Office Hours — Today, December 28

Thursday, December 23

Dec 28
7:50 PM
Mark M.
has entered the room
Mark M.
turned off guest access
Mark M.
turned on guest access
7:55 PM
Suzanne A.
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Suzanne A.
hello
Mark M.
howdy, Suzanne!
Suzanne A.
is it welcome back to the us?
Mark M.
yup
no overseas travel for the better part of a month
8:00 PM
Suzanne A.
ok. this week, i'm working on a baby names app
Mark M.
OK
Suzanne A.
so a few questions
first, how do we set a background image for an entire listview (not just a list item)?
Mark M.
just android:background on the ListView, I suppose
don't know why it would be any different than any other widget in that regard
Suzanne A.
so my xml has just a TextView, and I'm using the ViewHolder pattern in java
Mark M.
might have to mess with the selector a bit, though -- not sure how that works
fitz
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Suzanne A.
the TextView is the list item. where do i define the ListView?
Mark M.
normally, that is in your activity layout
(BTW, howdy, fitz!)
fitz
Hello - and Merry Xmas to all
Mark M.
if you are using ListActivity and not calling setContentView(), you would need to call some setBackground-ish method on the widget
Suzanne A.
yes, I'm using ListActivity
fitz
just trying to get knowledge in chat here
Suzanne A.
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?
Mark M.
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
Suzanne A.
aha, thanks
yeah, content providers seem a bit .. well, complex
Mark M.
considering the book I'm moving the coverage of contents providers to, I'd go with "advanced" :-)
8:05 PM
Suzanne A.
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?
fitz
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
Mark M.
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)
fitz
both that is :)
Suzanne A.
thanks, option 2 sounds a bit easier
also, the best way to populate a list from a sqlite database?
Mark M.
rawQuery() and a SimpleCursorAdapter
see Database/Constants in the source code to The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development
Suzanne A.
ho-kay. this gives me a lot to work with, thanks
Mark M.
no problem
tell your beta testers I said "congratulations!"
:-)
8:10 PM
Suzanne A.
will do :-) namely, my sister :-)
Mark M.
I figured there was an itch being scratched here
fitz: do you have a question?
Suzanne A.
yes, i'm having a niece in march
fitz
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
Mark M.
OK, I'm seriously lost
what are you scanning for keywords?
fitz
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?
Mark M.
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
fitz
see - we need to monitor when a doc file is updated by the other person your sharing with
Mark M.
OK
that still sounds like a better job for a server
fitz
ok - that gives me a bit more direction - will do scan in our main c# .net app
Mark M.
have the server do the searching/monitoring/whatever
8:15 PM
Mark M.
have the server let the Android app know about results
fitz
we can send phone a NOTICE alert
so so would that be using the ... hang on looking it up
Suzanne A.
ok, gotta run, but thanks much
Mark M.
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
fitz
the C2DM process
ok thanks
cya
8:20 PM
fitz
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8:25 PM
fitz
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fitz
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fitz
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Mark M.
re-howdy, fitz!
8:30 PM
Suzanne A.
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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
Mark M.
um, well, the ContactsContract content provider is how you get information about contacts
fitz
then add a link to that docs file - start to make sense?
Mark M.
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
fitz
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
Mark M.
I don't do much Google Docs collaboration, so I'll take your word for it
8:35 PM
fitz
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
Mark M.
you assume that all collaborators are contacts, which may not be the case
fitz
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
Mark M.
yes
ContactsContract is a fairly complex API, worse if you are trying to modify the data
fitz
and then for alerts on screen what should I look at in books
Mark M.
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
fitz
Na we are not modifying any data - just pulling it up for easy access for end user
Mark M.
the user might be in the middle of something that they will not want interrupted
8:40 PM
fitz
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
Mark M.
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
fitz
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
fitz
has left the room

Thursday, December 23

 

Office Hours

People in this transcript

  • fitz
  • Mark Murphy
  • Suzanne Alexandra