First, let me say that I know nothing. I am reasonably intelligent, and I can learn .... but what I need to know is what exactly it is that I need to learn. Consider me a hobbyist that just got started. I have a degree in math so logic makes sense to me, but it was all abstract math so I never even used Matlab once in school.
I want to develop an application for android. I want this application to take input (text and camera images) from the user, and store that input along with certain meta-data (i.e. time of input, geo-location of device when inputted). I also want that data to be transferred to a server (I have complete admin access to a server, but haven't learned much about it yet either) and stored there in a manner which can be accessed by a desktop or web application which I will also need to develop. The android device may not always have an internet connection at the time of input (but will be taken to a wi-fi hotspot for uploading when completed), and after uploading the data to the server I will have no further need for the data on the device.
I have done a bit of research, and discovered the following gaps in my knowledge, and remedied them in the following ways:
a) I'm going to need to know how to program in android - I have worked through these tutorials at developer.android.com, purchased and partly read this book(1), and just purchased this book(2).
b) I believe I am going to need to know something about JSON - I have just purchased this book(3), after reading just a little bit about JSON on the web.
c) I will need to learn what I need to with the server to prepare it for the data - No idea where to start.
d) I will need to decide how to access the data, and learn how to develop whatever it is. - No idea where to start.
I am not able to post multiple links, so I have moved all the books down here ...
1 google.com/search?q=isbn+9780321741233
2 google.com/search?q=isbn+9780321749673
3 google.com/search?q=isbn+9780470526910
My question(s):
If this was your project, how would you go about doing this? What languages will I have to learn? Can you recommend any books, online tutorials, etc. for each of those languages in the way that they would apply to my project?
Thank you for taking the time to read my query, and thank you for any help you may provide.
Book: Pro Android 2. I have it, I've read it, and it shows you how to do just about everything. I bought it for the sole purpose of developing a client/server application in Android, and I completed the app in two weeks.
Related
I'm trying to program an app using android studio that receives data (blood sugar levels) from the app tomato (which calculates blood sugar levels automatically every 5 mins or so). The tomato app already exists and is made by a company.
So I was wondering if doing this is possible. if so, how?
I saw this post: Is it possible for an Android app to use data from another app? which is very similar to what im trying to do but i didnt find an exact solution/answer to this.
Any opinions and help are very much needed and welcomed.
You would first need to know how the app is storing the data, you could check your phone's storage using the Device File Explorer in Android Studio. If they have exposed the data then you are able to check and read the files that the app has exposed. However, I have a feeling that they would not be leaving them in plain text for you to take.
Upon some further reading, it seems they read from a device called a MiaoMiao Transmitter. You could ask the producer of this product for a developer kit and see what they say. This would come with documentation as to how you can get data from the product. However, if they do not provide you with any help, you will need to do some investigation as to how the device functions.
Perhaps it sends android broadcasts when it is taking a reading? This is just speculation of course. This is very niche and I believe that is a reason there are only a few apps that use the device - they are trying to lock out "non-verified" developers. However, when there is a will, there is always a way! ;)
Best of luck!
I have been able to avoid database, webserver setting 20 years, but now I face it. I found so much information that I rather ask before messing all around with a broken system.
So, I need to host about 10 discussions that have about 25 messages each, older I want to remove. So this is really light weighted. My first idea is to have data in JSON format only because I have some experience on that. Data will be accessed from android application.
Now I have been boiling my brains with, mongodb, micro_httpd, libmicrohttpd, json-server, nginx, nosql, nodes, mariadb, mongodb... and it is time to make decisions.
While data is accessed from android application I wonder do I even need any webserver, actually, I dont necessary want that people can browse to host and read everything from browser. Idea is to use example Get to get sender, subject, message into android textviews and same to opposite direction. Thats why I started to think some api or database that can be connected from internet, but webserver is also ok, if stuff can be hided.
This is not a tutorial place, but if someone with experience could propose some setup for me and directions? I have googled pretty much all tutorials. In first setup I would be happy just to receive and send messages to database/api/webserver/webservice, but later on it would also be nice to have some authentication, and one important, somepoint there will be spam coming anyway and I read something about putting sender ip address five minutes to halt. Captcha would be very appreciated, I guess I could open one in android webview. And from our team leader, apache is not an option while it can leak some information (though I didnt see that dangerous). And to remind, this seems something really light.
I think Firebase is the best solution for you: easy to use, no server database complications, easy to implement. Watch some up-to-date videos from the web and you are set.
