Mobile Programming
Designing User Interface
Programming Methodologies for Mobile Applications
There are two main methods for designing user interface of a
mobile application.
1. Declarative design method: involves writing code that
specifies what should be done by the mobile device.
When using android platform to develop mobile applications,
eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is used to implement
declarative programming.
2. Procedural design method: involves writing code that
specifies how user interface objects will be created.
Android platform, Java programming language is used to
implement procedural design.
This is done by writing Java code to create and manipulate all
the user interface objects such as buttons,labels and text fields
Choice of Design Method
Android allows developers to create user interfaces in either style.
The user interface can be designed almost entirely using either
Java code or XML descriptors.
There are Java APIs and the corresponding declarative XML
attributes that do the same thing.
Which should you use? Either way is valid, but XML is
recommended due to the following reasons:
1. XML code is require few lines of code (shorter) than
corresponding java code
2. XML easier to understand than the corresponding Java code
Choice of Design Method
eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
In android platform eXtensible Markup Language(XML) is
used to describes what will be viewed by the user when the
application is launched.
For example, push buttons, labels and text field.
It is also describes what information to be stored or
transferred.
Data stored on an external XML file can be available to all
kinds of mobile devices.
The Difference Between XML and HTML
XML was created to define, store, and transfer information
while HTML was designed to display data, with focus on how
data looks
HTML documents can only use tags defined in the HTML
standard (like <p>, <h1>, etc.) while XML allows the author to
define his/her own tags and his/her own document structure
Terminologies used in XML
There are several terminologies that are used when
programming using XML. These are:
1.XML tag
2.XML element
3.XML attributes
4.XML Namespace
XML tags
A Tag is a construct for describing elements of a document.
A tag begins with opening angle bracket (‘<‘) and ends with closing
angle bracket (‘ >’)
There are three types of tags
start-tags indicate the beginning of an element.
For example: <Text View>
end-tags indicates the end of an element
For example: </Text View>
empty-element tags; do not have end-tags and must be terminated by
a ‘/’. For example: <Text View />
XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags
XML tags
XML tags Must be Properly Nested within each other
That is, the order of opening tags should be viceversa when
closing the same element
Example:
<Linear Layout> <TextView > ........</TextView></LinearLayout>
In the example above, "Properly nested" means that since the <TextView >
element is opened inside the <Linear Layout> element, it must be closed
inside the <Linear Layout> element.
Example2
<name><email>…</name></email> is not allowed.
<name><email>…</email></name> is allowed
What is an XML Element?
An XML element is A logical document component which
either begins with a start-tag and ends with a matching
end-tag or consists only of an empty-element tag .
The characters between the start- and end-tags, if any, are
the element's content, and may contain markup, including
other elements, which are called child elements
An element can contain:
1. other elements text
2. attributes
3. Both elements and attributes.
XML elements: Example
In the example above,
<resources> element contains <color> element
XML elements: Example
<color> element also has one attribute (name).
There are four values assigned to name :
“ orange”, “blue”, “ gold”, “gray
There are four text content:
#ff5500, #0066cc, #e6b121, #999999.
Empty XML Elements
An alternative syntax can be used for XML elements with no
content:
Example
<resources> </resources>
XML Attributes
Attributes often provide information that is not a part of the
data.
In the example below, the file type is irrelevant to the data, but
can be important to the software that wants to manipulate the
element:
Example:
<file type="gif">computer.gif</file>
XML Elements vs. Attributes
In the example below:
Button element has three attributes (id, layout_width,
layout_height and text).
Each attribute is initialized with a value
Example:
XML Attributes for Metadata
ID references are assigned to elements for identification purposes.
In the following example Button element is assigned an ID
btnlogin
XML Namespaces (xmlns) Attribute
A Namespace is a set of unique names assigned to a group that is
identified with one name.
It is a mechanisms by which element and attribute name can be
assigned to group.
XML Namespaces provide a method to avoid element name
conflicts.
The Namespace is identified by Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI).
Example:
XML Namespaces (xmlns) Attribute
A Namespace is declared using reserved attributes.
Such an attribute name must either be xmlns or begin with xmlns:
as follows:
<element xmlns: name="URL">
The Namespace starts with the keyword xmlns.
The word name is the Namespace prefix.
The URL is the Namespace identifier.
XML Namespaces (xmlns) Attribute : Example
Here, the Namespace prefix is Android, and the Namespace identifier (URI) as
http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android.
This means, the element names and attribute names with the android prefix ,all
belong to the http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android namespace.
