Master the fundamentals of Android programming and apply your skills to create scalable and reliable apps using industry best practices
Key Features
• Build apps with Kotlin, Google's preferred programming language for Android development
• Unlock solutions to development challenges with guidance from experienced Android professionals
• Improve your apps by adding valuable features that make use of advanced functionality
Book Description
Are you keen to get started building Android 11 apps, but don't know where to start? How to Build Android Apps with Kotlin is a comprehensive guide that will help kick-start your Android development practice.
This book starts with the fundamentals of app development, enabling you to utilize Android Studio and Kotlin to get started building Android projects. You'll learn how to create apps and run them on virtual devices through guided exercises. Progressing through the chapters, you'll delve into Android's RecyclerView to make the most of lists, images, and maps, and see how to fetch data from a web service.
Moving ahead, you'll get to grips with testing, learn how to keep your architecture clean, understand how to persist data, and gain basic knowledge of the dependency injection pattern. Finally, you'll see how to publish your apps on the Google Play store.
You'll work on realistic projects that are split up into bitesize exercises and activities, allowing you to challenge yourself in an enjoyable and attainable way. You'll build apps to create quizzes, read news articles, check weather reports, store recipes, retrieve movie information, and remind you where you parked your car.
By the end of this book, you'll have the skills and confidence to build your own creative Android applications using Kotlin.
What you will learn
• Create maintainable and scalable apps using Kotlin
• Understand the Android development lifecycle
• Simplify app development with Google architecture components
• Use standard libraries for dependency injection and data parsing
• Apply the repository pattern to retrieve data from outside sources
• Publish your app on the Google Play store
Who This Book Is For
If you want to build your own Android applications using Kotlin but are unsure of how to begin, then this book is for you. To easily grasp the concepts in this book, it is recommended that you already have a basic understanding of Kotlin, or experience in a similar programming language and a willingness to brush up on Kotlin before you start.
Author(s): Alex Forrester, Eran Boudjnah, Alexandru Dumbravan, Jomar Tigcal
Edition: 1
Publisher: Packt Publishing
Year: 2021
Language: English
Commentary: Vector PDF
Pages: 750
City: Birmingham, UK
Tags: Google Maps; Animation; Android; Application Development; Unit Testing; User Interface; Coroutines; Software Architecture; Integration Testing; Testing; Kotlin; Dependency Injection; RxJava; Google Play; Mobile Applications
Cover
FM
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Creating Your First App
Introduction
Creating an Android Project with Android Studio
Exercise 1.01: Creating an Android Studio Project for Your App
Setting Up a Virtual Device and Running Your App
Exercise 1.02: Setting Up a Virtual Device and Running Your App on It
The Android Manifest
Exercise 1.03: Configuring the Android Manifest Internet Permission
Using Gradle to Build, Configure, and Manage App Dependencies
Project-Level build.gradle file
App-Level build.gradle
Exercise 1.04: Exploring how Material Design is used to theme an app
Android Application Structure
Exercise 1.05: Adding Interactive UI Elements to Display a Bespoke Greeting to the User
Accessing Views in layout files
Further Input Validation
Activity 1.01: Producing an App to Create RGB Colors
Summary
Chapter 2: Building User Screen Flows
Introduction
The Activity Lifecycle
Exercise 2.01: Logging the Activity Callbacks
Saving and Restoring the Activity State
Exercise 2.02: Saving and Restoring the State in Layouts
Exercise 2.03: Saving and Restoring the State with Callbacks
Activity Interaction with Intents
Exercise 2.04: An Introduction to Intents
Exercise 2.05: Retrieving a Result from an Activity
Intents, Tasks, and Launch Modes
Exercise 2.06: Setting the Launch Mode of an Activity
Activity 2.01: Creating a Login Form
Summary
Chapter 3: Developing the UI with Fragments
Introduction
The Fragment Lifecycle
onAttach
onCreate
onCreateView
onViewCreated
onActivityCreated
onStart
onResume
onPause
onStop
onDestroyView
onDestroy
onDetach
Exercise 3.01: Adding a Basic Fragment and the Fragment Lifecycle
Exercise 3.02: Adding Fragments Statically to an Activity
Static Fragments and Dual-Pane Layouts
Exercise 3.03: Dual-Pane Layouts with Static Fragments
Dynamic Fragments
Exercise 3.04: Adding Fragments Dynamically to an Activity
Jetpack Navigation
Exercise 3.05: Adding a Jetpack Navigation Graph
Activity 3.01: Creating a Quiz on the Planets
Summary
Chapter 4: Building App Navigation
Introduction
Navigation Overview
Navigation Drawer
Exercise 4.01: Creating an App with a Navigation Drawer
Bottom Navigation
Exercise 4.02: Adding Bottom Navigation to Your App
Tabbed Navigation
Exercise 4.03: Using Tabs for App Navigation
Activity 4.01: Building Primary and Secondary App Navigation
Summary
Chapter 5: Essential Libraries: Retrofit, Moshi, and Glide
Introduction
Fetching Data from a Network Endpoint
Exercise 5.01: Reading Data from an API
Parsing a JSON Response
Exercise 5.02: Extracting the Image URL from the API Response
Loading Images from a Remote URL
Exercise 5.03: Loading the Image from the Obtained URL
Activity 5.01: Displaying the Current Weather
