Android Programming

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See also Custom Drawn Interface/Android

Knowing general Android programming can be very useful to help developing the Lazarus Android Interface.

How to...

Build the NDK OpenGL example

Just follow these steps:

Step 1 - Download and install the Android NDK, Android SDK and Ant. More information here: Android_Interface/Using_the_Android_SDK,_Emulator_and_Phones

Step 2 - Install the pre-compiled FPC cross-compiler. Instructions here: Android_Interface#Using_the_pre-compiled_compiler

Step 3 - Download the latest lazarus-ccr sourceforge code:

svn co https://lazarus-ccr.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/lazarus-ccr lazarus-ccr

or if you think it is too big you can download just the folder lazarus-ccr/bindings/android-ndk

Step 4 - Building the Pascal Library

Open the project lazarus-ccr/bindings/android-ndk/examples/opengltest/opengltest.lpi

Go to Project->Project Options->Paths and where is written "Libraries -Fl" you should see this value:

/home/felipe/Programas/android-ndk-r5/platforms/android-9/arch-arm/usr/lib

Change it to the correct path in your system which points to the NDK and to the library folder for your minimal required Android API Level

Now build the project using Lazarus.

Step 5 - Configuring the build environment

Open the file opengltest/local.properties and in this line:

sdk.dir=/home/felipe/Programas/android-sdk-linux

Change this to point to your SDK location

Step 6 - Buildings the APK

Open a terminal and type these commands:

cd lazarus-ccr/bindings/ndk/examples/opengltest/android ant debug

The APK file will be placed in opengltest/android/bin/

Step 7 - Install the APK

In this step if you get error messages about permissions read: Android_Interface/Using_the_Android_SDK,_Emulator_and_Phones#Recognition_of_devices_under_Linux

The command to install our APK in the phone is:

cd opengltest/android
~/Programas/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools/adb install bin/OpenGLNDKTest-debug.apk 
2395 KB/s (107299 bytes in 0.043s)
       pkg: /data/local/tmp/OpenGLNDKTest-debug.apk
Success

If you get an error message that it is already installed you can install with this command:

~/Programas/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools/adb uninstall com.pascal.opengltest

And then you can run adb logcat to see what the log says while you start it in the phone via its newly added icon:

~/Programas/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools/adb logcat

Read the screen metrics

First fill a TDisplayMetrics with the correct info:

uses androidutil;

var
  MyDisplayMetrics: TDisplayMetrics;
  Str: string;
  //
  lHeight, lWidth: Integer;
  xdpi, ydpi, lScreenSize: Single;
begin
  // ..
  // Objects

  MyDisplayMetrics := TDisplayMetrics.Create;
  Activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(MyDisplayMetrics);

And then you can read it from the TDisplayMetrics:

  lHeight := MyDisplayMetrics.heightPixels();
  lWidth := MyDisplayMetrics.widthPixels();
  xdpi := MyDisplayMetrics.xdpi();
  ydpi := MyDisplayMetrics.ydpi();
  lScreenSize := sqrt(sqr(lHeight / ydpi) + sqr(lWidth / xdpi));
  ldensity := MyDisplayMetrics.density();
  ldensityDpi := MyDisplayMetrics.densityDpi();
  scaledDensity := MyDisplayMetrics.scaledDensity();

Note that lots of devices lie about the xdpi and ydpi, so don't trust the lScreenSize calculated above. Smartphones might report even 10 inches of screen size, while the correct is around 4.

Details about Android devices

Since there are so many Android devices, it can be useful to keep track of some information about them. See also in the wikipedia Comparison of Android Devices [1] and details about the processors in [2].

