Android Cookbook Examples

This repo is among the largest collections of Android code samples anywhere; it contains around a hundred and fifty compilable source code examples from the O’Reilly Android Cookbook, a great source of tutorial material for the Android Developer. Not all recipes in the book or online have code accompanying them; this repo features code that was either linked by the contributor, or in some cases, re-constructed as a New Project by the editor for your convenience.

Further note that not all programs used in the book/online appear here; some of the examples in the book/online are only program fragments taken from other programs that can’t be included. And of course some code is drawn from existing projects that are hosted elsewhere.

Each Directory comprises its own project, and has a name that is cited at the end of the corresponding Recipe, under the "Source Code Download" section.

NOTE There are two styles of projects:

1. Eclipse projects with the newer Eclipse Andmore;

2. Android Studio projects (most of them complete with their extraneous "app" subdirectory).

The started-in-Eclipse projects also have configuration files to allow them to be opened in Android Studio.

During the runup to the second edition of the book, AndMore appeared to be a viable project to maintain Android Eclipse development. However, over time, it has become clear that AndMore has not attracted enough developer talent to remain viable. Accordingly, the newest projects here are Android-Studio-Only.

The table List of Projects shows which projects are set up for which build tools.

*Note that, since Gradle and the Gradle Android Plugin need to be updated just about every time your run Android Studio, there is no attempt made to keep things up-to-date here; just let Studio do its upgrade thing for you and all will be well. They promise.

TL;DR: Build Many Projects with Apache Maven

Prerequisites: Java 8+ SDK, Android SDK including "Google Maven Repository" for compat stuff, git, Maven

1. git clone https://github.com/mosabua/maven-android-sdk-deployer

2. cd maven-android-sdk-deployer

3. mvn install -P 6.0 # at least

4. mvn install -P 7.0 # also needed

5. cd ..

6. git clone https://github.com/IanDarwin/Android-Cookbook-Examples

7. cd Android-Cookbook-Examples

8. mvn -fae package android:install android:run Include android:install and android:run only if you actually want to run them all, and have a device or emulator with some good free space; else just do 'package')

9. Fix up any that didn’t work, and send pull requests!

Eclipse Issue

If you get Eclipse-Maven projects failing with this message: org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.jar.Manifest.write(java.io.PrintWriter)

then you need to update your "M2E Connector for Android" to at least 0.17.2.20060614

Maven Build: More Details

About two thirds of these projects were initially developed using Eclipse ADT, and migrated to Maven for automatic building. Obviously Google has spoken and we will eventually have to migrate kicking and screaming to Android Studio and Gradle, but for now, we are keeping those projects in "bilingual" or "either-IDE mode".

If you import the entire repo in Eclipse with eGit, be sure to check the Import all projects checkbox. If you want to keep these mini-projects separate from your "regular" work, you may want to use the Git repo as an Eclipse workspace (use File→Switch Workspace→Other→Browse). This directory is already set up to be an Eclipse workspace if you want it to (the .metadata directory exists and is already in .gitignore).

Note: As part of the move to Gradle, Google stopped pushing Android releases to Maven Central; their last version was 4.1.1.4, thus Lollipop, Marshmallow, and "N" have been left high-and-dry. And worse, their SDK license prohibits re-distribution of binaries, so nobody else can step in and upload these files to Maven Central. But of course there is a solution. To compile these projects with Maven you will need to download the amazing maven-android-sdk-deployer, which repackages files from the SDK - after you download it using the Android tools, thus nobody is redistributing it - into your local .m2/repository so that Maven can find it. This is the function of the first few steps in the numbered list above.

Note that projects using official releases use e.g. com.google.android:android:4.1.1.4 whereas projects deployed using the sdk-deployer use e.g android:android:6.0_r3.

You can download AndroidCookbookExamples as a Zip file from GitHub, but then you won’t get updates, and it will be hard to collaborate with the other contributors. If you’re not familiar with Git and Github, see the getting started page on GitHub and read up on how to collaborate. You can either send diff/patch files or send a pull request. Remember that GitHub is a free service for public projects!

Many of the projects may (depending on your version of Eclipse) give you some noise when you first open them due to bin and/or gen being missing. The Eclipse plug-in will usually create them but not notify that it’s done so, meaning you just have to do Refresh (F5), failing that, close and re-open the project. Does not happen with current Eclipse, last I tried.

There is neither a Wiki or a Tracker for this Github repository. If a project won’t open, or won’t build, we’d prefer that you fix it and sent a pull request. Bugs and suggestions about code samples can be made on the Android Cookbook web site (http://androidcookbook.com/). Bugs or suggesions on the published edition of the book should go to http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920038092.do; you can also purchase the book there (which helps fund my continued work on this code base).

