I am new to android programming and I wanted to create an application(vocabulary enhancer/words reminder which I already have for windows ) which pops up at certain time intervals to remind the words I saved earlier.
I thought android programming would be like programming windows which uses visual studio 6 or the latest.
I created a simple hello world program but it involved too many XML and other file references and inclusions.
Is there a way to create applications for android like win32 SDK using which we can create applications for windows. Like createwindows and other straight forward methods instead of having something like mfc or the one android programming uses ?
I have no idea what's "too many XML", other than a great name for a band.
If you're serious in your question, then I suggest you begin here: Comparisons of the Android framework's structure to the MFC/Win32's structure? and work your way forward.
Otherwise, I suggest you do form that band.
There is no equivalent to the Win32 API for Android. The closest you will get would be to talk to the (native) Linux OS. But that will only work if your device is rooted.
And that is the point. Something like the Win32 API would allow an Android app to do things that can interfere with other apps ... and compromise the security of the user's device.
Related
I am an intern at a company trying to push an android and iPhone out out within the next 5 months. Today, I received information about my first "real" assignment which will entail porting the iPhone App to the Android platform. Here's my problem though: I've never seen a single line of Objective C code and I only just started programming in Java and for Android devices last wednesday.
So how do I go about porting an application? Where do I start? How do I best organize myself and get an overview of which tasks to complete and when to start working on them ?
tldr; How do I port an application to another platform?
Word porting means in effect creating an application on another platform (in another language if needed) that maintains the same functionality. As iOS and Android use different languages and internally very much different operating model, you cannot simply take iPhone code and translate it line-by-line into Android.
What you do need to do is analyse the functionality of the iPhone app and create an app for Android that will perform the same functionality. Do not approach this as a direct "porting" project, but rather as a new development project. You may be able to translate some business logic one-for-one - but anything related to the user interface (and, most likely, to any back-end server communication if you have any) will need to be written from scratch. You may encounter certain things that are present in an iPhone but are not supported at all in Android, or are very complicated to implement, so try to think how to substitute them with whatever Android does support.
The biggest problem you'll encounter with Android is the multitude of screen sizes and versions, each of which may behave differently and support different things. I suggest you start from the beginning and do one screen at a time, adding functionality step-by-step until you get the desired app.
5 months is a long enough period of time to complete the job for almost any app. Good luck!
P.S. I have gone through this exercise myself: having an iPhone app I had to "port" it to android platform. Using the approach I described, it took me about 2 months to complete the android app, which initially took about 3 months to create on an iPhone platform.
I am getting into making my own embedded system and I wanted to use an open source OS to run on it but I can't seem to find any information for making a completely customized GUI (Meaning desktop Icons, Menus, and windows). Would anyone know how to go about doing this? Or could point me into the right direction to research?
You've got quite a vague question there :
Here is an article on how to port Android to an embedded system
Information for making a completely customized GUI (Meaning desktop Icons, Menus, and windows)
You can start by learning android development.
Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components; any application can publish its capabilities and any other application may then make use of those capabilities (subject to security constraints enforced by the framework). This same mechanism allows components to be replaced by the user.
Have you picked out a development kit for this yet? If you get a Beagleboard or something with a TI processor, there are great resources for getting started with Android or Linux. The beagleboard would be a particularly good choice, due to a rather active community.
Freescale also has good support, particularly with its Linux builder LTIB.
I am not entirely familiar with how one would go about re-inventing a GUI for Android, but in Linux a good place to start might be with GTK+ or Qt libraries.
I know C# rather well and just love Visual Studio as IDE. :) Yet now I want to start developing for android...
I found out about MonoDroid and wanted to ask if it has any downsides to it that would make Java more preferable, or should I uninstall Eclipse and dive straight into MonoDroid?
If I understand right, MonoDroid deploys/compiles native android applications and does not need any additional .net-like framework or anything?
Are there any significant limitations to what I can do with MonoDroid? For example, having the app run in the background or using some external .net libraries for image editing, etc. ?
I've been worrying about the same thing - productivity in C# instead of playing with an unfamiliar language, vs developing how the OS developers intended it to be.
