hello

howdy, Suzanne!

is it welcome back to the us?

yup

no overseas travel for the better part of a month

ok. this week, i'm working on a baby names app

like this: http://isource.com/2008/09/14/iphone-app-o…

OK

so a few questions

first, how do we set a background image for an entire listview (not just a list item)?

just android:background on the ListView, I suppose

don't know why it would be any different than any other widget in that regard

so my xml has just a TextView, and I'm using the ViewHolder pattern in java

might have to mess with the selector a bit, though -- not sure how that works

the TextView is the list item. where do i define the ListView?

normally, that is in your activity layout

(BTW, howdy, fitz!)

Hello - and Merry Xmas to all

if you are using ListActivity and not calling setContentView(), you would need to call some setBackground-ish method on the widget

yes, I'm using ListActivity

just trying to get knowledge in chat here

also, for the name data, do I just create a sqlite db? is there any advantage to creating a content provider if I'm not sharing data?

so, you either supply a layout for the ListActivity and call setContentView(), or call getListView() and then setBackgroundResource()

I'm not a fan of content providers yet, so I'd go with just a plain database

aha, thanks

yeah, content providers seem a bit .. well, complex

considering the book I'm moving the coverage of contents providers to, I'd go with "advanced" :-)

fitz, may I squeeze in another question? or do you want to ask one?

ok. well .. how do I save a name to a favorites list?

well I have read bother books and read tutorials - so now I am in overload mode - kinda at a point of where to start - did get phone for Xmas so that is a start

Option #1: have an isFavorite column in the names table

Option #2: have a favorites table, containing your name's primary key and other data (e.g., date it was made a favorite)

both that is :)

thanks, option 2 sounds a bit easier

also, the best way to populate a list from a sqlite database?

rawQuery() and a SimpleCursorAdapter

see Database/Constants in the source code to The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development

ho-kay. this gives me a lot to work with, thanks

no problem

tell your beta testers I said "congratulations!"

:-)

will do :-) namely, my sister :-)

I figured there was an itch being scratched here

fitz: do you have a question?

yes, i'm having a niece in march

Mark - I have a need to on background scan emails for a key word set - as in Google Docs when sharing can send an e-mail notice out when colleague updates file - so 1st step is to do this e-mail search for keywords and if a hit then cross reference to contact e-mail - then display info on screen - question is - should all this be done locally on cell? seams like that is a better process. If so what function for e-mail scan should I use/look at and what should I look at got cross referencing contacts

OK, I'm seriously lost

what are you scanning for keywords?

because that is the notice we will be keying off of - we could scan Google docs for updates on date/time stamps but that seams a bit much

maybe scanning Google docs is better?

I can't answer that, because I don't understand what you're talking about, sorry

suffice it to say, any sort of searching is better done someplace other than an underpowered smartphone

unless the data being searched only exists on said underpowered smartphone

see - we need to monitor when a doc file is updated by the other person your sharing with

OK

that still sounds like a better job for a server

ok - that gives me a bit more direction - will do scan in our main c# .net app

have the server do the searching/monitoring/whatever

have the server let the Android app know about results

we can send phone a NOTICE alert

so so would that be using the ... hang on looking it up

ok, gotta run, but thanks much

well, I'm not sure what "a NOTICE alert" is

Suzanne: have a pleasant evening!

fitz: you could send the user an SMS or email, or you could have the Android app ask the server sporadically for updates, or you can use C2DM

the C2DM process

ok thanks

cya

re-howdy, fitz!

forgot to ask - if I need to scan to get a specific contact by e-mail address - what part of the books should I focus on - want to pop open contact for user with notice file at docs was updated

um, well, the ContactsContract content provider is how you get information about contacts

then add a link to that docs file - start to make sense?

there's a chapter covering bits of that in the Advanced Android book

I don't know what "with notice file at docs was updated" means

so you and I share a excel doc at Google docs - I am on road today so you go in and modify a sale # on excel file at Google docs. Now Google SOMETIMES sends me an e-mail notice - if I only have cell with - then it is not so good

I don't do much Google Docs collaboration, so I'll take your word for it

I want to get a notice the file is updated and I can do that via the PC app we have in c# - so I will send a notice to my phone somehow (maybe C2DM)- anyways what we will pass is the e-mail address of the person that updated the file to android - so then I need to scan contacts and do magic - sort of make more sense

you assume that all collaborators are contacts, which may not be the case

ya but that is ok - we then default a standard massage a file was updated and the contact was in in phone DB

was not in the phone contact dB

typing today has been fun :)

ok so focus on ContactsContact in adv book

yes

ContactsContract is a fairly complex API, worse if you are trying to modify the data

and then for alerts on screen what should I look at in books

you probably want to do a Notification there

that's in The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development

you do not want to pop up an activity just because somebody modified a Google Doc somewhere

Na we are not modifying any data - just pulling it up for easy access for end user

the user might be in the middle of something that they will not want interrupted

yes - ok - and if I want to link to Google docs file - what webview is best if on top I have contact name maybe e-mail addess and then a link to Google docs

why WebView?

use TextViews for the name/address

use a Button or a menu for accessing the doc, which you would want to open up in the user's choice of browser

just trying to narrow down the amount of book info :) just a link to the file I guess - that is all I need

yes ok great thanks

off now cya

signed up for 1 year program today :)

cya