Android Web App - Android Software Development

Hello everyone. I'm new to Android app development but I'm not new to web development. I was searching around and I found that I could do an "offline" web application. Since I'm new and can't post links, there is an example that can be found on Linux Mag. The article is called "Under the Hood of Native Web Apps for Android" and it's specific to offline app development. I'm looking for help with an ONLINE application using PHP/MySQL/AJAX using my web server to host the app - minus having to use the phone's browser.
I know you can do "web apps" for the iPhone (such as Google Voice) and I was wondering if I could do it with Android (unlike in the example from Linux Mag where the app is "offline", mine needs to be online). Any information would be appreciated as I keep turning up dry search results. Thanks very much!

This is not any of a problem with android (or java in general)
I'm just gonna give you a few catchwords & links:
Apache (Default)HttpClient - Pretty straight-forward-to-use HttpClient - http://developer.android.com/reference/org/apache/http/impl/client/DefaultHttpClient.html
AsyncTask - A pretty simple way to fetch data asynchronously (meaning you wont actually block your app while loading data) - http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html.
If your source-data is being delivered as xml you can use sax-parsers for json u can use org.json which is also built into standard android - http://developer.android.com/reference/org/json/package-summary.html
And finally a hint from my side if you're new to android application development... care about rotation-handling from the very begining of application development. You will regret later on if u didn't .

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[REQ] app to fetch data from web site

Hello, XDA-Developers!
Basics: I'm looking for someone who can develop an Android app. It needs to be a simple application to fetch pages from a web site from a phone-friendly interface. It's intended to be a companion to the web site to enable easier access.
Background: I run a gaming website, gameshard.net. We're doing ok, and in order to reach out to new users and make it easier for users to access the site, I want to develop an Android app. But I have no android development knowledge at all. So I'm looking for help!
The Specifics: The GameShard.net app should be a simple, clean app designed to let users access information on the website through a touch-friendly interface. Specifically, users should be able to access the latest news, our library of reviews, features, and their profile (and inbox) from the device. The closest similar example I can think of for reference is the Eurogamer app for iOS. The app will be free, so incorporating adverts in a non-intrusive way would be welcome.
I leave it to the developer to decide what the easiest way to do this would be. It might be that the app could be a simple launcher for a custom iOS version of the website, or perhaps it would be better to fetch the data in a different way- I'm open to your ideas! And I'm willing to pay for your time, of course.
So, thats my pitch! Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you're interested in working on this send me a message.

[Q] Application using Backend Services

Hello,
I'm new here and just starting to dabble with Android app development.
I've installed android studio and began playing around with it making a few Activities just to try it out and begin building my knowledge. I want to make an app where users will need to authenticate then pull data from a server (via an API). I followed this guide (google how-to-build-mobile-app-with-app-engine-backend-tutorial to find, can't post link) to add the app engine backend to it, but I couldn't finish it because I couldn't find the RegisterActivity so I decided to take a break and come ask here.
I'm very new to this, trying to warm up to the Android activities/layouts/things so I'd appreciate it if someone could link me some tutorials or guides on setting up a backend that will be able to interact with my app to perform things like registering, logging in and fetching data? Instagram would be a good example (I'm not making a photo sharing app but the functionality in terms of signing in then fetching your photos from the feed is a similar idea of what I want to do).
I have solid knowledge in web development languages and Java but am still trying to grasp this all.
Thanks for any and all help!
Daniel

developing with eclipse

i already set up my environment and know all the basics eg am ok with hello world apps but now i want to write a messaging app like whatsapp.....am using jdk+eclipse+sdk+adt...
Congratulations, so?
Start with basic android apps first to get an overview of your possibilities before go for a big app.
Whatsapp might look simple but it's pretty huge, not a beginner job.
Start from basics, brush up your java,
Get a nice ebook like:
Begining android development
Learning android development
Sent from my GT-P3100 using XDA Free mobile app
learn using the whole android APIs (notifications , listeners, list views, data bases...etc), make some little apps and think of a big one then
Only client, No server?
Maybe make it your goal to develop something smaller than Whatsapp for the start ... maybe a very simple app, which requires some sort of client / server communication, and consists of an Android client, and a server application running on a server, which can be reached over the network (of course the server application won't be an android app). Have a look at this:
http://www.compiletimeerror.com/2013/01/login-application-for-android.html#.U_z-uvmSzYx
After getting acquainted with that you will have to learn about some protocols like for instance Jabber (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMPP, for icq or skype the specs are closed making things difficult). And providing such services on the server side can become even more complex. To handle potentially thousands of requests simultaneously, for instance the shared nothing architecture can be deployed, which handles requests in a decentralized way using multiple servers.
But for a simple chat program, which you'd like to implement just for fun, the above tutorial might be enough.
Well i guess you should choice your architecture, Client/Server or phone to phone and so on.
Then you should choice how to exchange data, WS? It could be!
It isnt enought setup the enviroment!
First learn java good. Than start with android examples.

