Newton Development Studio

Android Development: Keeping your application awake and active using the WakeLock functionality

2012-01-05T01:54:00.000-08:00

The Android WakeLock gives your application the ability to keep running in the foreground without the device dimming the screen and locking the device. This is useful if you want the application to be visible on screen all the time, even when the device is idle and not being interacted with (e.g. A countdown timer application).

The code below shows an example of how to use the WakeLock functionality with an explanation directly after:

PowerManager pm = (PowerManager) getSystemService(Context.POWER_SERVICE);
PowerManager.WakeLock wakeLock = pm.newWakeLock(
        pm.SCREEN_DIM_WAKE_LOCK, "My MyAppWakeLock");

// This will make the screen and power stay on
// This will release the wakelook after 1000 ms
wakeLock.acquire(1000);

// Alternative you can request and / or  release the wakelock via:
// wakeLock.acquire(); 
// wakeLock.release();

The first line of the code gets the current instance of our PowerManager for the device. The second line of code creates the new WakeLock instance with the name "MyAppWakeLock". We then try to acquire our lock for our application that will release the WakeLock after 1 second. If we want to acquire the lock indefinitely until we manually release the lock, then just call "wakeLock.acquire();" to obtain the lock, and when you want to release the lock just call "wakeLock.release();

For further information regarding the Wakelock functionality, please consult the Android Developers Reference Guide.

Africa Android Challenge 2012 Announced

2012-01-05T00:54:00.000-08:00

The Africa Android Challenge is an opportunity to discover the best developers and Android experts on the African continent. The contestants have an opportunity to create innovative applications and produce local "African" content. In addition, they can submit lectures related to Android on the Android Platform via the Google University Consortium Program.

This whole effort is community driven and is a way to assure the long-term success of African developers invested in the Android application environment. We also expect that such initiative will lead to the discovery of unexpected, rich, and valuable local content and applications.

Rules of the competition
The competition is a two round process with semi-finals and finals and consists of the 2 following sections:

Android Apps
Android Courses

In the first round (semi-finals), participants compete by country as defined by the competition organizers. The winners from each section and each country graduate to the final round.

Winners of Semi-finals will be selected on February 15 and will receive an Android device. Subsequently, they will have four more weeks to improve their apps and/or courses.

At the end of the four weeks they will resubmit their apps and courses for a final review.

The finalist from each section will win the coveted prize (an all-expenses-paid-for trip to G| [Country] event or Google University Consortium event in his region.

The time line has yet to be confirmed.

December 20, 2011 - Africa Android Challenge announced
December 20, 2011 - submission site opens developers submit apps and courses
February 15, 2012 - deadline for submitting apps or courses
February 29, 2012 - end of first round - judges announce winners
March 1st, 2012 - resubmission site opens
June 1st, 2012 - deadline for resubmitting apps or courses
June 15, 2012- end of second round - judges announce winners

Section I: Android Apps driven by and for local content (one winner by section) :

Education/Reference
Games: Arcade/Action
Social Networking
Lifestyle
Productivity/Tools
Media
Entertainment
Travel
Misc

Section II: Android Courses (one winner by section) :

Android Business view

Business model behind Android
Android Ecosystem
Type of Android application
Content and monetization
Android for startup

Android platform

Android main functionalities
Some major features
Design patterns that will help programmer
Android Workshop

For more information, please visit the official website.

Game Development Weapon of Choice @newtondev

2011-07-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

I have been recently looking for a platform for developing my games for multiple mobile platforms, and the application I found most promising for my purpose is Corona SDK from Ansca Mobile. It is undoubtedly one of the best, and programming using the SDK can't be simpler, especially that you are actually coding in Lua. It has a very active community behind it, filled with really creative and friendly people, especially the peeps from Beebe Games.

The SDK allows you to publish your game to iOS and Android devices, including the Nook. You can even download a free trial that never expires, once you are happy with the SDK (or like me, close to finishing a game for publishing), then you can purchase a license to deploy to either iOS or Android or both.