Its easy to list pros vs cons -
pros (of monodroid, for C# developers)
familiar dev environment, can develop using Visual Studio
C# instead of Java
Reusable code assets - you can use a lot of code in your iphone project or Windows phone 7 project using monotouch and the WP7 SDK.
cons -
debugging could be difficult, due to lack of api documentation from Google. Will have to depend solely on monodroid documentation.
there could be a lag when it comes to latest cutting edge features - safe to assume that the monodroid team will require some time to wrap around the latest android features every time there is a new OS release
availability of libraries - I am not sure how you can use the open source libraries that would have evolved around the android platform, that could cut down on development time
Much of the documentation available is in Java: so if you run into difficulties with phone behavior when using MonoDroid you won't really find that much help or debugging information so you may want to stick with Eclipse.
There's a lot more than just a set of wrappers running under davlick, truth to be told, there is much more of a horizontal relationship between MonoDroid and Android;
When did using the same language as the OS developers become a big issue? There's lots of C++ programmers wondering how to use BSD or SVR5 and many C programmers who want to know what the heck to do on Windows++...
If you will write in c# anyway you will be have to wrap it into a Java code, so what's the point ? Also you may head with a very difficult issues while trying to understand the APIs who written for Java programming...
Here are some points that you can mull over:
Android applications are predominately written with Java. The Android SDK itself is natively written in Java.
Working in Mono may not provide all the functionality available in the Java SDK.
If you are a C# Developer you wont be able to find, in Java, some of the (cool) features available in C# (like Property Delegates etc).
Code written in .NET can be re-used for other environments - this may save a lot time that would have been spent learning a new language/environment (like Objective C), and coding in it.
.NET extends the Android development stack with it's existing libraries and API's.
I think both are good for certain reason. It will be very hard to say which one is preferable for Android development - in the end that is up to you too decide.
Also note that any release build using monodroid adds an additional 4mb to the apk filesize and increases app startup time with a few seconds.
For simple apps this can mean a 500-800% increase in filesize - whic is pretty bad in my book.
I am an experienced professional programmer who wants to delve into Android programming. I also wish to investigate cross-platform programming using tools like PhoneGap or Titanium.
However, I am a bit in doubt of which learning strategy is best.
One approach is to get a good feeling of the Android environment and later on explore the possibilities of the cross-platform tools.
Another approach is to jump start using say Titanium (which to me looks like the better option of the two mentioned) and then after a while look into the underlying Android building blocks. The reason why this approach seems worth considering is that although I have earned my living on programming for 20 years, I have no experience whatsoever with Java. And the feeling of getting something done has always been encouraging to me.
What do you think? Does option 2 make sense, or would it be more sensible to get an understanding of the Android environment first?
Thanks in advance,
Martin
I think that all depends on what will you develop:
If you want to develop simple interfaces (parsing XML/Json/...) with some forms and nice transitional effects, then Titanium is yours.
However, the most advanced functionalities aim the iOS platform. For example, the augmented reality module or the push notification are not supported for Android.
On the other hand, if you want to develop advanced interfaces (Games for example), then you have no choice: Android SDK is the best way (you can use Flash for Android but it doesn't support very first Android OS versions).
In all cases, you have to understand how the Android platform works.
I had a similar decision to make, although I am not an experienced programmer like you with vast experience , I had no java knowledge and I needed to write an android app for a project in grad school ,and i'd tend to agree with you on which is the better option , although reading the dev guide and grasping the basics will be a must. And like Zakaria says , it also depends on what you plan to develop.
in my case I learnt basic java first , then used the SDK for my project. Its not that big a learning curve actually , I did not find too many problems with the API.
Is it somehow possible to use the Delphi language (or Prism if absolutely necessary) to develop programs for the Android platform ?
Any starting point ?
There is Delphi for Android, a project by Lennie de Villiers.
Blog:
http://lenniedevilliers.blogspot.com/2010/09/delphi-for-android-sneak-preview-2.html
Screencast:
http://www.lenniedevilliers.net/preview/DAndroid_01.avi
Android applications are Java applications. There is a native SDK which should be use for particular needs and doesn't allow to build full applications, the application API is a Java API. Unless you have specific needs (i.e. portability), the best way to develop Android applications is using Java. IMHO using other tools that usually lag behind the main ones just to code with a different language is a waste of time.
No for the moment, but soon, check this link for more info about how develop android applications using the Object-Pascal language the Delphi-Prism programming language (wich is based on the Delphi language), with MonoDroid.
...and will soon be available from our
friends at Embarcadero, but it will
work with said release. So if you’re a
Delphi Prism customer, or just have a
fondness for Pascal syntax, keep an
eye out here – more info will be
available soon, including templates &
other support files.
You mean Object Pascal. I don't think it is currently possible. I don't think that crosscompiler exists...
There are couple of working examples in Lazarus How to create an LCL Android Application