Inspired by the wicked people of Reddit I was creative enough to make an app, my first app. I call it "Creepy Hugger" based on this Reddit thread. So since it is my first app I thought I would make a post about it, so I would have something to share with my dear friends at Reddit.
So kids, gather around and listen up - this is my story:
I started out downloading the required tools:
* Java JDK ( http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html )
* Android SDK ( http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html )
* IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition ( http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/free_java_ide.html )
I started out by reading this quick guide here in order to get a littel idea of what was about to happen http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/features/google_android.html . The reason I have chosen to use IntelliJ IDEA is because I don’t like Eclipse all too much and I’m pretty familiar with IntelliJ IDEA from work. Using IDEA nearly each day, it was pretty easy to find my way around in the Android Hello World app which I created with Android Project.
Well, here we are - a screenshot of the development environment I’m using. Developing an app as simple as mine is gonna be, we’ll only have four files. Creepy hugger will simply be white text on a black background and a click on the screen will give the user the next creepy quote. So both the text field and the background will be clickable. Not so much, right?
So instead of going into great specifics about the code, I’d rather just talk a little about how it was making this app and what thoughts it left me with - because who wants code advice from the guy who just made his first app?
I thought it was very easy making this app. I actually just read this book http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9781449390501/index.html while coding to get to the basic ideas of how an app was to be thrown together and alongside with the Hello World app I started out with it seemed pretty logical what I had to do.
Of course I have more ambitious plans for apps in the future, but right now I’m certainly happy I started with such an easy task. While I didn’t really lose anything doing it, it gave me a good introduction where I need to do what when making an app - for example, you have to give your LinearLayout an id before you can address it from your code. So instead of being “scared” of making an app, as I was before this experience, I am now looking forward to my next app.
The two most annoying things about making and publishing an app is that you require to make an icon for your app and the fact that you need to sign your app. Luckily I could to talk my girlfriend into making me a quick icon for my app, otherwise I would never have had an icon that looked like anything but a huge chunk’o’something. The signing process might just be me, but I was lead to believe it something to do with the key you have on your android developer profile. So when I was done messing around with that I learned that you could just go to Tools -> Android -> Export Signed Android Package and create a local keystore and then use that.
If nothing but a quick exercise for your eyes I hope you got something out of this. If you want to see the app in action, you can find on the android market or https://market.android.com/details?id=com.madsravn . It’s free and supports down to Android version 1.6. I thought about releasing the source code for the app here as well, but it’s only 20 lines apart from the Hello World app, so it would nearly be a waste downloading it.
Thanks for reading.
