Android App Development For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 5

Coding Your Application

In This Chapter

Seeing how activities work in Android

Coding your own activity

Using the Android framework classes

Installing an application

Using debugging tools

Testing your app in the real world

You’re probably eager to start coding your application. In this chapter, you write the Java code, from soup to nuts. Before you can start banging out bits and bytes, though, you need a firm understanding of activities.

Understanding Activities and the Activity Lifecycle

An activity is a single, focused action that a user can take. You can think of an activity like a “page” in your app. For example, an activity might present a list of menu items that a user can choose from, or it might display photographs along with captions. An app may consist of only one activity or (more commonly) several. Though activities may work together to appear to be one cohesive ...