Android Glossary

[elephant007]

Thought we'd want to start something like in another forum on this site under General Windows Mobile Discussions

I'll start and add as others post more info

Android OS: A Linux based open source operating system started by the Open Handset Alliance and led by Google, this a Java based OS

Android SDK: System Developer’s Kit includes all tools developers use to create applications for Android OS based phones. Also contains utilities to access the phone via ADB

ADB: Android Debug Bridge. Utility built-in the Android SDK which uses command line to perform various tasks to an Android based phone connected a computer via USB. You can also browse your phone with this utility. Bridge for more information.

APK File: Android application package file. Similar to a WinMo's CAB file. This file has all the required files to install that particular program. This file can be opened by using a compression tool like 7zip.

Apps2SD: Users which have root access can use software to install applications to the SDCard instead of internal memory

Drawer: Official name for the slide up menu which shows installed applications

Google: Does this really need to be explained? HA HA You'll need a Google account though if you want to access Market. You can also get your Google email and related stuff on these phones

Kernel: Essentially this is the base of the Operating System, the nucleus if you will

Market: Application on all Android phones where a user can find applications built specifically for Android (depending on your version). Lots of free apps, some cost per app, some useful and some useless (unless you just want them for fun, yes they have fart apps)

Linux: A Unix based operating system mainly developed by Linus Torvalds History Of Linux. Basically built

Open Source: Free and open source software which is liberally licensed so that the user may study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code

Recovery Mode: Access recovery mode by powering on your phone by holding VOLUME DOWN + TALK + POWER buttons. Most rooted phones have a more powerful recovery mode (ability to backup/restore phone as well as apply special update) than a non rooted phone. Recovery mode will also allow you to do a factory reset on your phone and that means getting your phone back to the state in which you received it when you pulled it out the box

Root access: Also seen as rooted you mainly read about in fourms. To gain administrative access allows you to have complete access to the underlying OS. Often referred to as SU or SuperUser

Root folder: The top most folder of the folder structure often referred to by a forward slash /

Shell: Often referred to as Terminal, Bash or command line. Typically this is where you would make configuration changes. Command line is a a powerful way to make changes which you usually couldn't do in a graphical users interface (GUI)

Version: Substantial improvements to a given OS that change either the capabilities, structures, compatibilities, optimizations, graphical interfaces or especially kernels. Android versions include 1.5 Cup Cakes (kernel 2.6.27), 1.6 Donut (kernel 2.6.29), 2.0/2.1 Eclair (kernel 2.6.29) all of those versions have been released. It has been announced the next two version will be called Froyo and then Gingerbread

Widget: Loosely defined as a shortcut to an app on your home screen(s). Real widgets give you a quick look at the application without having to open the app, e.g. scrolling RSS Feed and CPU usage, etc...

If you have something you'd like me to add all I ask is that you type it in the same format that I typed mine, this way I can just copy and paste!!

TERM: DEFINITION

[rainfreak]

Nice! Stickied for new and old members alike.

[redd214]

thanks for this, we android noobs appreciate it

[GirlGoneGeek]

Very nice glossary! I wish I had room in my signature to put all these wonderful threads

[weedahoe]

THX for the good info.

[GirlGoneGeek]

moved to development I was fixing to create one here and found this one that's already made. I have a few to add though.

DrawableA compiled visual resource that can be used as a background, title, or other part of the screen. A drawable is typically loaded into another UI element, for example as a background image. A drawable is not able to receive events, but does assign various other properties such as "state" and scheduling, to enable subclasses such as animation objects or image libraries. Many drawable objects are loaded from drawable resource files — xml or bitmap files that describe the image. Drawable resources are compiled into subclasses of android.graphics.drawable.

IntentAn message object that you can use to launch or communicate with other applications/activities asynchronously. An Intent object is an instance of Intent. It includes several criteria fields that you can supply, to determine what application/activity receives the Intent and what the receiver does when handling the Intent. Available criteria include include the desired action, a category, a data string, the MIME type of the data, a handling class, and others. An application sends an Intent to the Android system, rather than sending it directly to another application/activity. The application can send the Intent to a single target application or it can send it as a broadcast, which can in turn be handled by multiple applications sequentially. The Android system is responsible for resolving the best-available receiver for each Intent, based on the criteria supplied in the Intent and the Intent Filters defined by other applications.

