2/6/14
I've looked in to a couple of programs developed by others to get me going in the right direction. A few of these apps were Google Maps, Zee Maps, and Gaido.
Google maps was lookked in to because I feel that I will be using that in union with my touring application. Zee Maps is an application that allows the user to create a custom map of whatever area the user desire. The interface include adding points of interest, layering architectures and a nice index to group all of the points of interests together. Finally, Gaido was a small-time application developed by college students that allows the user to take a virtual tour of their campus, much like the idea of my SNC Touring App. A few nice features that Gaido supported were an indexing of each building or architecture on campus, A directional "arrow" to point the user towards the selected building but that didn't seem to work, I didn't think their mapping feature was too great, it included a map of the area but didn't identify the selected building, which seemed useless.
- http://www.zeemaps.com/
- https://www.google.com/maps/preview
- http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.capstone/Gaido
2/14/14
Miles Lamensky and I had a meeting with Dr. Pankratz on the development of Android Apps and how to integrate a program onto a mobile device. After the meeting Mr. Lamensky and myself had taken some time in one of the Cofrin computer labs to practice some C# (The language Miles wishes to use) and research some Adroid App Development. We had some trouble attempting to connect Lamensky's HTC phone to the computer due to an error with drivers. I, unfortunately, did not have a USB cable with me for my phone so we couldn't even take a swing at it. Later that day I had taken a "class" provided online by an official Android Development Society that taught the basics of App development. Much to my demise I also had a great deal of trouble getting eclipse to recognize my phone after I had enabled it for "Development." I must have spent a good two hours messing around with different drivers before I realized in a Youtube video that one needs to enable "Debugging Mode" under the development setting while the device is connected to the computer. Yes, hello, I'm Cory Hahn and i'm graduating from Youtube University, pleased to meet you. After I had resolved this problem I had successfully progressed through the first class of Android App Development and currently have my first Android app on my phone. Now about this Gantt chart..
- https://developer.android.com
2/18/14
A meeting with Dr. Pankratz today resulted in a few ideas of the design of my App. The concept being less tabs and more map. I also checked out the book Creating Android Applications Develop and Design from the Mulva Library. The book is indeed a beginners guide to creating Android based apps but progresses into much detail later on. A key feature that seemed exciting about the book is its explanation of location based services which could be a dire asset regarding the "you are here" feature of the SNC Tour. The book isn't very long so I don't believe that much time will be needed to read it. Ready. Set. Go!
2/24/14
Made it to the chapter in my developers book on using location services and implementing maps. I downloaded Google's API and Google Play API to begin incorporating a map into my project. However in order to use these API's my project needs a key from a digital signature I must acquire. I wanted to have a map on my App by the end of the night but I need to get this key first.
*Later that night* - I found this lovely little Youtube video that explained how one could use a plugin coupled with eclipse to generate a certificate for one's application as opposed to using console commands. What a lifesaver. My Android API key has been generated and appears to be working correctly. Now I can implement google maps in my application.. stay tuned.
*Much later that night* - I had some trouble getting the "Begin Tour" button to switch view to the integrated map but I quickly realized the reason was forgetting to declared the activity in the project manifest,, silly me. So, now the "Begin Tour" button is working correctly taking the user right to the map but the map isn't displaying correctly. It seems to load the grid of the map but no details. My book on android development didn't have much information on implementation of maps so I did some research online and found a MapView Tutorial that promises to instruct the reader about displaying a map, panning, zooming, and adding marks and points of interests.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaXE2FUENFI
Plugin: http://keytool.sourceforge.net/update
Tutorial: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/android/v1/hello-mapview
2/25/14
I may have found a solution to my mapping problem. I've been surfing the web and a lot of people seem to be having the same problem as me. I stumbled upon that suggested that the programmer may be using two different version of Google's Map API. I also believe that I have made the same mistake as the MapActivity and Geopoint declaration can only be used with the older version. So it seems that may have been my problem. So any other developers should probably disregard the tutorial I posted in my last update. Silly me.
2/25/14
After two days of messing around with certificates and API keys I finally got a Google Map to display on my device, thank f!@#. It turns out Google would not let me register for development with the school's @snc.edu domain so I had to use my own Chahn010@gmail.com (Official Developer *winky face*). I had to start from scratch, importing Google's sample maps to get me going. So far the beginning Activity of my application is the one that displays the map but now that I've actually got the map working I can implement multiple Activities and implementations. Tally ho!
