Part 2: Real world recipes

In the second part of Android in Practice, you’ll move beyond the basics and build many complete example applications that will cover, in depth, many of the most common application features and requirements. In chapter 4, you’ll start with the user interface. This will cover resources and views, and additional concepts such as using styles and themes, and supporting different screen sizes. Chapter 5 will show you how to effectively multitask on Android using background services. Chapter 6 will continue the theme by presenting an overview of threads and concurrency including working with threads and handlers, asynchronous tasks, and more. Chapter 7 will then change gears to focus on storing data locally. Here, you’ll use the file system, the internal and external storage, shared preferences, and a database. Chapter 8 will shift to sharing data between applications using content providers. Here, you’ll both consume content from other applications, and learn how to create your own provider and expose data to others. Chapter 9 will take your data beyond the local device and delve into networking. Here, you’ll learn how to cope with the instability that is inherent in mobile data connections, as well as how to work with HTTP and web services using JSON and XML. Chapter 10 will then navigate into location-based services and working with location providers. Here, you’ll learn how to determine what providers are available and how to switch between them, and how to work with map based data and activities. Chapter 11 will bring in multimedia, where you’ll work with audio and video, and learn a little about files, resources, and animation too. Chapter 12 will extend the animation and visual elements to teach you about 2D and 3D drawing, including working with the canvas, and using OpenGL.