hello, Guarav!

how can I help you today?

hello, Jeff!

hi Mark

Jeff: do you have a question?

both your suggestions yesterday worked well - Thanks. I'm getting ready to put my first app in the Play Store. I'm using Crittercism for crash tracking and I have beta users. any other advice on how to ensure stability once the code is in the store?

um, pray to the deity of your choice?

:-)

testing is key

I realize it's a vague question but I wanted to see if you had any input

the more testing, the better, in general

yes, I'm lining up some beta users to try things I wouldn't think of

Ok - Have a good night

in addition to what you can test locally, there are services like Apkudo that can test on a suite of devices

Guarav: do you have a question?

if anyone has a question, chime in

hello, Ollie!

Ollie: do you have a question?

Hello there

I don't have it all gathered up yet so I can wait a bit

Actually, it might be easy...

Can you point me at the best place to show me how to fragment correctly

I just feel I am using more classes than I should need to

I am afraid that I do not understand your question

um, can you give me an example?

Lets say I have an app with three activites. When you click a button on one you go to another activity.

I should be able to utilize the same fragment to show the next one, instead I am using a new fragment simply because I am kinda screwed up with it lol

do you mean that you are using the same UI structure in both places?

Yes sir

OK, then, you have two main options:

#1: stick with separate fragment classes, but use inheritance to reduce code duplication

#2: consolidate the two fragments into one, teaching it how to deal with data from both places

Answer #2 is what I am looking for a good guide on

well, there really isn't a great "guide" for that, only because there's an infinite number of combinations

Got ya

where is the data coming from, in each case?

I am going to be pulling from a website via REST

and... each case uses a different URL?

Correct

OK

if you use dynamic fragments (FragmentTransaction), you can create the fragment instances yourself, typically using a factory method (e.g., newInstance())

in that case, you can pass into the factory method the URL for this specific *instance* of the fragment

ok

the factory method would stuff that into the arguments Bundle, as I showed in the ViewPager samples

and the fragment instance would then retrieve that value to use when kicking off the AsyncTask (or whatever) for doing the REST call

using the arguments Bundle ensures that you have the data again after a configuration change

if the data structure retrieved from the REST call is the same (just with different values), use a single AsyncTask (or whatever), otherwise use two

ok coolio, then I will be reviewing your ViewPager samples too

Much appreciated

no problem

Guarav & Jeff: do either of you have a question?

My goal would be to have the app sort of like a wordpress page. Where the "theme" is the same, and the data can quickly be updated via pulling info off the web.

that's a question of decoupling the view and controller logic (display and input events) from your model and how you retrieve your model

hello, Chrystian!

Hello

Chrystian: do you have a question? it's your turn

I have to develop an app for a customer. The app needs to start on 5 devices(same hardware) simultaneously, can I rely on android's time implementation? I think I could also use gps time, but that may not work inside buildings.

if the devices are all using network time (e.g., NITZ from cell providers), they'll be decently accurate

how "simultaneous" do you need? Android isn't a RTOS

the devices will be gsm, but they will not have service.

within 100 ms

that's not going to be possible with each of them operating independently

maybe if they are all listening on open sockets to some server that can send a "go!" signal

yes, that is what I was thinking

can I implement NITZ if the device has no service?

not unless you are a billionaire and are going to set up your own mobile carrier :-)

I don't think apps can set the system time (e.g., run your own SNTP client), but that's at least worth investigating

haha, OK. No, they cant, I looked that up earlier

thank you.

yeah, then, some sort of synchronized signal (WiFi, Bluetooth, maybe USB) will be your best shot

Ok, thanks.

Ollie & Guarav: do either of you have a question?

Not at the moment

Eventually though I will be having questions about using the "new" location services

I have some material on LocationClient in the book, for basic location lookups

haven't gotten to geofencing yet

When that happens I will be bugging you some more

OK

Chrystian: do you have another question?

no, that was it.

OK, well, if anyone comes up with a question, chime in

hello, Yurii!

Yurii: do you have a question?

Hi Mark, quick question, how doesn't Retrofit works with orientation changes?

*does

AFAIK, they're using AsyncTask under the covers

but I haven't really looked

Cool thanks, then I should evaluate RoboSpice.

I have not attempted to get a Retrofit call to span a configuration change, and so I do not know the precise behavior

if anyone has a question, chime in

Sending multiple attachments from internal storage on Android 14+

to Gmail or other mail client

I haven't done it

I think there's ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE for that scenario

though the attachments would have to be served by a ContentProvider or made world-readable

but with FLAG_GRANT_URI_PERMISSION world readable setData takes only one Uri

presumably, the attachments would need to be world-readable via the ContentProvider as well

world-readable not an option. have content provider

you could cook up some sort of one-time Uri approach to limit others' ability to read the data later

but, again, it's not a scenario that I have investigated

interesting idea, any links for one-time uri?

nope, just a brainstorm

basically, use random numbers (e.g., content://authority/one_time/NNNNNN)

have a HashMap tying number to underlying file

once the number is used, remove it from the HashMap

there could be hiccups with this approach, such as configuration changes in the other app causing it to want to re-read the Uri

so it might need to be more time-based than one-time-use

Thanks, have a good day

you too!

if anyone has a quick last question, go ahead

I think I am good for the night

well, that's a wrap for today's chat

the transcript will appear on http://commonsware.com/office-hours/ shortly

the next chat is tomorrow, 10am Eastern

have a pleasant day, all!

You too