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| <h1>Android Glossary</h1> |
| <p>The following terms are used in these documents. </p> |
| <dl> |
| <dt>.apk extension </dt> |
| <dd>The extension for an Android package file, which typically contains all of the files |
| related to a single Android application. The file itself is a compressed collection |
| of an AndroidManifest.xml file, application code (.dex files), resource |
| files, and other files. A project is compiled into a single .apk file.</dd> |
| <dt>.dex extension </dt> |
| <dd>Android programs are compiled into .dex (Dalvik Executable) files, which |
| are in turn zipped into a single .apk file on the device. .dex files can |
| be created by automatically translating compiled applications written in |
| the Java programming language.</dd> |
| <dt>Action</dt> |
| <dd>A description of something that an Intent sender wants done. An action is |
| a string value assigned to an Intent. Action strings can be defined by Android |
| or by a third-party developer. For example, android.intent.action.VIEW |
| for a Web URL, or com.example.rumbler.SHAKE_PHONE for a custom application |
| to vibrate the phone. </dd> |
| <dt>Activity</dt> |
| <dd>A single screen in an application, with supporting Java code, derived from |
| the {@link android.app.Activity} class. </dd> |
| <dt>adb</dt> |
| <dd>Android Debug Bridge, a command-line debugging application shipped with the |
| SDK. It provides tools to browse the device, copy tools on the device, and |
| forward ports for debugging. See <a href="adb.html">Using adb</a> for more information. </dd> |
| <dt>Application</dt> |
| <dd>A collection of one or more activities, services, listeners, and intent receivers. |
| An application has a single manifest, and is compiled into a single .apk |
| file on the device. </dd> |
| <dt>Content Provider</dt> |
| <dd>A class built on {@link android.content.ContentProvider} that handles content |
| query strings of a specific format to return data in a specific format. |
| See <a href="{@docRoot}devel/data/contentproviders.html">Reading |
| and writing data to a content provider</a> for information on using |
| content providers. </dd> |
| <dt>Content URI</dt> |
| <dd>A type of URI. See the URI entry. </dd> |
| <dt>Dalvik</dt> |
| <dd>The name of Android's virtual machine. The Dalvik VM is an interpreter-only |
| virtual machine that executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, |
| a format that is optimized for efficient storage and memory-mappable execution. |
| The virtual machine is register-based, and it can run classes compiled by |
| a Java language compiler that have been transformed into its native format |
| using the included "dx" tool. |
| The VM runs on top of Posix-compliant operating systems, which it relies |
| on for underlying functionality (such as threading and low level memory management). |
| The Dalvik core class library is intended to provide a familiar |
| development base for those used to programming with Java Standard |
| Edition, but it is geared specifically to the needs of a small mobile |
| device.</dd> |
| <dt>DDMS</dt> |
| <dd>Dalvik Debug Monitor Service, a GUI debugging application shipped with the |
| SDK. It provides screen capture, log dump, and process examination capabilities. |
| See Using the <a href="{@docRoot}reference/ddms.html">Dalvik |
| Debug Monitor Server</a> to learn more about this |
| program. </dd> |
| <dt>Drawable</dt> |
| <dd>A compiled visual resource that can be used as a background, title, or other |
| part of the screen. It is compiled into an {@link android.graphics.drawable} |
| subclass. </dd> |
| <dt>Intent</dt> |
| <dd>A class ({@link android.content.Intent}) that contains several fields describing |
| what a caller would like to do. The caller sends this intent to Android's |
| intent resolver, which looks through the intent filters of all applications |
| to find the activity most suited to handle this intent. Intent fields include |
| the desired action, a category, a data string, the MIME type of the data, a handling |
| class, and other restrictions. </dd> |
| <dt>Intent Filter</dt> |
| <dd>Activities and intent receivers include one or more filters in their manifest |
| to describe what kinds of intents or messages they can handle or want to |
| receive. An intent filter lists a set of requirements, such as data type, |
| action requested, and URI format, that the Intent or message must fulfill. |
| For activities, Android searches for the activity with the most closely matching |
| valid match between the Intent and the activity filter. For messages, Android |
| will forward a message to all receivers with matching intent filters. </dd> |
| <dt></dt> |
| <dt>Intent Receiver </dt> |
| <dd>An application class that listens for messages broadcast by calling {@link |
| android.content.Context#sendBroadcast(android.content.Intent) Context.sendBroadcast()}. |
| For example code, see <a href="{@docRoot}kb/commontasks.html#broadcastreceivers">Listening |
| for and broadcasting global messages</a>.</dd> |
| <dt>Layout resource </dt> |
| <dd>An XML file that describes the layout of an Activity screen. </dd> |
| <dt>Manifest</dt> |
| <dd>An XML file associated with each Application that describes the various activies, |
| intent filters, services, and other items that it exposes. See <a href="{@docRoot}devel/bblocks-manifest.html">AndroidManifest.xml |
| File Details</a>.</dd> |
| <dt>Nine-patch / 9-patch / Ninepatch image</dt> |
| <dd>A resizeable bitmap resource that can be used for backgrounds or other images |
| on the device. See <a href="{@docRoot}reference/available-resources.html#ninepatch">Nine-Patch Stretchable |
| Image</a> for more information. </dd> |
| <dt>Query String</dt> |
| <dd>A type of URI. See the URI entry. </dd> |
| <dt>Resource</dt> |
| <dd>A user-supplied XML, bitmap, or other file, entered into an application build |
| process, which can later be loaded from code. Android can accept resources |
| of many types; see <a href="{@docRoot}devel/resources-i18n.html">Resources</a> for a full description. |
| Application-defined resources should be stored in the <code>res/</code> subfolders. </dd> |
| <dt>Service</dt> |
| <dd>A class that runs in the background to perform various persistent actions, |
| such as playing music or monitoring network activity. </dd> |
| <dt>Theme</dt> |
| <dd>A set of properties (text size, background color, and so on) bundled together |
| to define various default display settings. Android provides a few standard |
| themes, listed in {@link android.R.style} (starting with "Theme_"). </dd> |
| <dt>URIs</dt> |
| <dd>Android uses URI strings both for requesting data (e.g., a list of contacts) |
| and for requesting actions (e.g., opening a Web page in a browser). Both |
| are valid URI strings, but have different values. All requests for data must |
| start with the string "content://". Action strings are valid URIs |
| that can be handled appropriately by applications on the device; for example, |
| a URI starting with "http://" will be handled by the browser. </dd> |
| </dl> |
| <p> </p> |
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