How To Create An Android App With Android Studio
This tutorial will teach
you the basics of how to build an Android app using the Android Studio
development environment. As Android devices become increasingly more common,
demand for new apps will only increase. Android Studio is an easy to use (and
free) development environment to learn on. It's best if one has a working
knowledge of the Java programming language for this tutorial because it is the
language used by Android. There won't be much code used in this tutorial, so I
will assume that you know enough Java to understand or are willing to look up
what you don't know. This will take roughly 30-60 minutes, depending on how
quickly you are able to download and install Android Studio. After using this
tutorial to create your first Android app, you'll be well on your way to a fun
new hobby or possibly even a promising career in mobile development.
Step 1:
Install Android Studio
2. Use the
installer to install Android Studio following its instructions.
Step 2:
Open a New Project
1. Open
Android Studio.
2. Under
the "Quick Start" menu, select "Start a new Android Studio
project."
3. On the
"Create New Project" window that opens, name your project
"HelloWorld".
4. If you
choose to, set the company name as desired*.
5. Note
where the project file location is and change it if desired.
6. Click
"Next."
7. Make
sure on that "Phone and Tablet" is the only box that is checked.
8. If you
are planning to test the app on your phone, make sure the minimum SDK is below
your phone's operating system level.
9. Click
"Next."
10. Select
"Blank Activity."
11. Click
"Next."
12. Leave
all of the Activity name fields as they are.
13. Click
"Finish."
*Note: It is
typical naming convention in Android projects to set the company name as some
form of "example.name.here.com".
Step 3:
Edit the Welcome Message in the Main Activity
1. Navigate
to the activity_main.xml tab if it is not already open.
2. Make
sure that the Design tab is open on the activity_main.xml display.
3. Click
and drag the "Hello, world!" from the upper left corner of the phone
display to the center of the screen.
4. In the
project file system on the left side of the window, open the values folder.
5. In the
values folder, double-click the strings.xml file.
6. In this
file, find the line "Hello world!".
7. After
the "Hello world!" message, add "Welcome to my app!"
8. Navigate
back to the activity_main.xml tab.
9. Make
sure that your centered text now reads "Hello world! Welcome to my
app!"
Step 4:
Add a Button to the Main Activity
1. Navigate
to the Design tab of the activity_main.xml display.
2. In the
Palette menu to the left of the phone display, find Button (under the heading
Widgets).
3. Click
and drag Button to be centered underneath your welcome message.
4. Make
sure your button is still selected.
5. In the
Properties menu (on the right side of the window), scroll down to find the
field for "text."
6. Change
the text from "New Button" to "Next Page."
Step 5:
Create a Second Activity
1. At the
top of the project's file system tree, right click on "app."
2. Navigate
through to New > Activity > Blank Activity.
3. Change
the name of this activity to "SecondActivity".
4. Click
"Finish."
5. Make
sure you are in the Design view of activity_second.xml.
6. Drag
the text box in the upper left of the phone display down to the center as you
did on the Main Activity.
7. With
the text box still selected, find the "id" field in the Properties
menu on the right, and set it to "text2".
8. Open
strings.xml again.
9. Add a
new line under "Hello world! Welcome to my app!" that reads
"Welcome to the second page!".
10. Navigate
back to activity_second.xml.
11. Select
the text box again.
12. In the
Properties pane, set the "text" field to
"@string/second_page".
13. Make
sure that the text box now reads "Welcome to the second page!" and is
in the center of the screen in the phone display.
Step 6:
Write the Button's "onClick" Method
1. Select
the MainActivity.java tab along the top of the work environment.
2. Add the following
lines of code at the end of the onCreate method:
Button button = (Button)
findViewById(R.id.button);
button.setOnClickListener(new
View.onClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View
v) {
goToSecondActivity();
}
});
3. Add the following
method to the bottom of the MainActivity class:
private void
goToSecondActivity() {
Intent intent = new
Intent(this, SecondActivity.class);
startActivity(intent);
}
4. Click the + next to
import at the third line of MainActivity.java to expand the import statements.
5. Add the following to
the end of the import statements if they are not already there:
import
android.content.Intent;
import android.view.View;
import
android.widget.TextView;
Step 7:
Test the Application
1. Click
the green play symbol from the toolbar at the top of the Android Studio window.
2. When
the "Choose Device" dialog apperas (this may take a few moments),
select the "Lauch emulator" option.
3. Click
OK.
4. When
the emulator opens (this too could take awhile), the app will automatically
launch the app upon the virtual phone being unlocked.
5. Make
sure that all of your text displays correctly and that the button takes you to
the next page.
Step 8:
Up, Up, and Away!
Congrats!
You've now completed your first Android application with some basic
functionality. Your finished app should have a page greeting the user and a
button that takes the user to a second page.
From
here you have the cursory knowledge you need to go on to learn all there is to
know about Android application development.
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