Reto Meier’s Professional Android 2 Application Development does a great job of educating the reader on what is necessary for developing Android applications. Core application fundamentals and advanced Android features are presented to the reader via a series of real-life application examples.  Readers who work the examples and leverage the breadth of coverage provided on the Android 2 framework will be well on their way towards establishing an excellent foundation for building compelling Android applications.

After giving the customary history lesson and tour of the toolsets and development environment, the first half of the book deals with the components that make up an application. Chapters are devoted to activities and life cycle, UI views, data and file access, and key Android concepts like intents (message-passing mechanisms) and content providers (ability to expose data to other apps).

Once the fundamentals have been covered, the remainder of the book is spent exploring the advanced and optional features available in the SDK. Android-centric concepts like background services, notifications and widgets are given the same in depth treatment given to the fundamentals so you get a lot of the “why” along with the how. Features and functionality that naturally lend them to being abstracted away via an API like media playback, GPS and Bluetooth are given adequate coverage of what is available via the framework and, where pertinent, the Android-specific behaviors are highlighted.

While the book is divided into fundamentals and advanced topics, continuity is maintained throughout via the example applications used to emphasize the concepts presented. By building the to-do list, compass, and earthquake monitoring service applications while reading through the book, passive learning is transformed into active, directed learning. Unlike some programming books I’ve read in the past, these examples do real work, accomplish specific real-life tasks, and provide some utility once completed. Readers are not just extending these applications one feature at a time, they are also adding one key concept to their proverbial tool belt while doing it.

The speed at which the Android platform is being evolved and improved upon is staggering. Since April 2009 there has been 4 major releases of the Android OS with a 5th release rumored for this fall. While the breadth of coverage provided for the APIs and framework is nice while it is still relevant, the real strength of this book comes building an understanding of the core Android fundamentals. Readers looking for a solid introduction to Android development need to look no further than Professional Android 2 Application Development.

The upgrade process done by Visual Studio on your current projects and solutions will only migrate the file format to the newest schema and will not retarget the framework to the latest version.  That is where the script I’ve included below comes in.  It will retarget all the C# project files found under the path provided to version 4.0 of the .Net framework

C# project files are XML based and navigating the DOM with Linq to XML is a cinch but there are a couple small but important steps that the script needed to include.  First, you need to append the namespace to the individual element names or else the elements will not be able to be found.  Second, when saving the modified XDocument, a XmlWriterSetting instance needs to be instantiated and the OmitXmlDeclaration property set to true.  Setting this property to true will make sure the XML that we save will be considered a valid project file by Visual Studio.

I’ve included the full script below as well as created a gist that can be found here.  It is important to note that this script will edit all the csproj files found under the directory specified in the path variable.  Make sure you backup these files or have them under source control prior to running the script.  Enjoy.

[UPDATE: Added change suggested in comments by Jeffery Snover]

[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Xml.Linq") | Out-Null

#specify the root of your source tree below
$path = "C:\Code\chatsworth"

$ns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"
$xname = [System.Xml.Linq.XName]::Get("PropertyGroup",$ns)
$tfname = [System.Xml.Linq.XName]::Get("TargetFrameworkVersion",$ns)

$xws = New-Object System.Xml.XmlWriterSettings
$xws.OmitXmlDeclaration = $true
$xws.Indent = $true

function updatefx($filename)
{
    #Write-Host $filename
    $xml = [System.Xml.Linq.XDocument]::Load($filename)

     $result = $xml.Descendants($xname)

    foreach ($i in $result)
    {
        $fxelem = $i.Element($tfname)
        if($fxelem)
        {
            $i.SetElementValue($tfname,"v4.0")
        }
    }

    $xw = [System.Xml.XmlWriter]::Create($filename, $xws)
    $xml.Save($xw)
    $xw.Close()
}

$csprojs = Get-ChildItem $path *.csproj -Recurse

foreach ($file in $csprojs)
{
    updatefx $file.FullName
}

Lately I have been thinking about user design and experience as I prep my app for the App Store.  Here are six things that stood out most about the Evernote iPhone app and the take-away ideas I got from looking closer at the app.

1. The mobile apps immediately present 4 distinct actions for note acquisition.

Evernote breaks down into two key activities: note acquisition and note retrieval.  Given the detached nature of the mobile device and the sluggishness still experienced with cellular networks, the note browsing and searching experience is not ideal.  The constraints of the device and the unpredictable nature of the network, I believe, led to a focus on what a mobile device is good for (note capturing) and make that the key action in the mobile versions of its application.