Notes for the First Edition of the book

The current version of this repo has been reorganized in preparation for the second edition of the book. There have been quite a few projects added since the first published edition of the book, and a few renamed, so if you have the printed edition from 2012 you should rummage around here before re-typing anything that looks like a full example.

If you want this repo to correspond to the last minor revision of the first edition, use git to checkout the tag Book-1.0.

DELETED PROJECTS

JpsTrack and the ToDo applications have graduated to their own github projects, up one level from here on Github.

List of Projects

The following list is generated (periodically) from the project folders. In the Builds With column, E for Eclipse, M for Maven, S for Android Studio, G for Gradle. The Author names have recently been added; if I have missed or mis-attributed any, please let me know and I will happily correct them. You (and I) know who you are.

Table 1. List of projects with description and build tools

Project	Author	Builds With	Function	Notes
AboutBoxDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	A re-usable About dialog.	-
AboutInfo	Ian Darwin	EMGS	Info about device and screen	-
ActionBarCompat	Ian Darwin	GS	Simple ActionBar demo(s)	-
AddContact	Ian Darwin	EMG	Add a contact	Shows ContactsContract, content provider
AdMobDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Using AdMob with interstitial (inter-Activity) ads.	-
Analytics	Ian Darwin	EMGS	Ashwini’s Google Analytics for Android Demo, slightly updated.	-
AndroidPlot	Rachee Singh	EMG	Graphing	-
AndroidRss	Wagied Davids	EMG	RSS Reader	Works under Maven; Eclipse fails w/ Maven Configuration Problem
AppDownloader	Ian Darwin	MGS	Installs another app	Downloading, package management
AppShortcutsDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Shows App Shortcuts, which appear with long-press on app’s launcher icon.	-
AppSingleton	Ian Darwin	GS	Compilable example of the Application Singleton pattern recipe.	-
AutocompleteTextViewContacts	Ian Darwin	EMG	Contact picker with autocomplete	-
AutoUpdater	Ian Darwin	EMG	App can update itself	see AppDownloader
BackupManager	Ian Darwin	EMG	Use Android Backup scheme.	-
BluetoothDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Bluetooth Connection	-
CalAdder	Ian Darwin	EMG	Add appointment to Calendar	Calendar via Content Provider
CallFaker	Ian Darwin	EMG	Pretend a call happened, for testing	-
CallInterceptorIncoming	Johan Pelgrim	EGS	Intercept an incoming phone call.	-
CallInterceptorOutgoing	Johan Pelgrim	EG	Intercept outgoing phone calls.	Compiles and runs, but doesn’t intercept the call.
CameraIntent	Ian Darwin	GS	CameraIntent - get the camera to take a picture, by startActivityForResult()	-
CardDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demonstation of Card widget.	-
CheckBoxRadioButton	Ian Darwin	EMG	GUI demo	name says it
ContentProviderBookmarks	Ian Darwin	EMG	List of bookmarks from Bookmarks Content Provider	Browser ContentProvider
ContentProviderList	Ian Darwin	EMG	List of ContentProviders	-
ContentProviderSample	Ashwini Shahapurkar	EMG	Implement a ContentProvider	-
ContentProviderTest	Ian Darwin	EMG	Test it	-
CountDownTimerExample	Wagied Davids	EMG	Time-based activity	-
CurrentMoodWidget	Ian Darwin	EMG	Application Widget	-
CursorLoaderDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	How to load data properly using CursorLoader	-
CustomMenu	Ian Darwin	EMG	Menu	-
CustomSubMenu	Ian Darwin	GS	Submenu, created programmatically	-
CustomToast	Rachee Singh	EMG	Toast	-
DatabaseFromFile	Ian Darwin	EMG	Create a database from an SQLite .db file in 'assets'.	-
DataToCursor	Ian Darwin	EMG	Fake up a Cursor from a list of files	-
DateFormatDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Example of various DateFormat usages.	-
DialogDemos	Ian Darwin	EMG	Dialogs	-
DragDropDemo	Ian Darwin	EG	A simple Drag-and-drop example.	-
DreamsDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Demo of "Dreams" (4.x screensaver)	-
EmailTextView	Wagied Davids	EMG	Send contents of EditText via email	-
EmailWithAttachments	Marco Dinacci	EMG	Attach file to email	-
EpochJSCalendar	Wagied Davids	EMG	Java + JavaScript Epoch Calendar	-
