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Android App Builder
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Why fragmentation is great for Android developers and users
It would be bad form to delve into the world of Android fragmentation wearing a pair of rose-colored glasses, but also don't overlook the upsides to the OS's segmentation.
Posted by Grady Winston | December 6, 2012, 10:47 AM PST | Latest comment by CharlesG1970
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Theming toast messages with the Android SDK
A toast message is a warm and fuzzy way to alert users about what is happening in your Android app without interrupting the UX. Learn how to build custom toast messages.
Posted by William J. Francis | December 5, 2012, 5:35 PM PST
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Remote test your Android apps with these services
Samsung Remote Test Lab, Vodafone Handset Cloud, and Apkudo are just three of the services you might want to check out when remote testing your Android apps.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | December 4, 2012, 11:26 AM PST
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Essential elements to use from the Android Support Library
The Android Support Library makes several of the operating system's important new features available to apps for older versions of Android.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | November 29, 2012, 10:32 AM PST
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Jelly Bean's ConnectivityManager has a new goodie
Android developer William J. Francis demonstrates how to determine if a connection is metered, as well as some other handy information that can be gleaned from the ConnectivityManager.
Posted by William J. Francis | November 27, 2012, 12:47 PM PST
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Using Android UI kit for programmatic layouts
Everything that can be done using an XML layout can also be done programmatically in Android. Follow this Android development tutorial on creating a dynamic user interface.
Posted by William J. Francis | November 21, 2012, 2:59 PM PST
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Selecting an Android tablet for testing your apps
There are so many Android tablet options that app developers can't possibly purchase them all for testing purposes. Here are tips on making your Android tablet selection.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | November 20, 2012, 10:22 AM PST
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A developer's guide to copyright and trademark in Google Play
Android app developer William J. Francis interviews attorney Suzy Fulton, an IP and due diligence specialist, about trademarks, copyrights, and patents. She advises app developers to maintain a...
Posted by William J. Francis | November 16, 2012, 2:31 PM PST
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Generate graphic assets with the Android Asset Studio wizard
The Asset Studio wizard can help simplify your efforts to manage icon assets for your Android apps. Learn more about Asset Studio, as well as when automatic image generation is not the best option.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | November 15, 2012, 1:24 PM PST
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Get social: Using Android intents to share a link
Social media is a great way to promote your Android app. Learn how to implement link sharing via social networking from within your app.
Posted by William J. Francis | November 8, 2012, 3:01 PM PST
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Juggling in-app purchasing from multiple markets
You have several options to handle in-app billing for multiple app markets: build your own, use a service, or do nothing. See which option might be right for your Android app.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | November 7, 2012, 10:11 AM PST
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Transforming bitmaps via Android's ImageView widget
Learn how to apply an alpha transformation, scale a bitmap, and rotate a bitmap, all using Android's ImageView widget.
Posted by William J. Francis | October 30, 2012, 10:35 AM PDT
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Android gives developers direct I/O to the SD card
Follow this tutorial on how to access the SD card on an Android device, and perform simple read and write operations.
Posted by William J. Francis | October 24, 2012, 10:08 AM PDT | Latest comment by varghesejac
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Understanding Android app permissions
Android's permission mechanism enforces that each app can only perform actions that it declared it could do. Learn how to add permissions to your app's manifest.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | October 23, 2012, 12:49 PM PDT
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Be aware of the Android radio group widget's gotchas
William J. Francis goes back to basics with this tutorial on the radio group widget, which gave him problems when he was first learning Android development.
Posted by William J. Francis | October 18, 2012, 4:33 PM PDT
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Support different Android device configurations with dimension resources
Dimension resources simplify the task of building and maintaining a flexible Android app that looks good on various devices. Follow these best practices when using dimension resources.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | October 17, 2012, 1:08 PM PDT
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Bouncing a ball on Android's canvas
Enterprise app developer William J. Francis has fun with Android's animation classes in his bouncing ball tutorial.
Posted by William J. Francis | October 11, 2012, 11:17 AM PDT
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Protect your Android apps with obfuscation
The simplest way to protect an app is to enable the obfuscation in ProGuard, which can remove unused code and make it harder to read the decompiled code. Also learn about DexGuard.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | October 10, 2012, 11:28 AM PDT | Latest comment by kellyburby1@...
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Browse Android's media gallery via intents
Developer William J. Francis digs a little deeper into the Android intent mechanism and shows how to browse, select, and display an existing image on your SD card.
Posted by William J. Francis | October 4, 2012, 6:32 PM PDT
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Linking directly to apps in Android app stores
Expand your Android app's reach by linking to app stores beyond Google Play. Tim Mackenzie covers mutually exclusive linking, custom URI schemes, and more.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | October 3, 2012, 7:31 PM PDT
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A quick tutorial on coding Android's accelerometer
The accelerometer is a hardware sensor used to detect a shake motion. William Francis shares the accelerometer code that he uses in his Android apps.