The only downside to this is that I still need to pay for my licenses, and above that I also need to pay my iOS Developer License to Apple too. So in total I am looking at about $448/year, which I currently don't have and need to save up for. But I must say that it is definitely worth it after speaking to the people that use Corona SDK. I like the fact that the license is subscription based, this way I will be able to get the most recent updates and bug fixes, as well as access to wealth of resources and people available when I have a subscription. Even without a subscription, the amount of resources and information to get you started is great.

So my weapon of choice for mobile game development is definitely Corona SDK.

Useful Google Chrome Extensions that improve Google+

2011-07-15T01:28:00.000-07:00

My Facebook page with my profile picture :)

Google Plus seems to be the new buzzword on the web these days and has already obtained quite a huge following, especially since the invite process started to snowball when a few invites were leaked to the general public, including myself. I really enjoy using Google+. I seem to already be a convert, just check out the pic to the left, it shows my current Facebook profile picture ... really funny ain't it :)

Working with Google+ is great, but I really wanted to explore some really neat extensions for Chrome that could just make my Google Plus experience just a tad better. Here is a list of what I came up with and have been using. Some of them I still have installed, others I have removed. In general all the extensions mentioned here are really great, give a few of them a try and find out for yourself.

Google Plus Button
To open Google Plus fast in a new tab. The extension installs a small icon in your task bar to access Google Plus fast and easy. A click opens your Google Plus page in a new tab.

I rec: Google +1[Plus One] & Like[Facebook] in 1 click
Recommend any webpage via +1 or LIKE in just 2 clicks using I rec [I recommend]. Simple, Fast and Light weight.

G+ Count in Title
Adds notification count to the document title in the page tab. A simple but useful option, this extension adds a counter to your Google+ page tab so you can see at a glance how many new posts you have to view.

Native GMail for Google Plus
Integrates Google Mail into your Google Plus page.

G+ Extended: Add Shortcuts
Additional shortcuts for G+. Including +1(+), share(s) and expand comments(e). Simple and very unobtrusive, this extension adds more shortcuts, as well as offering one-press "+1" options, when a post is highlighted you can press "e" to expand all the comments or "s" for quick sharing options.

G Plus Plus
Tiny helper extension for Google+. This extension adds a "++" icon in the action bar. You just click the icon to access Google+. Helps you to avoid opening Google+ in multiple tabs.

Helper for Google+: Get Desktop Notifications
Add extra functions to Google+. Get desktop notifications on new posts. Share Posts via twitter. Translate posts with Google Translate. Linked #hashtags. Search in posts and profiles directly from your omnibox. This extension has tweaked the search and also lets you share to Twitter. Helper gives you desktop notifications for new Google+ posts with a little pop-up window or an audio alert option. There's also a "translate" button, which some may find useful.

Share+ Social Buttons for Google Plus
Share+ will add a context-link icon below your Google+ post in order to share your post to some well-known social platforms.

QuickView for Google Plus
Adds QuickView style keyboard shortcuts for Google Plus.

Google Plus - fixed top bar
This extension fixes the Google+ bar to the top of the screen.

Usability Boost for Google Plus
Makes Google Plus more pleasant. This extension will help you visualize the flow of information on Google Plus. It's small CSS changes that put the focus on the content, separating visually your posts and comments. The Google/Notification bar stays at a fixed position on top so you'll never miss a notification again.

GPlus notifications
Extension to show notifications of Google Plus.

+Comment Toggle
Allows you to hide/show comments on Google+. If your stream is busy, then this extension will save you some precious scrolling time. It automatically hides all comments on a post, reducing the on-screen info to a simple comment tally (which you can choose to expand if you wish).

G Adhik
A CSS Facelift for Google+. A simple browser extension for Google+ that improves the look and general experience of Google+. It makes subtle modifications via CSS to focus on the content being shared by folks in your circles and makes it easier to differentiate between two posts.

Notification Count for Google Plus
Extension for displaying unread notification count for Google Plus. If you want to be aware of the people who are talking to you or mentioning you in their conversion on Google Plus, but don't wish to have a web page consistently opened for Google Plus or Gmail, then you should try this. Checks for any unread notifications of your Google Plus every minute, and displays unread notification count on your browser extension toolbar. Click to open a tab to read all notifications.