XML Namespaces (xmlns) Attribute
In the example above, the xmlns attribute in the <linear
Layout> tag give the android a qualified namespace.
When a namespace is defined for an element, all child
elements with the same prefix are associated with the same
namespace.
The purpose is to give the namespace a unique name.
However, often companies use the namespace as a pointer
to a web page containing namespace information.
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters
which identifies an Internet Resource .
Such identification enables interaction with representations of
the web resource over a network, typically the World Wide
Web, using specific protocols.
An URI identifies a resource either by location, or a name, or
both.
A URI has two specializations:
1. Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
2. Universal Resource Name (URN).
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is used to identify an
Internet domain address.
It specifies where an identified resource is located and the
protocol for retrieving it.
Examples of retrieving protocol are:
http://, ftp:// or smb://
Uniform Resource Name (URN)
An Uniform Resource Name (URN) is a Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI) that uses he URN scheme, and defines the
identity of a resource.
It does not imply availability of the identified resource.
A URN has to be of this form
"urn:" <NID> ":" <NSS>
where
<NID> is the Namespace Identifier,
<NSS> is the Namespace Specific String.
Uniform Resource Name (URN)
Example1: •urn:isbn:0451450523
In this example, a book is identified by its book number.
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.
It is a unique numeric commercial book identifier.
ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation
(except re- printings) of a book.
Example 2: urn:issn:0167-6423
ISSN stands for International Standard Serial Number
It is an internationally accepted code which identifies the title of
serial publications. e.g. Journal is identified by its serial number
Uniform Resource Name (URN):
Other Examples
XML Document tree Structure
XML documents must contain a root element.
A document has a single root element
This element is "the parent" of all other elements.
The tree starts at the root and branches to the lowest
level of the tree.
All elements can have sub elements (child elements):
<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>
XML Document tree Structure
The terms parent, child, and sibling are used to describe the
relationships between.
The terms parent, child, and sibling are used to describe the
relationships between elements.
Parent elements have children. Children on the same level
are called siblings (brothers or sisters).
All elements can have text content and attributes (just like
in HTML).
XML Document tree Structure example
XML Document tree Structure example
<bookstore>
<book category="COOKING">
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
XML Document tree Structure example
In this example, the root element in the example is
<bookstore>.
All <book> elements in the document are contained
within <bookstore>.
The <book> element has 4 children:
<title>,< author>, <year>, <price>.
XML Syntax Rules
1. In XML, it is illegal to omit the closing tag.
All elements must have a closing tag:
Example
<Edit Text>..............</Edit Text>
<br />
Note: XML declaration did not have a closing tag
since it is not a part of the XML document itself, and it
has no closing tag.
XML Syntax Rules
2. XML Tags are Case Sensitive
Example: The tag <TextView> is different from the tag
<textview>.
Opening and closing tags must be written with the same
case:
Example:
<Button> This is correct </Button>
Note: "Opening and closing tags" are often referred to as
"Start and end tags".
XML Syntax Rules
3. XML Documents Must Have a Root Element
XML documents must contain one element that is
the parent of all other elements.
This element is called the root element.
Format:
<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>
XML Syntax Rules
4. XML Attribute Values Must be Quoted
XML elements can have attributes in name/value pairs
just like in HTML.
In XML, the attribute values must always be quoted.
Example:
XML Syntax Rules
5. Comments in XML
Comments refers to statements that will be ignored by CPU
during execution.
The are used to help understanding of the code
The syntax for writing comments in XML is as follows:
<!-- This is a comment -->
XML Syntax Rules
6. White-space is Preserved in XML
This means that the white-space in a document is not
truncated.
Example:
XML : User Name
Output: User Name
XML Naming Rules
XML elements must follow six naming rules:
1. Names can contain letters, numbers, and other characters
2. Names cannot start with a number or punctuation character
3. Names cannot start with the letters xml (or XML, or Xml,
etc)
4. Names cannot contain spaces
5. Any name can be used, no words are reserved.
6. The name should be meaningful
Exercise1
Consider the following login.xml File
Exercise1
Identify the following elements in the login.xml file:
1.Root element
2.Parent elements
3.Child elements
4.Attributes
5.XML Namespaces
6.Values
Exercise 2
Draw a tree structure that represents the following
XML document
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Company>
<Employee> <FirstName>Tanmay</FirstName>
<LastName>Patil</LastName>
<ContactNo>1234567890</ContactNo>
<Email>[email protected]</Email>
<Address>
<City>Bangalore</City>
<State>Karnataka</State>
<Zip>560212</Zip>
</Address>
</Employee>
</Company>
End
Thank You
Questions
