Android Development Using C# and Visual Studio 2012

Explore how views and layouts organize Android UI, building a vertical linear layout with text view, edit text, and button, then adjust gravity, margins, and weights for centered, proportional spacing.

Learn how table layouts arrange controls in rows and columns for precise horizontal and vertical alignment in android forms, including layout_weight and layout_span.

Use relative layouts to arrange controls relative to others, using XML attributes to place text, edit text, image view, and buttons to the right, left, and below, with vertical centering.

Explore how to use Android text views with properties like text, width, wrapping, and text appearance (small, medium, large), customize fonts, colors, and runtime updates to display dynamic text.

Explore text widgets for user input, including plain text, date, email, number, password, and phone types; access input via the text property and handle a button click to read it.

Implement an autocomplete text view that combines a text box with a dropdown of country suggestions, populate it with an array adapter, and attach the adapter to enable quick selections.

Explore the button widget by wiring a click event that shows a toast message. Manage enable, disable, and visibility (gone or invisible) to control layout and look at image button.

Learn to build image buttons by adding drawable resources, setting the image source, and using touch events to adjust color filters for different states, including png transparency.

control a spinner as a dropdown, populate it with a string list via an array adapter, and display the selected item and its position in a text view.

Add a checkbox widget to an Android layout, bind it to a text view, and handle the check changed event to display the is checked state, supporting multiple independent checkboxes.

Explore how radio buttons and radio groups enforce a single selection, including checking behavior, the tag property, and updating a text view based on the selected option.

Explore implementing date and time pickers in Android apps using C# and Visual Studio 2012, displaying selected values in a text view and offering a dialog alternative for compact forms.

learn to add analog and digital clock widgets in android, customize their appearance, and implement a chronometer with start and stop controls using elapsed real time.

Discover adding images in Android apps with image views, set image sources, and compare jpeg with transparent backgrounds. Use scale type options like center, center crop, and fit XY.

Explore implementing tabs in Android with a tab host and tab specs, linking two activities (name and contact) via intents and resources, with independent content.

Learn to implement action bars as a top toolbar for parent and child forms on Android 3.1+, using a custom button, layout inflating, and intents to start activities.

Explore icon, context, and sub menus in Android by inflating XML menu resources, handling selections with onCreateContextMenu, onCreateOptionsMenu, and onMenuItemSelected, and reflecting choices in text fields.

Explore Android on-screen keyboards of alphabetic and numeric types, controlled by input type attributes and show/hide actions using the input method manager across text fields.

Learn basic lists in Android development with C# and Visual Studio 2012, using a list view, array adapter, and string items to launch activities and exit, with grid possibilities introduced.

Create a two-line list by using a simple adapter to bind a list of dictionaries (title and description) to the simple_list_item_2 layout, mapping keys to text1 and text2.

Explore how to implement a grid as a two dimensional list using a custom image adapter in Android, displaying thumbnails with adjustable cell size, scale type, and spacing.

Create custom list adapters to render a people list with name, email, phone, and picture, binding each person to item views via convertView.

Explore expandable list adapters to display a two-level list of departments and employees, with group and child data, names and statuses, and orange selection highlighting.

Create and populate an expandable list using a custom adapter to display departments and their employees with names and statuses; handle group and child clicks to track selections.

Explore localization by using locale-specific resources for strings and images, organizing them by locale so an Android app can display Spanish UI with map of Spain and toast message.

Explore Android activities and intents as the presentation layer of apps, learn how activities manage views, handle events, pass data via intents, and start other activities.

Learn how the Android activity lifecycle manages app state across foreground and background transitions. Understand how onCreate, onStart, onResume, onPause, onStop, onDestroy, and onRestart handle visibility, interruptions, and memory pressure.

Explore Android services, including started and bound (bounce) services, that run in background and support inter-process communication, lifecycle events, and tasks like network monitoring or location data.

explore how content providers enable data sharing across apps via the content resolver, using preferences, SQLite databases, and network storage, with permissions for query, insert, update, and delete.

Explore how broadcast receivers let apps respond to intents from other apps and broadcast intents via the Android manifest. Learn about standard events, onReceive timeouts, and threading for long operations.

