I agree with the below statement. I am experienced mobile app developer in BREW, J2ME. But Android documentation when compared with them is so bad. Doesn't help developers much. Much of it is being learned from forums, Example apps provided by others and by trail and error.
The Android documentation seems to be written as a reference source for people who already understand it. Seeing links being given to the Android documentation as an 'answer' to forum questions, is frustrating and annoying. People are asking for help and examples. The existence of, and size of the forums, is testament to the Android documentation not giving us developers what we need. Much of my programming time and efforts seems to be in developing ad hoc workarounds, to situations that prevent me from achieving the standard of user interface that I require. On Jan 27, 12:11 am, "Michael J McLean" <m...@mmc2.com.au> wrote: > Mark, > Thank you for taking the time to reply. There are a lot of > restrictions placed on developers trying to provide a quality user > interface. I can live with this particular restriction but I would > appreciate help on one other issue. If I use the navigation buttons to > highlight and select an item in my listview, and then press MENU, the first > menu item is highlighted, where if I hadn't previously navigated to one of > the items on my list view, and press MENU, the menu item would not be > highlighted.. I would like to prevent this from happening for the sake of > consistency. > > I wonder why the programmer doesn't just simply have the > ability to highlight or de-highlight an item with one command. But then I > also wonder why the programmer cannot simply call or hide the virtual > keyboard with one command each. Getting rid of the virtual keyboard proved > to be a messy affair with unwanted side effects. Even now, when doing a text > entry, I find that if I hold down some characters, such as e, g, and r, > unwanted options appear on the screen. I would really appreciate help on > getting rid of that. I have purchsed two books including yours, enrolled in > a University course ( to withdraw after 3 weeks when I realised their lack > of their ability to help), and yet I find most knowledge comes from trial > and error, constantly reinventing the wheel, and the occasional tip from the > forums, if your lucky. I would love to know where I can find systematic > introductions and explanations for these basic Android features. The Android > documentation seems to be written as a reference source for people who > already understand it. Seeing links being given to the Android documentation > as an 'answer' to forum questions, is frustrating and annoying. People are > asking for help and examples. The existence of, and size of the forums, is > testament to the Android documentation not giving us developers what we > need. Much of my programming time and efforts seems to be in developing ad > hoc workarounds, to situations that prevent me from achieving the standard > of user interface that I require. > > Two features that led me to invest most of last year into > learning Android, were 1) the fact that it was claimed that you didn't even > need a handset. If it worked on the emulator you could rely that it would > work on the phone, and 2) the App store. Both of these advantages are > seriously eroded by the fragmentation of Android. And it doesn't help to > read of Android engineers expressing their anger in forum replies to > reference being made to the fragmentation issues. > > All of the above strengthens the case for me to not merely " > rethink your user interface to avoid the question " as advised by you, but > to rethink the ultimate question of does Android offer enough to developers > to be worthwhile. > I hope that you are able to take these criticisms as being offered > constuctively. > > Michael McLean > > Also when entering text into a EditText----- Original Message > ----- > From: "Mark Murphy" <mmur...@commonsware.com> > To: <android-developers@googlegroups.com> > Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:11 AM > Subject: Re: [android-developers] How to select an item in a listview by > code > > > Michael J McLean wrote: > >> Thank you for that, but how can I show that the item has been selected? > > > You rethink your user interface to avoid the question. Do not use > > ListView with a "selection" mindset. Think of ListView as being more > > akin to a rolling roster of buttons, not something that has a persistent > > "selection". > > > -- > > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy) > >http://commonsware.com|http://twitter.com/commonsguy > > > Android Training in US: 22-26 February 2010:http://onlc.com > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "Android Developers" group. > > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG -www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.730 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2645 - Release Date: 01/26/10 > 05:36:00 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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