Dirk Dougherty | 5f0462a | 2013-11-19 13:15:07 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | excludeFromSuggestions=true |
Dirk Dougherty | 22558d0 | 2009-12-10 16:25:06 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 2 | page.title=Notepad Tutorial |
| 3 | @jd:body |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | <p>The tutorial in this section gives you a "hands-on" introduction |
| 7 | to the Android framework and the tools you use to build applications on it. |
| 8 | Starting from a preconfigured project file, it guides you through the process of |
| 9 | developing a simple notepad application and provides concrete examples of how to |
| 10 | set up the project, develop the application logic and user interface, and then |
| 11 | compile and run the application. </p> |
| 12 | |
| 13 | <p>The tutorial presents the notepad application development as a set of |
| 14 | exercises (see below), each consisting of several steps. You can follow along |
| 15 | with the steps in each exercise and gradually build up and refine your |
| 16 | application. The exercises explain each step in detail and provide all the |
| 17 | sample code you need to complete the application. </p> |
| 18 | |
| 19 | <p>When you are finished with the tutorial, you will have created a functioning |
| 20 | Android application and learned in depth about many of the most important |
| 21 | concepts in Android development. If you want to add more complex features to |
| 22 | your application, you can examine the code in an alternative implementation |
| 23 | of a notepad application, in the |
| 24 | <a href="{@docRoot}samples/NotePad/index.html">Sample Code</a> documentation. </p> |
| 25 | |
| 26 | |
| 27 | <a name="who"></a> |
| 28 | <h2>Who Should Use this Tutorial</h2> |
| 29 | |
| 30 | <p>This tutorial is designed for experienced developers, especially those with |
| 31 | knowledge of the Java programming language. If you haven't written Java |
| 32 | applications before, you can still use the tutorial, but you might need to work |
| 33 | at a slower pace. </p> |
| 34 | |
| 35 | <p>The tutorial assumes that you have some familiarity with the basic Android |
| 36 | application concepts and terminology. If you aren't yet familiar with those, you |
| 37 | should read <a href="{@docRoot}intro/anatomy.html">Overview of an Android |
| 38 | Application</a> before continuing. </p> |
| 39 | |
| 40 | <p>Also note that this tutorial uses |
| 41 | the Eclipse development environment, with the Android plugin installed. If you |
| 42 | are not using Eclipse, you can follow the exercises and build the application, |
| 43 | but you will need to determine how to accomplish the Eclipse-specific |
| 44 | steps in your environment. </p> |
| 45 | |
| 46 | <a name="preparing"></a> |
| 47 | <h2>Preparing for the Exercises</h2> |
| 48 | |
| 49 | <p>This tutorial builds on the information provided in the <a |
| 50 | href="{@docRoot}intro/installing.html">Installing the SDK</a> and <a |
| 51 | href="{@docRoot}intro/hello-android.html">Hello Android</a> |
| 52 | documents, which explain in detail how to set up your development environment |
| 53 | for building Android applications. Before you start this tutorial, you should |
| 54 | read both these documents, have the SDK installed, and your work environment set up.</p> |
| 55 | |
| 56 | <p>To prepare for this lesson:</p> |
| 57 | |
| 58 | <ol> |
| 59 | <li>Download the <a href="codelab/NotepadCodeLab.zip">project |
| 60 | exercises archive (.zip)</a></li> |
| 61 | <li>Unpack the archive file to a suitable location on your machine</li> |
| 62 | <li>Open the <code>NotepadCodeLab</code> folder</li> |
| 63 | </ol> |
| 64 | |
| 65 | <p>Inside the <code>NotepadCodeLab</code> folder, you should see six project |
| 66 | files: <code>Notepadv1</code>, |
| 67 | <code>Notepadv2</code>, <code>Notepadv3</code>, |