- I've successfully added the "welcome" screen and the button that sends the user to the map, beginning in the midst of St. Norbert Campus.
I've looked in to a couple of programs developed by others to get me going in the right direction. A few of these apps were Google Maps, Zee Maps, and Gaido.
Google maps was lookked in to because I feel that I will be using that in union with my touring application. Zee Maps is an application that allows the user to create a custom map of whatever area the user desire. The interface include adding points of interest, layering architectures and a nice index to group all of the points of interests together. Finally, Gaido was a small-time application developed by college students that allows the user to take a virtual tour of their campus, much like the idea of my SNC Touring App. A few nice features that Gaido supported were an indexing of each building or architecture on campus, A directional "arrow" to point the user towards the selected building but that didn't seem to work, I didn't think their mapping feature was too great, it included a map of the area but didn't identify the selected building, which seemed useless.
- http://www.zeemaps.com/
- https://www.google.com/maps/preview
- http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.capstone/Gaido
2/14/14
Miles Lamensky and I had a meeting with Dr. Pankratz on the development of Android Apps and how to integrate a program onto a mobile device. After the meeting Mr. Lamensky and myself had taken some time in one of the Cofrin computer labs to practice some C# (The language Miles wishes to use) and research some Adroid App Development. We had some trouble attempting to connect Lamensky's HTC phone to the computer due to an error with drivers. I, unfortunately, did not have a USB cable with me for my phone so we couldn't even take a swing at it. Later that day I had taken a "class" provided online by an official Android Development Society that taught the basics of App development. Much to my demise I also had a great deal of trouble getting eclipse to recognize my phone after I had enabled it for "Development." I must have spent a good two hours messing around with different drivers before I realized in a Youtube video that one needs to enable "Debugging Mode" under the development setting while the device is connected to the computer. Yes, hello, I'm Cory Hahn and i'm graduating from Youtube University, pleased to meet you. After I had resolved this problem I had successfully progressed through the first class of Android App Development and currently have my first Android app on my phone. Now about this Gantt chart..
- https://developer.android.com
2/18/14
A meeting with Dr. Pankratz today resulted in a few ideas of the design of my App. The concept being less tabs and more map. I also checked out the book Creating Android Applications Develop and Design from the Mulva Library. The book is indeed a beginners guide to creating Android based apps but progresses into much detail later on. A key feature that seemed exciting about the book is its explanation of location based services which could be a dire asset regarding the "you are here" feature of the SNC Tour. The book isn't very long so I don't believe that much time will be needed to read it. Ready. Set. Go!
2/24/14
Made it to the chapter in my developers book on using location services and implementing maps. I downloaded Google's API and Google Play API to begin incorporating a map into my project. However in order to use these API's my project needs a key from a digital signature I must acquire. I wanted to have a map on my App by the end of the night but I need to get this key first.
*Later that night* - I found this lovely little Youtube video that explained how one could use a plugin coupled with eclipse to generate a certificate for one's application as opposed to using console commands. What a lifesaver. My Android API key has been generated and appears to be working correctly. Now I can implement google maps in my application.. stay tuned.
*Much later that night* - I had some trouble getting the "Begin Tour" button to switch view to the integrated map but I quickly realized the reason was forgetting to declared the activity in the project manifest,, silly me. So, now the "Begin Tour" button is working correctly taking the user right to the map but the map isn't displaying correctly. It seems to load the grid of the map but no details. My book on android development didn't have much information on implementation of maps so I did some research online and found a MapView Tutorial that promises to instruct the reader about displaying a map, panning, zooming, and adding marks and points of interests.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaXE2FUENFI
Plugin: http://keytool.sourceforge.net/update
Tutorial: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/android/v1/hello-mapview
2/25/14
I may have found a solution to my mapping problem. I've been surfing the web and a lot of people seem to be having the same problem as me. I stumbled upon that suggested that the programmer may be using two different version of Google's Map API. I also believe that I have made the same mistake as the MapActivity and Geopoint declaration can only be used with the older version. So it seems that may have been my problem. So any other developers should probably disregard the tutorial I posted in my last update. Silly me.
2/25/14
After two days of messing around with certificates and API keys I finally got a Google Map to display on my device, thank f!@#. It turns out Google would not let me register for development with the school's @snc.edu domain so I had to use my own Chahn010@gmail.com (Official Developer *winky face*). I had to start from scratch, importing Google's sample maps to get me going. So far the beginning Activity of my application is the one that displays the map but now that I've actually got the map working I can implement multiple Activities and implementations. Tally ho!