[Q] Best networks for CPI/CPA without SDK integration?

Hello there!
Let's say I'm developing a web app targeting a specific group of people. I know their goals, their interests and their needs. I want to upsell them relevant services, products and apps, with entire experience natively integrated in my app interface.
So I need reliable mobile ad networks providing JavaScript or some kind of REST API, so I could just request product image, advertising text and referral link, and then mind my own business at displaying them inside the app correctly, without any need to install jar plugins and registering mediators. And then be payed by CPI/CPA.
Any idea what networks are the best in that regard?
(I'm using Intel XDK btw)
Vincent Pride said:
Hello there!
Let's say I'm developing a web app targeting a specific group of people. I know their goals, their interests and their needs. I want to upsell them relevant services, products and apps, with entire experience natively integrated in my app interface.
So I need reliable mobile ad networks providing JavaScript or some kind of REST API, so I could just request product image, advertising text and referral link, and then mind my own business at displaying them inside the app correctly, without any need to install jar plugins and registering mediators. And then be payed by CPI/CPA.
Any idea what networks are the best in that regard?
(I'm using Intel XDK btw)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you just put google adsense ads? i've been wondering what is wrong with doing that?
Curious to see what the answer for this as well, have definitely seen this question pop up a few times.
Adxmi use API integration
global ads network Adxmi use API integration.
API integration available
I got API integration as I wanted from Adcash. Guess API is most common choice, at least in my comm. circle
Please take a look at Hyper native ads API for app developers.
Our solution will cover your needs for sure.

