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Android generate PDF using iText and print to Bluetooth printer example

2013-05-13T23:57:00.002-04:00

In this example we are trying to achieve two things, first and foremost how to create a PDF programmtically from your android application data and second print it using a bluetooth printer so that we don't have to rely on internet connectivity. For the purpose of generating a PDF this tutorial is using iText for Android which is a licensed version of iText with reduced file size and functionality

Android programmatically update application when a new version is available

2013-05-09T00:06:00.000-04:00

If you have apps that are hosted on your server and as time passes you make enhancements, fix bugs, etc. then comes the question how can I alert all my app users that a newer version is out there and make it real easy for them to download. You can email all your users with the link to the new version, that will be very cumbersome. Well that process needs to be built right into the app you deploy

iOS HTTP request and XML parsing example

2013-05-05T20:37:00.000-04:00

NSXMLParser is a SAX parser included by default in the iOS. Its pretty straight forward to use if you are familiar with any other SAX parsers. Basically it is a event driven process where as it comes across certain parts of the XML document that it will send notification to a specific function where you can take the necessary action to save that to either memory or SQLite database. Here we get

SQL User Defined Functions in iSeries(AS400)

2013-05-04T15:52:00.000-04:00

SQL comes with a lot of standard functions such as finding the maximum, minimum or distinct values for a column within a database table. But there comes a time when you wish that if you had that special function that will make your programming logic a piece of cake then you must take matters into your own hand and create your own SQL function. In this tutorial we are going to learn how to create

Objective C String concatenation example

2013-04-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

Well in any programming language this is considered one of important string manipulation functions and as simple as adding a plus sign between the two strings. Guess what its not that easy in Objective C, here is how to achieve string concatenation when using either NSString or NSMutableString classes. #import int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) { @

iOS HTTP request and JSON parsing example

2013-04-23T23:41:00.000-04:00

This is a very basic requirement when you are doing mobile apps to get data from a remote server and then either display or save it for future use. There are two things that we need to accomplish, first make an HTTP request from the app and then parse the JSON response. The HTTP request is done using the NSURLConnection object and the JSON parsing is done with the help of NSJSONSerialization

Android display application version name programmatically

2013-04-16T23:21:00.000-04:00

You can get the app version from the PackageInfo class which contains all of the information collected from AndroidManifest.xml file. Check the link below for API reference to the PackageInfo class http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageInfo.html Application Manifest file

Android automatically detect internet connection status

2013-04-10T23:16:00.000-04:00

If you have an android application that needs to sync data with a backend server but doesn't need the internet to be available all the time for it to work then you must know at all times whether your app has access to internet or not. As soon as you have internet connection you can get latest data from the server or post any changes saved in your app using HTTP service. In this example we extend

Convert custom iOS object to JSON string

2013-04-08T23:28:00.000-04:00

Well if you have done programming in Java you will find that its surprisingly difficult in Objective C to convert your Objects to JSON string. The iOS SDK does provide the NSJSONSerialization class so that you can convert Foundation objects to JSON but it comes with limitations. An object that may be converted to JSON must have the following properties The top level object is an NSArray or

iOS Table View Example

2013-04-04T23:49:00.000-04:00

UITableView class is used for display and editing List data similar to a ListView in Android. A table view is made up of zero or more sections, each with its own rows. Sections are identified by their index number within the table view, and rows are identified by their index number within a section. Any section can optionally be preceded by a section header, and optionally be followed by a

Android common menu options for multiple activities

2013-04-02T23:39:00.000-04:00

Android menu options provide user with actions and other options to choose from the action bar of the screen. Some of these actions are common to all the activities for your application, so instead of creating them in each of your activities you can create a BaseActivity that extends the Activity class and does all your menu processing. Then you can extend then base activity class in your

Find and Replace characters in IFS file on iSeries(AS400)

2013-03-23T12:12:00.000-04:00

Lets say you received a XML, CSV, TXT or any other type of file in the IFS directory and before processing the file and exporting the data to a DB2 database you want to manipulate it. Its very easy with the help of QSHELL sed command, here is how > echo 'Today is Monday' | sed "s/Mon/Sun/" Today is Sunday $ In the above example we are taking a string and

Android SimpleCursorAdapter alternate Row Color example

2013-03-18T00:30:00.000-04:00

To change the background color of a row in ListView you have to use a custom Adapter. In this example we display a basic ListView from SQLite database using the SimpleCursorAdapter which by default doesn't have the zebra stripes on the rows. So to achieve our alternate colors for each row we extend the SimpleCursorAdapter to create a custom class and override the getView method. Source

Android pass Object from one activity to another

2013-03-09T16:43:00.000-05:00

Passing Java Objects in Android is made easy by implementing the Parcelable interface. The With the help of the parcelable interface your can write your object to a parcel or read from a parcel, that way you can easily pass it around when calling the activity using bundles. In this example we have a ArrayList of Country objects that we use to display a ListView, so when the user taps on a given

Android ViewFlipper Animation example

2013-03-07T22:39:00.000-05:00

ViewFlipper is a subclass of ViewAnimator that makes it easy to animate a bunch of views that are added to it. It only displays one child view at a time and you can also set it to rotate the views automatically. Just keep in mind that if you have duration set for your animation alpha then the flipper duration should be greater than that otherwise the view will change even before it completely

Android ListView with EditText loses focus when the keyboard displays

2013-02-26T23:26:00.000-05:00

The issue is when you have a ListView or an ExpandableListView with input capable fields that displays the soft keyboard on focus, the EditText loses its focus for the first time but the second time it just works fine. The reason it happens is all the views are getting rendered again, so the EditText field object in the item row that used to be focused is now a completely different object. You

Android Toggle Button example

2013-02-26T23:25:00.000-05:00

Toggle button looks like a button but works like a switch. You can choose to implement the same functionality using just 2 radio buttons or a single checkbox. Just like a checkbox a Toggle button has two states whether or not its checked. You can customize the Text for both states, defaults are ON/OFF. Source for the Screen Layout