Schedule future app execution with the Android alarm manager, which can start the app via an intent and pending intent, wake the device, and support one-time, repeating, and exact alarms.

Learn how to pass data between activities using intents, putExtra, and startActivityForResult, retrieve the username in the main activity, and handle results with onActivityResult.

Explore data storage options for Android apps, including local, remote, or both, and learn how sequel lite open helper supports a local database.

Create a sqlite database in a dot net app using sqlite lite open helper, define state and customers tables with a foreign key, and add initial records.

Perform create, read, update, and delete operations on a sequel like database using dot net code, including parameterized inserts into the customers table.

Populate Android lists with dynamic data from a database by creating a customers table and displaying name, email, and phone via a simple cursor adapter.

Explore remote data in Android development using a WCF service and Visual Studio web reference. Implement a login form, perform async login, and handle success or failure.

Learn to access remote data with JSON web services using C#, posting login credentials over HTTP, handling asynchronous responses, and interpreting the JSON result to determine login success.

Learn to manage Android file storage using the assets folder and external storage, copy an asset to the device, and display it as a bitmap in an image view.

Learn how to implement user preferences in Android with shared preferences in private mode to persist a text box width, using an editor and a default value of 300.

Take pictures with the device camera via an intent, save to external storage under pictures/using the camera, and display the resulting bitmap in an image view.

Embed a camera into an Android app by configuring manifest permissions and using a surface view as the preview canvas, then capture, save, and decode the bitmap while resuming preview.

Learn to play audio in Android apps using the MediaPlayer, sourcing files from assets, raw resources, or ring tones, and control playback with start, stop, and release.

Record audio in an Android app by configuring the manifest and permissions, setting up media recorder and media player, handling start/stop recording and playback, and managing file paths.

Learn to play videos in Android with a video view, move assets to a public video directory, use play/stop controls and a media controller, and manage focus and layout invalidation.

Learn to record video on Android by configuring camera and microphone permissions and setting up a media recorder with camera and audio sources and a video view for preview.

Learn to work with the media store by scanning existing media or manually adding files, including using content values and the content resolver to populate metadata.

Learn to send email on android using an intent with action send, set mime type, fill to, cc, subject, body, attach a file from assets, and launch the email client.

Send an SMS in Android using two methods: via an intent to the SMS client or programmatically with SmsManager. The lesson covers manifest permission, pending intents, and SMS broadcast receiver.

Learn to receive SMS messages in Android by declaring the receive SMS permission, registering a broadcast receiver for SMS_RECEIVED, parsing the PDU to SMS messages, and displaying origin and content.

Learn to make a phone call in Android by configuring manifest permissions and using intents with action dial and action call, with in app dialing and direct calling.

Monitor the phone line state to detect ringing, idle, or off the hook, and display results using a phone state listener. Raise a call state changed event to notify listeners.

Launch a browser from your app with an action view intent to browse a url, or embed a web view for a kiosk-style, controlled browsing experience.

Launch the map application with a specified location using an action view intent to display Google Maps in your Android app, enabling zoom, directions, location details, and location services.

Launch YouTube with a video ID via an action view intent to display videos without heavy payloads, update videos without redistributing app, and use a webview to limit browser access.

Display contacts on Android by querying the contacts database with managed queries and cursors, showing IDs, display names, phone numbers, and emails, and counting Johns with a content filter.

Add and edit contacts through the device's contact manager using action insert or edit intents, with pre-populated fields for name, phone number, and email, guiding users to save changes.

Learn to use Android's download manager to download external files with a URL and a download request, including title and description, and monitor completion via a broadcast receiver.

Learn to retrieve the current location with a GPS provider using a location manager, request updates safely, handle onlocationchanged, and manage manifest permissions for fine and coarse locations.

Learn to emulate gps in the android emulator using the ddms tool, control location with a k and l file, and trigger on location changed for testing.

Learn geocoding and reverse geocoding in Android by converting an address to latitude and longitude and back using Geocoder, with max results and address lines.

Display a Google Maps view in an Android app, set up the Google API and API key, and configure map zoom and location overlay.