Hello all,
I'm currently trying to develop an Android app as part of my final year of university (I would have posted this is development but I'm too new ) and I'm using my Dell Streak as the main testing device as, lets be honest, it rocks and I'm too poor to get another device. I'm running DJ_Steves Streakdroid 1.9.1 custom rom as the Android platform.
The app itself requires the usage of some sort of mapping API, and I would prefer to use the Google maps API as it has all the features I require and with it being built into a significant number of Android devices it would reach the widest range of devices whilst retaining the necessary simplicity due to being built into the SDK and ADT plugin. However when attempting to run a basic app prototype that displays a map centred on the last recorded GPS location, I run into a classDefNotFoundError every time I try to run it, indicating that the API does not exist on the device. This leads me on to a selection of questions I'd like to ask if anyone knows the answers to:
Do any of the Streakdroid versions have the maps API?
Do any other custom roms have the maps API?
Is the maps API included in the stock Froyo release?
Related
Hey everyone, my name is Ian. I'm kind of new here, at least in a participatory role as wiki master of the Photon 4g's Sunfire dev team/collaboration. I have some talent in the world of web coding, but I'm useless at real programming.
I also have a rather nasty addiction to the world of flight simming, mostly as stand in for real flight time that I'm trying to orchestrate as I work towards a private pilot's license. Anyways, my program I use for flight simulation is X-plane and lacks in 3rd party applications that it can interface with, especially on the Android side. I would like to help to put together an Android app that can work with the sim and control basic functions. My current goal is to control radio systems and autopilot functions. To interface with the sim, I plan to use the Simulator Control System which is based on the CAN Aerospace protocol. This is cross sim application, so whatever works with X-plane will also work with Microsoft flight sim. I've been looking at the website, http://cross-simulator.com/, and I think that this seems like a fairly easy task. All the functions and commands are well documented and supported (there is even an example android code), I just don't know how to start. If anyone in this great community has some advice, I'd love to hear it because I really have no clue.
Thanks, and happy dev'ing
I would just download the example, import it in Eclipse and run it on the Android emulator (assuming you have downloaded and installed the Android SDK). Later, you can tweak the example code as you become more comfortable.
maybe either through API level, or by querying market info
Reason: i want to check on GB before I upgrade to ICS, which apps will not work.
don't know if relevant but it is for SGS II
Thx in advance
repost from here as nobody could really answer my question
can't believe I'm the only one with that issue
maybe an idea for a dev? would be willing to pay for that ;-)
I don't see why this can't be done:
-http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2695746/how-to-get-a-list-of-installed-android-applications-and-pick-one-to-run
-http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageManager.html
-http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#getApplicationInfo()
I haven't thought through the problem just yet, but its seems to be doable. If you don't find an app soon, I will start working on a script that does it and, if successful, a proper, free software app. I am hoping the available methods won't require something as stupid as launching each app fully. But again, I haven't thought it through. Thanks for the idea btw.
EDIT:
Made a little more effort
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!topic/android-developers/dXLACRIizKc
I will work on something this weekend and get back with y'all.
EDIT 2:
So it looks like I would need maxSdkVersion which I don't find in the API. Furthermore, it is strongly suggested that one not use maxSdkVersion when building an app so that doesn't sound all that useful. I have received another, much more complicated suggestion that may do what I want, but I will have to look hard at it. Looks like I'm going nowhere in my effort. Always open to suggestions. More to come later this weekend.
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I thought this was mostly a straightforward task using the API's exposure to AndroidManifest.xml. As per my previously posted link to an Android Developers discussion on the topic, my approach is dead in the water as far as I can see. I did try to find an answer though to the best of my limited ability. If anyone has or ever solves this problem (I consider it a problem) I would hope they find the this thread.
Thanks for the learning experience. I give up.