Extended Share for Google Plus
Extends Google+ to share to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This handy extension expands your sharing options. It adds a "Share on..." button that gives you the ability to quickly and easily share a Plus post to Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Google Plus One (+1) Button
With this extension, you can now "Google +1" all web pages and websites. +1 buttons let people who love the content on your site, recommend it to Google search.

g-
Remove Google+ from the Google Bar while not at plus.google.com. Losing productivity now that Google+ is everywhere. g- to the rescue! Now you can remove the Google+ notification count and share button from the Google bar when you aren't at the Google+ website.

Fix G-Plus Styles
Modify styles and increase displayed information

Goo Plus Manager
Manage your Google plus! Provides hotkeys to help you manage your Google+ much faster.

Numark’s iDJ Live Takes Djay for iPad to a Whole New Level

2011-07-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

The iPad has become a very handy tool for blending together multiple audio streams at once. That’s what Algoriddim accomplished with their successful Djay app, which allows you to load and mix multiple songs from your very own music library.

If you feel the urge of taking your iPad to the next party, or better yet bring some real life to the party, combining the new iDJ Live accessory for the iPad with the Djay app might do just that!

Numark has released the iDJ Live accessory for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. It is an iOS-DJ controller that will enable you to DJ parties using the music that is already on your iPad via Algoriddim’s Djay app or other Core MIDI-enabled apps.

The iDJ Live actually offers all the basic components required to become a respectable DJ for your next party. The accessory features a 30-pin connection to the device, a central mixer section with a crossfader, buttons, and knobs, a stand for the iPad, two large performance platters, and a custom audio cable so that you can connect to a sound system and headphones.

The device allows you to polish your mix with Bass and Treble controls, and you can browse your music library quickly and easily via an application such as Djay for iPad. Numark has worked with Algoriddim to make sure Djay can mix your music, record mixes on-the-go, or enable Automix mode and let the application mix your favorite playlist.

If you have any questions about the Djay iPad app, click here for our full in-depth review.

Numark’s iDJ Live for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is available now for $99.95. You can verify your nearest dealer directly from the company’s website. Now you can bring fun to your next party in no time!

Mobile Apps Gain in Prominence Compared to the Web

2011-07-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

How do you spend your quality time? On your mobile? Or, is it on your computer? A recent survey by the mobile ad company, Flurry, points out the rise in mobile apps usage when compared to the web. It seems there is an evolution of customers from mobile web to mobile apps. This may be due to the emergence of smartphones, where everything from email to social networking is possible with one click.

Customers are using mobile apps more and more each day due to the increasing performance maturity of these apps. These apps can also be used offline and the thought of using features without being online directly is a lure for all.

The advent of iPhones has also made app usage much easier. Flurry published a chart in their blog, which shows customers spending more on mob app rather than mobile web. An increase of 9% is evident.

This transition shouldn’t be that surprising. This had happened when we, after the emergence of the internet more than a decade ago, welcomed online directories (Yahoo!), embraced search engines (Google) and now, devote our time for social-networking sites (Facebook). But what should surprise you is the fact that mobile apps took only 3 years to rise to this level!

This year has seen an increase in the shipments and selling of tablets and smartphones as opposed to desktops and notebooks. The major mobile apps in use are those associated with gaming and social-networking. Tablets and smartphones provide a wide array of entertainment windows and with portability, users find it more comfortable.

With the rise in Android and iOS platforms, we can be sure of one thing; mobile apps are going to win this race.

Original Post

Mobile Games Generate More Revenue if Given Away for Free

2011-07-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Freemium is one of those made-up terms that might be here to stay.

As it turns out, game developers are finding it is easier to make money on the iPhone if they give their applications away for free and sell virtual goods inside the game, instead of expecting users to plop down 99 cents on a game they’ve never played.

According to Flurry, which tracks the performance of more than 90,000 apps that use its analytics service, more than half of the top performing games on Apple’s iOS are making money by using a free-to-play model, up from only 39 percent in January.

