Getting Started with Android App Development

Are you excited about having to build the next great mobile application? If you've ever had a brilliant app idea and are eager to delve into the world of Android app development, you're not alone. With over 75% of users around the world utilizing Android devices, this makes it a popular, rewarding, and promising career for aspiring software developers.

To begin this journey, it is essential to have a solid grasp of the fundamental concepts and techniques involved in building an Android application. This article aims to provide you with a comprehensive guide and valuable insights into the crucial aspects of Android app development. The steps we will explore include:

Step 1. Understanding the Android Platform

Android is an open-source and Linux-based operating system built by Google and other companies for mobile devices. Used primarily by touchscreen devices such as smartphones, nowadays it has extended to auto cars, smart TVs and wearables, etc. The Android OS can be seen as a stack of software components exposed through a framework that provides services, and management of the application. The below figure shows the major components.

Figure: The Android software stack

Linux Kernel: This is the foundation of the platform and provides core features on which to develop for the Android OS. It lets Android take advantage of key security features.

Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL): The HAL is composed of several library modules, each of which provides a standard interface that exposes a particular type of hardware component.

Android Runtime: This provides one of the main components called Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM). The DVM uses the Linux kernel for low-level functionality such as memory management, security, and Threading.

Native C/C++ Libraries: These are libraries that play a vital role in Android app development. They offer performance optimizations, access to low-level system resources, and the ability to reuse existing C/C++ codebases.

Java API Framework: These are the API that forms the building block used in creating Android apps. They consist of packages and classes that simplify common tasks and operations, enabling developers to focus on what matters without having to reinvent the wheel.

System Apps: These are apps that are already pre-built and come loaded on an Android device. This app provides core functionalities and services to users.

Step 2. Setting up the Development Environment

To start developing Android applications, you need to first create or set up your development environment, and this is where the Android Studio and Android SDK come into play. The Android Studio is the official IDE (Integrated Development Environment) used by developers for Android app development. It comes with a set of comprehensive tools, a code editor, a visual layout editor, and a visual emulator for testing apps.

To get started with Android development, you will need to install Android Studio, which includes the Android SDK. You can download the Android Studio package from the official website here. Once you have successfully installed Android Studio, follow these steps to begin creating your first Android project. Click on File > New > New Project, then select a "template" from the list of project templates. The template defines the design and UI included in the app when it loads.

Configure your project by choosing a name, a package name, and a programming language. The app's "name" refers to the visible title displayed when users install it on their devices. On the other hand, the "package name" serves as a unique identifier that distinguishes your app from others in the Android ecosystem.

Once this is done, you can go ahead and familiarize yourself with the files. The basic structural layout of the Android studio includes:

• Manifest: The Android manifest is an XML file that stores all the important features of your Android apps.

• Grade Files: The gradle files play a critical role in configuring and building your Android projects. The files manage your build process and bundle your files into a workable APK.

• Resource Folders: This folder contains a list of various resources used by your app. The resources files include the drawable file (for images), the raw file (for audios), the layout file (XML files that define user interface layout), the mipmap (for images), and the values file(for strings, colors, integers, etc).

• Java Folders: This stores Java files that are responsible for the functionality of your apps. These are files needed to carry out background tasks.

Step 3: Fundamentals of Android App Development

There are key components of the and understanding them can go a long way when developing an android application. These components include activities, services, broadcast receivers, and content providers.

• Activities and Fragments: Activities and fragments are necessary components that form the building block of the UI (User Interface) in an Android app. Activities represent a single screen with a user interface, while fragments are a reusable UI component within an activity. They both have an accompanying layout file stored in the resources folder that is used to design the user interface of an app. There is a wide range of predefined layouts (Linear Layout, Relative layout, etc) and UI components (buttons, text view, etc) provided by Android, and understanding how to style and arrange them can lead to creating a visually stunning and functional user interface.

Code syntax:

class MainActivity: AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // Code for activity initialization
    }

    override fun onStart() {
        super.onStart()

        // Code to perform actions when the activity becomes visible
    }

    override fun onStop() {
        super.onStop()

        // Code to perform actions when the activity becomes not visible
    }
}

• Services: This is a background component that's used to perform long-running tasks. For instance, fetching data from the server without interrupting user interaction. The services aim to provide a nonstop working of your app without breaking user focus.

Code Syntax

class MyService: Service() {
    override fun onBind(intent: Intent?): IBinder? {
        // Code to handle the service binding
        return null
    }

    override fun onStartCommand(intent: Intent?, flags: Int, start: Int): Int {
        // Code to handle service execution
        return START_STICKY
    }

    override fun onDestroy() {
        // Code to handle service cleanup
        super.onDestroy()
    }
}

• Broadcast receivers: These components are inherent to the system and play a crucial role in facilitating system-wide events and communication. They actively respond to broadcast messages, such as when a user switches to the next song through the notification or when the phone battery level drops below a certain threshold.

