Custom ListView with TextViews and ImageView

Tutorial 1 - Creating a custom ListView with unique style and elements In this tutorial, we're going to go over the basics of Android's ListView container and see how we can customize it so it looks a little less...well..plain. The default layout that ships with the sdk is fine. It's basically just a listed view containing text fields with a black background. You can find out more about creating a standard ListView here See photo below.  However, if you want to customize your ListView so it looks a little different and contains dynamic data..keep reading. I used this design in an app I wrote called EZ Pics Photo album, basically an easier way to sort/organize your photos on your Android device. We will build this ListView...

Read more »

Teach Me 4 Kids!

I wrote this app because I wanted to create a simple game for small children that would teach them something. Recently I've been seeing alot of parents in malls and grocery stores with their kids, and the kids are using a smartphone or tablet. I figured it was just mom or dad wanting them to be occupied and not annoy, so why not give them your tablet or smartphone for a few minutes if they'll learn something?  The idea was to set up a dashboard(actually a chalkboard) with different modules that they could engage in. I couldn't afford to hire a professional graphic designer to design some snazzy backgrounds and bitmaps for me, so that's where my photoshop skills came into play. I decided to give designing a try, and I don't think it turned...

Read more »

Suggested Reading

For anyone starting out in Android development, but has no Java experience whatsoever. Great book by Judy Bishop with tons and tons of examples that teach fundamental Java concepts in a easy to read way. I've read some controversial reviews about the book(some people out right hate it), but I had a decent experience with it and I found that is supplemented my Java programming course well. ...

Read more »

Why is good design important?

Well designed Code Vs. Code That Just Works!  One of the biggest lessons I've learned in my Android development experience to date  is the battle between writing code that works, and writing code that is well designed.  "What do you mean 'well designed'? I thought the purpose of writing code was to solve a problem, you know..get something to WORK"?? This logic couldn't be more flawed. It goes back to what our moms used to tell us when we were kids(at least mine did), "do it right the first time, and you'll never have to do it again". In a sense, this can be applied to software development. Whether you're a beginner, intermediate or seasoned vet..this understanding is vital to your success or failure in developing mobile applications, or any software for that matter. Writing...

Read more »

Activities, Lifecycle, Callbacks...

One of the easiest but most overlooked concepts in early Android development is understanding the Activity lifecycle. If you don't know what an Activity is, don't worry. Head on over to the developer page to learn more about them. If you don't want to, that's fine too. I'll do my best to explain it here. Basically, an Activity in Android represents a single screen/page in your app. Every Android application is made up of  at least one, but usually a few Activities. Imagine you have an app that asks the user for their username and password, logs them in, and displays their current bank account information. Let's break down what Activities that app would most likely consist of. 1) The first Activity would be the one that shows the dialog,...

Read more »

A little about Android...

Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google in partnership with the Open Handset Alliance(OHA). The operating system is primarily designed for touch screen smartphones and tablet devices.  The OHA is basically a big group of hardware and software manufacturers. It consists of about 86 companies dedicated to "advancing open standards for mobile devices". One of the beauties of Android is that it's Open Source. This means that the code behind the operating system is fully transparent and accessible to anyone that is interested. Google released the OS under the Apache License(see here ). This is great for the open source community, and many programmers have created custom versions of the operating system for their own personal devices or to publish as custom roms(click...

Read more »

Introduction

Hello there, and welcome to the blog! First a brief introduction. My name is Jade Byfield. I'm a huge fan of Java and I've recently started developing for Android. I have to say that I love it. I'm also very passionate about graphic designing and making pretty things in PhotoShop CS5(my tool of choice). I find that app development perfectly incorporates both my passion for designing as well as writing code.  I'm 23 years old. Born in Kingston, Jamaica. Moved to Brooklyn, New York at about age 8 and I've been living in Miami, Florida for the past 5 years. Why even start a blog? 1) First, I wanted a dedicated space to share my passion for Android dev. I feel like talking about your ideas and sharing them with others is(sometimes)...

Read more »