Templates in Android Studio

I have written some utility classes for using in  Android development, such as HttpReader which takes an url downloads it and turn the contents into a string Another one is PictureHandler which takes a picture using the camera app on the phone and saves the picture to a file and will also display a thumbnail.  I had been looking for a way to conveniently add these files to new projects. HttpReader sometimes needs to be modified, for instance  if you need to set a request header for an api, so I did not want to make that class a library. I was looking at settings for Android Studio and I noticed a setting for templates. So  I looked into what they were, and it turns out you can save  a whole file as a template. The file needs to be open in the editor and then you click on Tools menu and there is an entry on the menu called Save File as template. Click on that and you will get  a dialog that creates the template. Once created you can access the template by opening the File menu and clicking on New. Since  these were Java classes, click on Java Class. This will open a New Class Dialog

As you can see HttpReader is chosen as Kind. HttpReader appears as an option in the dropdown menu. Also I added PictureHandler and it also can be chosen.

Once a file is added as a template it is available in any other Android Studio project.
So for me this solves my problem of adding utility files.

Theo Howard has joined as art director of Restaurant Notes

+Theo howard  has joined as art director and artist on Restaurant Notes, I am very happy to have him on board. Check out  his work at Artist Theo Howard

Also the app for AndroidMe is nearly done and is being released with features of Material Design.

And Restaurant Notes is soon to be released with the ability to add a picture to your meal. More exciting features to follow in the release after that.

Also learned how to do pinch-to-zoom for AndroidMe app. Will soon release code on what I did.

A shout out to Jay at Kickin Cotton for doing the logo at the top of this blog. Highly recommend!

Also check out my new logo done by Kickin Cotton in Orlando. Thanks Jay!

Android Development Ongoing

I am currently working with +jeremy pougnet  on an app for Android.Me website. Learning lots about various features.  Also working on the side for an app for +Wynn Rostek  called Executive Desk. It  a fun app,.

Learning ASP.NET MVC

ASP,NET MVC is quite different form ASP.NET WebForms. The basic concept of the Model View Controller pattern is one that I had used in desktop apps, so I was not prepared for how different it was. The big difference for me was that I had to actually know HTML, which I had used to some extent and learn the more modern version of HTML 5. Also CSS is used much more. Which I have also had to learn more in detail.

   Also I made the leap form using the features of Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2013 and  C# 5.0, so it forced me to use LINQ and lambda functions, which while the concept is simple, the exact syntax can be tricky to learn.

  But I have completed my first assignment for the WebPortal software I am working on and am feeling more comfortable with MVC now and the technology it requires.

News 12/01/2013

I am in  the process of switching my hosting service from EasyCGI to Arvixe. I am doing this because they support ASP.NET MVC which I am learning and SQL Server 2012.  My Coding Zebra site is now switched over though some links on it do not work, will fix them tomorrow.

New Computer!
  Tuesday I received my new computer a Velocity Micro computer Vector Z25 with the latest i5 chip.
It has some SSD storage and 1 terabyte of hard drive storage. Have finished backing up files from  my old computer and transferred the files I need to my new computer.

Have joined the DigiOz web portal opensource team.  They are converting form classic ASP.NET to ASP.NET MVC which I am learning. They are using jquery, BootStrap and Entities Framework 6.0.
 I have downloaded the files and will get my first assignment soon.