Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, learn how to build powerful applications for the world’s first complete, open, and free mobile platform: Android. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll build a fully-featured Android application from the ground up and master the skills you need to design, develop, test, and publish powerful applications. Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Android development tasks.

Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.

By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion.

Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks.

Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.

Learn how to…

• Develop Android applications quickly and successfully with Java
• Master Google’s Android SDK and development tools
• Leverage the Eclipse programming environment to develop Android projects
• Understand the Android application lifecycle
• Build effective, user-friendly user interfaces
• Retrieve, store, and work with application data
• Develop powerful network applications
• Add popular social features and location-based services to your applications
• Take advantage of Android device hardware like the camera
• Internationalize, test, and publish your Android applications

Table of Contents

Part I: Android Fundamentals
HOUR 1: Getting Started with Android
HOUR 2: Mastering the Android Development Tools
HOUR 3: Building Android Applications
HOUR 4: Managing Application Resources
HOUR 5: Configuring the Android Manifest File
HOUR 6: Designing an Application Framework

Part II: Building an Application Framework
HOUR 7: Implementing an Animated Splash Screen
HOUR 8: Implementing the Main Menu Screen
HOUR 9: Developing the Help and Scores Screens
HOUR 10: Building Forms to Collect User Input
HOUR 11: Using Dialogs to Collect User Input
HOUR 12: Adding Application Logic

Part III: Enhancing Your Application with Powerful Android Features
HOUR 13: Working with Images and the Camera
HOUR 14: Adding Support for Location-Based Services
HOUR 15: Adding Network Support
HOUR 16: Adding More Network Support
HOUR 17: Adding Social Features
HOUR 18: Creating a Home Screen App Widget

Part IV: Adding Polish to Your Android Application
HOUR 19: Internationalizing Your Application
HOUR 20: Developing for Different Devices
HOUR 21: Diving Deeper into Android
HOUR 22: Testing Android Applications

Part V: Publishing Your Application
HOUR 23: Getting Ready to Publish
HOUR 24: Publishing on the Android Market

Part VI: Appendixes
APPENDIX A: Configuring Your Android Development Environment
APPENDIX B: Eclipse IDE Tips and Tricks
APPENDIX C: Supplementary Materials