Summary
Chapter 6: RecyclerView
Introduction
Adding RecyclerView to Our Layout
Exercise 6.01: Adding an Empty RecyclerView to Your Main Activity
Populating the RecyclerView
Exercise 6.02: Populating Your RecyclerView
Responding to Clicks in RecyclerView
Exercise 6.03: Responding to Clicks
Supporting Different Item Types
Exercise 6.04: Adding Titles to RecyclerView
Swiping to Remove Items
Exercise 6.05: Adding Swipe to Delete Functionality
Adding Items Interactively
Exercise 6.06: Implementing an "Add A Cat" Button
Activity 6.01: Managing a List of Items
Summary
Chapter 7: Android Permissions and Google Maps
Introduction
Requesting Permissions from the User
Exercise 7.01: Requesting the Location Permission
Showing a Map of the User's Location
Exercise 7.02: Obtaining the User's Current Location
Map Clicks and Custom Markers
Exercise 7.03: Adding a Custom Marker Where the Map Was Clicked
Activity 7.01: Creating an App to Find the Location of a Parked Car
Summary
Chapter 8: Services, WorkManager, and Notifications
Introduction
Starting a Background Task Using WorkManager
Exercise 8.01: Executing Background Work with the WorkManager Class
Background Operations Noticeable to the User – Using a Foreground Service
Exercise 8.02: Tracking Your SCA's Work with a Foreground Service
Activity 8.01: Reminder to Drink Water
Summary
Chapter 9: Unit Tests and Integration Tests with JUnit, Mockito, and Espresso
Introduction
JUnit
Android Studio Testing Tips
Mockito
mockito-kotlin
Exercise 9.01: Testing the Sum of Numbers
Integration Tests
Robolectric
Espresso
Exercise 9.02: Double Integration
UI Tests
Exercise 9.03: Random Waiting Times
Test-Driven Development
Exercise 9.04: Using TDD to Calculate the Sum of Numbers
Activity 9.01: Developing with TDD
Summary
Chapter 10: Android Architecture Components
Introduction
ViewModel and LiveData
ViewModel
LiveData
Exercise 10.01: Creating a Layout with Configuration Changes
Exercise 10.02: Adding a ViewModel
Exercise 10.03: Sharing our ViewModel between the Fragments
Exercise 10.04: Adding LiveData
Room
Entities
DAO
Setting Up the Database
Third-Party Frameworks
Exercise 10.05: Making a Little Room
Customizing Life Cycles
Exercise 10.06: Reinventing the Wheel
Activity 10.01: Shopping Notes App
Summary
Chapter 11: Persisting Data
Introduction
Repository
Exercise 11.01: Creating a Repository
Exercise 11.02: Adding Error Handling
Preferences
SharedPreferences
Exercise 11.03: Wrapping SharedPreferences
PreferenceFragment
Exercise 11.04: Customized Settings
Files
Internal Storage
External Storage
FileProvider
Storage Access Framework (SAF)
Asset Files
Exercise 11.05: Copying Files
Scoped Storage
Camera and Media Storage
Exercise 11.06: Taking Photos
Activity 11.01: Dog Downloader
Summary
Chapter 12: Dependency Injection with Dagger and Koin
Introduction
Manual DI
Exercise 12.01: Manual Injection
Dagger
Consumers
Providers
Connectors
Qualifiers
Scopes
Subcomponents
Exercise 12.02: Dagger Injection
Dagger Android
Exercise 12.03: Changing Injectors
Koin
Exercise 12.04: Koin Injection
Activity 12.01: Injected Repositories
Activity 12.02: Koin-Injected Repositories
Summary
Chapter 13: RxJava and Coroutines
Introduction
RxJava
Observables, Observers, and Operators
Schedulers
Adding RxJava to Your Project
Using RxJava in an Android Project
Exercise 13.01: Using RxJava in an Android Project
Modifying Data with RxJava Operators
Exercise 13.02: Using RxJava Operators
Coroutines
Creating Coroutines
Adding Coroutines to Your Project
Exercise 13.03: Using Coroutines in an Android App
Transforming LiveData
Exercise 13.04: LiveData Transformations
Coroutines Channels and Flows
RxJava versus Coroutines
Activity 13.01: Creating a TV Guide App
Summary
Chapter 14: Architecture Patterns
Introduction
MVVM
Data Binding
Exercise 14.01: Using Data Binding in an Android Project
Retrofit and Moshi
The Repository Pattern
Exercise 14.02: Using Repository with Room in an Android Project
WorkManager
Exercise 14.03: Adding WorkManager to an Android Project
Activity 14.01: Revisiting the TV Guide App
Summary
Chapter 15: Animations and Transitions with CoordinatorLayout and MotionLayout
Introduction
Activity Transitions
Adding Activity Transitions through XML
Adding Activity Transitions through Code
Starting an Activity with an Activity Transition
Exercise 15.01: Creating Activity Transitions in an App
Adding a Shared Element Transition
Starting an Activity with the Shared Element Transition
Exercise 15.02: Creating the Shared Element Transition
Animations with CoordinatorLayout
Animations with MotionLayout
Adding MotionLayout
Creating Animations with MotionLayout
Exercise 15.03: Adding Animations with MotionLayout
The Motion Editor
Debugging MotionLayout
Modifying the MotionLayout Path
Exercise 15.04: Modifying the Animation Path with Keyframes
Activity 15.01: Password Generator
Summary
Chapter 16: Launching Your App on Google Play
Introduction
Preparing Your Apps for Release
Versioning Apps
Creating a Keystore
Exercise 16.01: Creating a Keystore in Android Studio
Storing the Keystore and Passwords
Signing Your Apps for Release
Exercise 16.02: Creating a Signed APK
Android App Bundle
Exercise 16.03: Creating a Signed App Bundle
App Signing by Google Play
Creating a Developer Account
Uploading an App to Google Play
Creating a Store Listing
App Details
Graphic Assets
Preparing the Release
APK/App Bundle
Rolling Out a Release
Managing App Releases
Release Tracks
Feedback Channel and Opt-in Link
Internal Testing
Closed Testing
Open Testing
Staged Rollouts
Managed Publishing
Activity 16.01: Publishing an App
Summary
Index