In a blog post, Flurry’s general manager of games, Jeferson Valadares, who worked previously at EA’s Playfish and Digital Chocolate, writes that when the game is free, two things can happen: “First, more people will likely try your game … and second, you will likely take more total money since different players can now spend different amounts depending on their engagement and preferences.”

In other words, if a user really likes your game, he or she may end up spending more than 99 cents.

Flurry said that can represent a lot more money, even though more than 90 percent of players never spend a dime.

Valadares writes that the number of people willing to spend money in a free game ranges from 0.5 to 6 percent.

The freemium model has been well demonstrated on Facebook, where game companies like Zynga are making millions of dollars from users willing to pay for small items inside of games, such as crops for the farm or energy boosts to continue playing.

Zynga has disclosed that a majority of its revenues come from a very small percentage of users.

While many independent game studios have embraced freemium models, it’s been more difficult for other companies. Nintendo is perhaps the most vocal company speaking out against the trend.

Original Post

Apple App Store downloads top 15 billion

2011-07-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

Apple has revealed in a statement issued Thursdaythat its App Store for mobile devices such as the iPad and iPhone has topped 15 billion downloads.

The App Store currently hosts 425,000 apps for various iOS devices, as well as over 100,000 native to its iPad tablet.

Apple doesn't offer any additional details, such as a breakdown by category or what percentage of those downloaded apps were free vs. paid.

Based on the iTunes charts chronicling the top paid and free app downloads, it's clear the Games category dominates. For example, in the Paid Apps chart, 24 of the top 25 apps are Games. The lone exception: a social networking app called WhatsApp Messenger.

Apple reaches the milestone as competitors increasingly push to gain a foothold in the app market, including Google's Android operating system and Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

Study: iPhone Users Spend 14 Hours a Month Gaming

2011-07-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

The average iPhone owner spends twice the average amount of time playing mobile games, according to a recent study done by Nielsen.

The study also notes that 93 percent of customers who download apps have shelled out cash in the last 30 days to get their hands on a game, indicating that games are likely the most lucrative app category for a developer to pursue — and that iOS may have the most engaged gaming audience.

According to the study, iPhone owners are, by a large margin, most interested in quality gaming time on their smartphones. The average iPhone owner spent 14.7 hours playing mobile games over a 30 day period, while the average Android owner spent only 9.3 hours. The overall average for smartphone gamers, which includes platforms like Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry, is 7.8 hours per month.

Of course, the study doesn’t control for the selection size or quality of games, which is no doubt a factor for some platforms. But games are still making the biggest impact of all the application varieties: they are the most popular category of app, with 64 percent of downloaders grabbing a game in the last 30 days. Weather apps (60 percent) and social networking apps (56 percent) aren’t trailing far behind.

However, other types of apps aren’t as proficient as games at enticing consumers to spend money. Only 76 percent of downloaders would spend money on a news app, for instance. Customers are most willing to spend money on games (93 percent) and “entertainment” apps (87 percent).

And when it comes to popularity, smartphone gaming beats smartphone learning: While 64 percent of app downloaders picked up games, only 11 percent got themselves an “education/learning” app.

Original Post

Got my Apple iPad 2 16GB Wifi

2011-07-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

After ordering my Apple iPad 2 last week friday from the US, it arrived this morning. I bought it on eBay, since the going rate for the iPad 2 in our country (South Africa) sells for almost double the price paid in the US. I am really happy with my purchase, even though my wife got to do the unboxing and started playing with it first :)

The reason I bought the iPad 2 is because I want to develop games for it. Never been much into developing apps with Objective-C, but thought it is worth a try. After my first taste of Apple, after I bought my Macbook Pro about a month ago, I have really become an Apple convert. I really love my Mac and what I can do with it, the performance is outstanding. I hope that I get as much satisfaction out of my iPad 2, as what I have been getting out of my Macbook Pro.

Watch this space, as I will be sharing my adventures into game development on the iPad 2.