- I've successfully added the "welcome" screen and the button that sends the user to the map, beginning in the midst of St. Norbert Campus.
3/4/14
My goal today is to master location services and implement the "you are here" feature of the app. Thankfully there's a tutorial of how to do so on the developers website. I've got most of the code written but I need to play around with the Action Overflow buttons and responding to them when clicked. My back hurts from sitting in this ratchet chair. I've got all the code needed to return my location but it just doesn't seem to be working correctly. There's not an error that causes a crash but my location just won't show up.
3/5/14
Where am I? Here I am! I was only missing a little statement that enabled location tracking when the user selects "Where am I?" in the action overflow. The result on the map is a bit far flung if one is only using the phone's service provider rather than an actual Wi-Fi connection. With Wi-Fi the location is spot on. And it even follows the user around the map but the map doesn't scroll with the user. Now i'm gonna move on to some points of interest.
4/1/14
Long time no see! I've spent much of my time hard-coding the whereabouts of the buildings around campus and it was brought to my attention that hard-coding all of this data is probably a bad idea. I see now the error of my ways as the point of Android Development is to keep the main thread working efficiently. Instead I have created text files for each of the building types and my app now reads the text files and inserts markers accordingly. Some of the problems I've encountered with this are as follows: What if the building has two names? (Townhouse Village, or even three 'Bush Art Center'), Since these markers are added to the map dynamically how could I find out which one the user clicked on?
- I've just solved the problem on buildings with multiple names, it was as simple as counting the used indexes in an array and adjusting accordingly with 'if/else' statements.
- As for determining which marker was selected I think I might go down the road to checking if an attribute of the marker is equal to something.. perhaps the name of the building or the latitude.. to be continued.
4/7/14
I've taken a break from the functionality of the Tour to work on its graphical layout. I've learned of nine-patch stretchable graphics and have incorporated a few with my app. The background and the "Begin Tour!" button are examples of nine-patch images. I created the designs in Adobe Illustrator and edited them with Gimp as I grew tired of walking back and forth from my house to the Bush Art Center. Incredibly annoying. I've explored some sources online and I don't believe I can incorporate dynamic activities for each of the buildings. Instead I will be exploring Fragments to get the job done.
My goal today is to master location services and implement the "you are here" feature of the app. Thankfully there's a tutorial of how to do so on the developers website. I've got most of the code written but I need to play around with the Action Overflow buttons and responding to them when clicked. My back hurts from sitting in this ratchet chair. I've got all the code needed to return my location but it just doesn't seem to be working correctly. There's not an error that causes a crash but my location just won't show up.
3/5/14
Where am I? Here I am! I was only missing a little statement that enabled location tracking when the user selects "Where am I?" in the action overflow. The result on the map is a bit far flung if one is only using the phone's service provider rather than an actual Wi-Fi connection. With Wi-Fi the location is spot on. And it even follows the user around the map but the map doesn't scroll with the user. Now i'm gonna move on to some points of interest.
4/1/14
Long time no see! I've spent much of my time hard-coding the whereabouts of the buildings around campus and it was brought to my attention that hard-coding all of this data is probably a bad idea. I see now the error of my ways as the point of Android Development is to keep the main thread working efficiently. Instead I have created text files for each of the building types and my app now reads the text files and inserts markers accordingly. Some of the problems I've encountered with this are as follows: What if the building has two names? (Townhouse Village, or even three 'Bush Art Center'), Since these markers are added to the map dynamically how could I find out which one the user clicked on?
- I've just solved the problem on buildings with multiple names, it was as simple as counting the used indexes in an array and adjusting accordingly with 'if/else' statements.
- As for determining which marker was selected I think I might go down the road to checking if an attribute of the marker is equal to something.. perhaps the name of the building or the latitude.. to be continued.
4/7/14
I've taken a break from the functionality of the Tour to work on its graphical layout. I've learned of nine-patch stretchable graphics and have incorporated a few with my app. The background and the "Begin Tour!" button are examples of nine-patch images. I created the designs in Adobe Illustrator and edited them with Gimp as I grew tired of walking back and forth from my house to the Bush Art Center. Incredibly annoying. I've explored some sources online and I don't believe I can incorporate dynamic activities for each of the buildings. Instead I will be exploring Fragments to get the job done.