Blog Post 5: The Finale

So, I finally finished my genius project and the presentation. Phew... Initially I had some problems with the presentation. My video would not play. Thankfully, I was able to successfully get my presentation up and running. When I got up on the stage I felt more confident that I was going to be able to do well. I felt that I spoke fluently, and spoke in a loud voice. I have no idea though what the teachers thought. I really wanted this to be a talk, so I tried to speak in a formal sense, but not so incredibly formal that it seemed like a report. I had no flashcards or script. Purposefully of course (Although I did practice at home). I wanted to speak without a script so that I could speak my mind on the subject and not be worried what to say next. I wanted it to be as if it was a conversation. Scripts are not conversations. Also, flashcards make you look down, and make it seem even more like a report. Quotes, although I felt were nice, I felt made his presentation too "report" like. So I excluded quotes in order to not bore my audience. This was my opinion on what made a good TALK. Maybe McPerlman will disagree, but I went on my on terms here. I felt that it made for a fine presentation. I did follow the TED commandments. I found these to be quite helpful, and made for a good outline.

Well, I think the final product I came out with, which was a 3 question quiz game, ended up turning out nice. It took me a few hours of programming in order to create it. I think that it looked great, and functioned great. It was not my initial image of my final product, but I was happy with it anyways.


























I think that this project taught be what I needed to get my android career off the ground. I actually intend to continue programming for android. Maybe one day I will be able to publish an app on the app store.

Overall, I fell that my project was a success. I hope that more android is in my future, and I hope that this will lead me to be a better programmer in general.

Commented Blogs (3/26/15): Alycia Lee, Matt Greaff, Brett Hu

Blog Post 4: Pre-Presentation

So I am about to get ready for the presentation on this project. I am really excited and after seeing a few of the presentations already, I am confident that I will able to do great. I definitely want to make it creative to make sure that I do in fact make the audience care about it. As of now, I am still in the middle of getting my presentation together. However, my final product is done. I am posting a link to it on my 5th blog post. However, I do not want to post any pictures of it until I present it. To do this program, I started from scratch. I used my previous program in case I forgot a few things (which I did). My final product is a 3 Question quiz game. This is my most complicated program I have written for android yet. It took me a few hours to program, and I think that it ended up turning out great!

Although I will not show the final product until presentation day. I will show a few things.

Here is the new icon:

Here is also some of the code that I used:

Well, the big day is coming up. I am actually not that very nervous, to be honest. I think I am going to do a good job, so I am not in any worried state. I will walk up and speak with confidence. I will make sure that I am the best that I can possibly be up on that stage while presenting. Well, lets see what happens shall we?


Commented Blogs (3/26/15): Alycia Lee, Margo Kaplan, Liliana Xu

Vlog: Update On Project

New Apk: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4QAu9suqlVZLXJCM1J0aTRrOGs&authuser=0

Blog Post 3.5: Comments & Updates

Commented on the blogs of: Avery Ryan, Matt Graeff, Thomas O'Farrel.

Updated APK will be coming up soon. I am posting a vlog tonight and will have the download links on the post. (keep in mind the app just shows progress. Its not very useful)

Blog Post 3: Continuation of Project

Overview:

During this cycle of working on learning how to develop for android, I worked on what I had already done with the Google tutorial. I added certain things to my test application such as more actions, the opening of external apps, and a new color scheme. I also gave my application an icon. It is there simply to show that I can do so, and is not complicated for that reason.

Showing off:

Last time that I showed my application working was in an emulator that came with Android Studio, which was the application I have been using for this project. I had recently learned how to develop a signed apk (application install file). So, I decided to put it on my tablet and give it a go. The results were quite good.

As you may have noticed, the color scheme is very different from the last version of the application. I thought that changing the colors would definitely spice up everything. As it did. However, the colors were the hardest things to deal with. It took me roughly 2 hours plus to get it to work. The whole time, this was me:

However, I was eventually able to get the colors to work (thank god). I also worked on having my app open other apps. You may have noticed a search button and a menu button (3 dots). When you hit the menu button, it shows the word "Settings". By clicking on settings, you would be taken to system settings. I also added a search button that if you hit it, it will take you to google.com.

As I have also mentioned, I was also able to change the icon of my application. It is a very basic icon. I did not mean for it to be complicated. I just wanted to test my ability to change the icon. I was successful. This is the icon I made:

And here it is in action:

Conclusion:

These were overall small improvements to the app. However, they took a lot of time and patience to get to work. The ability to customize the app in the way I did made me feel great about myself. I am hoping to soon get into making an app from scratch instead of from tutorials (copy & paste situation). I am also hoping to crack open an android programming book in my possession to see if it can also help me in this endeavor.

APK:

I have posted a copy of the apk for anyone to install on their system. 

5.0 only: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4QAu9suqlVZZWp5UU5PNUUwd28&authuser=0

4.1 up (untested): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4QAu9suqlVZczduZVFGbjJoeDQ&authuser=0

Sources:

