Another Glowing Windows 8 Review

Tim Edwards at PCGamesN.com does not like Windows 8. He provides plenty of detail why.



Sounds like this is not gonna pass "can my parents use it" test. I'm definitely in the wait and see camp at this point in time.

Apocalypse Not: So just Suck it up People

This month's Wired magazine has a wonderful article on the coming Apocalypse or lack of one. The story debunks many of the Apocalypse myths and memes of the last 50 years. From oil shortages and running out of energy to the horrors of overpopulation. There must be a dozen examples of "experts" who's prediction of our demise has already come and gone.



Of course the author does miss the most likely end of the world... the Zombie Apocalypse. Which we all know from video games and TV shows, is inevitable. But I guess I will cut him slack on that one. :)



So I guess we will be around for a while, better suck it up and soldier on.

A Keyboard for Messy Folks

Do you like to eat and drink while you code? Well Logitech's fully washable keyboard is for you. Spilling soda is no longer quite the problem it was.

Determine the best camera preview size

It'a example to determine the best supported camera preview size, to have the biggest preview area.

package com.example.androidcamera;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.List;

import android.hardware.Camera;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.SurfaceHolder;
import android.view.SurfaceView;
import android.widget.Toast;
import android.app.Activity;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
 
 Camera myCamera;
 SurfaceView mySurfaceView;
 SurfaceHolder mySurfaceHolder;
 boolean isPreview;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        
        isPreview = false;
        mySurfaceView = (SurfaceView)findViewById(R.id.mypreview);
        mySurfaceHolder = mySurfaceView.getHolder();
        mySurfaceHolder.addCallback(mySurfaceCallback);
        
    }
    
    SurfaceHolder.Callback mySurfaceCallback
    = new SurfaceHolder.Callback(){

  @Override
  public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width,
    int height) {
   Camera.Parameters myParameters = myCamera.getParameters();
   Camera.Size myBestSize = getBestPreviewSize(width, height, myParameters);
   
   if(myBestSize != null){
    myParameters.setPreviewSize(myBestSize.width, myBestSize.height);
    myCamera.setParameters(myParameters);
    myCamera.startPreview();
    isPreview = true;
    
    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), 
      "Best Size:\n" +
      String.valueOf(myBestSize.width) + " : " + String.valueOf(myBestSize.height), 
      Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
   }
  }

  @Override
  public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
   try {
    myCamera.setPreviewDisplay(mySurfaceHolder);
   } catch (IOException e) {
    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
    e.printStackTrace();
   }
   
  }

  @Override
  public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
   // TODO Auto-generated method stub
   
  }
     
    };
    
    private Camera.Size getBestPreviewSize(int width, int height, Camera.Parameters parameters){
     Camera.Size bestSize = null;
     List<Camera.Size> sizeList = parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes();
     
     bestSize = sizeList.get(0);
     
     for(int i = 1; i < sizeList.size(); i++){
      if((sizeList.get(i).width * sizeList.get(i).height) >
        (bestSize.width * bestSize.height)){
       bestSize = sizeList.get(i);
      }
     }

     return bestSize;
    }
    
 @Override
 protected void onResume() {
  super.onResume();
  myCamera = Camera.open();
 }

 @Override
 protected void onPause() {
  
  if(isPreview){
   myCamera.stopPreview();
  }
  
  myCamera.release();
  myCamera = null;
  isPreview = false;
  
  super.onPause();
 }

}

Modify the layout to have a SurfaceView for preview.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

    <SurfaceView
        android:id="@+id/mypreview"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

</RelativeLayout>

Modify AndroidManifest.xml to add permission of "android.permission.CAMERA", and set android:screenOrientation="landscape".

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.androidcamera"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="8"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_main" 
            android:screenOrientation="landscape">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Download the files.

Pro Android Augmented Reality (Professional Apress)

Augmented reality (AR) offers a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment, where the elements and surroundings are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as graphics and GPS data. It makes a game more real. Your social media app puts you where want to be or go. 

Pro Android Augmented Reality walks you through the foundations of building an augmented reality application. From using various software and Android hardware sensors, such as an accelerometer or a magnetometer (compass), you'll learn the building blocks of augmented reality for both marker- and location-based apps.

Case studies are included in this one-of-a-kind book, which pairs nicely with other Android development books. After reading Pro Android Augmented Reality, you'll be able to build augmented reality rich media apps or integrate all the best augmented reality into your favorite Android smartphone and/or tablet.

What you�ll learn

• How to use most Android cameras
• How to find the user's location with GPS data
• How to detect movement and orientation of the device
• How to program against the accelerometer and compass
• How to use the AndAR library in marker recognition
• How to create an artificial horizon for your app
• How to integrate the Google Maps API into AR apps
• How to build enterprise augmented reality apps using the case studies in this book

Who this book is for

This book is for Android developers familiar with Android programming, but new to the camera, accelerometer, magnetometer and building augmented reality applications in general.

