Related
Probably the wrong thread, but...
You can build just about any app you can imagine with App Inventor. Often people begin by building games like WhackAMole or games that let you draw funny pictures on your friend's faces. You can even make use of the phone's sensors to move a ball through a maze based on tilting the phone.
But app building is not limited to simple games. You can also build apps that inform and educate. You can create a quiz app to help you and your classmates study for a test. With Android's text-to-speech capabilities, you can even have the phone ask the questions aloud.
To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app's behavior.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App Inventor
cashless said:
Probably the wrong thread, but...
...To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires
NO programming knowledge...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[sarcasm]perfect. apps developed by non-developers without any programming knowledge is exactly what this world needs. [/sarcasm]
I guess some good may come of it, but it just reminds me too well of script kiddies running amock in the software store with unlicensed compilers.
I have a question. Ive been doing web development for two years now. I would say I am at an expert level in XHTML/HTML and CSS, and I know a little bit of basic PHP. I want to get into Android app development, but I have no idea where to begin. What language do I need to learn? Java?
Should I become more comfortable with PHP first, does it matter?
Sorry for the noob question. I am just interested in hearing from some other devs about this, any advice is appreciated.
Yes, you will need to learn Java programming language. SDK
ryno502 said:
I have a question. Ive been doing web development for two years now. I would say I am at an expert level in XHTML/HTML and CSS, and I know a little bit of basic PHP. I want to get into Android app development, but I have no idea where to begin. What language do I need to learn? Java?
Should I become more comfortable with PHP first, does it matter?
Sorry for the noob question. I am just interested in hearing from some other devs about this, any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a video tutorial to get you started in application development in android.
http://www.xtensivearts.com/2009/07/03/episode-1-getting-started/
Learn Java, XML, and the inner workings of Android / Linux at the bare minimum. You should be able to make something simple and worthwhile with just that. Once you do, you should learn some basic computer science concepts, such as procedural programming, oo programming, algorithms, data structures, and basc compiler theory. Lastly, you should learn C/C++ and how they hook into Java using JNI. At that point, you could make something really sweet.
Application development is hard and it, in many ways, is a different beast from web deveopment. Experience with HTML / CSS will come in handy when dealing with the XML files. Experience with PHP an Javascript will aid you in learning Java.
I have heard that a true hacker knows at least five different programming languages ( sorry HTML and CSS don't count for that ), and most really good programmers know more. Once you understand the concepts behind programming, and exactly how the code you type becomes binary code that your computer executes, picking up new languages is a breeze.
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Thank you. I know some basic PHP, but I am not an expert by any means. I will look into taking some tutorials in Java, XML, etc.
I was reading into Android App Inventor, and I know its no substitute for Eclipse/Android SDK for making full blown complex applications, but do you think It would be beneficial for me to experiment with that?
Be sure to check out Adobe AIR. It's open source and you can develop under OS X, Linux or Windows. You can also do cross-platform apps for iOS or Blackberry's new tablet.
Is that whassup adobe air is? Basically dreamweaver for apps?
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ryno502 said:
Is that whassup adobe air is? Basically dreamweaver for apps?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd compare it to Visual Basic. You code in a combination of Actionscript 3 (basically a javascript clone) and mxml. Programs require the Air runtime (again, like old visual basic) to run, except for iOS where supposedly native code is generated.
You can code using Adobe's Flash Builder IDE or other third-party IDEs, or from the command-line.
No Android SDK or Java required.
So can I use Air instead of Eclipse?
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ryno502 said:
So can I use Air instead of Eclipse?
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Adobe's IDE is a modified version of Eclipse. You can also get a plugin for "regular" Eclipse.
ryno502 said:
So can I use Air instead of Eclipse?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would imagine you would get far better results using Java (what I imagine you mean by Eclipse), but if any of you have experience developing for Air for Android, please put your experiences! I have not tried it myself, but usually those sort of "easy programming tools" are good mostly for rapid prototyping.
Im just looking for a good place to start. I have zero programming experience.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
My suggestion then would be to focus more on learning to program, and getting some experience programming in general. It would might be best to start learning Java while you learn some of those basic CS concepts I mentioned in te earlier post. In the long run, those general programming skills will help you way more than learning to code for a specific platform.
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Thanks for the advice. I will look into learning some java.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Dont touch app inventor. Its nasty and will make you lazy. Kind of like learning vb before c. You get backwards and lazy and its hard to correct. I won't even higher developers who list vb as a language on their resume, we have no use for it and c# does all of the same things in good oop fashion. Vb should die a horrible painful death.
