Discovering the Android platform

• Using the Android platform.
• The Android model and its architecture.
• Overview of the operating system (features, version, tools, etc.).
• Key applications for using a terminal.
• The development tools, the development environment: Android Studio, Android SDK.
• Implementing the Android SDK.
• Target terminals (smartphones, tablets, personal navigation assistants, virtual terminals, etc).
• Internationalizing Android apps.
• Android and Linux.
• Hands-on works ¤Setting up a development environment with Android Studio and the Android SDK.

Android development

• Basic concepts of an Android application.
• The application's lifecycle (from publishing the program to testing).
• Overview of the development framework, libraries.
• Overview of basic classes and utilities.
• Creating your first project: Code, resource, ownership, and details of the project.
• Running your application on the SDK simulator and testing it.
• The SDK Manager and the configuration of Android virtual devices (AVDs): Target, SDCard, etc.
• Using a debugger to check how the programs are running.
• How to access the application's logs
• Identifying the application and the manifest file (version, minSDK, name of the application, etc.).
• Making your application available.
• Hands-on work¤Developing a first application based on the development cycle studied.

User interfaces with Android

• Overview of the layout and place of the component.
• Unique features of mobile devices in terms of display and user interaction.
• Graphical components: Layouts, menus, lists, etc.
• Creating a graphical user interface with views.
• Setting up menus (main, icon, sub-menu, etc.).
• Setting up layout containers (Gallery, GridView, ScrollView, etc.).
• Event management (set-up, reaction, listeners).
• Styles and themes applied to widgets.
• User notification (notification bar, toast, dialog boxes).
• Alternative resources: Multi-device testing, location.
• Hands-on work¤Creating an application with a graphical user interface.

The component model

• Basic concept: Activity and life cycle.
• Fundamental components: Activity, Service, BroadcastReceiver, ContentProvider, Intents.
• Stopping components (finish, stopSelf, etc.).
• Activities (life cycle, navigating between activities, inter-activity communication, etc.).
• Services (life cycle, background tasks, etc.). Service types (local and remote).
• Differences between an activity and a service.
• Launching an activity, its main states.
• AIDL (Android Interface Description Language). Message bus and Intents.
• Hands-on work¤Transmitting information from one Activity to another by means of Intents.

The persistence of data

• How can you share data between applications?
• Basic data backups.
• Using preferences (SharedPreferences, read mode). Retrieving a set of preferences.
• Using the file system (including for XML files).
• Locations of files containing data (internal/external zone).
• Using the embedded database (SQLite), data insertion.
• Using the Android API.
• Hands-on work ¤Implementing storage features on a device with a database.

Network management

• Reminders about network programming.
• Communication with a Socket server.
• Using HTTP with Android APIs.
• Introduction to the consumption of Web services.
• Parsing JSON with the Gson library for Android.
• Hands-on work ¤Data exchange.

Add-ons

• Telephone service management. Calls. Text message management. Interactions with the SIM card.
• Multimedia. Drawing and animation. Playing audio and video.
• Multimedia capture (sound, image, video, etc.).
• Geolocation APIs with Google Maps.
• Configuring the emulator to test geolocation.
• Hands-on work ¤Creating a geolocation app presented using Google Maps.