Getting adb to list your Android Vodafone 845 (Huawei U8120) and get debugging working

2011-07-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

The Huawei U8120 (Vodafone 845) phone is one of those USB devices that present themselves as USB storage devices to the host operating system to serve up files for Windows driver installation. To switch them into the USB slave from Linux mode you need to use usb_modeswitch. You can download the latest usb_modeswitch package from the homepage, it includes support for your device. Or just use this call on the command line:

$ sudo usb_modeswitch -v 0x12d1 -p 0x1031 -s 20 -M "55534243123456780600000080000601000000000000000000000000000000"

However to use it with the Android tools you need to solve another problem, because the Huawei U8120 (Vodafone 845) provides no serial number. There might be other workarounds, but the one that made it work for me is a patch for the "adb" utility that can cope with devices that have no serial number.

$ ./tools/adb devices

List of devices attached

noserial-/dev/bus/usb/001/036 device

The patch is here: https://review.source.android.com/#change,13552 and here you can find an "adb" binary if you trust that source :) http://www.mediafire.com/?oizmyyw0wwz

see also http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4365

Parsing and working with JSON in Google Android

2011-07-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial we are going to walk through the parsing of JSON data and working with the resulting object. Google Android has built in support for working with JSON. For more information about JSON, please visit http://json.org.

Below is a standard example that I found on http://json.org/example.html

{"menu": {
    "header": "SVG Viewer",
    "items": [
        {"id": "Open"},
        {"id": "OpenNew", "label": "Open New"},
        null,
        {"id": "ZoomIn", "label": "Zoom In"},
        {"id": "ZoomOut", "label": "Zoom Out"},
        {"id": "OriginalView", "label": "Original View"},
        null,
        {"id": "Quality"},
        {"id": "Pause"},
        {"id": "Mute"},
        null,
        {"id": "Find", "label": "Find..."},
        {"id": "FindAgain", "label": "Find Again"},
        {"id": "Copy"},
        {"id": "CopyAgain", "label": "Copy Again"},
        {"id": "CopySVG", "label": "Copy SVG"},
        {"id": "ViewSVG", "label": "View SVG"},
        {"id": "ViewSource", "label": "View Source"},
        {"id": "SaveAs", "label": "Save As"},
        null,
        {"id": "Help"},
        {"id": "About", "label": "About Adobe CVG Viewer..."}
    ]
}}

Now that we have an example to work with, we need to start implementing the parsing.

Android already has the libraries we need to parse and work with JSON, so we don't need to download and embed 3rd party libraries.

Below is our full code listing, read through it so you get a rough idea of what is happening, later on I will explain most of the important elements.

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import android.app.Activity;

public class JSONParser extends Activity {
    private JSONObject jsonObject;
    private String jsonString = "{\"menu\": { \"header\": \"SVG Viewer\", \"items\": [ {\"id\": \"Open\"}, {\"id\": \"OpenNew\", \"label\": \"Open New\"}, null, {\"id\": \"ZoomIn\", \"label\": \"Zoom In\"}, {\"id\": \"ZoomOut\", \"label\": \"Zoom Out\"}, {\"id\": "OriginalView\", \"label\": \"Original View\"}, null, {\"id\": \"Quality\"}, {\"id\": \"Pause\"}, {\"id\": \"Mute\"}, null, {\"id\": \"Find\", \"label\": \"Find...\"}, {\"id\": \"FindAgain\", \"label\": \"Find Again\"}, {\"id\": \"Copy\"}, {\"id\": \"CopyAgain\", \"label\": \"Copy Again\"}, {\"id\": \"CopySVG\", \"label\": \"Copy SVG\"}, {\"id\": \"ViewSVG\", \"label\": \"View SVG\"}, {\"id\": \"ViewSource\", \"label\": \"View Source\"}, {\"id\": \"SaveAs\", \"label\": \"Save As\"}, null, {\"id\": \"Help\"}, {\"id\": \"About\", \"label\": \"About Adobe CVG Viewer...\"} ] }}";

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        try {
            parse();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    private void parse() throws Exception {
        jsonObject = new JSONObject(jsonString);

        JSONObject menuObject = jsonObject.getJSONObject("menu");

