Android API Demos

Did you know that the Android SDK comes with a number of sample code? The SDK reference is very comprehensive, but it only documents the the various class individually. Examples are very useful in a learning process, it helps us to understand how concepts are translated to code, and how various components work together to accomplish a task. Unfortunately the SDK reference pages lack example. Besides the whole copy of SDK reference, the SDK package also comes with a number of sample projects. It is located in the <sdk>/platforms/android-1.5/samples folder. Follow the steps to load the project in Eclipse IDE:

1. Goto: File > Import...
2. In the Import window, select Existing Projects into workspace, click Next.
3. For the Select root directory option, click on the Browse button.
   
   
4. Import ApiDemos in the sample folder.
5. Click Finish and the ApiDemos package will appear in the Package Explorer.
   

This project is an excellent resource for learning Android programming, and it covers a variety of topics (e.g. animation, widget, graphic, audio, video, ...). You might have noticed there are a number of other projects in the sample folder. Feel free to import them into your workspace, try them out. (If you are thinking of developing a game, JetBoy it a good starting point for learning audio programming.) P.S. Just found a reference website for using emulator: http://www.android.encke.net/android-emulator-tutorial.html.

GeekCamp SG

Hi, I am Leong Hean Hong aka hongster. I am part of the KL GTUG blog team and I will be sharing some of my experience in Android development here. I gave a talk on Android at the GeekCamp Singapore last week (22^nd August 2009). These are some of the questions I answered in my presentation:

• What is Android?
• How to setup the development environment?
• How to start building an Android app?
• What are some of the differences between Android and iPhone development?
• What is an Intent?

Slides:

Geekcamp Android

View more presentations from Hean Hong Leong.

Source Code: An demo app had been created for the presentation. It is a simple application which allows user to select an image from image gallery, and applies effects to the image, displays it on the screen. I hope it can serves as a little tutorial for developers who are interested in graphical programming in Android. The Android emulator does on come with any image. You have to create a SD card and attach it to the emulator. It is always advisable to launch the emulator before launching Eclipse, and leave the emulator running throughout the development. In Eclipse, change perspective to DDMS. The File Explorer allow you to insert/retrieves image file into/from the SD Card. Please email me (expertleong_at_gmail_dot_com), if you need any help on setting up the envrionment. Download source code.