Admas University

Olympia Campus
Department of Computer Science
Course Title: Mobile Application
Development
Chapter 1
Introduction to Android

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What is Android?

 Android is a mobile operating

system based on a modified version of
the Linux kernel and other open-
source software, designed primarily
for touchscreen mobile devices such
as smartphones and tablets.
 Android is a software stack for mobile
devices that includes an operating
system, middleware and key applications.
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Android
 The purpose of Android was thought of as a mobile operating system.
 However, with the advancement of code libraries and its
popularity among developers of the divergent domain, Android
becomes an absolute set of software for all devices like tablets,
wearable, set-top boxes, smart TVs, notebooks, etc.

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Why use Android?
 Android provides an extensive developer's community
support.
 It uses the core Java language for developing
applications.
 It also provides high marketing.
 Application development cost is less.
 Good storage and uses a lightweight relational database,
SQLite
 It provides good security.

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History of Android

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Features of Android
 Android is a powerful open-source operating system
that open-source provides immense features and some
of these are listed below.

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Features of Android Con…
 Android Open Source Project so we can customize the OS
based on our requirements.
 Android supports different types of connectivity for GSM,
CDMA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. for telephonic conversation
or data transfer.
 Using wifi technology we can pair with other devices while
playing games or using other applications.
 It contains multiple APIs to support location-tracking
services such as GPS.
 We can manage all data storage-related activities by using the
file manager.
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Features of Android Con…
 It contains a wide range of media supports like AVI, MKV,
FLV, MPEG4, etc. to play or record a variety of audio/video.
 It also supports different image formats like JPEG, PNG, GIF,
BMP, MP3, etc.
 It supports multimedia hardware control to perform playback or
recording using a camera and microphone.
 Android has an integrated open-source WebKit layout-based web
browser to support User Interfaces like HTML5, and CSS3.
 Android supports multi-tasking means we can run multiple
applications at a time and can switch between them.
 It provides support for virtual reality or 2D/3D Graphics.

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Structure of Android Application
 It is very important to know about the basics of Android
Studio’s file structure.

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Structure of Android Application Con…
1. AndroidManifest.xml: Every project in Android includes a
manifest file, which is AndroidManifest.xml, stored in the root
directory of its project hierarchy.
 The manifest file is an important part of our app because it
defines the structure and metadata of our application, its
components, and its requirements.
2. Java: The Java folder contains the Java source code files.
 These files are used as a controller for controlled UI (Layout
file).
 It gets the data from the Layout file and after processing
that data output will be shown in the UI layout.
 It works on the backend of an Android application.
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Structure of Android Application Con…
3. Drawable: A Drawable folder contains resource type file
(something that can be drawn).
 Drawables may take a variety of file like Bitmap (PNG,
JPEG), Nine Patch, Vector (XML), Shape, Layers,
States, Levels, and Scale.
4. layout: A layout defines the visual structure for a user
interface, such as the UI for an Android application.
 This folder stores Layout files that are written in XML
language.
 You can add additional layout objects or widgets as child
elements to gradually build a View hierarchy that defines
your layout file.
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Structure of Android Application Con…
5. Mipmap: Mipmap folder contains the Image Asset file
that can be used in Android Studio application.
 You can generate the following icon types like
Launcher icons, Action bar and tab icons, and
Notification icons.
6. Colors.xml: colors.xml file contains color resources of
the Android application.
 Different color values are identified by a unique name
that can be used in the Android application program.

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Cont’d
7. strings.xml: The strings.xml file contains string resources of the
Android application.
 The different string value is identified by a unique name that can be
used in the Android application program.
 This file also stores string array by using XML language.

8. styles.xml: The styles.xml file contains resources of the theme style

in the Android application. This file is written in XML language.

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Cont’d
9. build.gradle(Module: app): This defines the
module-specific build configurations.
 The Android build system compiles app
resources and source code, and packages them
into APKs or Android App Bundles that you
can test, deploy, sign, and distribute.

