Chaining Views in a ConstraintLayout Programmatically

One of the biggest challenges of building elegant mobile interfaces is making them adapt properly to the full gamut of screen sizes. This is especially true for Android development. Back in 2016, Google introduced a new container view class called ConstraintLayout which makes this task much easier. One nice feature of the ConstraintLayout class is […]

Android Room Database Tips and Tricks

One of the nice things about Android development is having the power of a real SQLite database to store data, along with built-in support in the framework using Room. Room is an abstraction layer over SQLite. It has a lot of nice features, but it also has some limitations.

With Jetpack, Android Development Has Leapfrogged iOS

Over the past six years, I’ve done a lot of iOS development (and written a lot about iOS). I would say it’s been the primary focus of my career. But as a software consultant, I need to be flexible, and I’ve done my fair share of Android development as well. I’m currently working on a […]

Creating a Custom Gboard Sticker Pack – A Guide for Android Newbies

Recently, Google started allowing developers to create custom sticker packs for Gboard on Android. In case you’ve never heard of Gboard, it’s Google’s latest virtual keyboard. Available on both iOS and Android, Gboard is an all-in-one keyboard that includes glide and voice typing, a predictive word engine, and stickers. It is also the built-in keyboard […]

Supporting Old Android Versions with Multidex

My current Android project needs to be backwards-compatible with every Android version back to Android 4.4 (KitKat). Meeting this requirement can be difficult and frustrating for a number of reasons, but with KitKat installed on ~10% of all Android phones worldwide (at the time of this writing), it’s still worth supporting. One of the issues […]

Android ConstraintLayout vs. iOS AutoLayout

Having worked on an app with both native iOS and Android versions, it’s been interesting to compare and contrast the layout approaches of both platforms. iOS has had a constraint-based layout system for quite some time now in the form of AutoLayout, while Android has only recently added a similar system called ConstraintLayout.

Creating BroadcastReceivers that Run while Your Android App Is Backgrounded

In my latest project, I’m building iOS and Android apps that have to handle incoming Bluetooth data even when the apps are backgrounded. To achieve this on Android, I decided to implement a BroadcastReceiver.

Automating Android NumberPicker using Espresso

While writing an Android UI test involving a NumberPicker, I discovered that instrumenting the NumberPicker using Espresso was not as straightforward as some other Android controls.

Kotlin vs. Java – Why Kotlin on Android is Here to Stay

Android is a popular mobile platform, but it lacks some of the basic language features in Java that iOS has with Swift. Even on the Android framework, Java is a verbose language. Other contenders like Clojure and Scala have come before to make the JVM more friendly, but they have fallen short of widespread usage. Now […]

Setting Up Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Services and Login with Amazon on Android

On my current project, we’re integrating Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Services (DRS) into an Android app. DRS allows “smart” devices to automatically reorder supplies from Amazon if users of the device (and accompanying apps) opt in. For example, a washing machine might order more detergent, or an electronic device might order more batteries. The order is triggered once […]

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Android Development