Building Your First Android Application

More than ever before, the world is mobile. Of this mobile revolution, Android is one of the top platforms. Put out by Google to compete with Apple's iOS, Android shows no signs of slowing down. People are wanting to build the apps that run on Android. You always hear about the success stories of apps getting bought for millions of dollars such as Draw Something or Instagram, and now you can start the path to building your million-dollar idea.

Step 1: Installing Java

Android apps are written in a programming language called Java. Java is one of the most popular programming languages in the world and helps run billions of devices. One of the great things about java is that it is completely free to download. It was originally created by Sun Microsystems, but was purchased by Oracle in 2010. To download java onto your computer go to https://www.java.com/en/ and click on the "Free Java Download" button. This will take you to a page where you can start the download. Once you click the button "Agree and Start Free Download" a file will be downloaded. Once the file is download, run the .exe file. When the install file opens up follow the steps to finish the Java installation.

Step 2: Downloading the Development Environment

There are a number of ways to develop Android apps. The easiest way to get started quickly is to use the ADT Bundle developed by Google. The ADT Bundle provides a number of tools that are essential to building android apps.

To start go to https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. Once on this page click on the button "Download the SDK ADT Bundle". Once this button is clicked check the box agreeing to the terms and conditions and select either 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on your computer. After you have agreed and selected your system type click on the "Download the SDK ADT Bundle" button and the download will start. The download is a fairly large .zip file (460 mb) so it may take ahwile. After it has completed downloading you can move on to learn how to install it!

Step 3: Installing the ADT Bundle

With the file done downloading, double-click to open it. Extract all the files to a location on your computer. I left it the default location when I extracted. Once the file is finished extracting click on the file. You should now see two folders named eclipse and sdk and an application called SDK Manager. We are going to open up the environment where you will be developing android apps so click on eclipse. You should now see multiple folders and multiple files. Here you want to double click eclipse.exe to open the application.
With eclipse open we can now get started building our first app!

Step 4: Running the ADT Bundle

When you start up the eclipse you get a screen that asks you wear you want to save your files. Go ahead and leave this default. It should be \path\to\folder\workspace. This is wear all of your files and folders that you create within eclipse will be saved.

Step 5: Building your first App!

After selecting your workspace go to File -> New -> Android Application Project. This brings up a new application window for you to fill out the specs of your app. Type "Hello Wold" into the Application Name space. This will be the name of your application that gets shown in the Play Store when people try to download it. When you fill out the name space all other spaces will automatically fill out with it. When your screen looks like my new application image click next. On the next screen leave everything how it is and click next. On the next screen you can select your apps icon. For now, just leave it set as the default and select next. The next screen has you select an activity. Leave Blank Activity selected and click next. On the final screen keep everything how it is and select Finish. After you click finish your app is now created! Next we show you how to add stuff to the screen.

Step 6: Programming your App

With your new app open, we now want to see how to change what the user will see. The ADT Bundle gives us a great tool with a visual editor to create our apps. To get to this click the activity_main.xml tab that is open. If you do not see it, in the file manager on the left select res -> layout -> activity_main.xml. This opens the visual editor. From the visual editor click on the smaller text "Hello world!" located on the screen. When this is clicked a line to the right under properties highlights. Click on the text @string/hello_world to change it. Your text has to have the @string/ in front of it though. This is a part of the xml so that Android knows what type it is. Play around with the visual editor for a bit. When you finish your app, go on to figure out to test it.

Step 7: Creating the Device to Test Your App

There are two ways that you can test your app. You can either put it on to an android device and run it, or you can set up an emulator to test on. Since not everyone has a device to test on we'll set up an emulator. The youtube video created by user Andr.oid Eric shows how to create an Android Emulator using the Android Virtual Device Manager.

Step 8: Testing Your App

Now that your have your app and you have your device to test it on it's time to put the two together! To test your app on the emulated device you first need to start up your emulated device. My emulated device is a Nexus One so your home screen may look different. When your device is up and running (give it some time, it takes awhile to get started) you then go back to eclipse and click the green play button. Once pushed, eclipse will put your HelloWorld app onto the emulator and run it. Congratulations, you have now created your first android application!

Step 9: Thank you

I hope that the steps were easy to follow and that everything went smoothly. Now that you know how to start developing apps, go out and build your million-dollar idea!

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[GUIDE] Deodex your stock ROM {THEMING YOUR ROM}

IT is the first step towards Theming your stock rom...