        String header = menuObject.getString("header");
        System.out.println("header="+header);

        JSONArray itemsArray = menuObject.getJSONArray("items");
        System.out.println("itemsArraySize="+itemsArray.length());

        for (int i = 0; i < itemsArray.length(); i++) {
            if (!itemsArray.isNull(i)) {
                JSONObject item = itemsArray.getJSONObject(i);   
                if (item.has("id")) {
                    String id = item.getString("id");
                    System.out.println("id="+id);
                }
                if (item.has("label")) {
                    String label = item.getString("label");
                    System.out.println("label="+label);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Now to break it down into steps.

First we created a variable called jsonObject which will be the main object to work with the parsed JSON string:

private JSONObject jsonObject;

We created a String variable which contains our demo data that we want to parse:

private String jsonString = "{\"menu\": { \"header\": \"SVG Viewer\", \"items\": [ {\"id\": \"Open\"}, {\"id\": \"OpenNew\", \"label\": \"Open New\"}, null, {\"id\": \"ZoomIn\", \"label\": \"Zoom In\"}, {\"id\": \"ZoomOut\", \"label\": \"Zoom Out\"}, {\"id\": "OriginalView\", \"label\": \"Original View\"}, null, {\"id\": \"Quality\"}, {\"id\": \"Pause\"}, {\"id\": \"Mute\"}, null, {\"id\": \"Find\", \"label\": \"Find...\"}, {\"id\": \"FindAgain\", \"label\": \"Find Again\"}, {\"id\": \"Copy\"}, {\"id\": \"CopyAgain\", \"label\": \"Copy Again\"}, {\"id\": \"CopySVG\", \"label\": \"Copy SVG\"}, {\"id\": \"ViewSVG\", \"label\": \"View SVG\"}, {\"id\": \"ViewSource\", \"label\": \"View Source\"}, {\"id\": \"SaveAs\", \"label\": \"Save As\"}, null, {\"id\": \"Help\"}, {\"id\": \"About\", \"label\": \"About Adobe CVG Viewer...\"} ] }}";

Now in the "parse()" method we instantiate our JSON object by parsing the data String:

jsonObject = new JSONObject(jsonString);

This object is our root JSON object, we can get values from this JSON object by referring to the child elements of our "jsonObject" instance.

Next we start the process of extracting the data from our parent JSON object. The next snippet will fetch the first child of our parent JSON object:

JSONObject menuObject = jsonObject.getJSONObject("menu");

Please note that the first parent node is titled "menu", refer to the demo String object.

As you can see the "header" element has a string in it, to get the string data from the "header" element, we need to ask the node object to fetch the contents as a string:

String header = menuObject.getString("header");
System.out.println("header="+header);

The "println" statement is shown here just to make you aware that this will be printed out on the console output, great for debugging.

The next element after the "header" element in the "menu" node is the "items" element which contains an array of attributes which are in the form of key value pairs. Because it is an array, we will be using an object that is specific to JSON which is called JSONArray:

JSONArray itemsArray = menuObject.getJSONArray("items");
System.out.println("itemsArraySize="+itemsArray.length());

The "println" statement is shown here just to make you aware that this will be printed out on the console output, great for debugging.

Now that we have an "itemsArray" object, we can walk through the array and extract the values for each item in the array:

for (int i = 0; i < itemsArray.length(); i++) {
    if (!itemsArray.isNull(i)) {
        JSONObject item = itemsArray.getJSONObject(i);   
        if (item.has("id")) {
            String id = item.getString("id");
            System.out.println("id="+id);
        }
        if (item.has("label")) {
            String label = item.getString("label");
            System.out.println("label="+label);
        }
    }
}

To check for items that are null and omit them we use the following code:

if (!itemsArray.isNull(i)) {
...
}

Note that the "isNull" method is part of the JSONArray class and is used to check if the object at the index is null.

To get the next item in our JSON array we use the following code in our loop:

JSONObject item = itemsArray.getJSONObject(i);

Where "i" is our current index in our loop.

