Android Cookbook Examples

This repo is among the largest collections of Android code samples anywhere; it contains around a hundred and fifty compilable source code examples from the O’Reilly Android Cookbook, which was at its publication a great source of tutorial material for the Android Developer. Not all recipes in the book or online have code accompanying them; this repo features code that was either linked by the contributor, or in some cases, re-constructed as a New Project by the editor for your convenience.

Further note that not all programs used in the book/online appear here; some of the examples in the book/online are only program fragments taken from other programs that can’t be included. And of course some code is drawn from existing projects that are hosted elsewhere.

Each directory contains one project, and (if it’s used in the book) has a name that is cited at the end of the corresponding Recipe, under the "Source Code Download" section.

Some older started-in-Eclipse projects also have configuration files to allow them to be opened in Android Studio. During the runup to the second edition of the book, AndMore appeared to be a viable project to maintain Android Eclipse development. However, it has become clear that AndMore has not attracted enough developer talent to remain viable. Accordingly, the newest projects here are Android-Studio-Only. And Issue #1 calls for moving the existing mass of projects to Studio-only format. For reference, a "canonical" project would look something like this:

README.txt
app/
├── app.iml
├── build/
├── build.gradle
├── libs
├── proguard-rules.pro
└── src
    ├── androidTest
    │   └── java
    │       └── com
    │           └── darwinsys
    │               └── circleviewgroup
    │                   └── ExampleInstrumentedTest.java
    ├── main
    │   ├── AndroidManifest.xml
    │   ├── java
    │   │   └── com
    │   │       └── androidcookbook
    │   │           └── some_project_name
    │   │               └── MainActivity.java
    │   └── res
    │       ├── drawable
    │       ├── layout
    │       │   └── activity_main.xml
    │       ├── mipmap-hdpi
    │       │   ├── ic_launcher.png
    │       │   └── ic_launcher_round.png
    │       ├── mipmap-*
    │       └── values
    │           ├── colors.xml
    │           ├── strings.xml
    │           └── styles.xml
    └── test
        └── java
            └── com
                └── darwinsys
                    └── circleviewgroup
                        └── ExampleUnitTest.java
build.gradle
gradlew, gradlew.bat
local.properties
settings.gradle

The table List of Projects lists each project, its author, and a short summary.

*Note that, since Gradle and the Gradle Android Plugin need to be updated just about every time your run Android Studio, there is no attempt made to keep things up-to-date here; just let Studio do its upgrade thing for you and all will be well. They promise. Except for really old projects, where you’d have to upgrade 6 or 8 times. For these, copying newer build.gradle files from ../AndroidTemplate might be a better bet. Better yet, see https://darwinsys.com/blog/2022-07-26-modernize-android/.

DELETED/RENAMED PROJECTS

JpsTrack and the ToDo* applications have graduated to their own github projects, under https://github.com/IanDarwin.

The Hello*Test projects are moving to names starting with Testing…​

DuellingIDEs has been removed since the duel is over. Just use Android Studio.

List of Projects

The following list is generated (periodically) from the project folders. The Author names have recently been added; if I have missed or mis-attributed any, please let me know and I will happily correct them. You (and I) know who you are.

