Android Application Development All-in-One For Dummies

by Barry Burd

A new edition of Android Application Development All-in-One For Dummies (updated for the 21st century!) is available.

Download the code for use with Android Studio! The real-life weather service examples from Minibook III, Chapter 3 and 5 are missing in this download. (The online service no longer exists!) Read instructions on using Android Studio.

Download the code for use with Eclipse! If you want to use Eclipse, visit eclipse.org and get Eclipse for Java Developers. After installing Eclipse for Java Developers, follow the instructions at http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html to add the ADT (Android Developer Tools) to Eclipse. Read instructions on adding the downloaded code to your Eclipse workspace. For Eclipse users: Information about changes in the ADT

A new edition of Android Application Development All-in-One For Dummies (updated for the 21st century!) will be available in mid 2015.

Talk to me:

Read me:

• When you follow the instructions on downloading Java and Eclipse, you get Java software and Eclipse software on your computer. Your Java software's word length (32-bit or 64-bit) must match your Eclipse software's word length. In other words, 32-bit Eclipse runs with 32-bit Java, and 64-bit Eclipse runs with 64-bit Java. I haven't tried all possible combinations, but when I try to run 32-bit Eclipse with 64-bit Java, I see a misleading "No Java virtual machine was found" error message.
• If you're confused about the updates (and other changes) to Eclipse's Android Development Toolkit check this document.
• If you're interested in learning about the main activity's onCreateOptionsMenu method, check this document.

Errata:

• At the top of Page 188, the enhanced for statement has the form for (TypeName variable : ArrayOrCollection) { etc. That is, the character between variable and ArrayOrCollection should be a colon, not a semicolon. (Thanks to Anguel Stankov for bringing this to my attention.)
• On Page 275, there's an extraneous back-slash at the start of the XML code listing. The first line of the listing should be <activity android:name=".OtherActivity">, and not \<activity android:name=".OtherActivity">.
• On Page 327 (in the printed version) Listing 3-13 is incorrectly labeled Listing 13-13.
• In Figure 2-19 on Page 296, after starting activity 2, the top of the stack should have Activity 2, not Activity 3. (Thanks to Anguel Stankov.)
  
• On Page 68, just before Listing 3-4, I refer to the listing as a main.xml file. In truth, the listing contains a strings.xml file. Thanks to Desmond Drummond for calling this to my attention.
• On Page 89 (Book I, Chapter 4, in the Section entitled "Creating a reusable layout") the 9th step should read "Because of what you did in Step 8, your layout has a horizontal orientation;..." (Thanks to Joshua Gainey for spotting this!)
• In Figure 3-11 (Book IV) the arrow labeled "right" should be labeled "left" and vice-versa. (Thanks to James Mazikowski and Joshua Gainey.)
• The sentence immediately before Listing 3-10 in Book III should read "Simply add Listing 3-10's code to the code in Listing 3-6." (Thanks to James Mazikowski for finding this mistake.)
• In Listing 4-1 (Chapter 4 of Book III), I misspell "MyReceiver" in a call to the Log.i method. As a result. Many output listings in the chapter display the misspelled word "MyRecevier." It doesn't harm the code, but it looks funny once you notice it. In fact, reader Joe Diviak noticed it and sent me an email about it. Thanks, Joe!
• On page 386, there's no attribute named android:layout_length. Instead, it should be android:layout_height. The code listing (Listing 1-2) is correct but the paragraph and section heading immediately before the code listing are incorrect. (Thanks to Anguel Stankov for bringing this to my attention.)
• Since the book's printing, Google's weather service has disappeared. So Listings 3-9 and 3-10 in Book III require some updating. In the revised versions of the listings, I query a different weather service: the World Weather Online service. Before you try to run the code, visit the World Weather Online Web site to get your own (free) usage key. (The MyWeatherService.java program doesn't work unless you add your own key to the code.) Jose A. Aponte-Lucena has contributed another weather app update which includes AIDL code.
• The second pair of bullets on Page 275 should read as follows: * An intent without a URI cannot match a filter without a URI. A filter without a URI cannot match an intent without a URI. * An intent without a MIME type cannot match a filter without a MIME type. A filter without a MIME type cannot match an intent without a MIME type. (Thanks to Gerry Morgan for catching this.) Late breaking news: Since I posted the World Weather Online code, the people at World Weather Online have changed the URL required to connect to their service. It's now http://api.worldweatheronline.com/free/v1/weather.ashx?key=************************&q=. (Thanks to Menno Dubbelman for bringing this issue to my attention.)