To check whether our item contains a specific attribute we use the "has(fieldname)" method:

if (item.has("id")) {
...
}

Where "id" is the key of the field I am looking for.

To get the content of the element, we once again use the "getString(fieldname)" method:

String id = item.getString("id");
System.out.println("id="+id);

That pretty much is it for parsing JSON. It is very simple and very powerful. For more, please refer to the developer documentation.

The output you will only be able to see if you use the logcat command on your adb shell:

#/usr/local/android_sdk/tools/adb shell
#logcat
I/System.out(  757): header=SVG Viewer
I/System.out(  757): itemsArraySize=22
I/System.out(  757): id=Open
I/System.out(  757): id=OpenNew
I/System.out(  757): label=Open New
I/System.out(  757): id=ZoomIn
I/System.out(  757): label=Zoom In
I/System.out(  757): id=ZoomOut
I/System.out(  757): label=Zoom Out
I/System.out(  757): id=OriginalView
I/System.out(  757): label=Original View
I/System.out(  757): id=Quality
I/System.out(  757): id=Pause
I/System.out(  757): id=Mute
I/System.out(  757): id=Find
I/System.out(  757): label=Find...
I/System.out(  757): id=FindAgain
I/System.out(  757): label=Find Again
I/System.out(  757): id=Copy
I/System.out(  757): id=CopyAgain
I/System.out(  757): label=Copy Again
I/System.out(  757): id=CopySVG
I/System.out(  757): label=Copy SVG
I/System.out(  757): id=ViewSVG
I/System.out(  757): label=View SVG
I/System.out(  757): id=ViewSource
I/System.out(  757): label=View Source
I/System.out(  757): id=SaveAs
I/System.out(  757): label=Save As
I/System.out(  757): id=Help
I/System.out(  757): id=About
I/System.out(  757): label=About Adobe CVG Viewer...

Scary Maze Game for Android released!

2011-07-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

I just finished and released the first version of my new game called "Scary Maze", which can be downloaded from the Android Market and can be installed on your Android handset.

The game is simple but tricky, and there is a hidden suprise. Scary Maze is a logical puzzle game for the Android platform. A ball sits in a flat tray containing one or more squares. The challenge is to guide the ball around the tray and collect all the squares. Tilt the tray to, literally, start the ball rolling. The ball rolls in a straight line until it hits a wall, you can then tilt again.

Read more over here.

Installing Applications on Android from your computer

2011-07-06T03:43:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this article is to provide a simple description to install applications that are not available on the android market or for testing your own applications on the device. The android installation will have a .apk extension (apk = android package).

We have to change the following settings for installing .apk files from your computer. On your device:

Click Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Unknown sources. If it is not checked, then check it.
Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging. Check this box.
Connect the USB cable.
Notifications (the drop down bar at the top of the home screen) -> select USB connected -> Click Mount.

(OR

Menu -> settings -> SD card and storage -> click on Disable use for USB storage and enable it

On your computer, install these if you don’t have it:

android sdk - http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
USB driver - http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html

Steps:

On your command prompt navigate to the folder where u had installed the android sdk and then go to tools folder.
Type adb install <path><file_name>.apk. If you have the .apk file in the tools folder you can simply type adb install example.apk.

You have successfully installed the application.

Top 25 Android apps: The best of the best

2011-07-06T03:41:00.000-07:00

The Android Market may not have as many apps as the iPhone App Store yet, but there are still enough to be overwhelmed, and it’s growing at a breakneck pace. To help you sort through them all, here’s my list of the best apps I’ve found on Android. Again, remember that this is a snapshot in time. The Android platform is developing so quickly right now that I guarantee my home screen look different a month from now.

The best way to view my list of the top Android apps is in the screenshot gallery. However, you can also view my top 25 in the list below.

Google Voice
Advanced Task Killer
Dropbox
Evernote
DroidAnalytics
Documents To Go
Amazon Kindle
Places Directory
Tripit
Seesmic
FCC Speedtest
Astro File Manager
Got To Do
Gist
TED Mobile
Pandora
Shazam
Dial Zero
Google Goggles
Google Sky Map
Tricorder
FxCamera
Photoshop Mobile
Bump
Barcode Scanner

Read on here.

