Android

Mandus Elfving, IBS JavaSolutions, 2009

 What is Android?

Operating system and platform for mobile devices

Developed by Google and later by the Open Source Handset

Alliance

Mostly open sourced under the Apache and other open

source licenses
 Android features
Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine

Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based

on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)

SQLite for structured data storage

Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264,
MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)

GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)

Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent)

Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)

Architecture
Why is Android interesting to us?

Application development is done in Java!

 Dalvik Virtual Machine

Optimized for mobile devices

Relies on the underlying OS for process separation, memory

management and threading

Designed to run multiple VM instances efficiently

Executes its own type of byte code in files created from Java
class files
 Android vs. Java

Based on Apache Harmony

Supports most of the J2SE 5.0 library

Applets, printing and other irrelevant stuff

left out

Includes third party libraries, e.g.

bluetooth and JSON libraries
 Applications

Comes in .apk files which contain the application code and

resources

Run in their own Linux process

Each process has its own VM

Applications are assigned a unique user id that make sure that

application data is private
 Application building blocks

Applications consist of components that are the entry points

of an application

Applications can use components from other applications

Four types of components:

Activities
Services
Broadcast receivers
Content providers
Application Building Blocks con't

Components declared in AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="se.jsolutions.android">

<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">

<activity android:name="HelloWorldActivity" android:label="@string/app_name">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
 Activities

Interface for one of the activities that a

user undertake in an application

Applications are (usually) built from

multiple activities

The UI for an activity is built with Views

 Services

Used for long running background processes, e.g. media

player

Can run on its own in the background and/or be operated

by an interface

Run in the main thread of the application process

Spawn thread to not block main thread

 Broadcast receivers

Components that react to system or application broadcasts

System broadcasts for example when the battery level is low

or the timezone changed

Applications can initiate broadcasts that other applications

can react to
 Content providers

Application data is by default private to the application

Content providers make an applications private data available

to other applications through a standardized API

Accessed through a ContentResolver with an URI of the

content provider to use, e.g.
content://com.example.addressbook/contacts

Android ships with standard content providers for common

data types (audio, video, contacts, etc.)
 Application navigation

Components are activated by intents

Intents are asynchronous messages

Intents contain information relevant to the receiving

component, e.g. action to take and data to act on

Also contain information that the system use for finding the
component that should handle it
 Application navigation con't

Components can be targeted explicitly or implicitly

Intent filters define that a component can handle a specific

implicit intents

The system locates the best component to respond to an

implicit intent

Intent filters are defined in the manifest file

Application life cycle

Tasks are groups of related activities

arranged in a stack

Tasks can be sent to the background

or moved to the foreground

Only one task and activity running at

the same time
 Application life cycle con't

When system runs low on memory applications can be killed

All applications are placed in an importance hierarchy to

determine which application to kill next

Importance is based on the components running in an

application and their state
 Application framework

Consists of a set of services and systems to help in

application development

For example used to support localized applications and to

build the graphical UI

Used by core applications such as the SMS and Contacts

applications
Views
 Resource manager

Provides access to non-code related resources such as

localized strings or graphics

Resources are compiled in to the application binary

(resources reside in the res/ folder)

Used by referencing symbols that are generated when the

application is compiled (available in the R class), e.g.
R.string.app_name or @string/app_name
 Notification manager

Allows the application to notify the user when something has

happened in the background

Different kinds:

Icon in the status bar

LEDs on the device
Flashing backlight, playing a sound or vibrating
 Security

Applications are signed with a certificate

Applications run in their own process with a unique user id

Permissions restrict access to the data on the device

Permissions granted by user on installation of application

Permissions that application need and declaration of custom

permissions is done in the application manifest file
 Development environment

Android SDK

Command-line tools

Eclipse with an Android plugin

Execution/debugging in an emulator
running the full OS and software stack
Phones

First phone released

October 2008 by T-mobile
in the US and UK

New phones during 2009

from the large phone
companies
 More information at:
http://developer.android.com/