Android: SharedPreferences not accessible from SyncAdapter

February 28, 2018 Catzie Leave a comment

When I was trying to access a SharedPreferences value from my Android app’s SyncAdapter, I kept on receiving an old value that was saved to the key. Quick solution to inaccessible SharedPreferences from SyncAdapter A quick solution (which may be a short-term one) I tried was to remove android:process=”:sync” from the following code:

        <service
            android:name=".service.SyncService"
            android:exported="true"
            android:process=":sync">

<service

android:name=".service.SyncService"

android:exported="true"

android:process=":sync">

But […]

Android app dev: Intent extras set in onBackPressed() misssing when back to onActivityResult()

January 15, 2018 Catzie Leave a comment

It’s funny how we spent about an hour trying to figure out why the Intent extras that we’re setting are not being sent back to onActivityResult(). If we only knew that the solution was as simple as moving one line of code. The call to super.onBackPressed() should be placed after setting Intent extras and after […]

Android app dev: Missing import org.apache.commons.lang3.text.WordUtils;

November 7, 2017 Catzie Leave a comment

I use a few instances of WordUtils.capitalizeFully() on an Android app that I’ve been working on. And there are times when the import org.apache.commons.lang3.text.WordUtils; breaks, sometimes after merging with some of my git branches. To fix this, what I do is open app/build.gradle and add the following line under dependencies:

compile 'org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.4'

1	compile 'org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.4'

Hope this saves somebody […]

Something to avoid when using Android RecyclerView

October 25, 2017 Catzie Leave a comment

When using Android’s RecyclerView, don’t use the same inflated XML layout file for items you intend to shuffle on the fly! Their contents will overlap. -CK

Android RecyclerView notifyItemChanged() IllegalStateException “Cannot call this method while RecyclerView is computing a layout or scrolling”

October 20, 2017 Catzie Leave a comment

If your Android app is crashing with error IllegalStateException “Cannot call this method while RecyclerView is computing a layout or scrolling”, you may try placing your notifyitemchanged inside a Runnable. Assuming you have a call to notifyItemChanged() inside onBindViewHolder() that is making your app crash with IllegalStateException, you may try something like this:

                                        myRecyclerView.post(new Runnable() {
                                            @Override
                                            public void run() {
                                                myArrayList.remove(position);
                                                myArrayList.add(something);

                                                recyclerViewMainScreenHeader.getAdapter().<code>notifyItemChanged</code>();
                                            }
                                        });

myRecyclerView.post(new Runnable() {

@Override

public void run() {

myArrayList.remove(position);

myArrayList.add(something);

recyclerViewMainScreenHeader.getAdapter().<code>notifyItemChanged</code>();

}

});

Simple SMS Reader app in Android using BroadcastReceiver class

January 3, 2017 Catzie Leave a comment

Before I began coding Android apps, I was amazed how verification processes go like this: The Android app tells you they’ll send you an SMS containing verification code, and that you need to enter such code into a text field on the Android app. But when you receive the SMS, the verification code appears on […]

Add “options menu” to an AppCompatActivity (Android App Development)

October 17, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

Adding an “options menu” to an Android app’s Activity is quite simple. This is an example of what an Android options menu looks like. Look at the icon that looks like 3 dots vertically stacked. My dev environment status as of writing this Android Studio version: v. 2.1 OS: Mac OS X El Capitan v. […]

Android app development: click a ListView item programmatically

September 19, 2016September 19, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

I’m going to share a code snippet that you may use to programmatically click a ListView item in your Android app. This will not simply highlight the desired ListView item, but also trigger the onItemClick listener. This code is what I placed in a Fragment’s onLoadFinished() method:

int default_position = 2;
listView.performItemClick(listView.getChildAt(default_position), default_position, listView.getItemIdAtPosition(default_position));

1 2	int default_position = 2; listView.performItemClick(listView.getChildAt(default_position), default_position, listView.getItemIdAtPosition(default_position));

Simply replace the default_position value with the […]

Android app dev: Add ActionBar to Preference Activity

September 14, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

When I converted an activity into PreferenceActivity, I noticed that its ActionBar disappeared. I’ll show you how I brought the ActionBar back to my PreferenceActivity. In this guide I will assume that the name of the file that contains your is SettingsActivity.java, and that the view assigned to your SettingsActivity.java is named . First, create […]

Android app dev: ShareActionProvider in Activity & Fragment

July 21, 2016September 14, 2016 Catzie Leave a comment

I’ve been taking the Developing Android Apps course on Udacity, and yesterday I encountered a difficulty in solving the Quiz: Share Intent. One of the course’s goal is to build the Sunshine App – an Android app with weather forecast. In that quiz I had to implement ShareActionProvider on my DetailsFragment so that a share […]