2015-01-18

Level Up - Blogger: How to add formatted code to post (with highlighting)

In many of my posts, I like to add code snippets. Blogger doesn't have good native support for displaying code with syntax and line highlighting, so I found a way to add that feature using GitHub Gists and gist-embed project on GitHub.

The following steps can mostly be used with any blog.

Step 1: Include jQuery and gist-embed within your header tags.

<head>
  ...
  <script type="text/javascript" src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/gist-embed/2.0/gist-embed.min.js"></script>
</head>


Step 2: Add a code element to where you want your Gist code to appear.

<code data-gist-id=""></code>


Example:



Source:
<code data-gist-file="PrimeNumbers.cpp" data-gist-hide-footer="true"
   data-gist-highlight-line="9,12,35-42" data-gist-id="5789439"></code>


Nice features also included, but not shown above:

  • Ability to show GitHub footer
  • Remove line numbers
  • Load multiple files from a Gist
  • Load a signal file from a Gist
  • Show only certain lines from a file


This article was mainly written for myself in the future, but I hope others can benefit from it, as well.

Links:



~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2015-01-17

Level Up - Android Dev: How to get started with AndroidAnnotations (easy) (and build Chuck Norris app)

AndroidAnnotations is an open source framework for Android. Basically, you provide Java annotations for things, and the framework will auto-generate the necessary boilerplate code so you don't have to write it yourself. Runs at compile-time! (Read: No reflection or startup time impact) And, there's a lot of code AndroidAnnotations saves you from writing manually.

For example, want to run something in a background thread? Annotate the method with `@Background`. Want to run something in the main/UI thread? (rub some bacon on it) Annotate the method with `@UiThread`.

In this article, I provide a quick walkthrough for creating a very simple Chuck Norris facts app. I'll assume that you already have basic Android knowledge (and using Android Studio + Gradle). Then, at the end, I'll explain in more details some issues/gotchas I ran into while using AndroidAnnotations for the first time, and mention other goodies.

Getting started..

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2014-12-06

Level Up - Android Dev: The default emulator is horrendously slow, use Genymotion!

Many years back when I built and published my first Android apps, I only tested them on the default emulator provided by Google. And, even now, the default emulator is still too slow for my liking. It doesn't allow me to properly test apps. So, I purchased physical devices so that I would never have to touch the Android emulator again.

Genymotion provides a different take on the Android emulator. I've known about it for at least a year, but never got around to trying it because of my really bad experience with the default emulator. I've always heard that it was much faster than Google's implementation, but I didn't think an Android emulator could ever be fast enough for me compared to my physical devices.

I'm always learning something new, and today was finally time for me to learn more about Genymotion and test just how much better it is.

Results: Excellent! So much of a great experience that I had to write this blog post about it! I should have tried Genymotion when I first heard about it, and this is my message to all Android devs to also try it out now!

Sidenote: I was going to compare the default emulator with the Genymotion emulator side-by-side, but it was taking too long to load for me, whereas Genymotion startup was a breeze of fresh air. It runs without any lag. It runs faster than my old API 17 device.

Another great benefit is that Genymotion provides system images for many of the most popular devices, including Samsung Galaxy, Samsung Note, HTC One, Nexus, and more. And, they have a very convenient plugin for Android Studio to launch the emulator.

TLDR: It's fast. I have to make sure I stress that because I didn't believe how fast it would be. Genymotion's Android emulator is much faster and better experience than the default Android emulator.



Here, I even saved enough time to write a quick walkthrough for getting started. ;)


  1. Go to Genymotion.com, click "Get Genymotion".
  2. Download the free version, you'll have to sign up and confirm your email. (It's quick and it's worth it!)
  3. Install it along with VirtualBox. For Windows users, they can bundle the two together in the download. For other, you'll have to install VirtualBox separately.
  4. If you try to run it now, you might get an error that says "genymotion virtualization engine not found. Unable to load VirtualBox engine". So, just restart your computer and that fixed it for me. Some others had to enable the virtualization feature in the BIOS.
  5. Run! Fast!
  6. Now, you can click run in Android Studio and you will see an option to load the app in the Genymotion emulator that is running.

