Demo App – Get Headers
One of my best friends has recently gotten the itch to develop an application for Android, but he had nowhere to start really. Sure, there is PLENTY of documentation, he could even mess around with the API Demos included in the SDK. Instead, he had an idea, and wanted to try and build it out in Android.
He successfully wrote his application in Java, but wasn’t sure yet how to make that into an Android application. I was focused on showing him the basics of an Android application, like how to detect when an object has been clicked, or how to make an object view appear/disappear. I even introduced him to some intermediate things like running threaded processes behind something else.
I wrote the application for him and gave him the working copy along with the source code so that he could see how he could transform his simple Java application into an Android application.
The application itself is called ‘Get Headers’. Very simply put, when you input a URL into the URL field and click ‘Get Headers’, it sends a request to the URL, and whatever comes back is displayed below the buttons. Here are some screenshots below:
I was considering releasing the code to the public in this post, but instead I’ll let my friend work at it, because I’ve intentionally left him a few gotcha’s that I hope he’ll find and fix. I’ve had and still do have some very serious things going on in my life right now, hence the lack of posts, but when I have something on my mind or if I have an application announcement, feel free to check in!
One thing I’m interested in knowing is.. how are you all finding the new 1.5 update in relation to the applications in the marketplace? Do you find that it has greatly improved the quality? slowed it down? made no difference at all? I’d like to know!
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Application Requests?
2009/01/07 - 09:26
Tags: Android, application, market, request
Posted in Android | 4 comments
What sort of things would you like to see in the next few months? Here are a few ideas I’ve seen so far:
Chemistry application (useful for highschool/college kids, perhaps?).
Blockbuster.com application (to rival Netflix).
Mint.com application.
Box.net application.
TV/DVR scheduler.
What other things would be useful to have running on Android?
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2009/06/18 - 02:50
Hello,
It’d be great that when your friend finishes its program or figures the “gotchas” out, if you could release the sample program.
About the 1.5 update effect on Market apps, I think it slowed release pace a little, but quality is more or less the same.
Let’s hope that someone is creating an IDE to develop games, just like UNITY3D, to increase the number, speed and quality of games in Android in general.
Cheers,
Tony
2009/06/18 - 08:47
Hi Tony,
Regarding the IDE for Android games, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before one is built. I think a lot more will have to be considered when creating something like this, as the Android platform could potentially be on any handset, both small and large. I’m sure if the developers are smart enough to write up something like this, then they would take factors like handset size into consideration as well
As for the demo application, I’ve been tossing the idea back and forth because of it’s security concerns. Then again, just about anyone web savvy (or who uses Firefox!) could do the exact same thing. Tony, good chances of this being released to the market at some point. I’ll make another post here when it released!
-Steve
2009/06/18 - 09:31
I feel like the quality of the apps is a little better. All apps that I had all had updates after 1.5 was released and they all seem a bit smoother while using them.
Looking forward to the release of your app!
2009/06/19 - 15:24
I’ve reviewed most of the code and I think I’ve found a couple of the gotchas, but I’m not sure. I’m going to play around with it more this weekend and hopefully have something to show next week sometime. Thanks for the interest!
2009/08/05 - 10:13
Hi brian !
I have a problem with GetHeaders and your code could help me if you release it