[App] Proposal - Android TV web console

I just got a Shield TV, and I love it. I'm probably going to root it tonight to tinker further.
One issue I have with it is how annoying it is to configure, side-load apps, upload files to, etc. I'd love to have a web console for it, and I'm willing to do most/all of the heavy lifting for the front-end and server-side web development perspective. I'm going to need help on other fronts, however.
I'm a full-stack web developer. Most of what I've done professionally is PHP, but I'm not married to that. I'm also pretty good at configuring apache/nginx/ha-proxy/etc. Though once upon a time, I wrote front-end applications in Java and C++, that's ancient history, and I don't really have time to re-learn those skills and the Android SDK. Also, I'm not much of a designer, so unless I'm just using a pretty stock framework like Bootstrap, I'll need someone else to provide the art.
What I'm envisioning is an app that we can have in the play store that has a very simple UI to:
- install an SSH server
- install bash
- install web server/app server
- install DDNS client
- launch server on boot
- check server for new versions of the software it installed
Stuff I want the web interface to do:
- install/uninstall apps (file submission, URLs, etc.)
- 1-click installs of common things people want (Kodi, Amazon Prime Video, etc.)
- start/stop sshd
- manage mounting/unmounting NFS/AFS/CIFS/etc. shares (is this even possible on Android?)
- restart the device
- configure most settings on the device, including some hidden stuff
- file management
So, what I can do:
- script the download/install/upgrade of stuff on already rooted box in bash
- write back-end web code in PHP, Python, or Go
- write HTML/CSS/JS for front-end
What I need help with:
- writing the Android TV app to trigger the install script
- some help understanding/bootstrapping the process (what's installed by default on Android? What's the minimum we can get away with? Do we need Python?)
- someone to design the app (honestly, this can wait until we've got a baseline functionality if we like)
Anyone interested in joining me?
I'm leaning towards Go for the web app, because the binary can (in theory) be deployed standalone, and can be its own web server, obviating the need for apache or nginx or whatever. Also, performance and memory utilization -- PHP and Python are fairly expensive to run, and this is a really minor background thing.
This would be open source on Github.
While I unfortunately don't have a machine to helpwith code, nor the time for the code, I thought I'd give you a dev/modders look on the possibility/dificulty of things. Please don't think that I am discredditing this idea, in fact, I like it. Just want to passibly help you consider dev order and dificulty oy each item as listed, and hopefully add my own as others may have interest.
- install/uninstall apps (file submission, URLs, etc.) <-- Would be pretty easy. Users should provide apks, or you'll need a site that stores a lot of them.
- 1-click installs of common things people want (Kodi, Amazon Prime Video, etc.) <-- Similar to last point. You'll have to have a mirror of updated apks, weather you or another host provides it. You'll probably need a web scraper if going to an external host.
- start/stop sshd <-- I suggest dropbear, even if it's not my cup of tea. It can be easily found in other apps and should find code in open source ones to get you started.
- manage mounting/unmounting NFS/AFS/CIFS/etc. shares (is this even possible on Android?) <-- can be done. Check Kodi or other open source apps for code, though there are usually caviats to each approach. Luckly Android has fuse in most kernels these days.
- restart the device <-- Very easy
- configure most settings on the device, including some hidden stuff <-- Gonna be a long process, but you can probably reverse engeneer the apks and parse the XML files for a shortcut.
- file management <-- Super easy. Use the ssh server, or adb connection.
Over all, I think a lot of this is possible. Luckly these machines have the beef for a web server, and several are ported last I checked, though they may be out of date. Even still, check their codebase for a massive head start as they are mostly required to keep open source by licence (Apache excluded, though some still are). I would also suggest these features as they would be somewhat easy to imprement once the base file management is started, and would broaden the scope to bring in more users, support and interest, and hopefully devs.
-Rom Manager for emulators.
Mass File Renamer based on Filebot (Both are java, so should not be TOO hard to port) as many buy this box for Kodi.
I'll think of more.
I'm not an app dev, though I do rom modding and sometimes porting, and I can offer insite to things, so if you have questions on specifics, please pm me. If I get some free time, and a dev machine, I'll let you know antd get things going in the right direction. May also want to, once this idea is flushed out, post something in a more general android TV/ App Development thread for cleanness and to get devs on board (don't post in dev till there is code to show on github though please.
Something like remix os would be nice, this x1 has a lots of power
Sent from my trltetmo using Tapatalk
This is a great idea. This device is in serious need of developer attention. Im not a dev at all but Ive gotten pretty familiar with this device and Android OS in general, especially after spending so much time digging around trying to make android things happen that apparently were not indended for Android TV. I will be more than happy to be a tester and keep up so as to offer any ideas and some of the ways Ive found to do stuff.
@kdb424 - Thanks for the info. I'm working on a prototype right now. First build is going to list a bunch of stuff from the setting status, and allow you to reboot the device. I'll post the Github repo when I have that.
Great ideas!
There is a tool sorta in development already that does a lot of this (I've mentioned it on the Shield Zone a couple of times)
https://sites.google.com/site/nvidiashieldtvutilityapp/home/
My main needs (personally) is a means to move files to and from and my current solution is a free FTP server that works even when the Shield TV is sleeping.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.ftpserver
... works very well despite having to side load, has a terrible interface, etc. Set and forget. What's great is, I can use my file-manager-on-steroids Directory Opus to manage files since it is a standard FTP connection.
@darkuni - Yeah, I saw that, but I've got no Windows PC's in the house -- 2 Macs, a Chromebook, a Linux server, phones and tablets. I'm an old-school UNIX guy, and Windows doesn't strike my fancy. Plus, it seems like the sort of thing a web app is best for. No need for a fat client.
darkuni said:
Great ideas!
My main needs (personally) is a means to move files to and from and my current solution is a free FTP server that works even when the Shield TV is sleeping.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.ftpserver
... works very well despite having to side load, has a terrible interface, etc. Set and forget. What's great is, I can use my file-manager-on-steroids Directory Opus to manage files since it is a standard FTP connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that I'll give it a go. I use ES file manager currently but it closes the server when you exit the app. Will also try this on a couple of FireTV Sticks I have dotted around the house as Kodi boxes :good:

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