Most older apps will work fine on ICS, its pretty backwards compatible. If the app uses legacy menus the button will appear in the old lower left hand corner location instead of the upper right hand corner like apps written for ICS.
i'm no dev so bear with me if i write stupid stuff
one likely but not very promising sounding way might be to use android:targetSdkVersion as "As Android evolves with each new version, some behaviors and even appearances might change. However, if the API level of the platform is higher than the version declared by your app's targetSdkVersion, the system may enable compatibility behaviors to ensure that your app continues to work the way you expect. You can disable such compatibility behaviors by specifying targetSdkVersion to match the API level of the platform on which it's running. For example, setting this value to "11" or higher allows the system to apply a new default theme (Holo) to your app when running on Android 3.0 or higher and also disables screen compatibility mode when running on larger screens (because support for API level 11 implicitly supports larger screens)."
question though is how many apps actually use this?
However after having read this re android:maxSdkVersion "Warning: Declaring this attribute is not recommended. First, there is no need to set the attribute as means of blocking deployment of your application onto new versions of the Android platform as they are released. By design, new versions of the platform are fully backward-compatible. Your application should work properly on new versions, provided it uses only standard APIs and follows development best practices. Second, note that in some cases, declaring the attribute can result in your application being removed from users' devices after a system update to a higher API Level. Most devices on which your application is likely to be installed will receive periodic system updates over the air, so you should consider their effect on your application before setting this attribute." (taking from here) i now don't know how important my op is, but then why do all app devs release new versions "fixing things" for ICS?
One pretty significant example which actually currently will prevent my phone from getting ICS for now is that the subsonic app in the current version produces stuttering when playing audio while downloading (problem description here).
Isn't there any way to instead of searching the phone searching google play/android market instead?
Randi said:
maybe either through API level, or by querying market info
Reason: i want to check on GB before I upgrade to ICS, which apps will not work.
don't know if relevant but it is for SGS II
Thx in advance
repost from here as nobody could really answer my question
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a list of some working games/apps for ICS
Theoretically an Android app (or a combo of say App Engine and Android) could find your installed apps, seacrh Play for said apps and then scrape the page for relevant information. Doesn't sound to hard, but I didn't think about too hard either. Perhaps I will check out what useful info is on Play and how feasible scraping its markup will be. I will get back at y'all if I do.
Hi all.
I have problems contacting google to get some info on Google Play service and obtaining license to use on specific device with firmware entirely build by me which is based on ICS 4.0.3 sources provided to me by chipset manufacturer..
I'll c/p last mail I sent to android-partnership [at] google.com for you guys to get the point:
****
Hello,
If somebody told me that I will have to write same e-mail three times to Google withouth getting any response I would not belive him, but things happen...
Again:
I'm CEO of Croatian company. We have OEM hardware producer in China who produces for us Android ICS and GB based media players. Because theese media players are based on Amlogic chipset (AML8726-M3 platform which runs ICS and AML8726-M platform which runs GB 2.3.4) and on Amlogic ICS which is not prepared for targeted region (Central Europe), we obtained partnership with Amlogic to get access to their sources to be able to customize it and prepare it to be used in our region.
Based on that, we are building our own firmwares for these devices. According to our hardware manufacturer's firmware versions, they do have access to Google Play service. Because of different fingerprints and keys used for our firmware build, same device with our firmware is not recognized by Google Play service and actually we are not licensed to use it.
My question to you (for 3rd time) is what we have to do to get Google Play working on our firmware builds. Your FAQ seems to be confusing... By that I reffer to theese Q and A's:
What kinds of devices can be Android compatible?
The Android software can be ported to a lot of different kinds of devices, including some on which third-party apps won't run properly. The Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) spells out the specific device configurations that will be considered compatible.
For example, though the Android source code could be ported to run on a phone that doesn't have a camera, the CDD requires that in order to be compatible, all phones must have a camera. This allows developers to rely on a consistent set of capabilities when writing their apps.
The CDD will evolve over time to reflect market realities. For instance, the 1.6 CDD only allows cell phones, but the 2.1 CDD allows devices to omit telephony hardware, allowing for non-phone devices such as tablet-style music players to be compatible. As we make these changes, we will also augment Google Play to allow developers to retain control over where their apps are available. To continue the telephony example, an app that manages SMS text messages would not be useful on a media player, so Google Play allows the developer to restrict that app exclusively to phone devices.