Bonus: How to Install the Genymotion Plugin for Android Studio (and, the first time you click on the installed plugin button, you'll have to add the path to where you installed it. Windows default is "C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion". Mac default is "/Applications/Genymotion.app")
~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-12-05

Level Up - Android Studio: How to Boost Productivity By Auto-Generating Getters and Setters

A best practice in Java is to encapsulate field variables by making them private and creating a "getter" and "setter" for each of them, as needed. Doing this with many fields can be a lot of boilerplate code to write. But, thankfully, modern IDEs, like Android Studio provide ways to auto-generate code so that you don't have to manually write it.

For example, if you have a class like the following:

public class MyClass {
    private int mId;
    private String mName;
}

Instead of manually writing each accessor (getter) and mutator (setter), go to the menu and click Code->Generate.. (hotkey `alt+insert), then choose the "Getter and Setter" option.

Done. That was fast. And, it will be just as fast with 20+ fields also.

But, wait! By default, Android Studio will include that "m" prefix (stands for "member" variable) in each of the generated method names, so you'll have method names like "setmId" and "getmId". There is a quick permanent fix for this also!

Go to File->Settings->Code Style->Java->Code Generation, then type a single "m" into the "Field", "Name prefix" field. Hit apply, then you are gone. All future code generations will take those "m" prefixes for field into account. Here's a screenshot to what this sentence means visually.

So easy to save a lot of time with Android Studio

That's it for this post. There are lots of other useful code generators also. If you are doing mindless work, it's probably been automated (or should be). ;)

~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-11-17

Level Up - Android: How to Root Nexus 4 on Android Lollipop 5.0 (Easy)

In my last post, I explained how to flash Android Lollipop 5.0 system image to Nexus 4. After I did that to my own device, the next thing I did was root it, using fewer steps than that other post. ;)

Rooted Nexus 4 on Android Lollipop 5.0

This will be a quick walk-through for the steps I took to root my Nexus 4. These directions are extended from the site with the great "CF-Auto-Root" tool that we will use.

Prerequisites:

  1. I assume that your bootloader is unlocked. If not, please see my previous post for how to unlock the bootloader.
  2. I assume you have `adb` added to your environment variable PATH. If not, please see my previous post.
  3. I assume you are running Windows, but Max and Linux users will be able to use these general directions also.


Walk-though for rooting the Nexus 4:


  1. Download the LGE Nexus 4 Android 5.0 file from http://autoroot.chainfire.eu/#fastboot
  2. Unzip the file. You should see two folders and three files in that folder, one should be called "root-windows.bat".
  3. Connect your Nexus 4 device to computer, then run `adb reboot-bootloader` in your computer's terminal. This will bring your device to the "fastboot" mode.
  4. Make sure again that your bootloader is unlocked before proceeding (label found at bottom-left).
  5. Open your computer's terminal to where you downloaded and unzipped the file, and run `root-windows` (Mac and Linux users use your own variant). You should see a red Android if the process is working.

Congrats! When the script is done, it will reboot your device and your Nexus 4 will be rooted!

This process will install the Root Check app so that you can verify a successful root.

More info:
  • I didn't have any trouble using these directions for rooting my Nexus 4, so if you have any troubles with the steps, then I'll try to help in my limited capacity.
  • Previously, when I was running Android 4.4 rooted, I used ES File Explorer to browse the root directories. But, it didn't work in Android 5.0, so instead I am now using the Root Browser app successfully.

~ Danial Goodwin ~


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Level Up - Android: How to Flash (Upgrade) Nexus 4 to Android Lollipop 5.0 (Easy)

If you have a Nexus 4, then you can have Android Lollipop now! Google recently released the factory image, and I'm now successfully running it (with root, which will be explained in a later post).

Nexus 4 running Android Lollipop 5.0
This will be a short walk-through because I assume you already have the tools needed, but just need the steps to get the flash done. If you have any questions, then please write a comment and I will update as necessary.

  1. Download Android Lollipop 5.0 factory image: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#occam
  2. Uncompress the file, possibly twice. I used 7-zip. You should see six files there, including a zip, which you do not have to unzip.
  3. Make sure `adb` is in your PATH environment variable, which can be found in %android-sdk%/platform-tools/. Also, you will need `fastboot.exe` from that same folder in your PATH. (I assume you already have the Android SDK and you know what I mean by "Advanced system settings"->Environment Variables->PATH.)
  4. Connect your Nexus 4 device to computer, then run `adb reboot-bootloader` in your computer's terminal. This will bring your device to the "fastboot" mode.
  5. At the very bottom-left, you should be able to see whether your bootloader is locked or unlocked. It must be unlocked to flash a new system image. If unlocked, you're good, go to the next step. If locked, then run `fastboot oem unlock`. WARNING: Unlocking will erase all data.
  6. Open your computer's terminal to where you downloaded and uncompressed the files, and run `flash-all`. That command will run the "flash-all.bat" script which will setup the new system image for you!