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Android UI architecture

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Android S/W Stack - Application

Android provides a set of core applications:

 Email Client
 SMS Program
 Calendar
 Maps
 Browser
 Contacts
All applications are written using the Java language.

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Features of Android App Framework
Feature Role

View Used to build an application, including lists, grids, text

System boxes, buttons, and embedded web browser

Content Enabling applications to access data from other

Provider applications or to share their own data

Resource Providing access to non-code resources (localized strings,

Manager graphics, and layout files)

Notification Enabling all applications to display customer alerts in the

Manager status bar

Activity Managing the lifecycle of applications and providing

Manager a common navigation backstack

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Android S/W Stack - Libraries

 Including a set of C/C++ libraries used by

components of the Android system
 Exposed to developers through the Android
application framework

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Android S/W Stack - Runtime

Core Libraries
Providing most of the functionality available in the
core libraries of the Java language
APIs
Data Structures
Utilities
File Access
Network Access
Graphics
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Android S/W Stack – Runtime Con…
 Dalvik Virtual Machine
 Providing environment on which every Android application runs
 Each Android application runs in its own process, with its own instance of the
Dalvik VM.
 Dalvik has been written such that a device can run multiple VMs efficiently.
 Register-based virtual machine
 Dalvik Virtual Machine (Cont)
 Executing the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format
 .dex format is optimized for minimal memory footprint.
 Compilation

 Relying on the Linux Kernel for:

 Threading
 Low-level memory management
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Android S/W Stack – Linux Kernel

 Relying on Linux Kernel 2.6 for core system services

 Memory and Process Management
 Network Stack

 Driver Model
 Security
 Providing an abstraction layer between the H/W and the rest of t
the S/W stack
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Android activity lifecycle UI architecture

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Android Activity Lifecycle methods
 7 lifecycle methods of android activity.

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UI Components
 Android UI Controls are those components of Android
that are used to design the UI in a more interactive way.
 It helps us to develop an application that makes user
interaction better with the view components.
 Android provides us a huge range of UI controls of
many types such as buttons, text views, etc.

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Cont’d

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Android UI Control Con…
 TextView: is a UI Component that displays the text to the
user on their Display Screen.
 There are various attributes to describe the TextView some
of them are named below:
 Android: id – it is a unique id for the control.
 Android: width – It displays the exact width of the TextView.
 Android: height – It displays the exact height of the TextView.
 Android:textColor – It set the color of the text.
 Android: gravity – It is to align the TextView.
 Edit Text
 is a user interface control that allows the users to enter some text.
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Android UI Control Con…
 Button: is a UI that is used to perform some action as
soon as the user clicks on it.
 ImageButton: It is the same as a Button but it’s used
to display an image on the button to perform an
Action.
 In this, we need to give the source of the image so that the
system can load it.
 ToggleButton
 The toggle button displays the ON/OFF states of a button
with a light indicator.

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Android UI Control Con…
 RadioButton
 Radio button in Android is the one that has only two possible
states, that are either checked or unchecked.
 Initially, it is in the unchecked state, once it’s checked it can’t be
unchecked.
 RadioGroup
 It’s a group of Radio buttons that are alike.
 In this, only one of all the buttons can be chosen.
 CheckBox
 A CheckBox is the UI control that has two states that are either
checked or unchecked.
 If we have a group of CheckBox, we can select as many as we
want, unlike RadioGroup.
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Android UI Control Con…
 ProgressBar
 In Android, we have a progress bar that shows the progress of
some action that is happening like pasting a file to some location.
 A progress bar can be in two modes:
 Determinate Mode:
 In this, the progress is shown with the percent of action
completed. Also, the time to be taken is already determined.
 Indeterminate Mode:
 Inthis, there is no idea of when the task would be
completed, therefore, it functions continuously.
 Spinner, TimePicker, DatePicker, SeekBar, RatingBar, AlertDialog,
Switch, AutoCompleteTextView.

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