So, I have a TON of sources. This is because I looked at a lot of them while I was trying to solve some problems with my application. Excuse the size:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18094313/android-development-unable-to-create-an-icon-drawable-ic-action-search
• http://developer.android.com/design/downloads/index.html#action-bar-icon-pack
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5071948/set-up-my-own-xml-namespace
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21871750/android-appcompat-actionbar-menu-item-showasaction-not-working
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5427195/how-to-change-a-projects-min-sdk-version
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19997509/android-studio-why-are-minsdkversion-and-targetsdkversion-specified-both-in-and
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18727033/opensearch-in-android-beginners-app-not-defined
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25448051/in-the-build-your-first-app-tutorial-what-is-actionbar-background-and-how-do
• https://developer.android.com/samples/BasicMediaRouter/res/values/colors.html
• http://www.color-hex.com/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18288402/how-to-set-custom-actionbar-color-style
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18288402/how-to-set-custom-actionbar-color-style
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26992936/styling-actionmode-actionbar-in-android-5-0-lollipop-with-appcompat
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18726865/custom-style-action-bar-not-working-in-android-4
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24850780/my-android-app-crashes-after-adding-androidstyle-theme-dialog-in-the-android
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22755756/android-how-to-change-action-bar-background-color-to-dark-blue
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22755756/android-how-to-change-action-bar-background-color-to-dark-blue
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27155867/using-theme-material-light-darkactionbar-with-theme-appcompat-light-darkactionba
• https://developer.android.com/training/material/theme.html
• https://developer.android.com/training/index.html
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26435684/change-material-design-appcompat-actionbar-color
• https://developer.appcelerator.com/question/133762/how-can-i-export-project-as-apk-file
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16709848/build-unsigned-apk-file-with-android-studio
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18124806/android-development-undefined-method
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2201917/how-can-i-open-a-url-in-androids-web-browser-from-my-application
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22269048/export-unsigned-apk-from-a-gradle-project-in-android-studio
• http://www.androiddevelopment.org/tag/apk/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhO_4zfFYME
• http://developer.android.com/tools/publishing/app-signing.html
• http://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.1.html

Gif Source: www.giphy.com

Commented Blogs (3/2/15): Fred Sorg-Taylor, Ruby Lee, David Weiss

Blog Post 2: First Project

What has happened so far:
This cycle, I decided to follow a tutorial that was provided by Google on how to start a first app. So far, I believe I have gotten about half way through, and was able to make a very, very basic application. Although it was basic, I still was very proud of myself for what I was able to do. So, I had an idea for an app. However, I noticed that making a full game app, may be a bit out of my reach in the time that I have. I will have to wait and see if I have enough time. For now, I have a new goal and schedule.

Goal:
To be able to create an application that will be able to show off what I have learned within these cycles. It may not be the most functional of apps, but it will be an app for sure!

New Schedule:
Cycle 1: Complete
Cycle 2: Complete
Cycle 3: Will continue the "first app" process
Cycle 4: Attempt to create an app while learning more
Cycle 5: Attempt to create an app while learning more
Cycle 6: Finalize app.

What I have made so far:
So, as I have said before, I have been able to create something within this cycle of learning. I have taken the liberty of taking some pictures so that you could see what I have been doing.

Proof of my genius :D :
So the first step in the tutorial that I have been following on Google's developer page was to make a line that you could type in, and also create a (At the moment useless) send button. Here is the beauty:

As I continued with the tutorial, I added functionality to the send button, which would print what I typed in the text field, as well as stretch the text field to fit the whole screen:

Here is the picture of what happens next when I hit the send button:

So, that is what I have been able to do. As a programmer, I truly admire my work. Although it is so simple, it makes me feel great that I was able to do something like this. I had help from many sources to help me with this. They are as follows:

(some might be missing. The computer in which had the sources has had an error in which has forced me to reinstall the os ): losing all files. Im using chrome history to find these. Hmm...)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19481408/android-first-application-string-cannot-be-resolved-or-is-not-a-field-error

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23708451/error-cannot-find-symbol-class-view

https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html

http://www.androidpit.com/forum/632071/error-cannot-find-symbol-variable-extra-message-in-android-studio

Commented Blogs (2/23/15): Liliana Xu, Felicia Krauss, Alycia Lee

Blog Post 1: Lets Make an App!

                                                                          Picture Link

My Background:
I have been interested in programming for a few years now. My first language that I was able to learn was called BASIC. I have this old computer system called a commodore 64 that I got off of eBay once, and I decided to try to program on it. BASIC is really easy, yet I found that it could make the most complicated of things. I felt that I could make anything. BASIC is of course, not very practical in today's world. Nothing modern is programmed in BASIC. This inspired me to take on other programming projects like learning C++. However, I have had a massive interest in Android for some time now, and I felt that the perfect way for me to learn modern programming is to develop an android app. So I thought that I will give it a shot.

The Idea:

For my genius project, I have decided to develop, and publish an Android app. I will be creating it over the next few cycles, and all the while, will be learning more about the programming language. The app will probably be very simple, but I intend to make it a fun game. I still have to look into publishing, and what fees are necessary, but I hope to publish my app on the app store.

My Resources:

I already have all the necessary resources for my genius project, I have an Android programming book in order to learn the android programming language. I have a computer with Android Studio, the android programming software, which I will use to create my actual app. I also have a lot of time, which is probably the most valuable thing that I have at the moment. I also have the internet at my side for when I am stuck at certain points.

Timeline

Cycle 1: Develop App Idea

Cycle 2: I will learn how to program in android programming language.

Cycle 3: I will finalize my learning of the programming.

Cycle 4: I will start to program my application

Cycle 5: I will continue to program my application

Cycle 6: I will finalize my application, and then hopefully publish it

What I hope to accomplish

I hope to be able to make a great app overall. I do not want my product to come out rusty. I want it to be exactly as I expected. I also hope that my app is actually enjoyable. I would not look on my app well if it was not good at all.

What's next?

It is the first cycle of the project. So, I will be devoting it to coming up with an idea for an application. I will try to come up with a few, and see which one works the best for me. I will probably make a simple game for my application. That seems the most reliable option.

Link to Android Developers: http://developer.android.com/index.html

Commented Blogs (2/23/15): Brett Hu, Jason Shu, Margo Kaplin