Table 1. List of projects with description and build tools

Project	Author	Function	Notes
AboutBoxDemo	Ian Darwin	A re-usable About dialog.	-
AboutInfo	Ian Darwin	Info about device and screen	-
ActionBarCompat	Ian Darwin	Simple ActionBar demo(s)	-
AddContact	Ian Darwin	Add a contact	Shows ContactsContract, content provider
AdMobDemo	Ian Darwin	Using AdMob with interstitial (inter-Activity) ads.	-
Analytics	Ian Darwin	Ashwini’s Google Analytics for Android Demo, slightly updated.	-
AndroidPlot	Rachee Singh	Graphing	-
AndroidRss	Wagied Davids	RSS Reader	Works under Maven; Eclipse fails w/ Maven Configuration Problem
AppDownloader	Ian Darwin	Installs another app	Downloading, package management
AppShortcutsDemo	Ian Darwin	Shows App Shortcuts, which appear with long-press on app’s launcher icon.	-
AppSingleton	Ian Darwin	Compilable example of the Application Singleton pattern recipe.	-
AsyncTaskDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of AsyncTask	-
AutocompleteTextViewContacts	Ian Darwin	Contact picker with autocomplete	-
AutoUpdater	Ian Darwin	App can update itself	see AppDownloader
BackupManager	Ian Darwin	Use Android Backup scheme.	-
BluetoothConnectToDevice	Ian Darwin	Using BlueTooth to connect	-
BluetoothDemo	Ian Darwin	Bluetooth Connection	-
BrowserBookmarks	Ian Darwin	Use the now-defunct Browser Bookmarks content provider	-
CalAdder	Ian Darwin	Add appointment to Calendar	Calendar via Content Provider
CallFaker	Ian Darwin	Pretend a call happened, for testing	-
CallInterceptorIncoming	Johan Pelgrim	Intercept an incoming phone call.	-
CallInterceptorOutgoing	Johan Pelgrim	Intercept outgoing phone calls.	Compiles and runs, but doesn’t intercept the call.
CameraIntent	Ian Darwin	CameraIntent - get the camera to take a picture, using androidx API	-
CardDemo	Ian Darwin	Demonstation of Card widget.	-
CheckBoxRadioButton	Ian Darwin	GUI demo	name says it
CircleViewGroup	Ian Darwin	Attempt at a custom layout manager.	-
ContentProviderBookmarks	Ian Darwin	List of bookmarks from Bookmarks Content Provider	Browser ContentProvider
ContentProviderList	Ian Darwin	List of ContentProviders	-
ContentProviderSample	Ashwini Shahapurkar	Implement a ContentProvider	-
ContentProviderTest	Ian Darwin	Test it	-
CordovaDemo	Ian Darwin	Simple Cordova (nee PhoneGap) cross-platform (web-based) toolkit demo.	-
CountDownTimerExample	Wagied Davids	Time-based activity	-
CryptoDemos	Ian Darwin	Cryptography anyone?	-
CurrentMoodWidget	Ian Darwin	Application Widgets have a live display on the home page, like the standard Clock program.	-
CursorLoaderDemo	Ian Darwin	How to load data properly using CursorLoader	-
CustomMenu	Ian Darwin	Menu	-
CustomSubMenu	Ian Darwin	Submenu, created programmatically	-
CustomToast	Rachee Singh	Toast	-
DatabaseFromFile	Ian Darwin	Create a database from an SQLite .db file in 'assets'.	-
DataToCursor	Ian Darwin	Fake up a Cursor from a list of files	-
DateFormatDemo	Ian Darwin	Example of various DateFormat usages (the Android one, not java.text nor java.time).	-
DemoSmali	Ian Darwin	A pedagogic project that can be used to show off Smali for short functions.	-
DialogDemos	Ian Darwin	Dialogs	-
DragDropDemo	Ian Darwin	A simple Drag-and-drop example.	-
DreamsDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of "Dreams" (4.x screensaver)	-
EmailTextView	Wagied Davids	Send contents of EditText via email	-
EmailWithAttachments	Marco Dinacci	Attach file to email	-
EpochJSCalendar	Wagied Davids	Java + JavaScript Epoch Calendar	-
EventListenersDemo	Daniel Fowler	5 Ways to Wire an Event Listener.	-
FacebookSdk	N/R. Pending check.	Access FB API	-
FaceFinder	Wagied Davids	Face locator API in photos	-
FileProviderDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of FileProvider.	-