Having the app launch into the note acquisition screen implicitly signals to the user that this is the type of activity that you should be doing on the device.  It seems counterintuitive to restrict features to simply not port them directly from the desktop or web offering.  But by limiting the scope of the application, it actually maximizes the experience for the user.  In Evernote’s case they cannot completely focus on note capture at the expense of cutting out the other actions.  These additional activities are included, but they are relegated to the tab bar on the iPhone and the sub menus on Android devices.

2. Smart layout and design can make sub-optimal experience tolerable

Given the limited real estate available on mobile devices, it is unsurprising that note browsing is a sub-optimal experience.  That being said, I think that Evernote does an excellent job making due with what little space it has.  Visually we are given two options, depending on the orientation of the phone, in which we can browse our catalog of notes.  While holding the phone in portrait mode, each note’s metadata is visible and allows the user to see titles and tags in addition to a thumbnail image of the note.  While holding the phone in landscape mode, the note browser is transformed into a tiled-thumbnail view which shows more notes in the visible frame.  If you can recognize the note by the rough appearance or layout of the text, you can pretty rapidly find what you are looking for. 

Most people hold the phone in portrait mode so it follows that the default view is the easier of the two to quickly grasp.  The two views provide the user with choices and trade offs: lower information density with a greater amount of detail or higher information density with less detail.  By giving the user options, Evernote overcomes the inherent limitations of the mobile device and improves the user experience.

3. Search function is a key but clunky feature in the mobile app.

Evernote has outstanding OCR software that makes everything searchable.  Given that search is the killer feature of Evernote, it is surprising that search on mobile devices seems like a second-class citizen.  The typical standard search box is visible on most of the non-note capturing screens, and the text search works as expected.  Search does have some enhanced features like map view and search near here offered as options to help refine your search, but I am not a fan of either.  The actual search queries appear to be executed on the server side and, as a result, the processing time can vary depending on your network connection.  In order to do a location based search the app has to make network requests for the search results and get the map coordinates, and this typically translates to a noticeable wait when these types of searches are performed.  I feel like search could cut out the location-based search filter entirely and be no worse off.

4. Sync Button is a “kitchen drawer” tab on the iPhone App

The sync tab is mislabeled, and the label masks all the other functions that are exposed on that tab.  Contextually, account information and device-specific settings aren’t readily associated to sync even though the sync process in Evernote synchronizes everything associated to your account.  The action of synchronizing your notes could be integrated into the note screen, and the settings, account information, and about information could all be separate tabs managed by the tab controller already being utilized in the iPhone application.  In fairness the move to limit the tabs is consistent with the less-is-more type of attitude, and the combination of the multiple actions into the single tab is most likely a compromise to simplify the interface.

5. The tips UX on the iPhone is well executed and non-obtrusive

The tips screen, integrated into the main view of the Evernote iPhone app, is an excellent way of sharing information about features and activities without being pushy and obtrusive.  With a smooth animation that peels back the main view to show the tips view, the user can get a quick suggestion on a feature and then be back capturing or browsing notes.  This is a small but well executed design element that adds to the experience.

6. Sharp branding

As far as the aesthetics go, I like the Evernote logo.  A combination of an elephant and piece of paper plays off the “memory like an elephant” saying and the note-based nature of the application.  The logo, paired nicely with a soft green color and a nice font, is the focal point of the splash screen welcoming you into the application.  The other platforms do not utilize a splash screen since the application load times aren’t as great as the iPhone, but the same basic logo/font/color scheme is consistent in the icons used on all platforms.

Lessons learned from the Evernote app:

• Instead of frustrating users with clunky interfaces and hacks to enable certain features of your service or app, only port features or activities that enhance the service and take advantage of the features of mobile devices rather than expose the limitations of them.
• Focus on the activities that can capitalize on the advantages of a mobile device instead of fighting the platform.
• Optimize for those specific use cases that make sense that you want to capitalize on.
• Be ruthless in what you cut out or be stingy in what you put into the mobile version
• Be consistent in your branding, color scheme, and feel of your applications.
• Good design can always speak louder than any type of instruction.  Help users fall into the pit of success.