Posted by William J. Francis | September 16, 2011, 11:55 PM PDT
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A newbie's guide to Android development
William J. Francis covers Android development basics, such as the necessary tools to get started and a typical project hierarchy.
Posted by William J. Francis | May 11, 2012, 8:41 PM PDT | Latest comment by karla111
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Calling RESTful services from your Android app
Mobile developer William J. Francis demonstrates how easy it is to consume a RESTful service from your Android device.
Posted by William J. Francis | March 20, 2012, 7:55 AM PDT
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The ABCs of Android game development: Prepare the canvas
In the first installment of his five-part app developer series, William J. Francis creates a drawing surface and a framework for controlling and updating the contents of an Android game.
Posted by William J. Francis | February 2, 2013, 9:52 AM PST | Latest comment by authorwjf
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App store fees, percentages, and payouts: What developers need to know
Every app store takes a cut of a developer's sales. Find out how much of the earnings usually go to the app store and when you can expect a payment.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | May 7, 2012, 1:03 PM PDT | Latest comment by Andrew Huttle
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Pros and cons of cross-platform mobile app development tools
If you want to use platforms that allow development for both iOS and Android apps, keep these potential benefits and drawbacks of such tools in mind.
Posted by Joseph Parker | March 15, 2013, 11:58 PM PDT | Latest comment by Cyberience
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Samsung Galaxy S4 stirs questions about Android customization
Can the Android OS be so customizable through fragmentation and app development that it ceases to be Android? Let us know what you think.
Posted by Joseph Parker | May 10, 2013, 11:53 PM PDT | Latest comment by radleym
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Project your Android phone's screen onto a larger display
Learn three ways to get your Android phone display onto a large overhead screen so you can show off your killer app during your next demo or presentation.
Posted by William J. Francis | April 18, 2012, 1:18 PM PDT | Latest comment by meister2681
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Use Android's gesture detector to translate a swipe into an event
When developing an Android app, you can use the intuitive Gesture Detector class horizontally, vertically, and diagonally to translate subtle motions into distinct events.
Posted by William J. Francis | August 30, 2012, 1:12 PM PDT
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Android v. iOS guide for newbies
If you're just starting out in app development and trying to choose between the Android or the iOS SDK, this basic guide might be useful.
Posted by Joseph Parker | April 4, 2013, 11:20 AM PDT | Latest comment by HAL 9000
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Show a progress bar in your Android app for a better UX
Users expect mobile apps to be responsive, and when nothing happens, they feel frustrated. Learn how to give users a better experience by adding a progress bar to your Android app.
Posted by Tim Mackenzie | March 6, 2013, 11:01 AM PST
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Get started with Android fragments
After purchasing and using a Sony Tablet S, William J. Francis is sold on the idea of Android fragments. His tutorial shows how to create a functional fragment-based UI.
Posted by William J. Francis | March 14, 2012, 10:18 AM PDT | Latest comment by moberme
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Working with Android's PopupMenu class
Android's PopupMenu widget takes all of the heavy lifting out of adding popup-like menu functionality in your apps. Here are the basics about PopupMenu.
Posted by William J. Francis | March 21, 2013, 2:42 AM PDT
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Four cloud tools to use for app development
Cloud integrations in app development are becoming more prevalent. If you don't know where to start in terms of tools, read these recommendations.
Posted by Joseph Parker | April 23, 2013, 6:47 AM PDT
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Android's SeekBar your way
Learn how to customize the Android UI SeekBar widget by following this tutorial by mobile developer William Francis.
Posted by William J. Francis | February 14, 2012, 1:08 PM PST
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Android Jelly Bean ate my toast, the sequel: Revenge of the toast
If you miss toast messages in Android 4.2, follow this tutorial to learn how to create your own.
Posted by William J. Francis | April 30, 2013, 8:53 AM PDT | Latest comment by authorwjf
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A dog limps into a saloon: A tutorial on Android's ViewFlipper widget
It can be tough to figure out the Android ViewFlipper widget's sliding in and out animation transitions. William Francis explains how to use the widget in your Android apps.
Posted by William J. Francis | November 1, 2011, 2:07 PM PDT
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Use Gson to work with JSON in your Android apps
In this Android tutorial, William J. Francis uses Gson to build up a standard Java entity and flatten it into JSON.
Posted by William J. Francis | July 3, 2012, 3:01 PM PDT
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Bouncing a ball on Android's canvas
Enterprise app developer William J. Francis has fun with Android's animation classes in his bouncing ball tutorial.
Posted by William J. Francis | October 11, 2012, 11:17 AM PDT
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Four Android development platforms that will change your life
If you're ready to branch out into Android and build amazing apps, these platforms will save you hours of development work.
Posted by Grady Winston | August 27, 2012, 12:39 PM PDT | Latest comment by authorwjf
