I want to know about how to call webservices in android I had done a lot of search from Internet and have read several tutorials but was not able to understand much and manipulate, can anyone suggest any Tutorial, or provide any Pdf file or any book related to web services so that I can understand it.
Thanks in advance
The first reading I would suggest is this one - this is the W3School tutorial. Don't forget to read the related chapters included in this tutorial - Soap, Wsdl, etc - as this tutorial taken as a standalone would not be so valuable. This tutorial is not specifically related to Android but will give you all the information needed to understand the use and constraints of this kind of architecture, and then structure your project.
Under Android, you will face the specific contraint of mobile phones and tablets: the network can be down, and is often down: in the tube, in a basement, in any area that have a bad network coverage. So you will have to take care of this, either by caching data or allowing the application to work in degraded mode when no network is available. These are just examples as I don't know your context.
After that, Android is developed in Java, with a specific API that comes on top of the regular java.* packages. These are just tools to implement the client side. On server side, depending of whether you control these services, you may also have some implementation to do. If so, this can be Java, PHP, .Net, anything: one of the purpose of the web services architecture is to stay independant of the remote implementation to only care the exchange protocol. But reading your question, I think the two first points are more important (or have an higher priority let's say) than the implementation as they are prerequisites. (EDIT: Anyway, a useful discussion about that can be found here on StackOverflow.)
Android Doesn't have it's own tool then you should use your own or use some Thing Like KSOAP2.
You Can Use This.
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/88b6e5/how-to-call-web-service-in-android-using-soap
Related
I want to make an android application which will display an external message (For example: some quotes, proverbs etc) daily.
The message should be retrieved from some place other than the client device and I would like to configure the messages from back end
These messages should also change everyday.
How should the back end be and how can the android application retrieve the configured message ?
Do I need a server at the back end for the same or can avail some cloud services for the same ?
What is the best approach to do?
If you want to avoid having to set up and manage a server on the backend yourself you can take a look at a 'backend as a service' offering.
Two example candidates are:
https://parse.com
http://aws.amazon.com/lambda/
Both Parse and Amazon provide SDK's to allow you interact with the backend from your Android app.
You will likely want to study this a little to decide if you want this type of solution or to build your own server as Brian suggests - I think there are pros and cons to each approach and you'll have to choose which is best for your case.
Yes, you will need a server. You can start building the server software on the same machine as your Android emulator and create them in parallel. You'll need to choose a language and most likely a web server framework that suits your thought process and style.
If you want to use REST, for instance, google some for "best REST server framework". You will get hundreds of answers that don't mean much, but look at the communities that surround the frameworks that come back. Look at the user lists and how many questions about it exist on this site. That will give you a better idea of whether you can ask questions and get answers when they arise. You are making an investment by learning a framework, spend a little time deciding which one you are going to use, possibly by trying a few of them for a very simple site that returns the kind of data you are looking for.
Other than that, you really need to ask specific questions once you've chosen a language and a framework. Hope that helps.
Ok so, I know the question is pretty much google-able and I did google it and found out a few answers ,so I am not asking this question knowing completly nothing.
So, I have an application (Cannot specify much about what it does or is or so...) and I need to get some data from a database.
As far as I know, the Volley is the best way to go ,but I am still looking for more details.
Could anyone tell me which is the best way to go?
NOTE: I am NOT looking for code,I am looking for methods.A name would sufice ,as I can do the digging myself.Eventually links to documentations would be awesome, but again, I can find documentations.I just need to know which is the fastest way and the most optimized.
Based on your comment, it looks like there are two different aspects to your application:
Sending out the HTTP requests from your client- i.e. your android app
Processing and sending the response to these requests on the server side, by setting up a web service
Looks like you have part 1 figured out. Note that, volley is a library, similar to android HTTP library, but optimized for faster networking.
For part 2, unless you're planning to use embedded database like sqlite, you'd need to learn about writing web services to provide database access.
Spring Data JPA is one of the many ways to do it.
I hear Parse is great too, but not free.
I am asking for your advice and a sanity check, please. For a couple of years I have thought about building a mobile site for my own purposes (initially) that will allow me consistent interface on the web and on a mobile phone. My initial target is Android 4 and above.
The central idea is to make notes via web interface. It is easy to
edit on a full PC. Basic formatting is necessary - bold, italic,
lists. I should have some basic editing / adding capability from the phone.
Possibly I might need to add images. This at a later stage.
I will need to use tables.
View these categorised notes on my phone when I need to access that information quickly.
Information should be searchable.
I should be able to categorise that information both hierarchically and by labels.
On the phone the last copy of the information should be available even when there is no internet access. That is the key bit of this project - clear, well structured information, easily available when needed.
So far I have done some 7 websites 6 - 9 years ago and this year I did a responsive design interface with jQuery and HTML5. I have access to Apache on a linux hosting site. I have looked into jQuery Mobile. I think jQuery mobile should be great for my front-end. From my past work with LAMP servers I think I have to have a database backend to this project. What I have looked into so far suggests that the best would be to invest some time in learning Ruby on Rails (which looks very interesting to me) and use that as a back end interface with a database. What database I should use, I don't know. I have in the past used mySQL, also programmed Access and a bit DB2. I have heard a lot of good stuff about postgres. However considering the mobile phone, I think I should go with SQLite probably? What should be the general mechanism for updating the phone from the net?