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Kcarpenter said:
Dont touch app inventor. Its nasty and will make you lazy. Kind of like learning vb before c. You get backwards and lazy and its hard to correct. I won't even higher developers who list vb as a language on their resume, we have no use for it and c# does all of the same things in good oop fashion. Vb should die a horrible painful death.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll have to politely disagree. First, its been my experience that once you know one language, picking up another isn't a big deal.
I'm retired now, but in general business (circa 1978-2001), application development was always about selection of the best tool for the job at hand. Low-level languages like assembler ,c ,c++ were considered overkill for jobs like data entry screens, batch processing, report-writing,etc,etc. You know, the stuff that most businesses do every day
Tools like VB and Delphi were godsends.
Of course if you're coding kernels and compilers, it's a different story
ryno502 said:
I was reading into Android App Inventor, and I know its no substitute for Eclipse/Android SDK for making full blown complex applications, but do you think It would be beneficial for me to experiment with that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience with it, I would say don't bother. I made my first android app with it, but I found it very convoluted and not intuitive at all. It was like they were so intent on everything being graphical that they did everything that way, even it made things ten times harder.
But here were the real problems with it, and why I would not recommend it:
1. Though you can make a functioning app with it, you cannot put that app in the market. This wouldn't be a problem if your goal was simply to use this as a learning step, but for the next item:
2. What you do in app inventor is in no way similar to writing actual code in Eclipse. Nothing I did with app inventor helped me in any way when I started using Eclipse. It might be useful for someone who's never done any programming whatsoever, since you do have to deal with variables and logic, etc., but knowledge of any programing language at all would be more useful that what you'd learn with this.
3. The functionality of an app inventor app is very limited. For example, I do not believe there is a way to have your app access anything on the internet.
It was an interesting experience, and in defense of app inventor, I was able to produce a highly useful app for my co-workers (though I've since re-written it using the standard eclipse/java method). It took no more than a couple of hours to do, which is really pretty amazing since it required no foreknowledge. But ultimately, I don't think it's worth the effort to learn to use if you have any long-term goals related to writing useful android apps, especially apps that any other people will use.
[It was many months ago that I last tried it, so it's possible they have made some improvements to it. The most useful one would be to be able to convert your app into java code --- then it might really become a learning tool for the person with coding and even java code but no familiarity with the android sdk.]
I think app inventor is meant primarily as a rapid prototyping tool and secondarily as an aid to learning the high level view of how Android functions. I haven't used it myself, but it sounds like it is serving its purpose.
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App Developers
Looking for a developer to build an app for my industry. Thank you.
In an earlier post, I suggested that learning functional programming would be a good idea. I meant procedural programming. My bad, sorry if I caused any confusion.
HELLO Xda !!!
I am a Noob from Germany !!
We all who use Bada Os have a serious Issue with the APPS !! so i want to know whether U guys (the great guys who Ported Android to Bada) can Create an APP for Launching an Android app on BADA powered Devices ! !! (atleast for S8500 and S8530) !!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASEE GUYSSSS U CAN DO ITTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!
Try it yourself? You make others happy with that
wilmervanheerde said:
Try it yourself? You make others happy with that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah ! but I just started with C and C++ !!! so I cant !! only the Experts like XDA can handle this !!
lol why you write random words with capital letters any emulator requires countless hours of developing and does never reach the performance of the original system. and android apps have many rights that bada apps don't have so it would be impossible to run these without adjustments in the app itself. if you need these apps buy android.
shadowkavi said:
HELLO Xda !!!
I am a Noob from Germany !!
We all who use Bada Os have a serious Issue with the APPS !! so i want to know whether U guys (the great guys who Ported Android to Bada) can Create an APP for Launching an Android app on BADA powered Devices ! !! (atleast for S8500 and S8530) !!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASEE GUYSSSS U CAN DO ITTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don`t think that anybody would develop anything like that but everybody is waiting for Oleg`s release of the Android 2.3.3 for the Samsung Wave, so soon there could be a stable version of Android working on Bada. It works already but with a couple of bugs which make it impossible to use the phone for a long period.
In fact, this could be done with enormous efforts. As on the new BlackBerry PlayBook there will be android application support, it is not impossible from technical point of view. There are two different project for this, one is AlienDalvik (I think this will be on BB PlayBook, but it's just a hunch) and the other is IcedRobot (this one is in the very begining of the project). Google them for more information.
I think the biggest problem for us is the Bada SDK, as it is nowhere near ready to accomplish this big tasks... Of course this is just my 2 cents.
Edit: you can find some information about porting Dalvik here: http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform/msg/a177b156d338c513?
