Groundy library for Android

A bunch of boilerplate code that is used when creating apps that must call external services (such REST APIs). This will basically offer a service that will take care of create background threads to execute that kind of code (right away or queue it). This library is heavily inspired in a Google I/O 2010 presentation by Virgil Dobjanschi called Android REST client applications; you might want to take a look at it.

###Maven integration

In order to use this library from you Android project using maven your pom should look like this:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.codeslap</groupId>
    <artifactId>groundy</artifactId>
    <version>0.6</version>
    <scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>

###Basic usage

First of all add the GroundyService to the AndroidManifest.xml file:

<service android:name="com.codeslap.groundy.GroundyService"/>

Then, create a subclass of GroundyTask:

import android.os.Bundle;
import com.codeslap.groundy.GroundyTask;
import com.codeslap.groundy.Groundy;

public class ExampleTask extends GroundyTask {
    public static final String PARAM_EXAMPLE = "com.example.param.EXAMPLE";
    public static final String RESULT_EXAMPLE = "com.example.result.EXAMPLE";

    @Override
    protected void updateData() {
        // use params
        Bundle parameters = getParameters();
        String exampleParam = parameters.getString(PARAM_EXAMPLE);

        // lots of code

        // set the result
        if (mSuccess) {
            Bundle resultData = getResultData();
            resultData.putString(RESULT_EXAMPLE, "some result");
            setResultCode(Groundy.STATUS_FINISHED);
        } else {
            setResultCode(Groundy.STATUS_ERROR);
        }
    }
}

Whenever you want to execute the task, just do this:

// this is usually perform from within an Activity
Bundle params = new Bundle();
params.putString(ExampleTask.PARAM_EXAMPLE, "some parameter");
Groundy.queue(this, ExampleTask.class, mResultReceiver, params);

You will get results in your result receiver (in the main thread):

private final ResultReceiver receiver = new ResultReceiver(new Handler()){
    @Override
    protected void onReceiveResult(int resultCode, Bundle resultData) {
        super.onReceiveResult(resultCode, resultData);
        String result = resultData.getString(ExampleTask.RESULT_EXAMPLE);
        // do something
    }
};

Extras

Besides the background service feature, there are a couple of extra cool classes you might want to use:

###ListLoader

This is basically a content Loader that can be used with the LoaderManager class. It allows you to easily return a list of objects from within the loader. An example of its usage can be found in GitHub Jobs app.

###Generic BaseAdapter

How many times have you written a BaseAdapter your self? Do you use the ViewHolder technique that makes list faster? It gets kind of boring sometimes, ain't? There's a class called ListBaseAdapter you can use to easily create an adapter:

public class ExampleAdapter extends ListBaseAdapter<ExampleItem, ViewHolder> {

    public ExampleAdapter(Context context) {
        super(context, ViewHolder.class);
    }

    @Override
    public void populateHolder(int position, View view, ViewGroup parent, ExampleItem item, ViewHolder holder) {
        holder.icon.setImageBitmap(getItem(position).getIcon());
        holder.label.setText(getItem(position).getLabel());
    }

    @Layout(R.layout.your_layout)
    public static class ViewHolder {
        @ResourceId(R.id.label) TextView label;
        @ResourceId(R.id.image) ImageView icon;
    }
}

###Real-life example

If you want to see a real life example, take a look at GitHub Jobs app. Also, there is an example of how to do a file downloader in this StackOverflow's answer.

License

Copyright 2012 CodeSlap

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.