DEODEX => A way of accessing the system files to allow use of custom themes, icons,   buttons, menus,phone dialpads, and more..

i.e.

                      In Android file system, applications come in packages with the extension .apk. These application packages, or APKs contain certain .odex files whose supposed function is to save space. These ‘odex’ files are actually collections of parts of an application that are optimized before booting. Doing so speeds up the boot process, as it preloads part of an application. On the other hand, it also makes hacking those applications difficult because a part of the coding has already been extracted to another location before execution.

             Deodexing is basically repackaging of these APKs in a certain way, such that they are reassembled into classes.dex files. By doing that, all pieces of an application package are put together back in one place, thus eliminating the worry of a modified APK conflicting with some separate odexed parts.

So, Deodexed ROMs (or APKs) have all their application packages put back together in one place, allowing for easy modification such as theming. Since no pieces of code are coming from any external location, custom ROMs or APKs are always deodexed to ensure integrity.

WHAT U WILL NEED :-

• ROOTED android device
• BUSYBOX INSTALLER (from market)     /*skip if already have*/
• XULTIMATE
• Android SDK toolkit

STEPS TO DEODEX YOUR ROM :-

1. Unzip xUltimate v2.2. Launch “Main.exe”.
2. Now xUltimate should recognize the phone and make a connection. You will now see a list of options.
3. Run option 1. After option 1 is done, run option 2.6. This may take a while, so be patient.
4. Now run option 3
5. After you have run option 3, you MUST navigate to the xUltimate folder and find “origi_frame” folder, and delete “guava.odex“. This file interferes with deodexing process.
6. Note: If there is no guava.odex, then simply continue to next step !
7. Now run option 4, and wait.
8. Exit xUltimate, and put the phone in USB mass storage then copy “done_frame”, and “done_app” to the root of the sdcard then put the phone in PC mode.
9. Open a command prompt, and do the following:

NOTE:- Goto folder where android sdk installed. Then goto platform-tools folder in it. Right click on free space in folder while pressing shift key.Select open command prompt here.
Now enter commands.

if you are using adb shell in su for the first time, keep phone screen on. After entering "su" code, super user request prompt in phone. Press allow

  

adb shell
su
stop
mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
busybox cp /sdcard/done_app/* /system/app/
busybox cp /sdcard/done_frame/* /system/framework/
rm /system/app/*.odex
rm /system/framework/*.odex
mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
reboot

After the boot, reboot again in CWM and Wipe Dalvik Cache, reboot and ENJOY !!!

Notice : First boot will take a little bit longer than normal

NOW YOUR ROM IS READY FOR THEMES OF UR CHOICES.... !!!!!

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[DIY] make your own WIFI SPYBOT

For making a wifi spybot the basic process involves stripping the R/C car, plugging in the Barracuda – which bridges the local servo controls with an ethernet connection – and hooking up the wireless router and webcam.  There’s also some fiddling with network settings to be done.

We will be showing you how to build a wifi robot / spybot from scratch. It is a very straight forward project and can easily be handled by a intermediate robot builder. To complete the robot, it will take a couple of hours.

WHAT U NEED FIRST-

1-Rc Car (new or used, choose one that could easily have a Rc servo fitted in the steering system. We got ours from Radio Shack.)

• 1-Barracuda wifi robot controller
• 1-Wifi Router 
• 1-Network Camera
• 2-Ethernet Cables
• 1-5v Regulator for camera
• 2-3 7.2v Rc Batteries (3300mAh or greater recommended)
• Misc wire, solder, tape etc.

NOW follow some steps :-

Step 1: Hacking The Car

To start building your wifi Robot / spybot, gutting of the Rc car is the first step. Take out everything! We got our Rc truck from Radio Shack, but others will work also. We gutted it out and built a roll cage on top. Here is a Picture of the truck gutted and the 3 Rc batteries mounted in the truck.

The two red batteries are to power the main motor and the barracuda wifi controller. While the blue 7.2v battery will power the Linksys router, 5v Regulator for the camera, and the steering servo. Three batteries are not needed, but i just find that it makes the wifi robot / spybot more reliable and allows longer run times. If you opt for two batteries the Linksys router can handle 40v, so you will be fine running it straight off of the two packs. The same with the 5v regulator. Te only problem will be the power for the steering servo, so you will either have to add another 5v regulator and run it off of that or just get a higher amperage 5v Regulator and run the servo and the camera off of it. The latter would be easiest. 