EventListenersDemo	Daniel Fowler	M	5 Ways to Wire an Event Listener.	-
FacebookSdk	Ian Darwin	EMG	Access FB API	-
FaceFinder	Wagied Davids	EMG	Face locator API in photos	-
FileProviderDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demo of FileProvider.	-
FilesystemDemos	Ian Darwin	MGS	Internal and external files.	-
FindMeX	Ian Darwin	EG	Find Me X	IllegalArgumentException: Incomplete location object, missing timestamp or accuracy, Progress:334
FloatingActionButtonSnackbarDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demo of 'fab' Floating Abstract Button	-
FontDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Using a custom font	You need to provide the font file! Example uses Iceberg font…​
FragmentsDemos	Ian Darwin	GS	Simple Fragment and List-Detail Fragments in one project	-
Gallery	Ian Darwin	EMG	Simple Photo Gallery example.	Deprecated
GcmClient	Ian Darwin	EMG	Google Cloud Messaging - receiver	-
GcmMockServer	Ian Darwin	EMG	Google Cloud Messaging - sender	-
GeneralPrompter	Ian Darwin	EG	A program that shows the Storage Facility to prompt for all files.	-
HapticFeedback	Ian Darwin	GS	Haptic Feedback recipe.	-
HelloCommandLine	Ian Darwin	EMAG	HelloWorld	SDK
HelloEclipse	Ian Darwin	EMG	HelloWorld	Eclipse ADT
HelloEspressoTesting	Ian Darwin	GS	HelloWorld of EspressoTesting	-
HelloGradle	Ian Darwin	GS	Hello World with Gradle but NOT Studio.	-
HelloMaven	Ian Darwin	EMG	HelloWorld using Maven with android-maven-plugin.	-
HelloStudioTesting	Ian Darwin	GS	HelloWorld of StudioTesting	-
HelloTestingTarget	Adrián Santalla	EMAG	ADT Testing - subject	-
HelloTestingTestProject	Ian Darwin	EMAG	ADT Testing - Tests	-
HomeAppListView	Ian Darwin	EMG	A Home Application	Shows running a program
IconizedListView	Ian Darwin	EMG	List View with Icon	-
IntentsDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Intents	-
IPCDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	IPC - Inter-Process Communication, simplified demo (2 versions, alas).	-
IpcServiceDemo	Rupesh Chavan	GS	IPC - Inter-Process Communication, simplified demo (2 versions, alas).	-
JavascriptDataDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Getting data from Java to JavaScript and back.	-
JavaTimeDemo	Ian Darwin	MGS	Demos of java.time date/time API	Actually JSR-310 API; almost same but different package
JSONParsing	Ian Darwin	EG	Simple example of JSON parsing using built-in JSONObject.	-
KotlinVolleyDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Kotlin version of Volley demo	-
LayoutBorder	Ian Darwin	G	Layout Border Demo Project Source for Android	-
ListViewAdvanced	Marco Dinacci	EMG	ListView	-
ListViewDemos	Ian Darwin	EMGS	ListView	-
ListViewEmpty	Rachee Singh	EMGS	ListView with empty list: don’t show blank screen!	-
ListViewSectionHeader	Ian Darwin	EMG	ListView with section headers	-
LocalBroadcastDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Local Broadcast Receiver	-
MapDemosV2	Ian Darwin	EMG	This is the Google API Maps V2 Demo.	-
MapsV2AddToProject	Ian Darwin	GS	Adding a Google Maps V2 MapActivity to a project	You must ask for permission from Google (get and provide your own Google API key).
MarketSearch	Ian Darwin	EMG	Search the Play Store	-
MaterialDemos	Ian Darwin	EMG	MaterialDesign demos	-
MediaPlayerDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Play media	-
MediaPlayerInteractive	Ian Darwin	EG	Media Player demo from Marco Dinacci, thanks.	-
MediaRecorderDemo	Marco Dinacci	EMG	Simple sound recorder	-
MenuAction	Ian Darwin	EMG	Menu Action Handling	-
NdkDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Native Development Kit	C Code
NotificationDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Notifications	-
NumberPickers	Ian Darwin	EMG	UI for picking numbers	-
OAuth2Demo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demo of OAuth2 to Google Tasks.	-
OpenGlDemo	Marco Dinacci	EMG	OpenGL graphics	-
OrientationChanges	Wagied Davids	EMG	Rotation	-
OSMIntro	Rachee Singh	EMG	Basic OSM map app demo.	Builds with Maven, not with Eclipse. Maybe m2e aar support, isn’t, yet.
OSMOverlay	Ian Darwin	EMG	OSM Map with a map marker overlay	Compiles, runs, doesn’t load map tiles; needs upgrading to osmdroid-android 5.5
OSMTouchEvents	Ian Darwin	EMG	OSM Map with touch event handling.	Builds with Maven, not with Eclipse. Maybe m2e aar support, isn’t, yet.
