Professional Android, 4th Edition

20Advanced Android Development

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Securing Android using permissions
• Authenticating with the fingerprint sensor
• Ensuring backward and forward hardware and software compatibility
• Improving application performance using Strict Mode
• Initiating phone calls and creating a new phone dialer
• Monitoring phone state and incoming calls
• Using Intents to send SMS and MMS messages
• Using the SMS Manager to send SMS messages
• Handling incoming SMS messages

WROX.COM CODE DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

The code downloads for this chapter are found at www.wrox.com. The code for this chapter is divided into the following major examples:

• Snippets_ch20.zip
• Emergency_Responder.zip

ADVANCED ANDROID

This chapter returns to some of the possibilities touched on in previous chapters and introduces some of the more advanced options available for Android developers.

The chapter starts by taking a closer look at security—in particular, how permissions work and how to define your own permissions and use them to secure your own applications and the data they contain.

Next, the chapter examines how to build applications that are backward and forward compatible across a range of hardware and software platforms, as well as investigating the use of Strict Mode for discovering inefficiencies within your applications.

You are also introduced to Android’s telephony APIs and learn to use them to make outgoing calls, monitor phone state, and receive broadcast Intents for incoming calls. Finally, ...