Android : Develop Simple Apps

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Android Activities

• Start and run the Eclipse for Android as installed in the previous lecture.
• Open the Subversion Perspective in Eclipse for Android.
• Check out the Simple Sample from Android Course Repository
• Run the sample and change it.
• Define the main steps involved in developing Android applications.
• Write a small tutorial (main steps) about using Eclipse to develop Android applications.

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Start the lab activities in the order defined below:

Activity Component

One of the application component type is called Activity and provides a screen for the user to interact with.

The activity object could be created from a subclass of the Activity class or one of its subclasses.

Based of the user input on the activity screen, the operating system calls into your class some important methods. The figure from this source illustrates the life cycle of an android activity component.

Here is a sample that illustrates the activity life cycle.

Managing the lifecycle of an activity is defined in the how to build a simple Android app tutorial.

Furthermore learn how to achieve internationalization by understanding this code. Try to modify it by adding a new language (yours, if it is different from sample's).

Intents

The activities, services and broadcast receivers are activate through intents that are instances of the Intent object. The Intent is a message defined by a data structure holding an abstract description of an operation to be performed

Here is an example of an application that illustrates the usage of an Intent.