Professional Android Application Development

434 Pages·2009·7.39 MB·English

by  Reto Meier

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Professional
™
Programmer to Programmer
Android™ A pplication Development
Get more out of
Professional Android Application Development
978-0-470-34471-2
A hands-on guide to building mobile applications, this book
features concise and compelling examples that show you how
WROX.com to quickly construct real-world mobile applications for Android
phones. Fully up-to-date for version 1.0 of the Android SDK, it
covers all the essential features, and explores the advanced
capabilities of Android.
Professional Java JDK 6 Edition
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Building upon Ivor Horton’s Beginning Java 2, this resource shows
you how to use the core features of the latest JDK as well as
powerful open source tools such as Ant, JUnit, and Hibernate. It
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Professional Android™ Application Development
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Chapter 1: Hello, Android . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 3: Creating Applications and Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 4: Creating User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 5: Intents, Broadcast Receivers, Adapters, and the Internet . . . . . . 113
Chapter 6: Data Storage, Retrieval, and Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 59
Chapter 7: Maps, Geocoding, and Location-Based Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Chapter 8: Working in the Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Chapter 9: Peer-to-Peer Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Chapter 10: Accessing Android Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Chapter 11: Advanced Android Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
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Professional
Android™ Application Development
Reto Meier
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Professional Android™ Application Development
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-34471-2
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To Kris
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About the A uthor
Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Reto Meier now lives in London.
Reto is an experienced software developer with more than 10 years of experience in GUI application
architecture, design, and development. He’s worked in various industries, including offshore oil and
gas, before moving to London and into fi nance.
Always interested in emerging technologies, Reto has been involved in Android since the initial release
in 2007. In his spare time, he tinkers with a wide range of development platforms including WPF and
Google’s plethora of developer tools.
You can check out Reto’s web site, The Radioactive Yak, at http://blog.radioactiveyak.com.
About the T ech Editor
Dan Ulery is a software engineer with experience in .NET, Java, and PHP development, as well as in
deployment engineering. He graduated from the University of Idaho with a bachelor of science degree
in computer science and a minor in mathematics.
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Credits
Executive Editor Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Chris Webb Richard Swadley
Development Editor Vice President and Executive Publisher
William Bridges Joseph B. Wikert
Technical Editor Project Coordinator, Cover
Daniel Ulery Lynsey Stanford
Senior Production Editor Compositor
Debra Banninger James D. Kramer, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Copy Editor Proofreader
Cate Caffrey Nancy Carrasco
Editorial Manager Indexer
Mary Beth Wakefi eld Jack Lewis
Production Manager
Tim Tate
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Acknowledgments
A big thank you goes to the Android team, particularly those of you who’ve contributed to the Android
developer Google Groups, for creating and supporting an exciting new playground.
I also thank Philipp Lenssen for providing an inspiration, and occasional venue, for my blogging
efforts; Chris Webb for reading a blog and seeing an author; and Bill Bridges, Dan Ulery, and the Wrox
team for helping me along the way.
Thanks also to Paul, Stu, and Mike: Your friendship and inspiration helped me get to where I am.
Most importantly, I’d like to thank Kristy. For everything.
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