But I'm sure I'll not start it...
OK, just trying to make something else out of the bull**** about how cool would be to have a Dalvik port, can anybody say what API would be missing to have a Dalvik VM as a bada application? I know Dalvik is far more than JDK, but I never seen any deep analysis. Back several years ago I played on some embedded platform to put J2ME there (I do get the difference) and porting KVM to hello world level took me something like a weekend or so. Again, comparing KVM to Dalvik makes no sense but honestly, to say that porting makes no sense, we should at least have an estimate of effort and missing API.
BADA should open up then for its own good
If Samsung ever decides to open up more apis for an android apps emu
it will be best for BADA. Bada doesnt even have PSX, N64 emus like android has.
Im missing out on a lot of exciting apps like the ones mentioned because there is no developer working on these apps for BADA.
If bada ever comes out with an emu for Android Apps then ill be in line
im even willing to pay for it.
As for not performing at native speed thats what they said for the psx and N64 emus on android but look at where they are now.
BADA isnt that different from Android it just needs to open up more APIs to
take up the slack.
Thats all reliant on samsung.
the app could possibly emulate these apis too like calendar etc or what else is missing (dont know what it is). so for calendar just create an empty one...
or (to make the point clear) instead of using camera it could show a picture and the android app would work and just think that camera is not moving
...but i'd really appreciate an n64 emu for bada
If I wasn't precise enough I'll just put that in one question:
What exactly (as specific as possible) is missing in the API?
mijoma said:
If I wasn't precise enough I'll just put that in one question:
What exactly (as specific as possible) is missing in the API?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you were clear enough, we just doesn't have answer to your question. I barely developed anything with the Bada SDK, just played with the different versions. But I know that there were no sprintf, sscanf, qsort etc. when I tried it. Maybe this is not issue with Dalvik. And I saw that SDL was ported to Bada (even if it's not free and/or publicly available) so big scale ports can be done, but I can't see the developer community which is capable and willing to do it...
anghelyi said:
I think you were clear enough, we just doesn't have answer to your question. I barely developed anything with the Bada SDK, just played with the different versions. But I know that there were no sprintf, sscanf, qsort etc. when I tried it. Maybe this is not issue with Dalvik. And I saw that SDL was ported to Bada (even if it's not free and/or publicly available) so big scale ports can be done, but I can't see the developer community which is capable and willing to do it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think any library functions are to be the problem. Most of them are either easy to replace or source code is publicly available. I rather tend to think what hardware abstraction / OS interface might be missing. It is repeatedly brought up that there is missing API, but noone gives any detail. What I suspect is that missing API is far less important than memory requirements, but it'd be nice if someone actually had a look.
About the community I share the opinion that it'd be difficult to get the right people doing this. There is much discussion on XDA how to bring this forum back to developers, so we can finally see more people working than whining.
There is much discussion on XDA how to bring this forum back to developers, so we can finally see more people working than whining.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh so you think it is so bad to have a lot of testers who are ready to kill their phones to prove that you are working in the right direction???
i noticed the disappearance of the Devs like you, Adfree , larieto(but he is in vacation) , Oleg and others
i still don't get it
Is XDA bad forum for the Devs now???
Best Regards
mijoma said:
I rather tend to think what hardware abstraction / OS interface might be missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you can be right. And according to this :
http://justanapplication.wordpress.com/category/dalvik/
"Implementing a large part of what is approximately Java 5 plus a large part of some version of the Android APIs (which version is of course another problem) is not exactly trivial given that many of the Android API methods are actually native methods, or call native methods almost immediately, and they often use Android platform specific features, for example, Skia and Surfaceflinger to name but two. In fact it is quite difficult to see how it can run the majority of Android applications unmodified unless it actually contains what amounts to a largish chunk of, not to put to fine a point on it, Android." (it's about AlienDalvik)
DalvikVM itself is pretty big and it needs a few libs to be able to run .dex files and a lot more to run Android apps. With the bada 2.0 we have approx. 240-250 MB free RAM after boot, if I'm not mistaken. This might be enough for some stripped-down Android libs+dalvik+app as we have around 70 MB for apps when booted into Android... I may try to compille dalvik alone if I had some time...
One more thing: there's a project to port DalvikVM to iOS with some progress: http://code.google.com/p/in-the-box/ so this is definetly not just a dream. In fact they have DalvikVM ported. (video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhyd18h_as4&feature=player_embedded)
mylove90 said:
oh so you think it is so bad to have a lot of testers who are ready to kill their phones to prove that you are working in the right direction???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't feel satisfaction when an unaware 'tester' bricks his phone.
