Hi Mark

hello, Susheel!

how can I help you today?

I have a question about eclipse ADT.

What is the name of the toolbar where you can change the theme for your app?

I did something to mine and its missing

you mean, in the Graphical Preview tab for a layout?

Yes in the graphical layout

I didn't know you could get rid of that

I have highlighted the red color region

oh

I have no idea how to get that back, though I presume that there is a way

Hi Mark and Susheel

Ok

(hello, Tiru -- I will be with you in just a moment!)

I have another question

Hi

Susheel: let me take a question from Tiru first, since you already asked one

Tiru: do you have a question?

absolutely

please go ahead

Yes... Is there any reason why SQLite queries on Android run slower when the table has indexes than when the table doesn't have indexes at all?

I would not expect that behavior

use EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN to see if it is actually using your indexes

It sounds strange, but that's what we noticed, even on Nexus 5 running latest version of kitkat!

I can certainly see queries not being helped by indexes, if the indexes aren't the right ones and a table scan is still needed

off the cuff, I would not expect indexes to make the table scan itself longer

but I haven't dealt with really large database contents, so I cannot rule it out

Susheel: let's take your next question

So, you suggest running EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN as a raw query from my Android app, and dumping the results?

When I receive sms from a certain number is it possible to skip the usual sms notification and instead display a custom notification? It’s better if the sms is not stored in the usual sms inbox. I want to be able to start my app when I click on this custom notification. Is that possible?

Tiru: yes, or use the sqlite3 command-line utiliyt

er, utility

Susheel: on Android 4.3, you can abort the broadcast and do what you want, but then the entire message handling is up to you, as it will not be delivered to the inbox

on Android 4.4, you cannot interfere with the user's chosen SMS client

ok

what about versions prior to 4.3?

oh, sorry, I mean Android 4.3 and earlier there

cool

np

Tiru: do you have another question?

Yes, Is there an easier way for implementing items sorted into section in a list view?

For instances, I want tasks to be grouped by date

"easier way" than what?

Adapter returning multiple different item types

well, that's going to be required for sections regardless of sorting

my MergeAdapter makes assembling such an adapter a bit easier

though the sorting part is up to you

Actually, I meant grouping, not sorting

Why isn't there an easier way as in iOS?

if it is easier for you to create an adapter per section for the section's contents, that's where MergeAdapter works well

Does MergeAdapter ensure that section title item is not clickable?

yes, that's the default

there are other third-party libraries out there that handle sectioned lists that you can look at as well

Any notable libraries that you know of?

sorry, there's a bunch of ListView ones, and I don't keep tabs on them all

try AndroidViews.net or android-aresenal.com

er, android-arsenal.com

sure

Susheel: do you have another question?

so only on ver 4.4, even if the user chooses default sms client I still cannot intercept the text?

oh, you can intercept the text

you just can't stop the user's chosen SMS client from *also* receiving the text

and showing the notification

ok

and putting it in the inbox

Got you

basically, as of Android 4.4, the use of SMS as an app control channel is no longer really viable

ok

I have another question....

go ahead

Is it possible to send email via my app without having to choose which client I want to pick?

Is there a standard way to detect when the user is idle? (In other words, the user is not actively using the app.. in a sense, the user is "away from keyboard")

Susheel: you can use the JavaMail library, but then you need SMTP account credentials

Susheel: or, you can talk to your server, and your server can send the email

which is basically the username and password?

Susheel: otherwise, the user needs to be involved, via ACTION_SEND/ACTION_SENDTO

ok

Susheel: username, password, SMTP server, etc. -- everything you normally configure in a mail client

Tiru: not really, as the idea is that the device goes to sleep then

great. This works for all kinds of email clients? gmail, yahoo, irrespective?

JavaMail *is* an email client, in library form

ok

Is there a way to detect when the device is coming out of sleep?

whether any given SMTP server will talk to it depends a bit on that server and any requirements it may have that JavaMail may not support (e.g., TLS encryption)

ok

and, it assumes that the user is interested in giving your app those details, or you are willing for the world's script kiddies to get at your hard-coded details

Tiru: not really

Right

Thanks a lot for your help Mark :)

Does JavaMail library work as-is on Android, or is there a scaled-down version of JavaMail library?

AFAIK, people are just using standard JavaMail

there may be somebody who has done a tweaked version, though I don't recall hearing of it

if either of you have another question, go right ahead

And I can automate sending sms and emails using AlarmManager, right?

yes

great

Have you tried Genymotion?

not recently

I have a fairly powerful notebook, so the x86 emulators (plus hardware) work fine for me

on mac, or windows?

Linux

Is HAXM supported on Linux?

there's an equivalent (KVM)

great.. is that covered in the book?

you mean how to set it up?

yes

I mostly point to the developer docs for it, as I cannot really add much to it

Any links that can help?

see "Configuring VM Acceleration on Linux"

and ignore their comments regarding VirtualBox -- I haven't had any problems using both VirtualBox and KVM

Do you run your Linux inside a VirtualBox VM?

no, I run it on my notebook

Thank you Mark, have a good night

I am trying to understand why they talk about VirtualBox on that page

my guess is that they ran into some driver conflicts somewhere along the line

but, again, I haven't had any problems

Any guess when Android Studio would come out of beta?

possibly Google I|O 2014 (late June)

Do you still use ADT in Eclipse, or have you started using Android Studio?

I use both, mostly Eclipse

Do you expect any big announcements at I/O 2014?

I have given up guessing on what will happen at I|O :-)

Yes, that's a sensible thing to do! :-)

Any new trends and recent developments with regard to Android development?

um, that's kinda broad

I know

Any significant things that you find interesting

sorry, but that's not really what this chat is for

I'm here to help you solve development problems

no problem

Are there any other consultants who work for commonsware, or do you do it alone?

CommonsWare is just me

great

Thanks for your time... I'll catch you sometime later

Have fun

bye

OK, have a pleasant day!

thank you

good night