I've been programming for over 20 years, but mostly in the VB and SQL. As a side job, I host game shows at local bars and restaurants (Trivia, name that tune, etc.) and I'd like to develop an android app that I can install on mobile devices to give to customers to interact with the game.
I'm trying to make the game shows more interactive than just pen and paper (and time-consuming, manual scoring). I can get Kindle Fires for $40 each, so I thought it would be cool to create an app that will allow the user to do 3 things:
Choose an answer from a list (Multiple choice), and everyone can answer
Buzz in (blocking other users out)
type in an answer
I'd like the tablets to send the responses to a central "hub" or application that will record the answers so it can automatically do the scoring for me. If possible, I'd prefer to be able to have everything connect through an ad hoc wifi network that I would set up on site (that part I know how to do, too).
I'm not looking to have the questions appear on the phone at this point; I have an office-based application that automates a powerpoint presentation based on questions/answers and other parameters imported from a database/spreadsheet. (VBA is nice and easy for me.)
Ideally, the quiz questions would work like this:
I project the answer where everyone can see it.
After announcing the questions, the tablet apps are "activated" and
the user can then select their A, B, C or D answer (or buzz in, or
type an answer depending the type of questions/quiz).
My hub application would then receive the following information:
team/player name, answer choice, time it took to answer the question
(because I'm thinking of using a points tier that gives faster
players get more points, either based on time ).
The catch is, I don't even know where to begin from an android development standpoint, as I have no experience in that realm. In most programming cases, I know keywords to search on, but I'm totally flying blind here.
Does this seem like a feasibly application? There are systems online that I can buy, but the buzzers are expensive and the software has some significant limitations that prevent me from spending the money. I'd rather develop something myself and spend $40 per client unit and load it up with my software.
(Then, of course, license the whole kit and kaboodle and make a mint and retire in 5 years, living the good life off of my pub quiz empire...)
So, if you have any suggestions on starting points, or specific methods and processes to being fiddling with, an IDE...any help would be greatly appreciated. Once I'm up and running, I will reward you with extra points if you ever come to one of my events.
Go full kotlin !
Android works well with Kotlin and you can have a server quickly setup with : https://start.spring.io/#!language=kotlin
https://kotlinlang.org/docs/tutorials/kotlin-android.html
A good client for Android is provided here :
https://github.com/square/retrofit
You will probably have hard time to get started. Using same language for every part of the system will make things easier.
Also, Kotlin is less verbose than Java and will prevent you to make the usual mistakes found in Java world.
Also, if you create an open source project out of it, you may be eligible for IntelliJ.
Your very first stop is : http://try.kotlinlang.org/#/Examples/Hello,%20world!/Simplest%20version/Simplest%20version.kt
Get to know the language by trying it out. When you are in ease with it, start looking at Anko (https://github.com/Kotlin/anko).
To do the project in an easy way, break it down in milestones.
Simple app which shows 4 buttons (choices) and shows a message for each button. (Eg. you clicked "1")
Small server with spring boot. It should display whatever you post to it. (An "echo" server)
Improvement of the simple app to POST something to the server and display the answer in a dialog.
At that point, you application is practically done! You would have understood enough to complete it. The hardest thing would be behind.
Don't think your are smarter than the flock. Do these milestones, at least. You will be thankful to yourself.
This post may seems unrelated, but I explain how good Kotlin can be in such projects : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-android-projects-cost-less-than-ios-christian-baune
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.
This might sound a bit of a stupid question, but I'm doing a project where I'm using an ANN to diagnose Sepsis in patients using various vital signs as inputs. The aim is to then develop an Android app that allows a user to put in the inputs and will return a risk score (% likelihood of sepsis, etc)
I'm constructing my ANN using Matlab (using their pattern recognition network wizard), and I'm using MIT App Inventor 2 to build the App itself.
Where I'm struggling, is understanding how one would actually put the ANN into the app. Can anyone explain how this works to me, or even just point me in some vague direction?
There is a matlab-compatible programming language called Octave, and it works on Android as well. You might want to take a look at it, it's called addi.
Matlab/Octave is great for scientific prototyping. Once you enter the realm of mobile applications, the best option is to re-write the libraries in Java. It could be painful but with a proper design you will be able to scale your app without depending in Matlab/Octave hacks.
If this absolutely positively has to be present on Android, on the phone itself, the straightforward way to do this is to write the software in Java and then write the Android GUI around it.
But does the software absolutely need to be on the phone? Maybe. But if not, why not make the Android part a client that communicates with a more powerful and flexible remote server? The server can implement in whatever language it likes.