I'd prefer people that would contribute their time and knowledge instead. With large number of people unaware what they're doing and later messing forums with requests/DEMANDS for help we are not getting any further. When I asked for help in relatively simple task of downloading and checking bootloaders with a PC app there was little response.
mylove90 said:
i noticed the disappearance of the Devs like you, Adfree , larieto(but he is in vacation) , Oleg and others
i still don't get it
Is XDA bad forum for the Devs now???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, apart from me actually working hard in RL for past 3 months, I won't say much about others here at bada forum. Generally, XDA is going through hard times with developers being bashed and flooded with excrements from growing number of people feeling that clicking 'donate' is same as buying someone's time and other groups that think developers simply owe anything to users.
With going further down this path at some point the forum would have to change the name to 'xda-noobs.com' as all the devs would be gone leaving all that whining behind. Fortunately, the mods and admins do care and take actions, so I hope it will stimulate more hard-facts discussions.
anghelyi said:
DalvikVM itself is pretty big and it needs a few libs to be able to run .dex files and a lot more to run Android apps. With the bada 2.0 we have approx. 240-250 MB free RAM after boot, if I'm not mistaken. This might be enough for some stripped-down Android libs+dalvik+app as we have around 70 MB for apps when booted into Android... I may try to compille dalvik alone if I had some time...
)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait a Minute !!! YOU CAN DO IT ??? Where can I buy the Time for you ?? Man thats an awesome News !!!!!!!!!!! I love to hear that !! !! what about the APIs and the things that other guys are talking about ?? Is it possible to bring it on BADA ??? AleinDalvik??? REPLY MY FRIENDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD !!
Hold your horses as you're simply misinterpreting and clearly should go look up what is Alien Dalvik.
VM is one thing, runtime is the other. While compilation should not take too much time, creating runtime environment won't be that straightforward.
mijoma said:
Hold your horses as you're simply misinterpreting and clearly should go look up what is Alien Dalvik.
VM is one thing, runtime is the other. While compilation should not take too much time, creating runtime environment won't be that straightforward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, indeed! I just wanted to say that I'll check if the core libs could be compiled at all without much modification if I had time. But Dalvik alone is not barely more than having a console based java re...
mijoma said:
Hold your horses as you're simply misinterpreting and clearly should go look up what is Alien Dalvik.
VM is one thing, runtime is the other. While compilation should not take too much time, creating runtime environment won't be that straightforward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
let android apps run on non android devices
this is what Alien Dalvik does ,right ??
it runs on N900 !! cant we make it to run on Bada ?? Yes or No ??
shadowkavi said:
let android apps run on non android devices
this is what Alien Dalvik does ,right ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, Alien Dalvik is a commercial PRODUCT, not a general concept. Dalvik as it is does not really require android to run.
shadowkavi said:
cant we make it to run on Bada ?? Yes or No ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say 'we' who do you really have in mind? What will be yours input?
If you wish to ask the question in that tone and receive a binary answer, then your answer is No.
Hi all,
(Hoping this is the right forum - its description includes "Discuss functional and performance testing tools and services" but if I select the Question box when posting I'm told "This is not a Q&A forum. By posting questions in this forum you are breaking the forum rules.")
I'm looking for tools to automate functional testing of Android apps. Robotium looks promising but I'd be interested to hear what more experienced Android developers think and if they have other recommendations. Cloud-based services may be interesting too.
Thanks
Mirko
Robotium is a nice choice. I've written a guide about it which you can take a look at.
Also the standard tool provided by the SDK, called the MonkeyRunner Tool, is also a great option.
EatHeat said:
Robotium is a nice choice. I've written a guide about it which you can take a look at.
Also the standard tool provided by the SDK, called the MonkeyRunner Tool, is also a great option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good tutorial, thanks.
The ability to control more than one device with MonkeyRunner sounds very interesting. I wonder if you could even simulate two users interacting with each other.
mikron said:
Good tutorial, thanks.
The ability to control more than one device with MonkeyRunner sounds very interesting. I wonder if you could even simulate two users interacting with each other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do it with Robotium itself. Just specify the actions which you want sequentially, depending on your needs.
EatHeat said:
You can do it with Robotium itself. Just specify the actions which you want sequentially, depending on your needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently uese monkeyrunner on automated test. I really think it's easier than Robotium. Espesially the additional tool hierarchy to view perspective provided by the SDK is very useful.
fishwy said:
I recently uese monkeyrunner on automated test. I really think it's easier than Robotium. Espesially the additional tool hierarchy to view perspective provided by the SDK is very useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I should try using MonkeyRunner once after all. Though I never felt the urge to use anything else after Robotium.
