Android Development Story

robbio87

Following on from other users here, I've decided to tell my story of the my android application development experience. Short hand.

May 2011. I finish 1st year college. (Software Development)
Downloaded Android Tutorials.
Learn how to build a flashlight and a simple task manager list.
Learn basic xml.
Middle of leaving cert, I decide to make a leaving cert based app.
View/Download/Save Exam Papers to phone.

Start my app.
Low expectations
Build basic views...
lots of buttons...
Get some code off the net to build a "Tab View" for the main screen.
Spend many hours putting all Exam Paper links into strings.xml
Build Activities to display Internet and Papers.

Error in the code....
Torture
1 week later...
Fixed!!
No clue how I fixed it.

Add a button to where Exam Papers are viewed....

1 week later....
lots of time on www.stackoverflow.com....
done.

Next..
I decide to save exam papers to SD card...
I look for the root of sd card....
"Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()" by the way

done..

to view all papers saved..
I create a list view in no time...
done..

Begin to think I can pull this off

spend the next few days learning photoshop

App icon made..

Feature graphic made..


add facebook button into app.
spend hours trying to figure out how to sign app with the keytool.
Published
done.

End products
Leaving Cert Dog Lite
Leaving Cert Dog PRO


Girlfriends patience tested to the limit...



https://market.android.com/details?id=cacafogo.software.lc.dog

jreanor

Hi there,

Well done on the app!You've clearly put a lot of effort into it.
Just a thought though, are you sure leaving cert papers are not protected by any kind of copyright?

robbio87

Hey,

Thanks for the concern...
I thought about this for a long time also..
I'm not totally sure to be honest. I contacted examinations.ie a number of times......no reply. So I figured that I am not selling any exam papers.

No papers are included in the app.
Its a very small app at 2mb...
And most of that is the gui stuff

Its basically a very small web browser. That just shows the paper you want(from examinations.ie).
The browser/webview gives you the option to download the paper to your phone.
The app also has a section that shows you what you've downloaded.
Which you can then view by tapping a paper in the download list.

jreanor

Well if its any reassurance there has been a similar app on the iOS AppStore for at least a year which even redistributes the papers and it shows no sign of disapearring.

Atomic Pineapple

If your just hooking into the examinations website you should be grand.

robbio87

Thats exactly what I'm doing...

Papers are available for free online....
So my app web browser/web views are a simpler more efficient way to do it on your android phone!

I've seen that app on the App Store, that differs from mine....
It contains all the papers in the app(so the app size is like 500mb)
Which I could understand if there were legal issues with that.


I'll let ye know if I get a summons in the post!!

Atomic Pineapple

Nah, all they have to do is block traffic from your app

Good to see some growth in Android development, I've been developing on the platform since the very beginning

robbio87

lets hope they don't....looks like the Junior Cert is next, a few hours of work and Junior Cert Puppy could be finished! Sweet!