You can get the iPhone app in the iTunes App Store

When used with a using statement, the indicator is turned on when the object is constructed and turned off when the code within the using statement has finished executing and the object’s Dispose method is called.

public class NetworkIndicator : IDisposable
{
   public NetworkIndicator ()
   {
      UIApplication.SharedApplication.NetworkActivityIndicatorVisible = true;
   }

   public void Dispose ()
   {
      UIApplication.SharedApplication.NetworkActivityIndicatorVisible = false;
      GC.SuppressFinalize(this);

   }
}

Usage:

using(new NetworkIndicator())
{
    //Make network call here
}

You wouldn’t want to wrap this around a UIWebView (add the toggling of the indicator to the LoadStarted and LoadFinished events) but anytime your app is making calls out the network you can wrap the using statement around the method invocation and get the user friendly network activity notification.

Overall Themes

Two main themes that emerged during the sessions: the future of mobile is web-based apps rather than device specific apps, and the road to mobile riches probably doesn’t run through an app store.

Multi-platform development is hard

Certainly scenarios exist where multi-platform apps make sense, but it is imperative that the risk/reward ratio be in your favor to have a chance to be successful.  Don’t underestimate the amount of effort and headaches that developing and supporting multi-platform apps will create.  Going the mobile web app route has it’s limitations, but it is the closest thing to “write once, run anywhere” that mobile has.

Cool Tools

Really cool tools like PhoneGap and jQTouch are out there that help lower the barriers to making apps and, in the case of PhoneGap, multi-platform apps.  Both tools have been released under MIT licenses and are free to use.

One Man’s Secret Sauce for Success

David Whatley gave a funny presentation that provided a lot of laughs and some great insights into how the iPhone app store works.  Even better was his ability to back up what he was saying with some real sales data and numbers.  His secret sauce for success:  PR, code re-use, and playing to your strengths.

App stores are glorified catalogs

Standing out or even being noticed amongst all the other apps is extremely difficult.  Relying only on the app catalog to drive sales is effectively a “post and pray” strategy akin to trying to win the lottery.  Try to find a niche and solve a problem.  Focus on creating value for markets not just an app for it.  Mark Murphy described many ways to make money in mobile other than direct app sales during his talk and in a series of blog posts about Android Business Models.

Links

• PhoneGap
• jQTouch
• iPhone Dev Depot
• Mobile Web Development Tips and Tricks (Slides)
• Making Money at Mobile (Slides)
• http://github.com/mikelaurence/CoreResource (Cool iPhone library)

Books Recommended During the Conference

• Aiming at Amazon
• The Dip
• The Whuffie Factor

Overall, the signal-to-noise ratio at the conference was good but not great.  I did manage to glean at least one or two new ideas from most of the sessions I attended, and it was great to see the enthusiasm that the Chicago tech community has for events like this.

I was following along with the documentation for binding new Objective-C types on the MonoTouch site, and as a way to ease into the binding process, I chose a class to define from the CloudMade SDK that I am looking to expose in MonoTouch.  The class selected was the BBox class (bbox.h) and I went about creating the following API definition shown below:

using System;
using MonoTouch.Foundation;
using MonoTouch.ObjCRuntime;

namespace CloudMade
{
    [BaseType(typeof (NSObject))]
    interface BBox
    {
        [Export("westernLongitude")]
        float WesternLongitude {get;set;}

        [Export("southernLatitude")]
        float SouthernLatitude {get;set;}

        [Export("easternLongitude")]
        float EasternLongitude {get;set;}

        [Export("northerLatitude")]
        float NorthernLatitude {get;set;}

        [Export("asString")]
        string AsString();
    }
}

$ btouch BBox.cs
/var/folders/E4/E44PAZnZGKGpVrmseo2N3++++TI/-Tmp-/9qgrm9nm.lnv/CloudMade/BBox.g.cs(46,71): error CS0117: `CloudMade.BBox' does not contain a definition for `Messaging'
/var/folders/E4/E44PAZnZGKGpVrmseo2N3++++TI/-Tmp-/9qgrm9nm.lnv/CloudMade/BBox.g.cs(28,30): (Location of the symbol related to previous error)
/var/folders/E4/E44PAZnZGKGpVrmseo2N3++++TI/-Tmp-/9qgrm9nm.lnv/CloudMade/BBox.g.cs(57,71): error CS0117: `CloudMade.BBox' does not contain a definition for `Messaging'
/var/folders/E4/E44PAZnZGKGpVrmseo2N3++++TI/-Tmp-/9qgrm9nm.lnv/CloudMade/BBox.g.cs(28,30): (Location of the symbol related to previous error)
Compilation failed: 2 error(s), 0 warnings
btouch: API binding contains errors.

Do not give the file that the API definition is being saved in the same name as one of the interfaces that you are defining.

Steer clear of that and you’ll be binding Objective-C types with ease.