Code syntax:

class MyBroadcastReceiver: BroadcastReceiver() {
    override fun onReceive(context: Context?, intent: Intent?) {
        // Code to handle the received broadcast
    }
}

• Content providers: The content providers are responsible for facilitating the sharing of data between your app and other apps. Such sharing of data is handled by the methods in a ContentResolver class. Through using this component, developers can query and modify saved data. They are also responsible for reading and writing data that aren't shared within your app.

Code syntax:

class MyContentProvider: ContentProvider() {
    override fun onCreate(): Boolean {
        // Code for content provider initialization
        return true
    }

    override fun query(
        uri: Uri,
        projection: Array<String>?,
        selection: String?,
        selectionArgs: Array<String>?,
        sortOrder: String?
    ): Cursor? {
        // Code to handle query operations
        return null
    }

    override fun insert(uri: Uri, values: ContentValues?): Uri? {
        // Code to handle insert operations
        return null
    }

    override fun update(
        uri: Uri,
        values: ContentValues?,
        selection: String?
        selectionArgs: Array<String>?
    ): Int {
        // Code to handle update operations
        return 0
    }

    override fun delete(uri: Uri, selection: String?, selections: Array<String>?): Int {
        // Code to handle delete operations
        return 0
    }

    override fun getType(uri: Uri): String? {
        // Code to handle MIME-type retrieval
        return null
    }
}

By understanding these components, developers can design and build robust Android applications.

Step 4: User interfaces and it's best practices

The User interface plays a significant role in the success of an Android app. They focus on anticipating what a user might do and providing elements for ease of access, and to facilitate what actions the user takes. A well-created UI enhances the user experience and makes your app stand out from other apps. Here are a few key principles and best practices to look out for:

1. Design principle:

It's essential to follow design principles when creating visually stunning Android UI. Key design principles to look out for:

• Simplicity: It is advisable to keep your UI clean and uncluttered. Avoid the use of excessive information and options so as not to overwhelm the user.

• Consistency: Maintaining consistency in your visual elements, interaction, and information spread across your apps helps users understand and navigate your app easily.

• Intuitiveness: Use familiar icons and label and organize your elements logically to easily guide users on how to interact with your app.

1. Responsiveness and User-friendly Interfaces: Android apps should be able to adapt to changes in the size of screens, layout, and orientations. Here are a few techniques to pay attention to:

• Layouts: Android offers a wide range of layout managers such as Linear Layout, Relative Layout, etc. Choose the right layout manager for your UI requirements.

• Multiple screen sizes: There are lots of layout qualifiers provided by Android that support multiple screen sizes. These qualifiers are used to design UI for different screen sizes such as Tablets, wearables, etc.

• Density Independence: These are qualifiers used to specify the dimensions and unit size of elements. By using this, it ensures your UI remains consistent across multiple screens.

1. Implementing Material Design Guidelines: The material design guidelines are guidelines developed by Google to make your app unique. They help simplify the process of customizing your app with the use of components that makes your app functional and usable. Key elements in the material design guidelines are:

• Material Components: These are predesigned UI components that contain ready-to-use widgets. They include widgets like buttons, cards, etc that follow the material design guidelines.

• Material Theming: Material theming helps with the customization of the visual appearance of your apps. They are used to define the style, typography, attributes, etc of your app while maintaining the core principle of material design.

Step 5: Android Data Persistence

One of the important aspects of Android development is the ability of your app to manage and persist data. Depending on the complexity and the requirements of your app, android provides various options for storing and managing data. Some popular options include SQLite which is a lightweight relational database, and Room which is an object-mapping SQLite library. They provide CRUD operations that allow for creating, reading, updating, and deleting data. Understanding and implementing these operations allows for the creation and management of structured data in an Android app which are essential when building an app.

Additionally, Android provides content providers that allow for the sharing of data between apps. Content providers allow for sharing data on a well-defined interface and can be beneficial when building apps that share data and interact with other apps.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the fundamental concepts and techniques necessary for developers to create robust and functional applications. We covered understanding the Android platform, setting up the development environment, mastering the fundamentals of app development, designing user-friendly interfaces, and persisting data using SQLite, Room, and Content Providers

By acquiring a strong foundation in these areas, you'll be equipped with the necessary skills to embark on your Android app development journey. Remember, continuous learning and practice are key to honing your skills and staying up-to-date with the ever-evolving Android ecosystem. With dedication and passion, you can become a proficient Android developer capable of building innovative and successful applications.