Building Android Apps With HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

by Stark, Jonathan; Jepson, Brian (CON)

• ISBN13: 9781449316419
• ISBN10: 1449316417
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

If you know HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you already have the tools you need to develop Android applications. This hands-on book shows you how to use these open source web standards-instead of Java-to design and build apps that can be adapted for any Android device. You'll learn how to create an Android-friendly web app on the platform of your choice, and then convert it to a native Android app with Adobe's free PhoneGap framework. Discover why device-agnostic mobile apps are the wave of the future, and start building apps that offer greater flexibility and a broader reach. Learn the basics for making a web page look great on the Android web browser Convert a website into a web application, complete with progress indicators and more Add animation with JavaScript to make your web app look and feel like a native Android app Take advantage of client-side data storage with apps that run even when the Android device is offline Use PhoneGap to hook into advanced Android features-including the accelerometer, geolocation, and alerts Test and debug your app on the Web under load with real users, and then submit the finished product to the Android Market

Author Biography

Jonathan Stark is a mobile-application consultant cited by the Wall Street Journal as "an expert on publishing desktop data to the Web." He's a self-confessed techno-utopian who believes that wireless computing is going to transform every aspect of human society. Brian Jepson is an O'Reilly editor, hacker, and co-organizer of Providence Geeks and the Rhode Island Mini Maker Faire.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Getting Started	p. 1
Web Apps Versus Native Apps	p. 1
What Is a Web App?	p. 1
What Is a Native App?	p. 1
Pros and Cons	p. 2
Which Approach Is Right for You?	p. 2
Web Programming Crash Course	p. 3
Introduction to HTML	p. 3
Introduction to CSS	p. 6
Introduction to JavaScript	p. 9
Bask Styling	p. 13
Don't Have a Website?	p. 13
First Steps	p. 15
Prepare a Separate Android Stylesheet	p. 19
Control the Page Scaling	p. 20
Adding the Android CSS	p. 22
Adding the Android Look and Feel	p. 26
Adding Basic Behavior with jQuery	p. 28
What You've Learned	p. 33
Advanced Styling	p. 35
Adding a Touch of Ajax	p. 35
Traffic Cop	p. 36
Setting Up Some Content to Work With	p. 38
Routing Requests with JavaScript	p. 39
Simple Bells and Whistles	p. 41
Progress Indicator	p. 41
Setting the Page Title	p. 44
Handling Long Titles	p. 46
Automatic Scroll-to-Top	p. 47
Hijacking Local Links Only	p. 49
Roll Your Own Back Button	p. 49
Adding an Icon to the Home Screen	p. 56
What You've Learned	p. 57
Animation	p. 59
With a Little Help from Our Friend	p. 59
Sliding Home	p. 59
Adding the Dates Panel	p. 62
Adding the Date Panel	p. 65
Adding the New Entry Panel	p. 68
Adding the Settings Panel	p. 70
Putting It All Together	p. 74
Customizing jQTouch	p. 76
What You've Learned	p. 78
Client-Side Data Storage	p. 79
Web Storage	p. 79
Saving User Settings to Local Storage	p. 80
Saving the Selected Date to Session Storage	p. 84
Web SQL Database	p. 85
Creating a Database	p. 86
Inserting Rows	p. 90
Selecting Rows and Handling Result Sets	p. 93
Deleting Rows	p. 97
Web Database Error Code Reference	p. 101
What You've Learned	p. 102
Going Offline	p. 103
The Basics of the Offline Application Cache	p. 103
Online Whitelist and Fallback Options	p. 107
Creating a Dynamic Manifest File	p. 113
Debugging	p. 117
The JavaScript Console	p. 118
What You've Learned	p. 120
Going Native	p. 121
Introduction to PhoneGap	p. 121
Building Your App Locally with Eclipse and the Android SDK	p. 122
Download and Install Eclipse Classic	p. 122
Download and Install the Android SDK	p. 123
Install the ADT Plug-In in Eclipse	p. 123
Add Android Platforms and Other Components	p. 124
Download the Latest Copy of PhoneGap	p. 125
Set Up a New Android Project	p. 125
Running Kilo as an Android App	p. 127
Controlling the Phone with JavaScript	p. 129
Beep, Vibrate, and Alert	p. 129
Geolocation	p. 133
Accelerometer	p. 140
What You've Learned	p. 143
Submitting Your App to the Android Market	p. 145
Preparing a Release Version of Your App	p. 145
Removing Debug Code	p. 145
Versioning Your App	p. 146
Compile and Sign Your App	p. 147
Uploading Your App to the Android Market	p. 147
Distributing Your App Directly	p. 149
Further Reading	p. 153
Appendix: Detecting Browsers with WURFL	p. 155
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.