Mistakes in Programming Projects

April 10, 2009 @ 11:53 am · Filed under Uncategorized

This should be required reading for any Software Project Manager.

http://www.stevemcconnell.com.nyud.net/rdenum.htm

Although for you jaded and older programming types you should play the “Been There” Bingo with that page. I’ve been on projects that scored well over 20/36!

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WikiWhere the Video

January 21, 2009 @ 11:50 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Here is the fully functioning WikiWhere Application.


Feel free to add / remove / update or delete the app as you see fit!

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Programming with Android Part 4 - Finishing WikiWhere

January 21, 2009 @ 11:22 pm · Filed under Android, Programming Tip

Continuing from Part 3 we are going to spend the 30 minutes or so to finish the WikiWhere application. So far we have a mapping and location application on the device. The final step is integrating the Wiki sites and displaying them on the map.

1:45 Foosball, Reddit, Digg and Google Reader Break

1:55  Getting the XML feed for the Wiki sites

Now that you’ve had a long break we can get to the more complicated sections of the code. The Wiki information is collected and provided as a web service by Geonames.org. We will be using the wikipediaBoundingBox XML API to get the information from the service. By making a call to http://ws.geonames.org/wikipediaBoundingBox?north=51.1&south=50.1&east=-113&west=-115 you can get the XML feed of the Wiki Entries in the bounding box in the following format:

  1. <geonames>
  2.   <entry>
  3.   <lang>en</lang>
  4.   <title>Max Bell Centre</title>
  5.   <summary>The Max Bell Centre (often referred to as the Max Bell
  6.   Arena) is an ice hockey arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the
  7.   community of Radisson Heights. It seats 2,121 for hockey with a
  8.   standing room capacity of over 3,000. It is named after George
  9.   Maxwell Bell, a philanthropist who helped fund the arena's
  10.   construction (…)</summary>
  11.   <feature>landmark</feature>
  12.   <countryCode>CA</countryCode>
  13.   <population>0</population>
  14.   <elevation>0</elevation>
  15.   <lat>51.0422</lat>
  16.   <lng>-114.0036</lng>
  17.   <wikipediaUrl>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Bell_Centre
  18.   </wikipediaUrl>
  19.   <thumbnailImg />
  20.  </entry>
  21. …
  22. </geonames>

So to get our wiki items displayed on the map we need to:

1. Call the Geonames XML API

2. Parse the XML

3. Display the icons on a MapOverlay

4. Implement the “Search For Wiki Entries” Button

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Programming with Android Part 3 - Building WikiWhere

January 20, 2009 @ 7:55 pm · Filed under Android, Programming Tip

We will continue from where we left off in the last instalment and extend our basic application into a more useful application. If you are keeping track, we’re an hour and fifteen minutes into our development and we have our application environment setup and ready to program in Android.

Over the next hour we will create an application that will show the wiki entries near our location, display that information on a map and embed the wiki page into the application. This application highlights three key features of the Android platform;

  1. Focus on LBS that makes locative media easier to produce.
  2. Deep web integration from consuming web services to embedding web page.
  3.  Simple map integration via Google Maps.

What is WikiWhere

WikiWhere is a buzzword-compliant mobile application that gives you access to local wiki knowledge where ever you are. Using your Android phone, WikiWhere searches wiki for entries near your location and passes that information to you. Discover your neighbourhood or visit others. 

1:20 Back from Break. You aren’t paid to sit there you know.

We are now going to get started with the WikiWhere application. Let’s go through the first step and create an application shell using the Eclipse project builder. Just as in the previous part, select File >> New Project >> Android Project to launch a new project. Add the details for WikiWhere. I’ve attached a screenshot of the details below.

WikiWhere Project Dialog

Step 1. Create the MapView

The main user interface will be a MapView so we want to change the interface of our WikiWhere class from Activity to MapActivity and implement the onRouteDisplayed method.

  1. package demo.WikiWhere;
  2.  
  3. import com.google.android.maps.MapActivity;
  4. import android.app.Activity;
  5. import android.os.Bundle;
  6.  
  7. public class WikiWhere extends MapActivity {
  8.     public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  9.  
  10.         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  11.         setContentView(R.layout.main);
  12.  
  13.     }  
  14.    
  15.      protected boolean isRouteDisplayed() {
  16.          return false;
  17.      }
  18. }

Next we have to implement the map in the view. Android separates the device layout / views from the source code to simplify development. A graphic designer can modify the XML layout without impacting the underlying source code. I’m a strong believer in letting programmers do the programming and not the UI or graphic design. Windows 3.1 was designed by programmers. Case closed.

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Programming with Android Part 2

January 16, 2009 @ 3:30 pm · Filed under Android, Programming Tip

In this article we will install the tools for programming in Android and produce our first application.

If you’re a more experienced developer or already have installed the tools feel free to skip ahead or take a long lunch and be back at 1:00. As I mentionned in Part 1 this series of articles is focused on getting a new developer up to speed with Android and programming in one afternoon.

So here we go;

12:00 Installing the Basics

The first step is to setup your environment for testing and development. We will need to download a couple of tools to begin with. Find the download for your OS and click through the installers on the page.

1. Sun Java JDK 1.5 or 1.6 (Sun calls it 5 or 6, why because marketing said so).

2. Eclipse 3.4 Ganymede
(Note: I didn’t manage to get the SDK installed in Fedora Eclipse version,you might want to try another version if you are using that OS.)
3. And of course, the Android SDK

When installing the tools make sure that you follow the order. There are some dependencies that each will require.

12:30 Configuring Eclipse for Android

Once you have installed all the tools on your system we are ready to install the components that will help you debug and interact with the Android emulator.

Eclipse is configured with its own installer so this task is pretty routine*.

  1. Click help>>Software Updates
  2. Click the Available Software tab and select Add Site from the right hand side
  3. When the dialog box pops up enter the following address 
    https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

    and select OK.

  4. The google address should appear in the main text column on the left. Select that address. Chose the developer tools and click Install in the top right
  5. Agree to the terms, download the tools and restart Eclipse.
  6. Coffee. After all you are working through lunch the least they can do is give you free coffee.
  7. Once Eclipse restarts, select Window>>Preferences
  8. Choose Android and select Browse to select your Android install directory from above.

*Eclipse 3.3 has slightly different method to install files. Check here for more details on that process

That’s it. Android is now up and running in your Eclipse environment. We can begin to program our first Application. Not bad for a lunch hour.

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