Smartphones

Manufacturer Model Android API Name (Build.Model) Processor Android version Multi-touch Comments
HTC Wildfire HTC Wildfire armv6 2.1=>2.2 Yes -
Sony Erricson Xperia X10 X10i armv7 1.6=>2.1 No -

Tablets

Manufacturer Model Android API Name (Build.Model) Processor Android version Multi-touch Comments
Toshiba Folio 100 Tablet TOSHIBA_FOLIO_AND_A armv7 2.2 Yes -

List of devices ordered by processor compatibility (ARMv6 vs ARMv7)

List of ARMv7 devices:

  • Advent Vega (P10AN01)
  • Dell Streak, Streak 7
  • HTC Desire
  • HTC Desire Z (T-Mobile G2)
  • HTC Desire HD
  • HTC Droid Incredible
  • HTC EVO 4G, EVO Shift 4G
  • HTC Glacier (T-Mobile myTouch 4G)
  • HTC Inspire 4G
  • HTC Nexus One
  • HTC Thunderbolt 4G
  • Huawei Ideos S7
  • LG Optimus Z
  • Motorola Atrix 4G
  • Motorola Bravo
  • Motorola Cliq 2 - untested
  • Motorola Defy
  • Motorola Droid 2, Droid 2 Global
  • Motorola Droid Pro (Motorola PRO)
  • Motorola Droid X
  • Motorola Xoom
  • POV Mobii Tegra Tablet
  • Samsung Continuum (i400)
  • Samsung Galaxy S (i9000, Captivate, Fascinate, Vibrant, Epic 4G)
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab
  • Sharp IS03
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
  • Toshiba AS100
  • Viewsonic gTablet
  • Acer Liquid E
  • Acer Liquid (Liquid A1)
  • Archos 101 Internet Tablet
  • Motorola Charm
  • Motorola Droid (Milestone)
  • Samsung Galaxy S 4G
  • Samsung Nexus S

List of ARMv6 processors:

  • Android SDK emulator
  • Asus Garmin nuvifone A50 (T-Mobile Garminfone)
  • Augen GENTouch 78 Tablet
  • Coby Kyros Internet Tablet (MID7015)
  • Geeksphone One, Geeksphone Zero
  • HTC Aria
  • HTC ChaCha
  • HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1, Android Dev Phone 1)
  • HTC Droid Eris
  • HTC Espresso (T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide)
  • HTC Hero (T-Mobile G2 Touch)
  • HTC Legend
  • HTC Magic (T-Mobile myTouch 3G, T-Mobile G1 Touch)
  • HTC Salsa
  • HTC Tattoo
  • HTC Wildfire
  • Huawei Ascend
  • Huawei Ideos U8150-B (T-Mobile Comet)
  • Huawei U8110 (T-Mobile Pulse Mini)
  • Huawei U8230
  • LG Ally (Apex) (LG VS740)
  • LG GW620 (Eve, InTouch Max, LinkMe)
  • LG Optimus, Optimus M, Optimus T, Optimus S, Optimus V
  • LG Vortex
  • LG P500
  • MAG iMiTO iM7
  • vMAG iMiTO iM7S
  • Motorola Backflip
  • Motorola Citrus
  • Motorola Cliq (MB200)
  • Motorola Dext
  • Motorola Devour
  • Motorola i1
  • Motorola Spice XT300
  • Motorola Quench XT5 XT502
  • Pandigital Novel
  • Samsung GT-S5570 Galaxy Mini
  • Samsung i5500 Galaxy 5 (Corby)
  • Samsung i5700 Galaxy Portal (Spica)
  • Samsung i5800 Galaxy 3
  • Samsung i7500 Galaxy
  • Samsung Intercept
  • Samsung M900 Moment
  • Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace
  • Samsung Transform
  • Sanyo ZIO M6000
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X8
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro
  • Superpad 10.2" Tablet PC
  • Viewsonic ViewPad 7 Tablet
  • Velocity Micro T103 Cruz tablet
  • Vodafone 845
  • ZTE Blade

Playing Sounds and Videos in the Phones

Each phone comes with different codecs installed, which will mean that the native Media Player will be able to play different formats in different phones. Bellow is a table showing which formats play in the native Media Player of each phone:

