Android Apps

• If you didn't have the capacity or the know-how for your own app development, we are pleased to offer the development of a custom app as a service. For more information, refer to App Development for Android.
• But even without a customer specific app, you can scan with a MDE devices from LogiScan-15xx series barcodes and RFID tags with any app by using our Android app devin.
• When developing your own apps for collecting barcodes and RFID tags with the free development tool Android Studio our app ScannerDemo, which is available for download incl. source code, can serve you as an example.

The Operating System Android

Android is both an operating system and a software platform for mobile devices such as smart phones, media players, netbooks and tablets, and is being developed by the Open Handset Alliance founded by Google. The basis for Android is the Linux kernel. If Android is free software that is open source developed. As smartphone operating system Android was the second quarter of 2014, a global market share of over 84 percent.

Although it contains a Linux kernel, Android is not a classical Linux distribution, as they are known for desktop computers and servers. Basic features that one would expect in a Unix-like operating system, have been partially changed greatly. Nevertheless Android shares many characteristics with numerous Linux distributions for embedded systems.

The following elements constitute the user interface of an Android-based device:

Keys

For the control of Android various navigation buttons are available for the user. These are "back" (return to previous activity), "Home" (return to the home screen) and "Started Apps" (allows fast switching between concurrently running apps or closing them). Some devices also have a "Menu" button. There is a distinction between hardware and software keys. Software keys (virtual keys) are shown on the display and can be rotated together with the display contents (switch between portrait / landscape display) or be hidden, if required. Hardware keys (such as volume regulation, on / off function) against it are physical buttons on the device itself.

Home Screen

Since the Home Screen mainly is used to start apps, it is also called "Launcher". It consists of at least one side and can be expanded by adding additional pages. Each page can record any elements such as app shortcuts and widgets (greater displaying general information such as date / time, weather, appointments) in a grid. At the top of the Home Screenis there is the Notification Bar, at the bottom is the app dock, which can accommodate 4 main app shortcuts. Notification Bar and App Dock are visible on all sides of the Home Screen and always quickly accessible.

Notification Bar

If the Notification Bar is closed, the user can see a symbol for each notification on the top left of the screen. Each app can set himself an alert there for certain events (for example, at an appointment or a new e-mail). On the right side there is mainly informed by icons about the status of wireless connections (WLAN, Bluetooth, mobile), battery level and time. If the notification bar is opened with a wiping gesture from the top down, the Quick Settings and below the notification details are displayed in the upper part.

Quick Settings

If the Notification Bar is closed the Quick Settings can be displayed with a wiping gesture from the very top. The Quick Settings include inter alia a brightness control, and icons for WiFi, Bluetooth, mobile data and automatic screen rotation. By tapping the desired function can be switched on / off. A long finger tap takes you to the relevant section of the system settings.

The Development Tool Android Studio

Android Studio is a free integrated development environment (IDE) of Google and the official development environment for Android and based on IntelliJ IDEA (Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of the software company JetBrains Java Language).

Android Studio Functions

In addition to the already implemented in IntelliJ IDEA functionality, Android Studio also provides the following functions:

• Build Tools: Android Studio uses a system based on Gradle build management automation tool. The system enables the creation of optimized versions of the application for different types of devices, such as Tablets.
• Support for the development of Android Wear (derived from Android Operating System for Smart Watches and other "wearables") and Android TV applications.
• Theme Editor (a theme is a style that is applied to an entire activity or app, rather than to an individual View).
• Source Code Editor, based on the IntelliJ IDEA editor.
• Smart Editing: By proposals for the source code to be created are displayed as you type, supports smart editing when writing the source text.
• Code Refactoring: Automatic formatting of the source code for individual files or entire directories, as well as automatic organization of import statements.
• Static Code Analysis: Automatic verification of the source code and generating a list of potential improvements.
• GUI (Graphical User Interface): The IDE interface allows you to display the appearance of being developed app on different device types and platform at the same time as a preview.
• Access to Google Services: Google Services like Google Cloud Messaging can be configured within the IDE and applied directly to the app.
• Implemented support for ProGuard and automatic app signing.
• Open Source Development: The source code of Android Studio is available for free (Apache License 2.0).

Android Studio is compatible from Microsoft Windows 7/8/10 (32 or 64 Bit), from Mac OS X 10.8.5 and Gnome, KDE or Unity under Ubuntu or Fedora.

System Requirements for Windows

• RAM: min. 2GB RAM, 8GB recommended
• Hard disk space: min. 2 GB of free space, are recommended 4GB (500 MB for IDE, +1,5 GB for Android SDK and Emulators)
• Installed Java Development Kit 8
• Screen resolution of min. 1280 x 800 pixels
• For an accelerated emulator a 64-bit operating system and Intel processor with Intel® VT-x, Intel® EM64T (Intel® 64), and Execute Disable(XD) bit functionality is required.