Office Hours — Today, May 23

← Thursday, May 21

May 23
3:55 PM
Mark M.
has entered the room
Mark M.
turned on guest access
Eugene S.
has entered the room
Mark M.
hello, Eugene!
how can I help you today?
4:00 PM
Eugene S.
Hi, Mark! Nice to meet you
Mark M.
likewise!
Eugene S.
Do you have experience of development custom launcher based on AOSP launcher3?
Mark M.
no, sorry
other than some lightweight launcher-like things for book examples, I have not written a launcher
4:05 PM
Mark M.
if you have another question, go right ahead!
Eugene S.
Ok. Then, next question. It's also about AOSP launcher3. I'm trying to add widget on default workspace but seems to me some mechanism does not work well there. So, I am trying to find some workaround. Can we wrap AppWidgetProvider in regular view for displaying?
Mark M.
not really -- the AppWidgetProvider is in another process than the launcher's process
AppWidgetHostView is how a launcher shows an app widget, and that will wind up going inside some other container (e.g., ConstraintLayout)
4:10 PM
Eugene S.
Ok, thanks! I'm also start to explore your book "Android Busy Coder Guide". Can you advise most advanced chaptes for deep sdk understanding? For example, when I'm read launcher3 code, i have feel that guys who write this code has some low level Android abstraction, like view accessibility e t.c.
Mark M.
well, *The Busy Coder's Guide* is a first-generation book, so it's a bit older than, say, *Elements of Android Jetpack* (a second-generation book)
*The Busy Coder's Guide* has a lot more depth, but some that material is really old
that is one of the reasons I declared 'tech debt' for that book and had to move on, after maintaining it for a decade
if you are asking what chapters to review if you want to build/modify a launcher...
View paste 
Home Screen App Widgets
Adapter-Based App Widgets
Publishing Slices
Hosting Slices
Eugene S.
Thanks!
Mark M.
View paste 
also: 
Writing and Using Parcelables
Device Administration (if that is how your launcher will get used)
App Shortcuts
PackageManager Tricks
4:15 PM
Eugene S.
Yes, Coder Guide is good. It's contains a basic concepts understanding that are very important even for experienced developer ;)
Mark M.
thanks for the kind words! just bear in mind the age of the material -- you will want to blend it with newer programming techniques
Eugene S.
Ok, i will. I have no more questions for now. But i will be back :) Thanks for your participation and have good weekends!
Mark M.
you too!
5:00 PM
Mark M.
that's a wrap for today's chat
the transcript will be posted to https://commonsware.com/office-hours/ shortly
the next chat is Tuesday at 7:30pm US Eastern
have a pleasant day!
Eugene S.
has left the room
Mark M.
turned off guest access

← Thursday, May 21

 

Office Hours

People in this transcript

  • Eugene Smykov
  • Mark Murphy