This Week’s Links

Fragmented Podcast – Ep #128: gRPC on Android with Sam Bobra
In this episode of Fragmented, Donn (@donnfelker) and Kaushik (@kaushikgopal) are joined by Sam Bobra – engineering manager @VSCO, android fangirl and gRPC magician (some would even say evangelist !) to talk about gRPC on Android. Super informative episode!

Pixel 2 and ADB Not Connecting​
If your Pixel 2 device will not connect to ADB (Android Debug Bridge) with a USB cord, you might want to check the type of port it is plugged in to. Due to some Pixel 2’s not connecting over USB 3.0, you will need to connect it to a USB 2.0 port.

Automating Your App Releases with Google Play
At Google I/O, Google introduced the new Google Play Developer Publishing API Version 3, which enables developers to integrate publishing operations into your existing release process or automated workflows by providing the ability to upload APKs and roll out releases. Read this post for an overview of Version 3 of the API.

Hangouts Chat Alerts & Notifications… with Asynchronous Messages
While most chatbots respond to user requests in a synchronous way, there are scenarios when bots don’t perform actions based on an explicit user request such. In this post, learn how to send messages asynchronously to rooms or direct messages (DMs) in Hangouts Chat.

Modularizing Android Libraries: Why and how? — From Zero to Deploy
Modularization is currently a hot topic in the Android development world. Applications are now migrating to a modularized structure in order to achieve faster Gradle builds, reuse code across functionalities and to create smoother Git flows by splitting the team between the different modules. This can also be applied to libraries.

Jobs (these are pulled from Androiddevdigest.com/jobs) Android Developer (Software Integration Consultant) at Bio1 Systems (San Carlos, CA) Demonstrated Android programming and UI design experience required; experience with HMDs and wearable computing preferred; Knowledge of Bluetooth Low Energy and WiFi Direct protocols; Available up to 20 hrs/week; Authorized to work in U.S. required. [Apply Today!]Android Engineer at NumberEight (London, United Kingdom (no Remote)) We are developing novel on-device AI software to predict user context by leveraging sensors in mobile devices. As lead Android engineer, you will be primarily responsible for developing our Android AI SDK. #DevEx #JNI #C++ #Sensors #SDK #AI #ML [Apply Today] Android Engineer at Numbrs Personal Finance AG (Zurich, Switzerland) Responsibilities include but are not limited to developing, releasing, monitoring and maintaining native Android applications. Applicants are also expected to participate in after-hours work. [Apply Today!] Software Engineer (Android) Java/C++ at Verifone (Chicago, IL) As a Software Engineer focusing on Android development, you will be responsible for the development and maintenance of applications, services, and framework functionality for Verifone Android platforms. [Apply Today] Need to hire an Android professional? Post a job here

Android: Building and Publishing Open-Source Libraries [Part II]
In this post learn how to set up a new Android Studio project for the actual library’s source code, how to properly configure Gradle to be future-proof and easy to maintain from the start, how to include the Gradle plugins required to upload the library to Maven repositories, and finally how to build everything and upload/deploy to the relevant distribution servers.

The Play Store’s New ‘App Signatures’ Aren’t DRM, and Sideloading Isn’t in Danger
Earlier this month, Google announced that it would start adding metadata to applications downloaded from the Play Store. The metadata serves as proof that an APK originated from the Play Store, allowing devices to verify that the app hasn’t been tampered with. While rumors have said this metadata is a form of DRM (Digital Rights Management), this isn’t true. Find out more in this article.

Every Android Device Since 2012 Impacted by RAMpage Vulnerability
If you own an Android device released since 2012, an international team of academics are now revealed they are vulnerable to a new vulnerability named RAMpage. This vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-9442, is a variation of the Rowhammer attack. Learn more in this post.

Videos

Caster.io Simplifying the Work We Have Done
In this lesson, take a look at ways you can use principles of Clean Architecture to better suit the projects that you are working on.

