Android Development queries

grimm2005

hey folks,

I'm developing an android app for my final year project in computer science that will help cancer patients with their treatment. Part of this will have a Wii fit style exercise diary that will track the user's progress over time. I'm wondering how I will store this information (as well as user details). I presume it will connect to a database, but i'm wondering what type of database would be suitable for this (Oracle, SQL Server?) and should it be stored on a server or locally on the client handset? (I would presume for security issues it should remain on the phone?)

I am writing a proposal for this at the moment and would like to have a fair idea of what technologies i'll be using. I've never done any android development and very little mobile development (only J2ME stuff) so any comments would be appreciated!

Also, would anyone recommend any good books to help get started?

Thanks

Atomic Pineapple

Saving it on the device using the sqllite database seems like the way to go unless you want some connectivity with the internet to share the data with some web service?

If the client does not need to pull info from elsewhere then an sqllite database on the device probably makes the most sense.

If you want it on a server make sure to encrypt and decrypt the data.

The commonsware book seems to be the best, you can also use stackoverflow.com and the android developers groups to ask questions.

Also feel free to ask me for help (via pm) it sounds like an excellent project.

grimm2005

draffodx wrote: »

Saving it on the device using the sqllite database seems like the way to go unless you want some connectivity with the internet to share the data with some web service?

If the client does not need to pull info from elsewhere then an sqllite database on the device probably makes the most sense.

If you want it on a server make sure to encrypt and decrypt the data.

The commonsware book seems to be the best, you can also use stackoverflow.com and the android developers groups to ask questions.

Also feel free to ask me for help (via pm) it sounds like an excellent project.

Thanks for the feedback man. I had a look at SQLite there. is it all done within a command line interface? I've done most of my SQL in the past in Oracle SQL developer. would it be hard to link it up with the application? we've literally only linked up jsp pages with an MS access database in the past. Tried linking jsp pages with an SQL bases db in the past and had major trouble with it.

Atomic Pineapple

grimm2005 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback man. I had a look at SQLite there. is it all done within a command line interface? I've done most of my SQL in the past in Oracle SQL developer. would it be hard to link it up with the application? we've literally only linked up jsp pages with an MS access database in the past. Tried linking jsp pages with an SQL bases db in the past and had major trouble with it.

Nope, its done in code, although you can use the ADB to play around with the DB in a command line interface.

Here is an example:

http://www.screaming-penguin.com/node/7742

Its far easier than hooking up an SQL database to JSP pages thankfully

grimm2005

Ah cool, that's good to know, thanks! I won't be connecting it to the web at all, so that sqaushes any security concerns also. I'll definitly go with SQLite for the db.

A possible problem is that I don't have an android handset. would the emulator included in the SDK be sufficient or could I run into problems with it? The lecturer I have proposed the project to told me if I could run it in the emulator that would be no problem. I can get one if I need to (hell, itd be a good excuse to get a new phone), but i'm not exactly rolling in cash atm so if i could hold off for a while that'd be ideal.

Atomic Pineapple

grimm2005 wrote: »

Ah cool, that's good to know, thanks! I won't be connecting it to the web at all, so that sqaushes any security concerns also. I'll definitly go with SQLite for the db.

A possible problem is that I don't have an android handset. would the emulator included in the SDK be sufficient or could I run into problems with it? The lecturer I have proposed the project to told me if I could run it in the emulator that would be no problem. I can get one if I need to (hell, itd be a good excuse to get a new phone), but i'm not exactly rolling in cash atm so if i could hold off for a while that'd be ideal.

The emulator is pretty good for most parts, it even lets you fake gps, text messages, phone calls etc..

It would be best to test on a device in a real life situation though, mainly for the user evaluation and user testing stage of your project.

You may be able to pick up a G1 cheap enough these days and its a pretty decent phone but bear in mind its limited to version 1.6

I also done my final year project on Android and you can see an overview of it here - http://www.donalrafferty.com/index.html

My project was pretty poor though as Android was so knew then I didnt have a clue or the information available that there is today but my thesis was excellent and made sure I got an honours result.

If you want it in pdf let me know and I can send it to you at the weekend, it may or may not be useful to you.

grimm2005

Thanks for the info and your link. a pdf might be useful alright, if you already have it in that format, ill pm you my email address. I'm actually less concerned about the thesis and more so on the actual app development as I havn't done any android development before.

In terms of getting a phone, I was kind of considering going all out and getting a HTC desire (i figure if I have to upgrade for a project I might aswell get a quality phone i'll be happy with)

jimmycrackcorm

You need to determine if you actually need a database. If you are only storing simple data without complex querying then a simply xml file might be enough.

Atomic Pineapple

grimm2005 wrote: »

Thanks for the info and your link. a pdf might be useful alright, if you already have it in that format, ill pm you my email address. I'm actually less concerned about the thesis and more so on the actual app development as I havn't done any android development before.

In terms of getting a phone, I was kind of considering going all out and getting a HTC desire (i figure if I have to upgrade for a project I might aswell get a quality phone i'll be happy with)

I should have it in PDF if you want to pm me your email.

In my course, the thesis,showing what you learned and the presentation was worth 70% of the marks while the actual application was only worth 30%.

The desire would be your best bet if going all out on an Android phone.