters are a survey of parts of the SDK or related development technologies.

The first major problem with this book is his use of "conversational" subheadings. As you wade into a chapter, rather than tell you what each section is about, he gives you a "clever" subheading like "Forcing the issue" or "Making sense of it all" or "String Theory" or "Got the Picture" or "Getting What you Want". These headings do not let you know what you are reading about and detract from the experience. It just reads very poorly for a technology book.

Another problem is that there are no diagrams. EVERY picture in the book is just a screenshot, either of an Android Device or of a development tool, usually just showing the UI element being discussed.

My final complaint is that none of the examples load into Eclipse. They are provided on the web site with a readme that states you have to load individual resources into projects that you create. Would it have been difficult for him to spend the 2 hours to create individual projects for each, instead of requiring every user to do this for himself?

So what you get is 15 chapters of "this is a text box, this is a list", that are of little value over the online tutorials. Because the code samples do not load into Eclipse, it requires a bit of leg work to get them into your IDE so the code snippets might be useful. You then get 5 chapters on threads and events, and the remaining 20 chapters are a survey of Android technologies.

As a software developer, I found the book simultaneously too easy (15 chapters of UI elements?), yet unweildy.

I have headed back to the online tutorials and when I have obtained what I am looking for, may return to this book for supplemental material.

I really wanted to give this book a good review. The author's credentials are great, it just seems like very little work went into this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning Android at the Perfect Pace, June 17, 2010

By 

ninlar "[ninlar]" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning Android 2 (Paperback)

This book is definitely for someone that has some experience with Java. I bought this book, because of the other reader's comments. I enjoyed the fact that this books wastes no time diving straight into your first Android project rather than wasting time reviewing Java syntax. After two days of reading this book, I was able to create a nice UI using XML layouts, communicate with my REST web services on the Internet, and store user data in SQLite.