FilesystemDemos	Ian Darwin	Internal and external files.	-
FindMeX	Ian Darwin	Find Me X	IllegalArgumentException: Incomplete location object, missing timestamp or accuracy, Progress:334
FloatingActionButtonSnackbarDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of 'fab' Floating Abstract Button	-
FlutterDemo	Ian Darwin	Flutter is a new SDK for cross-platform development	-
FontDemo	Ian Darwin	Using a custom font	You need to provide the font file! Example uses Iceberg font…​
FragmentsDemos	Ian Darwin	Simple Fragment and List-Detail Fragments in one project	-
Gallery	Ian Darwin	Simple Photo Gallery example.	Deprecated
GcmClient	Ian Darwin	Google Cloud Messaging - receiver	-
GcmMockServer	Ian Darwin	Google Cloud Messaging - sender	-
GeneralPrompter	Ian Darwin	A program that shows the Storage Facility to prompt for all files.	-
HapticFeedback	Ian Darwin	Haptic Feedback recipe.	-
HelloCommandLine	Ian Darwin	HelloWorld	SDK
HelloEclipse	Ian Darwin	HelloWorld	Eclipse ADT
HelloGradle	Ian Darwin	Hello World with Gradle but NOT Studio.	-
HelloMaven	Ian Darwin	HelloWorld using Maven with android-maven-plugin.	-
HelloStudioTesting	Ian Darwin	HelloWorld of StudioTesting	-
HelloTestingTarget	Adrián Santalla	ADT Testing - subject	-
HelloTestingTestProject	Ian Darwin	ADT Testing - Tests	-
HomeAppListView	Ian Darwin	A Home Application	Shows running a program
IconizedListView	Ian Darwin	List View with Icon	-
ImageButtonDemo	Ian Darwin	ImageButtons!	-
IntentsDemo	Ian Darwin	Intents	-
IPCDemo	Ian Darwin	IPC - Inter-Process Communication, simplified demo (2 versions, alas).	-
IpcServiceDemo	Rupesh Chavan	IPC - Inter-Process Communication, simplified demo (2 versions, alas).	-
JavascriptDataDemo	Ian Darwin	Getting data from Java to JavaScript and back.	-
JavaTimeDemo	Ian Darwin	Demos of java.time date/time API	Actually JSR-310 API; almost same but different package
JSONParsing	Ian Darwin	Simple example of JSON parsing using built-in JSONObject.	-
KotlinVolleyDemo	Ian Darwin	Kotlin version of Volley demo	-
LayoutBorder	Ian Darwin	Layout Border Demo Project Source for Android	-
ListViewAdvanced	Marco Dinacci	ListView	-
ListViewDemos	Ian Darwin	ListView	-
ListViewEmpty	Rachee Singh	ListView with empty list: don’t show blank screen!	-
ListViewSectionHeader	Ian Darwin	ListView with section headers	-
LocalBroadcastDemo	Ian Darwin	Local Broadcast Receiver	-
MapDemosV2	Ian Darwin	This is the Google API Maps V2 Demo.	-
MapsV2AddToProject	Ian Darwin	Adding a Google Maps V2 MapActivity to a project	You must ask for permission from Google (get and provide your own Google API key).
MarketSearch	Ian Darwin	Search the Play Store	-
MaterialDemos	Ian Darwin	MaterialDesign demos	-
MediaPlayerDemo	Ian Darwin	Play media	-
MediaPlayerInteractive	Ian Darwin	Media Player demo from Marco Dinacci, thanks.	-
MediaRecorderDemo	Marco Dinacci	Simple sound recorder	-
MenuAction	Ian Darwin	Menu Action Handling	-
MessengerDemo	Ian Darwin	Using a Messenger to send requests to a Service	-
NativeFunctFromJS	Ian Darwin	Try to invoke native code from JavaScript.	-
NdkDemo	Ian Darwin	Native Development Kit	C Code
NotificationDemo	Ian Darwin	Notifications	-
NumberPickers	Ian Darwin	UI for picking numbers	-
OAuth2Demo	Ian Darwin	Demo of OAuth2 to Google Tasks.	-
OpenGlDemo	Marco Dinacci	OpenGL graphics	-
OrientationChanges	Wagied Davids	Rotation	-
OSMIntro	Rachee Singh	Basic OSM map app demo.	Builds with Maven, not with Eclipse. Maybe m2e aar support, isn’t, yet.
OSMOverlay	Ian Darwin	OSM Map with a map marker overlay	Compiles, runs, doesn’t load map tiles; needs upgrading to osmdroid-android 5.5
OSMTouchEvents	Ian Darwin	OSM Map with touch event handling.	Builds with Maven, not with Eclipse. Maybe m2e aar support, isn’t, yet.
PdfShare	Ian Darwin	Create and share a PDF	-