If my device is compatible, does it automatically have access to Google Play and branding?
Google Play is a service operated by Google. Achieving compatibility is a prerequisite for obtaining access to the Google Play software and branding. Device manufacturers should contact Google to obtain access to Google Play.
And this one, which tells me to contact you which I am doing for 3rd time in last few days:
If I am not a manufacturer, how can I get Google Play?
Google Play is only licensed to handset manufacturers shipping devices. For questions about specific cases, contact [email protected].
Will you please be so kind and answer to my questions?
Best Regards,
Stanislav Vlasic
****
That was 3rd mail sent to them. I also tried to contact them to compatibility [at] android.com, but no response at all.
So, my question.... Does anybody know who to contact to get ANY kind of answer?
Regards,
Stane
Hello all.
I have just put Jelly Bean on my Milestone 2 and I must say it is a VAST improvement over GingerBread 2.3.4, which was what Motorola officially pushed out for it. Amongst the many UI and performance increases, there is one I particularly like - the Google Voice engine, and it's integration with the Google Now service.
My question is this - if I were to want to develop plugins or modules for this Google Voice engine (and I give an example of what I mean below) to be released absolutely free on XDA and Google Play, how much of a task would it be for me? I would really like to develop rules to use with Voice - for example, when you now say "show me and image of.." it will show you images of the topic you give it, using Googles search engine. I would like to develop a rule which says "What is this song?" for example - at which point in reaches out to Shazam or SoundHound and starts tagging. Little things like this - "Show me trains at <this train station>" for another example, where it could go out and browse to a specific URL which would show a timetable for a train station. Are there any development outlets for writing these "rules"?
I have not developed for Android before, but do have experience in Java programming. I've been following various streams of interest on XDA as well, having owned an original G1 until a year ago when I got my Milestone 2, both of which have been rooted and flashed with CyanogenMod. So in terms of Android development, I am an amateur. But I am a programmer and an avid Android enthusiast, and would really like to get my teeth into developing for the OS, and would really like to begin with Google Voice.
Any information anyone could give me about this would be great.
Hi friends,
I need advice on a pressing issue I am facing right now about an android app I got developed through a freelancer.
I am webmaster of a website for numerology enthusiasts. On this website, we were offering a numerology calculator (basically a combination of html pages with some javascript embeded - all compiled in an .exe format) Later, on some suggestions, we decided to prepare an Android version of this tiny program by hiring a programmer of South India. It was 2011 and the Gingerbread was the prevalent Android platform. The programmer created the App and we published it on Android Market where it is still available on playstore (search for com.namecalculator.lite on playstore and the first result 'Your Lucky Name' is the app in question.)
The problem is that this was an app which was not compatible with the later version of Android. As such, after sometimes, when the ICS version of Android was launched, the app stopped working for ICS devices. As of now, except for some old Android devices, this App is useless.
When I contacted the guy who originally developed this App, he told that the source file of the Apps were not saved by him and as such, he expressed his inability to do anything about it. He told me that if I again wanted him to develop the app for later versions of Android (like ICS, Jellybean etc), I will have to pay him the full development fee as he will have to start again from scratch.
Since my website is only a hobbyist website with negligible revenue, it was not possible for me to again hire this programmer just to develop an upgraded version of the app.
As of now, a very popular part of my website (the app) has become unavailable for its intended users. In this background, I want guidance on the following:-
(1) If an App is already built for an earlier Android version, does making it compatible with future/latest version of Android require the same amount of energy and effort which was needed when the app was developed the first time?
(2) Since the App in question is basically a compilation of html files with some javascript embeded in some pages, will it be really difficult to reconstruct the app if the source file of earlier app has been lost ?(I still have the raw html pages with me)
(3) I am not a programmer but have experience of web-designing, creating blogs etc. Can I self taught myself to create the above mentioned app by reading and following the online tutorials ? If yes, what in your opinion is the expected time an average learner (with no programming background) can do it? Also kindly point me to some good tutorials.
(4) Any other advice on the above issue some of you might be having ?
Regards
Eklavya