PdfShare	Ian Darwin	EMG	Create and share a PDF	-
PermissionRequest	Ian Darwin	G	Shows asking for permissions at runtime, i.e,. "the new way"	-
PhoneGapDemo	Shraddha Shravagi	EMG	HTML5 app using phonegap/cordova	-
PinchAndZoom	Ian Darwin	GS	Pinch-and-zoom graphics demo	-
PreferencesDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Preferences	-
ProgressDialogDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demo of a pop-up indefinite progress dialog.	-
RangeGraphDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Using a graphing library	-
RatingBarDemo	Ian Darwin	EGS	Show use of 5-star RatingBar as used in rankings, surveys, &c.	-
Rebooter	Ian Darwin	EMG	How to reboot, and why you can’t	-
RecipeList	Ian Darwin	EMGS	= RecipeList - use an AsyncTask to download data over the 'net via HTTP.	-
RecyclerViewDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demo of RecyclerView, the faster ListView.	-
RemoteSystemsTempFiles	Ian Darwin	EM	This folder is created automatically by Eclipse and can be ignored.	-
RGraphDemo	Wagied Davids	EMG	Using a graphing library	-
RoomDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Demo of Room, the official Android ORM.	-
RuntimeLog	Ian Darwin	EMG	A simpe runtime log facility	-
ScanBarcode	Ian Darwin	GS	Scan barcode using ZXing app via Intent	-
SecondScreen	Ian Darwin	M	Trivial example of one Activity (screen) starting another.	-
SendSMS	Colin Wilcox	EMG	Sends an SMS	-
SensorShakeDetection	Thomas Manthey	GS	Use Accellerometer to detect if the user has shaken the device.	-
SensorUpOrDown	Rachee Singh	GS	Code for r2051, Checking Whether a Device Is Facing Up or Down	-
ShareActionProviderDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	ICS "Share" action	-
ShellCommand	Ian Darwin	EG	Run a Unix/Linux command via Runtime.exec, capture the output.	-
SimpleAccountAndSyncDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	User account on device	-
SimpleCalendar	Ian Darwin	EMG	Calendar	-
SimpleDialer	Ian Darwin	EMGS	Trivial Dialer - launches Dialer app via Intent	-
SimpleJumper	Wagied Davids	EG	Common code for flixel-gdx-based gaming demo.	Game starts, can move left-right only, no scenery. Fails on Intel phone/emulator
SimplePool	Wagied Davids	EG	Start of a pool/billiards game using AndEngine.	-
SimpleTorchLight	Saketkumar Srivastav	EMG	Simple Torchlight/Flashlight example.	(Most devices now have a built-in control for this)
SlidingDrawer-Topdown	Wagied Davids	EMG	The main code is from the "Sliding Drawer - Top Down" recipe	-
SMSReceive	Ian Darwin	EG	Receive an incoming SMS.	-
SnackBarDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Snackbar (bottom message text) demo	-
SoapDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	XML SOAP Web Service	-
SoftKeyboardEnterNext	Jonathan Fuerth	GS	Change the Enter key to "Next" on one-line text fields.	-
SoundRec	Ian Darwin	EMG	Sound Recorder	-
Speaker	Ian Darwin	EMG	Text To Speech (TTS)	-
SpeechRecognizerDemo	Ian Darwin	GS	Speech Recognizer.	-
SpinnerDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Drop-down Spinner Demos	-
SpinningCubeDemo	Marco Dinacci	EG	OpenGL Spinning Cube, from Marco Dinacci	-
SplashDialog	Rachee Singh	EMG	Splash screen	-
SQLiteDemos	Ian Darwin	EMG	SQLite demos	-
StandardDrawables	Ian Darwin	EMG	Use Existing Drawables	-
StaticFileRead	Ian Darwin	EMG	StaticFileRead - read a file from the application	-
StringsXML	Daniel Fowler	G	Demos for "Nuances of Strings.xml" recipe.	-
TabHostDemo	Ian Darwin	EMGS	TabHost Demo: Demo of the TabHost widget, in a Dialog.	-
TabSwipeDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Tabbable and swipeable layout	-
TeleCorder	Ian Darwin	EMG	Telephone call recorder (in progress!)	-
TelephonyManager	Pratik Rupwal	EMG	Displays phone info	-
Tipster	Sunit Katkar	EMGS	Full app: compute and show restaurant bill with tip	-
UniqueId	Ian Darwin	EMG	Find device’s unique ID	-
Vibrate	Rachee Singh	EMG	Make the device vibrate	-
ViewPagerDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Swipe among views	-
VolleyDemo	Ian Darwin	EMGS	Demo of Volley networking library	-
WheelPickerDemo	Wagied Davids	GS	Apple-style Wheel Picker Demo	-
WindowBackgroundDemo	Ian Darwin	EMG	Graphical window background	-