PermissionRequest	Ian Darwin	Shows asking for permissions at runtime, i.e,. "the new way"	-
PhoneGapDemo	Shraddha Shravagi	HTML5 app using phonegap/cordova	-
PinchAndZoom	Ian Darwin	Pinch-and-zoom graphics demo	-
PreferencesDemo	Ian Darwin	Preferences	-
ProgressDialogDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of a pop-up indefinite progress dialog.	-
RangeGraphDemo	Ian Darwin	Using a graphing library	-
RatingBarDemo	Ian Darwin	Show use of 5-star RatingBar as used in rankings, surveys, &c.	-
Rebooter	Ian Darwin	How to reboot, and why you can’t	-
RecipeList	Ian Darwin	= RecipeList - use an AsyncTask to download data over the 'net via HTTP.	-
RecyclerViewDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of RecyclerView, the faster ListView.	-
RemoteSystemsTempFiles	Ian Darwin	This folder is created automatically by Eclipse and can be ignored.	-
RGraphDemo	Wagied Davids	Using a graphing library	-
RoomDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of Room, the official Android ORM.	-
RuntimeLog	Ian Darwin	A simpe runtime log facility	-
ScanBarcode	Ian Darwin	Scan barcode using ZXing app via Intent	-
SecondScreen	Ian Darwin	Trivial example of one Activity (screen) starting another.	-
SendSMS	Colin Wilcox	Sends an SMS	-
SensorShakeDetection	Thomas Manthey	Use Accellerometer to detect if the user has shaken the device.	-
SensorUpOrDown	Rachee Singh	Code for r2051, Checking Whether a Device Is Facing Up or Down	-
ServiceDemos	Ian Darwin	Demo a couple of kinds of Service.	-
ShareActionProviderDemo	Ian Darwin	ICS "Share" action	-
ShellCommand	Ian Darwin	Run a Unix/Linux command via Runtime.exec, capture the output.	-
SimpleAccountAndSyncDemo	Ian Darwin	User account on device	-
SimpleCalendar	Ian Darwin	Calendar	-
SimpleDialer	Ian Darwin	Trivial Dialer - launches Dialer app via Intent	-
SimpleJumper	Wagied Davids	Common code for flixel-gdx-based gaming demo.	Game starts, can move left-right only, no scenery. Fails on Intel phone/emulator
SimplePool	Wagied Davids	Start of a pool/billiards game using AndEngine.	-
SimpleTorchLight	Saketkumar Srivastav	Simple Torchlight/Flashlight example.	(Most devices now have a built-in control for this)
SlidingDrawer-Topdown	Wagied Davids	The main code is from the "Sliding Drawer - Top Down" recipe	-
SMSReceive	Ian Darwin	Receive an incoming SMS.	-
SnackBarDemo	Ian Darwin	Snackbar (bottom message text) demo	-
SoapDemo	Ian Darwin	XML SOAP Web Service	-
SoftKeyboardEnterNext	Jonathan Fuerth	Change the Enter key to "Next" on one-line text fields.	-
SoundRec	Ian Darwin	Sound Recorder	-
Speaker	Ian Darwin	Text To Speech (TTS)	-
SpeechRecognizerDemo	Ian Darwin	Speech Recognizer.	-
SpinnerDemo	Ian Darwin	Drop-down Spinner Demos	-
SpinningCubeDemo	Marco Dinacci	OpenGL Spinning Cube, from Marco Dinacci	-
SplashDialog	Rachee Singh	Splash screen	-
SQLiteDemos	Ian Darwin	SQLite demos	-
StandardDrawables	Ian Darwin	Use Existing Drawables	-
StaticFileRead	Ian Darwin	StaticFileRead - read a file from the application	-
StringsXML	Daniel Fowler	Demos for "Nuances of Strings.xml" recipe.	-
TabHostDemo	Ian Darwin	TabHost Demo: Demo of the TabHost widget, in a Dialog.	-
TabSwipeDemo	Ian Darwin	Tabbable and swipeable layout	-
TeleCorder	Ian Darwin	Telephone call recorder (in progress!)	-
TelephonyManager	Pratik Rupwal	Displays phone info	-
TestingWithEspresso	Ian Darwin	HelloWorld of EspressoTesting	-
Tipster	Sunit Katkar	Full app: compute and show restaurant bill with tip	-
UniqueId	Ian Darwin	Find device’s unique ID	-
Vibrate	Rachee Singh	Make the device vibrate	-
ViewPagerDemo	Ian Darwin	Swipe among views	-
VolleyDemo	Ian Darwin	Demo of Volley networking library	-
WheelPickerDemo	Wagied Davids	Apple-style Wheel Picker Demo	-
WindowBackgroundDemo	Ian Darwin	Graphical window background	-