Caster.io Writing Espresso Tests for the Bookmarked Projects Activity
In this lesson  write a couple of tests for the Browse Bookmarked Projects activity so that you can gain some experience in writing UI tests for the current project setup.

Open Source

kotlin-extensions
Use kotlin-extenstions to utilize extension functions useful developing Android apps with Kotlin.

TypeWriterView
A simple Android library for typewriter like effects that will animate contents of TextView as if it were typed by a type writer, set animation text appearance duration, set typewriter sound effects, and set all the attributes of TextView and style your view.

This Week’s Links

Fragmented Podcast – Ep #114: Architecture Components with Akshay Chordiya
In this episode Donn (@donnfelker) and Kaushik (@kaushikgopal) talk about the different parts of Android architecture components. They’ve had episodes on Room and the paging library, so in this one, they thought they would touch a little on Lifecycle Owners & Observers, ViewModels, and LiveData. Akshay Chordiya helps break it down. Listen on!

Using TensorFlow on Android — Step by Step Code Explanation
While you might have heard about machine learning or deep learning, most people aren’t really sure how to use it. In a quest to create an app that uses machine learning, Mateusz Budzar discovered TensorFlow. Take a look at what he discovered while learning about the topic.

Testing Android Applications by Killing Them
Testing save and restore is a necessity when developing your application. In this article, learn several ways to test save and restore manually through demonstrations which cause Android to kill the app regardless of memory conditions. While time consuming, testing  the included scenarios are mandatory to make apps successful.

The Character of Kotlin: Conciseness​
In this series on the characteristics that set Kotlin apart from other languages, this week’s topic is conciseness.  Because Kotlin is concise, it creates a powerful structure for things coded in it. Learn more about Kotlin and in this article.

Taming UI tests When Using Multiple Gradle Flavors
Instrumentation/UI testing can be tricky if your app supports multiple flavors and these flavors offer different functionality. In this article learn about the UI tests done to solve this issue.

Using Gradle Build Cache Server​
Gradle can save time by reusing outputs from previous executions of a task by matching inputs to the task. Task outputs can be reused between builds on one computer or even between builds running on different computers via a build cache. Since Gradle comes with built-in support for HTTP cache backend, it can be used for sharing results between CI builds. Learn how this translates in to faster builds, faster feedback, and lower costs in this article.

Creating a Library for Android: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
There are different methods you can follow for the development and distribution of components in the Android ecosystem. This article outlines different methods and give you the arguments to decide which one can adapt better to your particular scenario.

Fragment Espresso Testing With Dagger’s Android Injector
In this post, learn how to test activities if you’re using fragments using Dagger’s AndroidInjector in an Espresso test. Using Fragments might add additional complexity to the test, as always, and you will need to refine the solution in order to test in an Espresso test.

Jobs (these are pulled from Androiddevdigest.com/jobs) Senior Applications Developer at New York Public Library (New York, NY) NYPL Digital is seeking a talented full-stack senior developer who can help us serve millions of library users and translate our vision into maintainable, high performing, and scalable software solutions through the use software engineering practices [Apply Today] Need to hire an Android professional? Post a job here

Improving Stability by Reducing Usage of non-SDK Interfaces
In order to improve the user and developer experience by making those experiences as stable as possible, in Android N, Google restricted the set of symbols that C/C++ code could use. This change ensured that apps using C++ rely on stable NDK interfaces rather than incur the incremental crashes caused by reliance on unstable, non-NDK interfaces. The next release of Android, Google will be expanding these restrictions to cover the Java language interfaces of the SDK.

Develop Bot Integrations with the Hangouts Chat platform and API
With the new features in Hangouts Chat, developers are now able to creat bots to streamline and automate manual tasks and give users new ways to interact with your application. Check out this post for some ideas for developing your own chat bot for Hangouts Chat!