Table of Contents

1. Applications of Augmented Reality
2. Basics of Augmented Reality on the Android Platform
3. Adding Overlays
4. Artificial Horizons
5. Other Features of Augmented Reality
6. A Simple App Using AR
7. A More Complex Project Using More AR Features
8. A Project Using All AR Features
9. An AR Game

Decompiling Android

Decompiling Android looks at the the reason why Android apps can be decompiled to recover their source code, what it means to Android developers and how you can protect your code from prying eyes. This is also a good way to see how good and bad Android apps are constructed and how to learn from them in building your own apps.

This is becoming an increasingly important topic as the Android marketplace grows and developers are unwittingly releasing the apps with lots of back doors allowing people to potentially obtain credit card information and database logins to back-end systems, as they don�t realize how easy it is to decompile their Android code.       

• In depth examination of the Java and Android class file structures
• Tools and techniques for decompiling Android apps
• Tools and techniques for protecting your Android apps

What you�ll learn

• How to download an Android app and decompile it into its original Java source and HTML5 and CSS code
• How to protect your Android apps so that others cannot decompile it
• To identify potential security threats that currently exist and how to avoid them  
• What tools are available to decompile and protect Android apps
• The structure of a Java Classfile and an Android classfile
• How the standard JVM and the Dalvik JVM differ
• How to create your own Android decompiler and obfuscator

Who this book is for

This book is for Android developers and their managers. It's also for hackers and hobbyist types who wish to see how Android apps are constructed as a means of learning how to build Android apps.

Table of Contents

1. Laying the Groundwork
2. Ghost in the Machine 
3. Inside the DEX File
4. Tools of the Trade
5. Decompiler Design
6. Decompiler Implementation
7. Case Studies

Retain fragment instance across Activity re-creation (such as from a configuration change)

Fragment.setRetainInstance (boolean retain) control whether a fragment instance is retained across Activity re-creation (such as from a configuration change). This can only be used with fragments not in the back stack. If set, the fragment lifecycle will be slightly different when an activity is recreated:

• onDestroy() will not be called (but onDetach() still will be, because the fragment is being detached from its current activity).
• onCreate(Bundle) will not be called since the fragment is not being re-created.
• onAttach(Activity) and onActivityCreated(Bundle) will still be called.

Example:

In the example, there are two Fragment, MyFragment and MyFragment2. Basically, both Fragments are same, except that MyFragment2 call setRetainInstance(true) in onCreate(). It can be noticed that onCreate() and onDestroy() of MyFragment2 will not be called when orientation change, and the field myState of MyFragment2 will not be cleared.

Main layout, contain two fragments.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="fill_parent"
   android:orientation="horizontal" >

   <fragment
       class="com.example.androidretaininstance.MyFragment"
       android:id="@+id/myfragment1"
       android:layout_width="0px"
       android:layout_weight="1"
       android:layout_height="match_parent" />
   <fragment
       class="com.example.androidretaininstance.MyFragment2"
       android:id="@+id/myfragment2"
       android:layout_width="0px"
       android:layout_weight="1"
       android:layout_height="match_parent" />

</LinearLayout>

/res/layout/fragmentlayout.xml, the layout of the fragment

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="fill_parent"
   android:orientation="vertical" >
   <TextView
       android:id="@+id/myid"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
   <ScrollView 
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="match_parent">
       <TextView
           android:id="@+id/mystatus"
           android:layout_width="match_parent"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
   </ScrollView>

</LinearLayout>

MyFragment.java

package com.example.androidretaininstance;

import android.app.Fragment;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MyFragment extends Fragment {
 
 int myID;
 String myState = "";
 
 TextView textID;
 TextView textStatus;

 @Override
 public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
   Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  View myFragmentView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragmentlayout, container, false);
  textID = (TextView)myFragmentView.findViewById(R.id.myid);
  textStatus = (TextView)myFragmentView.findViewById(R.id.mystatus);
  
  textID.setText("ID = " + String.valueOf(myID));
  
  updateStatus(myID + ":onCreateView()");
  return myFragmentView;
  
 }

 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  myID = getId();
  updateStatus(myID + ":onCreate()");
 }

 @Override
 public void onDestroy() {
  super.onDestroy();
  updateStatus(myID + ":onDestroy()");
 }
 
 private void updateStatus(String st){
  
  if(textStatus == null){
   myState += st + " (delayed)\n";
  }else{
   myState += st +"\n";
   textStatus.setText(myState);
  }
  
  Toast.makeText(getActivity(), st, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
 }
 
}

MyFragment2.java, extends MyFragment, override onCreate() to call setRetainInstance(true).

package com.example.androidretaininstance;

import android.os.Bundle;

public class MyFragment2 extends MyFragment {

 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setRetainInstance(true);
 }
 
}

Download the files.