How does the above look?
Maybe there are some projects which already do something like this?
I don't think I should use some big CMS systems with their bloat and all, because I really want this thing to work for me. Same goes for generic note taking systems such as Evernote. So I am wanting to build it from the ground up, unless there is some similar lightweight project that I could build upon. I am not in a particular hurry, but I am about to get started soon.
A great type of answer for me would be one which tells what major components I should use for this project. It also would be good to know if I am overlooking some important bits.
I appreciate that what I am asking is a large question, but I am not expecting a Wikipedia in response. A sanity check and pointers in the right direction is what I need.
Thank you for your time and thoughts.
What a wall of text... 1.-7. are all achievable by using jquery mobile and HTML5 and a good database architecture as backend. I don't see any BIG problems in your idea. What database you use is up to you, your requirements are not that special, that it would require some specialized product. Any established database backend should do the job.
For updating the content on your phone take a look on HTML Offline Cache and implement an update feature in your Frontend.
I've looked at this doc: http://developer.android.com/guide/webapps/webview.html
It seems it might be attractive strategy to use HTML/Javascript to get:
result faster (I can use my browser to create a prototype very quickly, just updating my page in the browser, and not waiting for emulator to be update my changes)
avoid to to learn Android API too deep (but use what I know HTML/CSS/JS instead)
reuse my code, putting it to iOS, BlackBerry (not only Android)
The only question I have.. Is whether someone already did it for real? Because tutorials that I've found - just show how to print 'Hello world!' message in simple HTML.
But what would be more interesting to get is 'how it works with embedded database' in android,
OR better say, as an example what I mean:
How to handle JS' "onClick" to get some data stored to db?
UPDATE:
Yeah.. there are a lot of PRODUCTS. But what if I need just a storage support (need to put and read data from db). no need anything sophisticated like camera support. What I really want to avoid is:
waiting for Emulator updated
write simple and easy components and layout in HTML to get instant result (it seems more natural for me, even though I'm Java Dev.. but it's lame to wait for result building and waiting when working with UI)
I'm looking for someone's existing experience to avoid addition complexity and time gaps between builds/tries while working with UI.
Look into Phonegap to convert HTML, CSS, and JS code into a native phone app for android or iOS. Very useful as it puts a web wrapper around the web code to run it natively on your phone. This should solve storage issues as well, lots of documentation around for phonegap, be sure to check it out!
I just released http://www.protocoder.org under MIT license, give it a try! Its meant to basically do what you mention in the first point (prototype fast), and on the second avoid to learn the Android API to deeply.
Its still a young project but I hope it will grow really fast :)
I would like to create a custom open source information management application, that I could adapt to practical needs of a psychiatrist. (and also would really like to avoid inventing the wheel). Could someone advise me what would be a good way to start? I have some amateur programming experience (see below), but I have little experience with java and eclipse (which I have set up with Android SDK plugin on my linux PC).
What I would like to achieve is a simple app where I could relatively easily re-program/rearrange information presenting screens. I would like the major development stages to be something like:
Basic framework of the app is done Main information is added
through the programming environment
basic formatting (bold, color, lists) should be supported
I imagine this would be through HTML/CSS markup Hierarchical (not
too deep) screens with concise information about conditions,
treatments; easy, not too cumbersome navigation is a must.
Possibility to attach own notes from android device
on every piece of information (e.g. on medical condition, on medication,
list of differential diagnoses, etc)
A desktop application that allows for easy adding and editing
of the content
initially could be even sqlite manager or something similar
possibility for adding images,
possibility to add rating scales, which would calculate scores
maybe also possibility to print through some android print driver
* in essence I envision this as a sort of an integrated website with a relatively simple database behind it (sqlite?) running on android. My models would be epocrates and medscape apps, but the content would be more specific to everyday psychiatric practice. It would include aspects of psychological therapies as well.
In about a years time, I think, the content would be interesting enough to see whether the app should go on the market.
My (limited) experience:
I am a MD - a Psychiatrist. I have some amateur development experience (php, html, css, Perl, bash, sed, sql, Access and some time ago - AS/400). I would like to start an app that I could modify as I go - in order to have the most useful info at my fingertips, when I need it in my work. I have considered some databases (e.g. HandDB) but my experience with them is that you get very constricted with their user interface and this hinders fast information retrieval when you need it. Adding information can be clumsy as well.
Why I am asking for help here
Most of tasks above seem pretty standard. I imagine that people with lots of programming experience here, probably would be able to point me towards some information that would help me to get started.
Many thanks for considering this :)
Are you going to develop this app? Everything you mentioned can be easily done by reading the android documentation. Although if its you doing the coding i recommend buying a book
You will find a lot of samples and other support in the android doc
Printing can be also setup using Google Cloud print
If you want to open source your application you can always use google code.
You have asked a really broad question here. But i guess the above information is good to get you started.