Videos

Caster.IO LiveData with Retrofit
Retrofit is the de-facto library for networking on Android. By default Retrofit returns a Call<T> but when working with Architecture Components, we require it to return LiveData<T> type. In this lesson learn how to add LiveDataCallAdapter and LiveDataCallAdapterFactory to get LiveData<T> instead of Call<T> as return type from Retrofit services and when it’s useful to return LiveData.

Caster.IO Architecture Guidelines
Android Architecture Guidelines are a set of best practices and recommended Architecture pattern by Android Team; on how to build testable and production-quality apps. In this lesson, you’ll learn what are Architecture Guidelines, dive into the recommended Architecture, walk-through the a sample news app using the recommended Architecture, and broadly look how to do testing with Architecture Guidelines.

Open Source

SocialLinkify
For most of our projects we handle multiple social network types, which results in us needing to handle multiple link destinations for @ mentions and Hashtags. For example, if the @Buffer mention is used then this library will allow you to make that a clickable span pointing to either the Buffer Twitter profile, Facebook Page or Instagram profile. The same can be done for Hashtags. Rather than duplicate code across our projects we decided to create a small helper library to separate this from our projects.

Finger
This fingerprint library aims to make the use of fingerprint authentication in your application as simple as possible and is best suited for developers who just want to have to deal with the basic elements.

This Week’s Links

Fragmented Podcast – Ep #110 – BuddyBuild and CI/CD services
In this episode of Fragmented, Donn (@donnfelker)  and Kaushik (@kaushikgopal) talk about CI, CD and CD services. That’s Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment. BuddyBuild a beloved 3rd party service of ours (and previous sponsor) is sunsetting their Android service, so Donn and KG discuss alternatives and the options they’ve been keeping an eye on.

Eclipse’s Enterprise Java Roadmap: More Services Coming
The Eclipse Foundation is busy prepping the next round of technologies to be added to enterprise Java. As part of this enterprise Java implementation, Eclipse expects 35 to 40 new projects! Read more about what’s next in this post!

Android Wear v2.9 Will Add Unread Notification Counter and More
Android wear v.2.9 is out. While this version doesn’t include major changes, it does add some new options for notification counters on the watch face, and some changes to the way developers handle complications. The dot-style indicator (which was previously optional) is now displayed by default at the bottom of the watch faces. Developers can customize this indicator, changing the style, color or even just turn it off.

One in 10 Game Developers will Use Loot Boxes for their Next Game – But Express Caution on Use
More game developers are working on loot boxes but are now cautioning developers on their prevalent use, according to the latest figures published by the Game Developers Conference (GDC). Paid item crates – or loot boxes – have been getting more attention lately due to legislation over their monetary status.

Experimenting with Nested Scrolling​
Check out this tutorial as it explores the challenges faced when using Android’s nested scrolling APIs. Introduced in API21, the nested scrolling APIs make it possible for a scrollable parent view to contain scrollable children views.

How to Make Bottom Sheet in Android | Tutorial
Bottom Sheet is a really nice way to create improved your UI and UX designs. They are used by almost all big applications out there, be it Uber, Google Maps, Google Docs and almost any other Google application. Android comes with built-in support for making bottom sheets. In this tutorial learn two ways to use bottom sheet.

How to Build a Chat Roulette Clone Using Kotlin and TypeScript
In this post, learn how to build a simple peer-to-peer WebRTC Android client from scratch. The article covers how to implement the signaling backend using TypeScript and Node and the Android client without using any their party service or abstraction over the WebRTC library. The toy application is a very simple clone of Chat Roulette, which allows users to communicate with random people over the internet.

Jobs (these are pulled from Androiddevdigest.com/jobs) Android Developer at Badoo (London, UK) We’re looking for Android Developers to work within our highly experienced team, delivering key product features on our global product with over 370 million registered users! [Apply Today] Need to hire an Android professional? Post a job here

Skygofree: Following in the Footsteps of HackingTeam​
Late last year, a new Android spyware with several features previously unseen in the wild was discovered. In the course of further research, developers found a number of related samples that point to a long-term development process. Initial versions of this malware were created at least three years ago – at the end of 2014. Since then, the implant’s functionality has been improving and remarkable new features implemented, such as the ability to record audio surroundings via the microphone when an infected device is in a specified location; the stealing of WhatsApp messages via Accessibility Services; and the ability to connect an infected device to Wi-Fi networks controlled by cybercriminals.

