Well I am up and running pretty quick with the basics..
– Install the JDK (Java Development Kit) 7.45
– install the google ADT (Android Development Tools) bundle (Eclipse and ADT)
– In Eclipse, I added some plugins (ie. the Google App Engine SDK, Google Plugin for Eclipse 4.2…) just cause I forsee my app will be using those
– In the SDK manager, I added the Google API, and a few other things (so I could use the Google API as a target for my AVD (Android Virtual Device) when running the emulator..and it also adds some other things like the Wizard for setting up a Google App Engine Android project..
– I registered the google api account project, and turned on the Google Cloud Messaging and Google Cloud Datastore API (again, just guessing my app will be using these)
– generated a server api key to use
-created a new Google App Engine android project in eclipse, using the above info
– started the local app engine web application
-set the android app to use the local version
– created an AVD for the google api target
– ran the android app (base one that the wizard creates)
I’m now able to use the web application to send messages to my android application…
Pretty basic really, but it’s the starting point.. now with the setup mostly out of the way (for now).. I can begin coding. (scary.. we’ll see how long before I seriously consider throwing in the towel 😉 )
All the above was done on my new Windows 8 laptop.. Having fun learning the windows 8 tweaks as well (not). (pleasantly surprised that after they say delivery in 4 weeks, it arrives 2 days later 😉 )
p.s: I’m skipping over many headaches already
-had a few issues with downloading above pieces due to proxies.
– first tried the Android Studio IDE rather then the ADT bundle.. but it failed on a girdle error my first little app I tried.. Looking back it’s likely due to the proxy thing… but sticking with eclise (the bundle) now anyway.
– took a bit to figure out the bit about setting the app to use the local version of the app engine
– took a bit of tweaking the AVD settings to get it to actually run
etc etc
https://github.com/maxogden/art-of-node#callbacks
I liked the callback section on this site to give me the basics.. the rest is about some other utility, but i just liked the callback section
after much frustration… figured out that using this function call:
setEmptyText(“No Groups”);
overwrites any other views you may have added to a Fragment’s layout.. i guess making the layout fully a FragmentList with that text.
(i had added a button to the footer of the layout, but the button wasn’t showing up until I got rid of this call)
great little plug in for viewing data in the SQLite database
(yes, I’ve reached a pretty big milestone in that my screens are now reading and writing data in a database I’ve created)
http://www.coderzheaven.com/2011/04/18/sqlitemanager-plugin-for-eclipse/
a page that gave me a very simple and clear example of adding more to listview rows then just the query results:
http://www.mysamplecode.com/2012/07/android-listview-checkbox-example.html
A good overview of handling error logging:
http://www.intertech.com/Blog/android-logging/
So my ‘new’ laptop crashed after I just wanted to browse the BIOS settings.. once i restarted, it couldn’t boot up.
I had to ‘refresh’ my windows install.
This wiped out all the registry of course, so nothing was installed on my laptop anymore – even though the files were there.
..So that was a huge pain to get my development environment up and running again.
I :
– updated Android SDK, and that needed a new ADT Bundle
-updated Java SDK 1.9.3
The Eclipse side wasn’t showing any google options.. so I had to add the google plugin site and install (dl.google.com/eclipse/plugin/4.3
– i then added the android jar to the project (via context menu on import statements that were failing)
– as well as the playservices jar to the android project
seems to be working again, though I’ve now forgotten where I was in my coding, and what issues I was trying to fix.. taking me months to get back into it (due to many other factors taking my time away as well… so hard coding part-time.. each time you get back into it, you spend days just catching up to where you left off..)
Well.. i think i’ll end this post since it’s really no longer ‘the beginning’.
I’ve now completed the loop of communications, which is really the final really really major technical hurdle..
I now have my app syncing with the google datastore, and changes are then also sync’d to whomever else is supposed to see those changes locally.
Not to mention the possibility of the web site direct updates getting sent to all the folks as well.
Pretty neat stuff (using Google Cloud Messaging – GCM)
Now there is still a TON of things to do.. tons of functionality including adding some ads and donation things, tons of security, tons of making it ‘look good’, not to mention even learning how to release to a test group and then fully to google play.
I lost like 4 or 5 months thanks to the issue above and just not coding a single line for that long.. so my ‘year end’ goal ain’t gonna happen. So now it’s for next year!
So the progress now continues here