Intent FilterA filter object that an application declares in its manifest file, to tell the system what types of Intents each of its components is willing to accept and with what criteria. Through an intent filter, an application can express interest in specific data types, Intent actions, URI formats, and so on. When resolving an Intent, the system evaluates all of the available intent filters in all applications and passes the Intent to the application/activity that best matches the Intent and criteria.

Broadcast Receiver An application class that listens for Intents that are broadcast, rather than being sent to a single target application/activity. The system delivers a broadcast Intent to all interested broadcast receivers, which handle the Intent sequentially.

Layout ResourceAn XML file that describes the layout of an Activity screen.

Manifest FileAn XML file that each application must define, to describe the application's package name, version, components (activities, intent filters, services), imported libraries, and describes the various activities, and so on.

ResourcesNonprogrammatic application components that are external to the compiled application code, but which can be loaded from application code using a well-known reference format. Android supports a variety of resource types, but a typical application's resources would consist of UI strings, UI layout components, graphics or other media files, and so on. An application uses resources to efficiently support localization and varied device profiles and states. For example, an application would include a separate set of resources for each supported local or device type, and it could include layout resources that are specific to the current screen orientation (landscape or portrait).The resources of an application are always stored in the res/* subfolders of the project.

ServiceAn object of class Service that runs in the background (without any UI presence) to perform various persistent actions, such as playing music or monitoring network activity. SurfaceAn object of type Surface representing a block of memory that gets composited to the screen. A Surface holds a Canvas object for drawing, and provides various helper methods to draw layers and resize the surface. You should not use this class directly; use SurfaceView instead.

SurfaceViewA View object that wraps a Surface for drawing, and exposes methods to specify its size and format dynamically. A SurfaceView provides a way to draw independently of the UI thread for resource-intensive operations (such as games or camera previews), but it uses extra memory as a result. SurfaceView supports both Canvas and OpenGL ES graphics. The base class is SurfaceView.

ThemeA set of properties (text size, background color, and so on) bundled together to define various default display settings. Android provides a few standard themes, listed in R.style (starting with "Theme_").

URIs in AndroidAndroid uses URI strings as the basis for requesting data in a content provider (such as to retrieve a list of contacts) and for requesting actions in an Intent (such as opening a Web page in a browser). The URI scheme and format is specialized according to the type of use, and an application can handle specific URI schemes and strings in any way it wants. Some URI schemes are reserved by system components. For example, requests for data from a content provider must use the content://. In an Intent, a URI using an http:// scheme will be handled by the browser.


ViewAn object that draws to a rectangular area on the screen and handles click, keystroke, and other interaction events. A View is a base class for most layout components of an Activity or Dialog screen (text boxes, windows, and so on). It receives calls from its parent object (see viewgroup, below)to draw itself, and informs its parent object about where and how big it would like to be (which may or may not be respected by the parent).

Viewgroup A container object that groups a set of child Views. The viewgroup is responsible for deciding where child views are positioned and how large they can be, as well as for calling each to draw itself when appropriate. Some viewgroups are invisible and are for layout only, while others have an intrinsic UI (for instance, a scrolling list box). Viewgroups are all in the widget package, but extend ViewGroup.

WindowIn an Android application, an object derived from the abstract class window that specifies the elements of a generic window, such as the look and feel (title bar text, location and content of menus, and so on). Dialog and Activity use an implementation of this class to render a window. You do not need to implement this class or use windows in your application.

[sunny24m]

I am a beginner in Android development and this glossary will really help me to enhance my knowledge about android. Thanks for posting this here.

[Maria Lynette]

Thanks for sharing the valuable info with us. I hope definitely it will help many new Android developers. I will share this link with my friends who are all willing to learn about Android application.