Telephone Android webm - VP8 m4v - H.264 ogv - Theora mp4 - H.264 mov - H.264 avi - RLE mpg - MPEG-1 wmv - WM9 3gp - MPEG-4
Emulator 1.6 x x x x x x x x OK
Emulator 2.1 x x x x x x x x OK
Nexus One 2.2 x OK x OK x x x x OK
HTC Desire 1.6 x OK x OK x x x OK OK
Toshiba Folio 100 2.2 x OK x OK x x x OK OK
Xperia X10 2.1 x OK x x x x x OK OK
Xperia X8 2.2 x OK x x x x x x OK
HTC Wildfire 2.1 x OK x x x x x x OK
HTC Desire HD 2.2 x OK x OK x x x x OK
Galaxy Tab 2.2 x OK x x x x x x OK
myPhone A210 1.6 x OK x x x x x x OK
Motorola Milestone 2.1 x OK x x x x x OK ?
Milestone 2 2.2 x OK x x x x x sound-only OK

Android file system

Android recommends to use getApplicationContext().getFilesDir() to obtain the data directory for the application and this routine in my HTC Wildfire returns /data/data/<package name>

The native libraries of the application are placed in /data/data/<package>/lib

A good place where we have read and write access and we can create new files and even run files is /data/data/<package name>

Creating a new Java Android Application

This info can be useful for helping implement LCL-CustomDrawn-Android

Generic instructions here: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/other-ide.html

Showing / Hiding the virtual keyboard

See here: http://android-codes-examples.blogspot.com/2011/11/show-or-hide-soft-keyboard-on-opening.html

To show it:

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED,0);

and for hiding the keyboard:

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(singleedittext.getWindowToken(),0);

Android JNI

Using JNI (Java Native Interface) you can call most Android SDK APIs and also other Java libraries.

Example 1: Creating a Java object and calling a Java method

Let's say that you want to make Pascal JNI code equivalent to the following Java code:

  HttpGet javaRequest = new HttpGet();
  URI myURI = new URI("http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/");
  javaRequest.setURI(myURI);

First you need to get all Class IDs involved in the process, then get all method IDs which we will use and then make the calls. If the call has parameters, then pass it in an array. The following Pascal native code is equivalent to that Java code above:

var
  javaClass_HttpGet, javaClass_URI: jclass;
  javaMethod_HttpGet_new, javaMethod_HttpGet_setURI,
    javaMethod_URI_new: jmethodid;
  javaRequest, javaURI: jobject;
  javaString: jstring;
  lParams: array[0..2] of JValue;
  lNativeString: PChar;
begin
  DebugLn(':>LoadHTMLPageViaJNI');
  // First call FindClass for all required classes
  javaClass_HttpGet := javaEnvRef^^.FindClass(javaEnvRef,
    'org/apache/http/client/methods/HttpGet');
  javaClass_URI := javaEnvRef^^.FindClass(javaEnvRef,
    'java/net/URI');

  // Now all Method IDs
  DebugLn(':LoadHTMLPageViaJNI 1');
  javaMethod_HttpGet_new := javaEnvRef^^.GetMethodID(javaEnvRef, javaClass_HttpGet, '<init>', '()V');
  javaMethod_HttpGet_setURI := javaEnvRef^^.GetMethodID(javaEnvRef, javaClass_HttpGet, 'setURI', '(Ljava/net/URI;)V');
  javaMethod_URI_new := javaEnvRef^^.GetMethodID(javaEnvRef, javaClass_URI, '<init>', '(Ljava/lang/String;)V');

  // Create a new instance for the HTTP request object
  // HttpGet javaRequest = new HttpGet();
  javaRequest := javaEnvRef^^.NewObject(javaEnvRef,
    javaClass_HttpGet,
    javaMethod_HttpGet_new);

  DebugLn(':LoadHTMLPageViaJNI 4 javaRequest='+IntToHex(PtrInt(javaRequest), 8));
  // Add a URI for the request object
  // URI javaURI = new URI("http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/");
  lParams[0].l := javaEnvRef^^.NewStringUTF(javaEnvRef, 'http://magnifier.sourceforge.net');
  javaURI := javaEnvRef^^.NewObjectA(javaEnvRef,
    javaClass_URI, javaMethod_URI_new, @lParams[0]);
  javaEnvRef^^.DeleteLocalRef(javaEnvRef, lParams[0].l);
  // javaRequest.setURI(javaURI);
  lParams[0].l := javaURI;
  javaEnvRef^^.CallVoidMethodA(javaEnvRef, javaRequest,
    javaMethod_HttpGet_setURI, @lParams[0]);

References