Likes:

• Speed.  I have the older iPhone 3G hardware and from a user experience perspective it was not that bad.  When compared to the Nexus One, however, it is down right sluggish.  This probably isn’t as big of a factor when comparing a 3GS versus Nexus One, but for someone coming from a 3G iPhone, it is a huge plus.
• Being able to run apps in the background.  Browsing the web while streaming Pandora and downloading an app in the background works flawlessly and shows no noticeable signs of lag or sluggishness.
• The OLED screen is really nice.  Higher resolution and OLED screen looks great in low-light situations and is supposed to save precious battery by not drawing less power than normal LCD screens.
• The Android OS is pretty sweet.  It has a lot of nice features like the status bar, an active “desktop” that you can put interactive widgets on as well as app icons, and an easy way to get music and files on and off the device.  
• Integration with Google Apps is fantastic as expected.  I love getting mail and talk updates in the status bar and the overall experience with the apps on the Nexus One is better than on the iPhone.

Dislikes:

• Cut and Paste is clunky.  I can see why Apple needed to spend awhile working out the UX issues before rolling it out.
• The touch interaction with the device has not been as good as the iPhone in my experience.  I am not sure where the blame lies (hardware or software), but I sometimes find it difficult to select elements in the UI.  This is not something that occurs frequently, but in the short time I’ve owned the device, it has occurred enough to be noticeable.
• 4GB of storage out of the box is lacking.  It is an easy upgrade but given the amount of money that Google is charging for the device, this seems like they are skimping here.
• The Android Market place experience is integrated nicely but isn’t as tightly integrated as the iTunes App Store.  This is arguably a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.  As a user this is a bad thing since it makes finding and buying apps more difficult than just popping open iTunes.  I’ve found the Android Marketplace, both on the phone and the web, hard to browse.

There are a few negatives that I can’t pin exclusively on the device but are still worth noting.  I have been using my AT&T SIM with the Nexus One and most likely will do so until my contract is up in a few months.  With that caveat out of the way, the talk quality seemed poor and the phone gets really hot when talking for periods greater than 10 minutes.  I hesitate to even mention these issues since I am not using the phone on the network it was intended, but  I know there probably are others considering doing what I did, and this feedback might help if someone is on the fence.

The Nexus One is exactly the kind of phone and competition that was needed to push Apple.  I strongly recommend anyone looking for a smartphone to give it serious consideration before running out and getting an iPhone.

I’ve been using regular 3 x 5’ notecards to sketch out different screens for the iPhone app I am working on.  On the ruled side I’ll scribble notes and call out must/should/wish components of the screens to help prioritize features.  On the blank side I’ve been sketching out wireframes of the screens to help get a feel for the UI and flow of the app.

I’ve played around with Balsamiq and, while the tool is fantastic, I find myself still partial to the notecards.  With the same rough dimensions of the iPhone and the flexibility of being able to quickly rearrange and reorder the screens, the cards suit my preferences as a visual-spatial learner well. 

As with most tools and techniques, personal preference plays a large role in how and when they’re employed.  I always enjoy checking out how other people work and try and steal glean ideas from them.  I’ve found the following blogs pretty useful for design, usability, and UX.  I hope they help inspire you to create something cool.

I ♥ wireframes
information aesthetics
everydayUX
Sender 11

And for good measure here is a snippet that shows putting a string on the general clipboard and reading it off.

string clipboardText = "Copy and Paste Me!";

UIPasteboard.General.SetValue(clipboardText,
"public.utf8-plain-text");
string actualClipboardText = UIPasteboard.General.GetValue("public.utf8-plain-text");

Assert.AreSame( clipboardText, actualClipboardText.ToString());

Enjoy.

[Updated(1/30/2010): Replaced NSStrings out with strings]

As for the chatbot, I’ve recently added a link logging feature.  Any URL sent to the chatroom now gets logged to the sqlite database.  Users can query the database right from the chat window by entering /links <number of previous links to return> and the links, timestamp and the person who sent it will be sent in an individual IM to the requestor.

Going forward, the two areas that I think need the most improvement are installation and documentation.  The majority of the questions and feedback that I have received are setup and configuration related.  Improving the installation and documentation stories at this point make the most sense and would be worth the effort. 

On the technical side of things, I am considering making a Chatsworth plugin for Windows Home Server.  Currently I am running the service from my home server and, given the always on nature that suits the chatbot and the low/no maintenance needed to running once it is setup, the pairing seems natural and could help provide a little better setup and configuration experience.

I hope to work on this more over the holidays and please feel free to reach out with a question or feedback.  Enjoy.