howdy, Mark!

howdy howdy

how can I help you?

I got a question for you, not programming/java related.

no, I don't know why they picked that color green for Android

oh, wait, that probably wasn't the questoin

:-)

Damn, I was hoping for tha cyanogen blue

:)

How many, and which, Android devices do you have?

let's see...in rough chronological order...

T-Mobile G-1

Google Ion (a.k.a., HTC Magic)

Motorola CLIQ

two HTC Heroes

two Motorola DROIDs

HTC Tattoo

HTC EVO 4G

Nexus One

HTC Incredible

that makes 11.5

and the ARCHOS 5 Android tablet, which I list separately because it's only a sorta-Android device, IMHO

not counting the nook, which is powered by Android, not that you'd ever know

Is it really?

is what really?

the nook, Android powered

yes

already been rooted and stuff

Well, damn, I guess missed that news.

quirky when you try running regular Android apps on it, IIRC

So, which device would you say is your favorite?

that depends on whether you take carriers into account, and the uses of the device

my day to day phone is the Nexus One, because it runs on T-Mobile

Okay, so it gets the most use?

Hello

as a quasi-tablet, the EVO 4G has a pretty slick screen, though the battery life leaves something to be desired

for personal stuff, yes

howdy, Bonnie!

and, howdy, Danny!

Hi there.

Hi everyone :)

Mark: did that answer your question?

Yeah :P, I will keep myself quiet for a little bit

GO ahead and move one :)

OK, Bonnie, did you have a question?

Yes, although it's probably very basic. I'm sort of learning Java as I'm learning Android.

I'm doing one of the tutorials right now.

It's page 19-20 in the Tutorial book.

I'm not sure why but the code doesn't run because there's an error with onSave

first, which version of the book do you have? check the cover page

Hi

(btw, howdy, Brian and Mike!)

Hi, everyone.

Version 2.8

OK

Is it because it's for Android 2.2 and I'm using 2.1 because my phone's got the 2.1 OS and I'm testing on it?

No, the tutorials all work with 2.1 -- I recommend 2.1 for this edition of the book

Ok

when you say "there's an error with onSave", what is the error?

onSave cannot be Resolved

that means you do not have onSave in your source code

onSave is defined in the box at the top of page 20

you can also see the whole project in its entirety on github

Ok

Let me take some questions from the others, then I can circle back to you if you are still having trouble

Danny: do you have a question?

I have a nonstandard question. I'm porting an application called RoadMap. It's already a multiplatform app - several unixes, Windows CE, iphone, .. - and I'd like it on Android too. Written in C so I'm using the NDK and rewriting the portability layer. It's well written but Android is somewhat different, and I'm still learning about Android :-)

Ok

So let me cut it into something you might want to think about.

I have a periodic event that I'm causing to happen by using sendMessageDelayed, and then sending it again from the handler.

Inside the handler I'm (re)drawing stuff, and they appear only partially; it looks like during the (re)draw, part of the previous drawing remains, then it gets erased, and then only half of the drawing is visible until the next handler call.

And I am wondering what's causing this :-)

well, I have not done anything with low-level drawing primitives

hence, I haven't a clue

Fair enough. Thanks. On to the next, I'd say.

bear in mind that drawing events, like anything else, wind up as messages on the message queue

Yes...

hence, it may be that not enough of your drawing events get processed before your next sendMessageDelayed() is triggered to run

you might want to look at how games are written (e.g., the LunarLander sample app)

I would be able to eliminate that by lowering the frequency, right ?

in principle, yes

OK...Brian, did you have a question?

Already tried that, it doesn't :-( I did browse the LunarLander, but your suggestion may be a good one - I'll disect it more, and one or two other tutorials. Again, thanks.

yes, need some advice

If I have a series of listviews, and the selcetion from the last is ultimately the value I want to return to the activity that started the selection, would you do that in a viewpflipper or as a series of startActivityForResult calls?

um

like, say I want to select a city from somewhere in the US for use in my app, and I start with a listview of regions, then use that to determine which data to present in a listview of states

then drill down to city

get my drift?

yes, I get your drift

my gut is to use activities

I am somewhat nervous about too deep of a chain of startActivityForResult() calls

however, I have never tried that

so, I'd like to have the back button work to back up if the selection was a mistouch, which would work well as a series of activities, then I guess I'd just need to finish() each activity in the onResult method?

