starting with android apps.
Page 1 of 1
Razacka2




Posts: 2832
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 14:51    Post subject: starting with android apps.
So yeah, i'm basically interested in trying out coding some basic android apps and i'm wondering if some of you who have some experience could give me your opinions about it.

Do you have any tips on where to start and so on? I feel like jumping off the books in java and just starting with a project where I would learn bits and pieces by my self that are necessary to complete the project. That's how I came up with android apps Razz

The first project I have in mind is quite basic, or well it seems very straightforward. I just want to code an app for my nephews school which allows the app-users to take a look at the schools different schedules, the food being served in cafeteria, basic info about the school and so on so on. Nothing too hard, or well it doesn't seem so. The thing which I want to spend time on is the interface in the app. Which probably means graphic right? So i'm a bit lost on how to design interfaces and so on.

Well hopefully I got you a picture of what i'm thinking of so far.
Do you guys think it's doable or am I just crazy thinking I can pull off something like this?

Would really appreciate some input and maybe get directed in the right way when it comes to programming android apps.

Thank you.
Back to top
PumpAction
[Schmadmin]



Posts: 26759

PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 15:06    Post subject:
I would need to look at the stuff I've done before but actually for this simple tasks you wouldn't really need to think much about the design. Android has some nice controls in-built and designing them is actually fairly easy Smile When I've got my phone I'll get back to this topic and maybe provide something useful, but I'm sure that some of our fellow humpers will already come up with good answers in the mean time Smile


=> NFOrce GIF plugin <= - Ryzen 3800X, 16GB DDR4-3200, Sapphire 5700XT Pulse
Back to top
Werelds
Special Little Man



Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 15:22    Post subject:
Yeah the UI design is pretty easy to do, just make sure to base everything on pixel density and not cold hard pixels. That way it'll scale with screen resolution (160dp always is 1 inch).

Java itself is iffy, but the Android framework is pretty solid. Got any experience writing a client for a webservice? At least, I'm assuming that's where your data will come from.
Back to top
Razacka2




Posts: 2832
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 16:32    Post subject:
Werelds wrote:
Yeah the UI design is pretty easy to do, just make sure to base everything on pixel density and not cold hard pixels. That way it'll scale with screen resolution (160dp always is 1 inch).

Java itself is iffy, but the Android framework is pretty solid. Got any experience writing a client for a webservice? At least, I'm assuming that's where your data will come from.


Nah I don't have any experience writing a client for a webservice. I have no idea what that means as well Laughing.
All of the information that i'll be extracting is up on the schools website. So for some functions there will be a need of internet connection while for others there won't (example for internet connection: cancelled lessons for the day. and no internet connection: looking at the schedules for every class).

Will there be a need of a client?
Back to top
Werelds
Special Little Man



Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 19:01    Post subject:
Well you'll still have to fetch the schedules at least once I guess, and then cache em for a period of time.

You're just going to crawl the website though? If I were you, I'd set up a script on a "normal" web server to do that, which can cache the info and then have the Android app connect to your script and get a JSON response instead of having to parse the full website in the app.

Either way, it takes a bit more work than you thought it would Wink
Back to top
Razacka2




Posts: 2832
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 19:25    Post subject:
Werelds wrote:
Well you'll still have to fetch the schedules at least once I guess, and then cache em for a period of time.

You're just going to crawl the website though? If I were you, I'd set up a script on a "normal" web server to do that, which can cache the info and then have the Android app connect to your script and get a JSON response instead of having to parse the full website in the app.

Either way, it takes a bit more work than you thought it would Wink


I see, well do you happen to have an article or something similar that goes through the method of using this technique? I don't wish to take your time and ask a bunch of questions on how to do this so a tutorial would probably work better in my favor Razz
Back to top
Werelds
Special Little Man



Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 19:33    Post subject:
No I don't, sorry Razz

Just look at the documentation for any website's API though, it's the same idea - for the script <> app connection that is.

As for the script crawling the website: I'm sure there's plenty of sample scripts for PHP, Ruby, C# (ASP.NET) or whatever the fuck else you want to use Razz
Back to top
Razacka2




Posts: 2832
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 21:27    Post subject:
Werelds: Can't I just permanently store all of the data in the app? But that would mean that I'd have to update it each time they add/remove something and include in the app right?

Gonna look into crawling and see what I can come up with.
Back to top
Werelds
Special Little Man



Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
PostPosted: Mon, 20th Jun 2011 22:57    Post subject:
Yeah, you could do that but like you say, you'd have to update the app every year/semester/trimester depending on how often the schedule changes Smile
Back to top
Page 1 of 1 All times are GMT + 1 Hour
NFOHump.com Forum Index - Programmers Corner
Signature/Avatar nuking: none (can be changed in your profile)  


Display posts from previous:   

Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB 2.0.8 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group