Building Hybrid Android Apps with Java and JavaScript: Applying Native Device APIs

by Nizamettin Gok, Nitin Khanna

Overview

Build HTML5-based hybrid applications for Android with a mix of native Java and JavaScript components, without using third-party libraries and wrappers such as PhoneGap or Titanium. This concise, hands-on book takes you through the entire process, from setting up your development environment to deploying your product to an app store.

Learn how to create apps that have access to native APIs, such as location, vibrator, sensors, and the camera, using a JavaScript/Java bridge—and choose the language that gives you better performance for each task. If you have experience with HTML5 and JavaScript, you’ll quickly discover why hybrid app development is the wave of the future.

• Set up a development environment with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript tools
• Create your first hybrid Android project, using Eclipse IDE
• Use the WebView control to host your hybrid application
• Explore hybrid application architecture, including JavaScript/Java communication
• Build single-page applications, using JavaScript libraries such as Backbone and Underscore
• Get optimization tips and useful snippets for CSS, DOM, and JavaScript
• Distribute your application to Google Play and the Amazon Appstore

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449361914
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/02/2013
Pages:	153
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Nizametttin Gok (aka Nizam) has more than 15 years of experience in client-side applications. He has involved in designing, developing and managing large-scale web applications for many years. He then transformed these outstanding experiences into mobile application space during his career in Japan.



Nizam believes that the invention of Ajax technology was a turning point for the client-side applications. For this reason, his focus in using JavaScript in mobile web applications brought him into hybrid applications for Android platform. He is very passionate about implementing excellent User Experiences.



His personal interest is web application security and he currently maintains geoxies.com (preventing fraudelent activities) in his free time. Nizam has also managed from small to large-scale teams an offshore teams successfully.



He is currently working at Microsoft as a Sr. Software Development Engineer for Skype Android platform.

Nitin Khanna is a lead engineer for Android at Skype, with an extensive experience in mobile application development for Android, iOS, Symbian and BREW. In his free time Nitin likes to contribute to open source projects. He also has experience in OS middleware and protocol stack development.

Table of Contents

Preface; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; Safari® Books Online; How to Contact Us; Acknowledgments; Dedication; Chapter 1: What Is Android?; 1.1 Android Applications; 1.2 What Is a Hybrid Application?; 1.3 Categories of Applications; 1.4 Key Characteristics of Hybrid Apps; 1.5 Why Developing Hybrid Apps Makes Sense; 1.6 Hybrid Application Architecture; 1.7 How Do Hybrid Apps Work on the Android Platform?; Chapter 2: Setting Up Your Android Development Environment; 2.1 Installing Eclipse on Mac OS X; 2.2 Installing Android Development Tools; 2.3 Creating Your First Hybrid Android Project Using Eclipse IDE; 2.4 Android Development Using the Command Line; 2.5 What Is ADB (Android Debug Bridge)?; 2.6 Using Apache Ant to Automate Building Android Applications; 2.7 Understanding the Android Build Process; 2.8 CSS Preprocessors; 2.9 Installing SASS; 2.10 JSLint Framework and Strict Coding Conventions; 2.11 Process HTML Templates; 2.12 Minifying CSS and JavaScript Files Using YUI Compressor; 2.13 Using Safari and Chrome Browsers for Faster JavaScript Debugging and UI Changes; Chapter 3: Android Fundamentals; 3.1 Android Application Architecture; 3.2 Key Android Components; 3.3 Security Model in Android; 3.4 Resources; 3.5 Compiled and Uncompiled Android Resources; 3.6 Assets; 3.7 Structure of an Android App; 3.8 Application Manifest; 3.9 Activity; 3.10 Intents; 3.11 Intent Resolution; 3.12 Intent Filter; 3.13 Services; 3.14 Broadcast Receiver; 3.15 Specifying Compatible Device Configuration; 3.16 Declaring Needed Device Features; 3.17 Permissions; 3.18 SDK Version; 3.19 Hands-on Coding: Hybrid Hello World! Application; Chapter 4: WebView, WebKit, and WebSettings; 4.1 The WebView as a Web Browser; 4.2 So What Is WebKit?; 4.3 Requesting Internet Permission from Android Manifest; 4.4 Instantiating and Accessing the WebView Control; 4.5 Loading a Web Page; 4.6 Loading HTML into WebView; 4.7 WebViewClient; 4.8 Loading Local Files into the WebView; 4.9 Load Flash Files into the WebView; 4.10 Reading Files from the res/raw Directory; 4.11 Triggering JavaScript Functions from the Java Layer; 4.12 Opening a WebView in Fullscreen Mode; 4.13 Enabling a Resize Event in JavaScript While Your Application Is Fullscreen; 4.14 Binding Java Objects to WebView Using the addJavaScriptInterface() Method; 4.15 Security Considerations for Hybrid Applications; 4.16 HttpOnly Cookies and the Secure Flag; 4.17 Domain Whitelisting; 4.18 Configuring WebView Settings with WebSettings; 4.19 Preventing Local Files from Being Loaded in the WebView; 4.20 Enabling JavaScript; 4.21 Setting Default Font Size; 4.22 Zoom Controls; 4.23 Hardware Acceleration; Chapter 5: Inter-workings of the JavaScript and Java Layers; 5.1 Architecture of a Hybrid Application; 5.2 Calling Java Methods from JavaScript; 5.3 Synchronous APIs; 5.4 Asynchronous APIs; 5.5 Calling JavaScript Methods from Java; 5.6 Routing Data to the Correct JavaScript Receiver; 5.7 Deferred Object Pattern; 5.8 Register Success Callback Using deferred.done(); 5.9 Register Failure Callback Using deferred.fail(); 5.10 Register Progress Callback Using deferred.progress(); 5.11 Simpler Callback registration with .then(); 5.12 Synchronizing Multiple Asynchronous Events with $.when(); 5.13 Resolve a Deferred Object; 5.14 Reject a Deferred Object; 5.15 Use of Promise; 5.16 Use of deferred.progress(); 5.17 Cache Manager for Handling Multiple Deferred Objects; 5.18 Thread Safety; Chapter 6: HTML Architecture for Hybrid Applications; 6.1 Architecture of a Web Application; 6.2 Single Page Applications (SPA); 6.3 Key Design Considerations for Single Page Applications; 6.4 The Libraries and Frameworks for Your Hybrid Apps; 6.5 Backbone.js for MVC Framework; 6.6 Underscore.js for Utility Support; 6.7 iScroll.js for scrolling; 6.8 iScroll Caveats; 6.9 jQuery.js for JavaScript application; 6.10 CSS Reset Avoids Browser Inconsistencies; 6.11 Your Home index.html; 6.12 Viewport Meta Tag; 6.13 Viewport Width; 6.14 Viewport Scaling with the Content Attribute; 6.15 Responsive Design and Media Queries; 6.16 EM or Percent (%) unit for scalable interface; 6.17 CSS3 Introduces rem Unit; 6.18 Opacity or RGBA: What Is the Difference?; 6.19 Event Pooling; Chapter 7: CSS, DOM, and JavaScript: Optimization Tips and Useful Snippets; Chapter 8: Publishing Apps for Android; 8.1 Digitally Signing Applications; 8.2 Protecting Your Application with ProGuard; 8.3 Google Play; 8.4 Registering as a Publisher; 8.5 Developer Console; 8.6 Uploading an Application; 8.7 Amazon App Store; 8.8 Self-Signing and the Amazon App Store; 8.9 Amazon App Store Sign Up Process; 8.10 Uploading an Application; 8.11 Understanding the Application Approval Process; Colophon;