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The previous chapters have discussed in detail the different states and lifecycles of the activities comprising an Android application. In this chapter, we will put the theory of handling activity state changes into practice by creating an example application. The purpose of this example application is to provide a real-world demonstration of an activity as…

Based on the information outlined in the chapter entitled Android App and Activity Lifecycles it is now evident that the activities and fragments that make up an application pass through various different states during the application’s lifespan. The Android runtime system imposes the change from one state to the other and is, therefore, largely beyond…

In earlier chapters, we learned that Android applications run within processes and comprise multiple components in the form of activities, services, and broadcast receivers. This chapter aims to expand on this knowledge by looking at the lifecycle of applications and activities within the Android runtime system. Regardless of the fanfare about how much memory and…

An essential part of developing Android apps involves the interaction between the code and the views that make up the user interface layouts. This chapter will look at the options available for gaining access to layout views in code, emphasizing an option known as view binding. Once the basics of view bindings have been covered,…

Regardless of your prior programming experiences, be it Windows, macOS, Linux, or even iOS based, the chances are good that Android development is quite unlike anything you have encountered before. Therefore, this chapter’s objective is to provide an understanding of the high-level concepts behind the architecture of Android applications. In doing so, we will explore…

So far, in this book, steps have been taken to set up an environment suitable for developing Android applications using Android Studio. An initial step has also been taken into the application development process by creating an Android Studio application project. However, before delving further into the practical matters of Android application development, it is…

Developing applications for Android involves a considerable amount of programming work which, by definition, involves typing, reviewing, and modifying lines of code. Unsurprisingly, most of a developer’s time spent using Android Studio will typically involve editing code within the editor window. The modern code editor must go far beyond the basics of typing, deleting, cutting,…

While much can be achieved by testing applications using an Android Virtual Device (AVD), there is no substitute for performing real-world application testing on a physical Android device, and some Android features are only available on physical Android devices. Communication with both AVD instances and connected Android devices is handled by the Android Debug Bridge…

While it is tempting to plunge into running the example application created in the previous chapter, it involves using aspects of the Android Studio user interface, which are best described in advance. Android Studio is a powerful and feature-rich development environment that is, to a large extent, intuitive to use. That being said, taking the…

Before the next chapter explores testing on physical Android devices, this chapter will take some time to provide an overview of the Android Studio AVD emulator and highlight many of the configuration features available to customize the environment in both standalone and tool window modes. The Emulator Environment When launched in standalone mode, the emulator…