Richard- Your answer is true, and even helpful. But I fear it will sound too much like the "fan-boy-turned developer demanding he read 12 gazillion pages".
Yes, he should read the fundamentals, he should also do some of the elementary tutorials, especially the classic "Hello World" in its "Hello Android" incarnation. But we could answer his questions a little more directly, too. In particular, in the case of his specific example of the app using the timer, the answer is yes. Any Activity can relinquish control of the screen to be woken up by a timer event. The specifics of how this will be done, however, can only be explained once he has read the 'Fundamentals' and knows what an 'Activity' is, what an 'Intent' is, and how to filter on intents or listen for Broadcasts. Unfortunately, the Fundamentals section says precious little about how to use the Timer. For that, he will have to go to the API reference and look at the Timer and TimerTask classes. We cannot tell him how to use which of these, he will have to make that decision for himself based on the specifics of his planned application. But we can at least point him in the right direction. I hope this post will accomplish that. On Oct 30, 1:33 am, RichardC <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, and here is one page to get you > started:http://developer.android.com/intl/fr/guide/topics/fundamentals.html > > -- > RichardC > > On Oct 29, 2:24 pm, tob <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi, > > > I started down the road towards an iPhone app but was dismayed by so > > many things (e.g. you do not have access to some very fundamental > > aspects of the device such as enabling/disabling Bluetooth, EDGE, WiFi > > subsystems; you cannot run your app 'in the background', and, finally, > > the arrogance of so many of the developers there.) > > > Because my knowledge of Android (and even Java) is currently minimal, > > I understand that I may be trashing and smashing terminology such as > > PROCESS, THREAD, APPLICATION, TASK, SERVICE, ACTIVITY, etc etc etc > > > I would (simply) like to understand if I may develop an Android > > "app" (see Trashing and Smashing note above ;<>) that can have > > aspects operating "in the background" while the device is being used > > in a completely different manner as demanded by the user --- here's > > one example --> > > > The USER runs my brandy new "App" which monitors the TIMER > > subsystem... but then (because staring at my App's GUI CLOCK is really > > boring) the user then decides to use the "phone" or play a game, > > etc ... > > > Can my App continue monitoring the TIMER subsystem while these other > > user-initiated activities take "control" ? > > > In this example, when the user 'returns' to my App, it could tell him > > elapsed time since he "originally started" my App. > > > I ask this question so bluntly because the iPhone Fan-Boy-turned- > > developers berated me for not having read all 12 gazzillion pages of > > documentation first. > > > Thanks for any info you can provide... > > > tob -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Beginners" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-beginners?hl=en