Unit tests
Robotium
Initial set-up
Creating Robotium tests
Running your Robotium test
MonkeyRunner
Putting it all together
Android TV using monkey runner
Hi All,
Im new to this forum and Monkeyrunner as well. I tried connecting my cell phone using monkey runner and it works fine, but when I try to connect my Android TV, it doesn't connect. When I type adb devices, it gives output as <IP ADRRESS>:<port>, but waitforconnection command is not able to connect to my TV. My TV and my PC is on same network, I use ADB commands like logcat, push and pull works fine, but this connection using monkey runner is not working out.
Any suggestion guys.
Regards
Devendra
Alternative Tool: Ranorex
I have another recommendation for you: Ranorex. It supports both iOS and Android testing. You needn’t write any code because Ranorex lets you record your tests on real Android devices. It’s even possible to manage your devices over Wi-Fi from a desktop PC without having a USB connection to the devices.
Robotium is no doubt the best tool for android automation. To use it effectively, you can use this app: Robotium
Playstore link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appzdevelopers.robotiumf
mikron said:
Hi all,
(Hoping this is the right forum - its description includes "Discuss functional and performance testing tools and services" but if I select the Question box when posting I'm told "This is not a Q&A forum. By posting questions in this forum you are breaking the forum rules.")
I'm looking for tools to automate functional testing of Android apps. Robotium looks promising but I'd be interested to hear what more experienced Android developers think and if they have other recommendations. Cloud-based services may be interesting too.
Thanks
Mirko
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Mirko,
Have you ever opted to try Cocos Test Automation? Cocos is providing a test automation service which allow you to automate your testing across over 80% of the relevant market share of real mobile devices. All you need to do is submit your games IPA or APK and our QA specialists will perform and record test flows. A test script will then be automatically replicated on hundreds of devices. A test report will be created and sent within 48 hours. Please feel free to contact me if you want to know more about this Cocos Service.
All the best,
Cocos Services
Crash log tool
I am not sure about automated testing by my favourite tool is Acralyzer. Best part is its free to install on your server and generates comprehensive reports.
I guess automated testing is also possible but it is something I have never tried.
thank you guys it's the first I heard of Robotium
I'll keep this as simple as possible.
First:
my coding experience is that of a Kindergartners. I'm sure at this rate if i want to get anything done i may need to hire someone.
However, i would still like to learn.
SO MY QUESTION:
Is it possible to make an app that pretty much is just a website?
For example, the app would essentially be the website. I.e rather than go to m.Facebook.com you would be downloading Facebook App.
However the only difference would be that one is via an app and one is via the mobile browser. No feature difference. nothing.
I think of it as a "Drag and Drop" you take the website and drop it into the 'framework' of an app.
it must be possible, if so. How? is there a tutorial? or is someone willing to explain this?
I Do know exactly what i want done, so if you're super educated with something like this i am willing to pay a small amount for the app.
Or if you want to know more about exactly what i want message me.
Of corse it is possible - that's what a Web App is.
Take a look at developer.android.com/guide/webapps/index.html
Basically, you just toss your web stuff (html, css, javascript, ...) inside an app acting as native wrapper and displaying your content through a Web View.
But if your app is just ment to be an identical copy of your website, I would not advise it:
WebViews are not exactly state-of-the art, and may show little inconsistencies or behave differently than mobile browsers
Every time you update a single file on your website you need to release an update for the app as well - unless you leave your content on the web and the app loads it remotely, but that would mean a very slow app
Web Apps are tipically a choice when you need to target multiple platforms (android, ios, ...) at once or when you want to fast-prototype an app and you're more skilled at html development than Android.
Unless, of course, you have other specific reasons to build an app for your website.
There is also another way to make your website look like an app (at least, for those using Chrome Mobile):
developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/installtohomescreen
Mobile App Developers
Yes for sure.. We can convert an website into app. This is all covered in Mobile App Developers work...
Yes, of course. Use PhoneGap
Hi,
of course, that's possible. All you have to do is try out PhoneGap. Use google to find it.
I did not use it before, because I like native apps without any "gaps" between. But for a quick'n'dirt hack you will find it usefull, I think.
The site says:
Easily create apps using the web technologies you know and love: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please provide the code
Sure. It is just what phonegap can do for you.
sensislee said:
Sure. It is just what phonegap can do for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do we need to pay Phonegap for Code?
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snowsunil said:
Do we need to pay Phonegap for Code?
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, as I know, Phonegap is open source and free.