Tool Time – Part 1​
RecyclerView and ListView  are often used in order to display data that is either generated or obtained at runtime. Displaying the data correctly can be tricky, so learn how use some neat helpers to help visualize your data in the tools: namespace.

Open Source

FingerPaintView
A simple view to which allows drawing on top of any bitmap. After the user is done, it generates a final bitmap with the correct scaling and transformations applied to it, ensuring the output respects what is shown on the screen.

FarAwayTextView
A custom TextView component for Android platform that calculates and updates its text regarding to geolocation distance between two geolocation points

This Week’s Links

How a Lite Version Can Help Your App Get Better
Are Lite apps worth the hype? Lite apps have fewer features than their full-sized counterparts. But they also use less RAM, mobile data, battery, and storage. Less is more? Many think so! Minimalist app design, already employed by Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft, may be the key to getting your product more popular. Learn more about building a lite version of your app in this article.

Kotlin Generic Variance Modifiers
Even for developers with experience, generics are sometimes confusing. In this article, learn how to finally make them simple and clear. Examples and sample code included to help clarify the confusion once and for all!

Fragmented Podcast – Ep #109 – Learning Kotlin – Sequences the New Iterables
In this episode of Fragmented, Donn (@donnfelker)  and Kaushik (@kaushikgopal) go back to learning some Kotlin and look at the Iterable-like data structure introduced called “Sequences.” What is a sequence? How is it different from Iterable? When should I use it?

Modern Android development with Kotlin Part 3
In this third part of Mladen Rakonjac’s series on modern Android Development he tackles RxJava. While RxJava is just Java implementation of an API for asynchronous programming with observable streams, reactivex, it is mix of three concepts: the Observer pattern, the Iterator pattern and functional programming. While RxJava can can be confusing, Rakonjac will try to explain RxJava through simple steps.

Real-World Data in PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights will now use data from the Chrome User Experience Report to make better recommendations for developers and the optimization score has been tuned to be more aligned with the real-world data. In the past, PageSpeed Insignts were hard to understand how the page operated in the real world. Learn more about the new features in this post.

Vector illustration Basics for Android Developers — Part 3: Boolean Operations
Subtraction is one of the four main boolean operations offered by most vector graphics software. Learn subtraction basics to create your own custom shapes to give your app a little more design flare.

A Developing Affection: Assessing The Rise and Fall of Programming Languages
In the last five years developers have entered a period of programming language density. But which are the programming languages that enable our digital world – and how are they progressing over time? Read this post to find out more about programming languages trends, and what to watch out for.

Authenticating Users with Actions on Google
Actions on Google is a pretty fascinating platform when it comes to the creation of conversational tools. When attempting to build tools, sometimes they lack personalization. Having access to some form of identification for the user not only allows us to create a more personalized experience, but also opens up numerous possibilities for conversational tools. in this article, dive into Account Linking and find out how it my help your app.

Reading ProGuard’s Outputs
When ProGuard processes an Android app, it generates a few output files to show what happened in each step. These files can be really helpful if you’re trying to figure out what ProGuard changed, or why your code ended up the way it did. The trouble is, those files aren’t self-documenting. Read this post as it walks you through why each of those files is created and what it shows you.

 

Open Source

ConcealerNestedScrollView
A library to make views hide from top and bottom while scrolling a custom NestedScrollView. Detailed instructions and visual examples included.

FancyWalkthrough
Fancy Walkthrough is a simple and lightweight library that helps you to create cool and beautiful introduction screens for your apps without writing dozens of lines of code.