onActivityResult(), yes

or, I could use a ViewFlipper and intercept the back key event was my other thought

with the ViewFlipper, you'd override the BACK button with onBackPressed() (or onKeyDown() for Android x.1)

and have it flip you back a level, or do the real BACK processing if you're at the top

my concern there is having a very fat activity, in terms of heap space

Yes. It could potentially be quite large with all the cities loaded in the one activity

I'd probably start with the chained set of activities, then look to coalesce into one if that causes problems

OK, thanks for the advice

and on a completely unrelated note, ESP 1, POR 0 in Whirled Cup, meaning my current host country is in a state of mourning right now

OK...Mark, do you have a question?

Nope, just trying to figure out AsyncTask, I will let you know if I do.

just be sure to let me know from onPostExecute()

Bonnie: did you solve your onSave problem?

:-)

If I can make it that far :)

Yes, I just copied and pasted. My problem must have been a simple typo on my part :)

ah, OK. Any other questions, while it is your turn?

Nothing for now. I'm just absorbing all the tutorials.

OK...Brian, any questions?

No, I'm good, thanks

I have one: Favorite Applications?

OK, well, if any of you come up with a question, chime in!

well, I'm not the most typical Android user

I just got my phone and am having trouble getting data through Fido.

From what I gather online, it could be something to do with the Rogers update.

notables on my Nexus One beyond the typical apps: Ambling BookPlayer (excellent audiobook app), KeePassDroid (password safe), Remember the Milk, StreamFurious Pro, and the TripIt client

Bonnie: sorry to hear that!

I might be simply forced to download and install the Rogers update (Rogers owns Fido).

I'm going to ask next time I'm in the store.

I have a question/suggestion about the game Replica Island.

The source has been put online.

I'm trying to learn game development. Mark, if you can, would you be able to go through the code and explain/document it for training purposes?

Not a chance

Aww ok :)

I haven't done 2D game development in about two decads

at least, not until 2011 sometime

er, decades

suffice it to say, I'm a wee bit out of date on the subject

That's alright, it was worth a shot. I hope someone doe sit.

*does it

you'll find bits and pieces of info on the author's blog: http://replicaisland.blogspot.com/

however, it looks reasonably advanced, in terms of subject matter

Yeah, I checked it out.

You might reach out to Leigh McRae from lonedwarfgames.com also, Bonnie.

I'm looking for a book or mentor that will bring someone from a beginner to the advanced level.

Thanks

I have not read _Pro Android Games_, though I seem to recall it getting some favorable reviews

I just ordered that.

But according to the review, the author assumes the reader has experience developing games.

While I could read books on game development, I heard you need to design games with Android in mind from the very start, or you'll need massive redesign.

So I'm looking for reading material (beginner level) that does both.

ah

I'll see if I can contact Leigh McRae

Thanks for the tip :)

Alright well, I have a question, it may take a minute to explain though

Well actually it's a few questions.

fire away

Alright well, as I said, I was looking at AsyncTask, Do you that this would be an okay solution for RSS? So it does not lock up the UI Thread?

Or should I try a service?

bot

er, both

Services are "background" in that they do not have a UI

Services are not "background" from a threading standpoint -- they run on the main application thread by default

Using an AsyncTask invoked by a Service to fetch your feeds is a fine strategy

It is similar to the Service/WeatherPlus sample in The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development

Alrighty, I will take a look at that, I will update you if I have more questions :)

any last questions?

I have another tutorial question

What color is the Android logo?!?! :P

lol

#A4C639

Bonnie: go ahead

In the Busy Coder's book, I was doing the tutorial named 'Now' with the button that updates the date.

In the last line of the book's code, there's nothing in the constructor for Date()

This brings up an error in my compiler. It expects an int.

There are six possible Date constructors

One takes no parameters, and results in a Date object representing the current date/time

Make sure you are using java.util.Date and not java.sql.Date

Ah, that's probably it

yeah, I wish the Java folk had not created two Date classes

a long time annoyance

Hehe :)

Thanks, that fixed the problem.

and that wraps today's chat

Alright, Seeya next time Mark

Thursday will have another chat at the same time -- 4pm US Eastern, 1pm US Pacific, 9pm Portugal

I only took one community college class of C++ a couple of years ago.

have a pleasant evening, everyone!

Thanks :)