Congrats! When the script is done, it will reboot your device and Lollipop will be running. It may take a bit for it to boot the first time.

More info: There sure is a lot more information you could read about this entire process, but that's not what this post is for. These are the minimal instructions (with appropriate warning) for most people wanting to do this. If anybody has some good resources to share, then please add them to the comments.

Now, are you ready to root your Nexus 4?

:)
~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-11-13

Level Up - Java: What is Vararg?

I like to remember vararg as "variable-length arguments". You may see them parameterized as "foo(Object... objects)" or "foo(int... ints)" or maybe "main(String... args)". The triple-dot signifies the vararg, and the method that has them uses it as an array.

Example code:

/** Returns input as a comma-separated list. If input if null
  * or empty, then this returns an empty string. */
public static String convertToString(Object... objects) {
    if (objects == null || objects.length == 0) { return ""; }
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    for (Object object : objects) {
        sb.append(object.toString()).append(", ");
    }
   return sb.substring(0, sb.length() - 2).
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2014-08-30

Level Up - Android: Speed up your Gradle build times with one-line!

Whether or not you are using Android Studio, Gradle build times are slow (especially when you don't have continuous automated builds (another discussion)).

Here's one way to improve the speed Gradle commands like `assembleRelease` is to enable the Gradle daemon. I've sped up my release builds by about 20%!

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2014-08-26

Level Up - Paint.NET & Android: How to create new color palettes for Android Holo and Material design

If you work in Android and Paint.NET, here's some quick tips and resources to make both easier to work with. When designing graphics in Paint.NET, it would be really useful to have direct access to all of the Android design guide colors. So, here's how to save and load different color palettes in Paint.NET:

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2014-08-18

Level Up - Android: How to get started with Unit Testing in Android Studio

Recently, I finally got around to implementing the native unit testing that is provided within Android Studio (not third-party programs like Robolectric). So, after reading a few different sources, the following is the bare minimum that I would have needed in order to add the basic testing features.

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2014-08-13

Level Up - Android: How to get started with Android Wear and the Wearables Emulator

Recently, I started working on Android Wear for the first time. It's been fun playing around with the new platform and form factor. And, of course, the official Android docs that I read could be condensed further for absolute newcomers. So, in the typical fashion, I've created myself a cheat sheet that I would use next time I would want to learn the easiest way for how to best create Wearable apps.

I've open sourced all my code so far on GitHub. It includes how to first set up the virtual Wear device, connect to the handheld device, and how to have the app send and open a notification on the wearable.

https://github.com/danialgoodwin/android-wear

~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-07-15

Level Up - Dev: Abstractions

Abstractions are great!

Except, when they aren't.

We use abstractions everyday in our code, and it's what allows us to create our programs. This post is just going to be a quick blurb on the downside to non-trivial abstractions, as motivated by reading: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/LeakyAbstractions.html

It's a great read. And, in the interest of time, for now:
TLDR:
- All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky.
- Abstractions fail, and you have to know the underlying pieces to understand how to fix it.
- Many great examples
- When there is some great new code-generation tool, learn how to do it manually first, then use the tool to save time.

Eventually, I'll write my own informative article about abstractions, but for now, this will have to do. ;)


And, as I like to say, make sure you remember to think for yourself. Don't do something just because somebody else did it. Don't let your excuse be that somebody else told you to do it.

~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-07-02

Level Up - Dev: Modular Code

Modular code means that the code is easily reusable; It does not mean that the code has to all be in one file. That's what modules and libraries are for. ;)

~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-06-27

Level Up - Dev: Codestyle Quote 

    "Any fool can write code that a computer can understand.
Good programmers write code that humans can understand."

      --- Martin Fowler, Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code

~ Danial Goodwin ~


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2014-06-23

Research says Work and Study Harder to be more Successful

Research shows that people who work and study harder tend to be more successful.


~ Danial Goodwin ~

ps - I have absolutely no sources to back this up, but it's something nice to believe in. ;)


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