| 68 | <code>Notepadv1Solution</code>, <code>Notepadv2Solution</code> |
| 69 | and <code>Notepadv3Solution</code>. The <code>Notepadv#</code> projects are |
| 70 | the starting points for each of the exercises, while the |
| 71 | <code>Notepadv#Solution</code> projects are the exercise |
| 72 | solutions. If you are having trouble with a particular exercise, you |
| 73 | can compare your current work against the exercise solution.</p> |
| 74 | |
| 75 | <a name="exercises"></a> |
| 76 | <h2> Exercises</h2> |
| 77 | |
| 78 | <p>The table below lists the tutorial exercises and describes the development |
| 79 | areas that each covers. Each exercise assumes that you have completed any |
| 80 | previous exercises.</p> |
| 81 | |
| 82 | <table border="0" style="padding:4px;spacing:2px;" summary="This |
| 83 | table lists the |
| 84 | tutorial examples and describes what each covers. "> |
| 85 | <tr> |
| 86 | <th width="120"><a href="{@docRoot}intro/tutorial-ex1.html">Exercise |
| 87 | 1</a></th> |
| 88 | <td>Start here. Construct a simple notes list that lets the user add new notes but not |
| 89 | edit them. Demonstrates the basics of <code>ListActivity</code> and creating |
| 90 | and handling |
| 91 | menu options. Uses a SQLite database to store the notes.</td> |
| 92 | </tr> |
| 93 | <tr> |
| 94 | <th><a href="{@docRoot}intro/tutorial-ex2.html">Exercise 2</a></th> |
| 95 | <td>Add a second Activity to the |
| 96 | application. Demonstrates constructing a |
| 97 | new Activity, adding it to the Android manifest, passing data between the |
| 98 | activities, and using more advanced screen layout. Also shows how to |
| 99 | invoke another Activity to return a result, using |
| 100 | <code>startActivityForResult()</code>.</td> |
| 101 | </tr> |
| 102 | <tr> |
| 103 | <th><a href="{@docRoot}intro/tutorial-ex3.html">Exercise 3</a></th> |
| 104 | <td>Add handling of life-cycle events to |
| 105 | the application, to let it |
| 106 | maintain application state across the life cycle. </td> |
| 107 | </tr> |
| 108 | <tr> |
| 109 | <th><a href="{@docRoot}intro/tutorial-extra-credit.html">Extra |
| 110 | Credit</a></th> |
| 111 | <td>Demonstrates how to use the Eclipse |
| 112 | debugger and how you can use it to |
| 113 | view life-cycle events as they are generated. This section is optional but |
| 114 | highly recommended.</td> |
| 115 | </tr> |
| 116 | </table> |
| 117 | |
| 118 | |
| 119 | <a name="other"></a> |
| 120 | <h2>Other Resources and Further Learning</h2> |
| 121 | <ul> |
| 122 | <li>For a lighter but broader introduction to concepts not covered in the |
| 123 | tutorial, |
| 124 | take a look at <a href="{@docRoot}kb/commontasks.html">Common Android Tasks</a>.</li> |
| 125 | <li>The Android SDK includes a variety of fully functioning sample applications |
| 126 | that make excellent opportunities for further learning. You can find the sample |
| 127 | applications in the <code>samples/</code> directory of your downloaded SDK.</li> |
| 128 | <li>This tutorial draws from the full Notepad application included in the |
| 129 | <code>samples/</code> directory of the SDK, though it does not match it exactly. |
| 130 | When you are done with the tutorial, |
| 131 | it is highly recommended that you take a closer look at this version of the Notepad |
| 132 | application, |
| 133 | as it demonstrates a variety of interesting additions for your application, |
| 134 | such as:</li> |
| 135 | <ul> |
| 136 | <li>Setting up a custom striped list for the list of notes.</li> |
| 137 | <li>Creating a custom text edit view that overrides the <code>draw()</code> |
| 138 | method to |
| 139 | make it look like a lined notepad.</li> |
| 140 | <li>Implementing a full <code>ContentProvider</code> for notes.</li> |
| 141 | <li>Reverting and discarding edits instead of just automatically saving |
| 142 | them.</li> |
| 143 | </ul> |
| 144 | </ul> |