Making HTTP GET and POST requests using Google Android

2011-07-06T03:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a little utility class I wrote for doing HTTP GET and HTTP POST requests, feel free to do what you like with it. I currently use it to connect to my web services and retrieve the JSON response text. I will explain how to use JSON in an upcoming tutorial.

NOTE: Because the code attempts to use the Internet, you will need to add android.permission.INTERNET to your manifest file when making HTTP calls using the CustomHttpClient.

For HTTP GET requests:


String response = null;
try {
    response = CustomHttpClient.executeHttpGet("http://www.google.com");
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println(response);

For HTTP POST requests:

Be sure to include the headers first.


import org.apache.http.message.BasicNameValuePair;
import org.apache.http.NameValuePair;

Then in your code, do the following:


ArrayList postParameters = new ArrayList();
postParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("yourparamname1", "yourvalue1"));
postParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("yourparamname2", "yourvalue2"));
postParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("yourparamname3", "yourvalue3"));

String response = null;
try {
    response = CustomHttpClient.executeHttpPost("http://www.google.com", postParameters);
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println(response);

From the examples above you will be able to do HTTP GET and HTTP POST requests. Below is the full code listing of the CustomHttpClient utility class, ENJOY!


package com.newtondev.warcry.util;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.URI;
import java.util.ArrayList;

import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.NameValuePair;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.client.entity.UrlEncodedFormEntity;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.conn.params.ConnManagerParams;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.params.HttpConnectionParams;
import org.apache.http.params.HttpParams;

/**
 * Utility class for performing HTTP GET and HTTP POST requests.
 * 
 * @author craignewton 
 *
 */
public class CustomHttpClient {

    /** The time it takes for our client to timeout */
    public static final int HTTP_TIMEOUT = 30 * 1000; // milliseconds

    /** Single instance of our HttpClient */
    private static HttpClient mHttpClient;

    /**
     * Get our single instance of our HttpClient object.
     * 
     * @return an HttpClient object with connection parameters set
     */
    private static HttpClient getHttpClient() {
        if (mHttpClient == null) {
            mHttpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
            final HttpParams params = client.getParams();
            HttpConnectionParams.setConnectionTimeout(params, HTTP_TIMEOUT);
            HttpConnectionParams.setSoTimeout(params, HTTP_TIMEOUT);
            ConnManagerParams.setTimeout(params, HTTP_TIMEOUT);
        }
        return mHttpClient;
    }

    /**
     * Performs an HTTP Post request to the specified url with the
     * specified parameters.
     * 
     * @param url The web address to post the request to
     * @param postParameters The parameters to send via the request
     * @return The result of the request
     * @throws Exception
     */
    public static String executeHttpPost(String url, ArrayList postParameters) throws Exception {
        BufferedReader in = null;
        try {
            HttpClient client = getHttpClient();            
            HttpPost request = new HttpPost(url);
            UrlEncodedFormEntity formEntity = new UrlEncodedFormEntity(postParameters);
            request.setEntity(formEntity);
            HttpResponse response = client.execute(request);
            in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));

            StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer("");
            String line = "";
            String NL = System.getProperty("line.separator");
            while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
                sb.append(line + NL);
            }
            in.close();

            String result = sb.toString();
            return result;
        } finally {
            if (in != null) {
                try {
                    in.close();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * Performs an HTTP GET request to the specified url.
     * 
     * @param url The web address to post the request to
     * @return The result of the request
     * @throws Exception
     */
    public static String executeHttpGet(String url) throws Exception {
        BufferedReader in = null;
        try {
            HttpClient client = getHttpClient();
            HttpGet request = new HttpGet();
            request.setURI(new URI(url));
            HttpResponse response = client.execute(request);
            in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));

            StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer("");
            String line = "";
            String NL = System.getProperty("line.separator");
            while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
                sb.append(line + NL);
            }
            in.close();

            String result = sb.toString();
            return result; 
        } finally {
            if (in != null) {
                try {
                    in.close();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}