Step 2: Install The Steering Servo

We gutted out the steering box and retro fitted in a standard Rc servo. Other people have used the steering Mechanism that comes with the Rc car, But I wanted true proportional steering.

Step 3: Install The Barracuda wifi robot / spybot controller

(Picture One)
We started this step out by extending the leads coming from the motor by soldering on extra wire we had laying around.

(Picture Two)
Here is a picture of the barracuda wifi robot / spybot controller. This is what we will be using to control our robot.

(Picture Three)
Here is a picture of the yellow lead from the motor connected to the terminal block. You can also see how the batteries are connected in series to power the barracuda wifi robot controller. On the green terminal block is where we connect the servo. The red wire is connected to the third 7.2v batteries ground and the servo's ground. The white wire is the servo's signal wire. The barracuda has two output ports. Each can individually be configured as a digital or analog input, digital output, or an Rc output making the Barracuda very flexible

 Step 4: Power the camera, router and servo

In this step, all we did was take the mating connector that will connect to the batteries connector and solder the power and ground together for the 5v regulator. The power plug for the Linksys and the power wires for the servo. For a more detailed view, check out our Youtube Video.
Here is a picture of the 5v Regulator attached to the rear battery.

 Step 5: connect everything to the router

 Configure your router to have the base Ip Address of 192.168.1.1. The stock Ip Address for the barracuda is 192.168.1.10. The IP can be changed to whatever you want it to be with the configuration program that comes with it. Connect the camera and the Barracuda wifi robot controller to the router using the two Ethernet cables. Configure the camera to have an ip that works with that of the router and barracuda.

Step 6: Power up and go!

The barracuda wifi robot controller comes with a sample program and source code to drive the car. Power the car up,connect to your camera in the browser, run the sample program for the barracuda and start driving! The barracuda also supports use of a PS3 controller plugged into your computer to control it.

SOURCE - instructables

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Increasing the INTERNAL MEMORY and RAM of Android Devices Through Partition of sd-ext.

The most frustating thing on most of the android devices is that of its less internal memory
 OR
Low RAM of device!!!

But HERE is the most common and used solution for you to DO IT YOURSELF!


The solution is PARTITION of SD Card -:

 Partition of sd card requires a bit knowledge, rooted device and
1.custom recovery ( i use clockwork)
OR
2.pc partition wizard.. (not included in this post)

* NOTE - partition of card can harm your card if done wrong anywhere or if its not capable of handling the process, for increasing RAM use ultra- high speed card.

FIRST WE WILL CREATE PARTITION OF MEMORY CARD
1. USING CUSTOM RECOVERY -: (most easy and quick one)

Step I -  Take BACKUP of all your data in card

Step II - Go to RECOVERY MODE in your device, wipe cache partition, data. Now go to advance option and open Partition sd card option

Step III - Now through wizard you have to choose partition type  ( ext 2, ext3 , ext4, fat32) of which "ext-2" is generally compatible with every ROM. then you have to select the SWAP SIZE (EXTRA RAM SIZE) select the desired amount u want with caution that ur sd card can go through that much writing speed OR select zero to leave it and then atlast Select the desired amount of ur PARTIION size.

NOW it is done REBOOT YOUR DEVICE

*FOR INCREASING INTERNAL MEMORY
After rebooting go to play store and download  LINK2SD,
after opening it will ask for superuser permission and then the type of your partition;
then it will  restart with doing all necessary configuration.

AND YOU ARE DONE IN CREATING YOUR INTERNAL MEM.

*to shift your apps in partition part of ur card open link2sd select app and click on link option


*FOR INCREASING YOUR RAM

• Download and Install Swapper2 (of course)

• After installing, open Swapper2 and navigate to Menu > Settings

Swapper preferences: (for kernels that doesn't have swap partition support)

• Run swapper at startup (put a check)
• Swap place: /sd card/swapfile.swp (you can place it in a folder if you don't like a messy sd card structure )
• Swap size: MIN: 10 MB MAX: 256MB RECOMMENDED: 32MB (choose any)
• Swapiness: RECOMMENDED: 10MB SYSTEM DEFAULT: 60MB MAX: 100MB (choose any)
• Safe unmount (put a check)
• Safe remount (put a check)
• After setting preferences, press back and tap on "ON" to turn on swap. Reboot afterwards

 

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