Android Developer Fundamentals V2

Background
Tasks
Lesson 7

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7.2 Internet connection

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Steps to connect to the Internet
1. Add permissions to Android Manifest
2. Check Network Connection
3. Create Worker Thread
4. Implement background task
a. Create URI
b. Make HTTP Connection
c. Connect and GET Data
5. Process results
a. Parse Results

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Security best practices for network operations:

• Use appropriate protocols for sensitive data. For example for secure web traffic, use the
HttpsURLConnection subclass of HttpURLConnection .

• Use HTTPS instead of HTTP anywhere that HTTPS is supported on the server, because mobile
devices frequently connect on insecure networks such as public Wi-Fi hotspots. Consider using
SSLSocketClass to implement authenticated, encrypted socket-level communication.

• Don't use localhost network ports to handle sensitive interprocess communication (IPC), because
other applications on the device can access these local ports. Instead, use a mechanism that lets
you use authentication, for example a Service.

• Don't trust data downloaded from HTTP or other insecure protocols. Validate input that's entered
into a WebView and responses to intents that you issue against HTTP.

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Permissions

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Permissions in AndroidManifest

Internet
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

Check Network State

<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>

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 Manage
Network
Connection

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Getting Network information
● ConnectivityManager
○ Answers queries about the state of network connectivity
○ Notifies applications when network connectivity changes
● NetworkInfo
○ Describes status of a network interface of a given type
○ Mobile or Wi-Fi

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 Check if network is available
ConnectivityManager connMgr = (ConnectivityManager)
getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);

NetworkInfo networkInfo = connMgr.getActiveNetworkInfo();

if (networkInfo != null && networkInfo.isConnected()) {

// Create background thread to connect and get data
new DownloadWebpageTask().execute(stringUrl);
} else {
textView.setText("No network connection available.");
}

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 Check for WiFi & Mobile
NetworkInfo networkInfo =
connMgr.getNetworkInfo(ConnectivityManager.TYPE_WIFI);
boolean isWifiConn = networkInfo.isConnected();

networkInfo =
connMgr.getNetworkInfo(ConnectivityManager.TYPE_MOBILE);
boolean isMobileConn = networkInfo.isConnected();

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Worker Thread

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Use Worker Thread

● AsyncTask—very short task, or no result returned to UI

● AsyncTaskLoader—for longer tasks, returns result to UI
● Background Service—later chapter

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Worker Thread
Always perform network operations on a worker thread, separate from the UI.

For example, in your Java code you could create an AsyncTask (or AsyncTaskLoader )
implementation that opens a network connection and queries an API.

Your main code checks whether a network connection is active. If so, it runs the AsyncTask
in a separate thread, then displays the results in the UI.

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Background work

In the background task (for example in doInBackground())

1. Create URI
2. Make HTTP Connection
3. Download Data

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Create URI

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URI = Uniform Resource Identifier

String that names or locates a particular resource

● file://
● http:// and https://
● content://

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Sample URL for Google Books API
https://www.googleapis.com/books/v1/volumes?
q=pride+prejudice&maxResults=5&printType=books

Constants for Parameters

final String BASE_URL =
"https://www.googleapis.com/books/v1/volumes?";
final String QUERY_PARAM = "q";
final String MAX_RESULTS = "maxResults";
final String PRINT_TYPE = "printType";
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Build a URI for the request

Uri builtURI = Uri.parse(BASE_URL).buildUpon()

.appendQueryParameter(QUERY_PARAM, "pride+prejudice")
.appendQueryParameter(MAX_RESULTS, "10")
.appendQueryParameter(PRINT_TYPE, "books")
.build();
URL requestURL = new URL(builtURI.toString());

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HTTP Client
Connection

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How toa connect
Make connection
to the
from
Internet?
scratch

● Use HttpURLConnection
● Must be done on a separate thread
● Requires InputStreams and try/catch blocks

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 Create a HttpURLConnection

HttpURLConnection conn =
(HttpURLConnection) requestURL.openConnection();

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Configure connection

conn.setReadTimeout(10000 /* milliseconds */);

conn.setConnectTimeout(15000 /* milliseconds */);
conn.setRequestMethod("GET");
conn.setDoInput(true);

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 Connect and get response
conn.connect();
int response = conn.getResponseCode();

InputStream is = conn.getInputStream();
String contentAsString = convertIsToString(is, len);
return contentAsString;

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Close connection and stream

} finally {
conn.disconnect();
if (is != null) {
is.close();
}
}

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 Convert
Response to
String

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Convert input stream into a string
public String convertIsToString(InputStream stream, int len)
throws IOException, UnsupportedEncodingException {

Reader reader = null;

reader = new InputStreamReader(stream, "UTF-8");
char[] buffer = new char[len];
reader.read(buffer);
return new String(buffer);
}
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BufferedReader is more efficient
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
BufferedReader reader =
new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
String line;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
builder.append(line + "\n");
}
if (builder.length() == 0) {
return null;
}
resultString = builder.toString();

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HTTP Client
Connection
Libraries

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How toa connect
Make connection
to the
using
Internet?
libraries

● Use a third party library like OkHttp or Volley

● Can be called on the main thread
● Much less code

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 How to connect to the Internet?
Volley
RequestQueue queue = Volley.newRequestQueue(this);
String url ="http://www.google.com";

StringRequest stringRequest = new StringRequest(Request.Method.GET, url,

new Response.Listener<String>() {
@Override
public void onResponse(String response) {
// Do something with response
}
}, new Response.ErrorListener() {
@Override
public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError error) {}
});
queue.add(stringRequest);

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OkHttp
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
Request request = new Request.Builder()
.url("http://publicobject.com/helloworld.txt").build();
client.newCall(request).enqueue(new Callback() {
@Override
public void onResponse(Call call, final Response response)
throws IOException {
try {
String responseData = response.body().string();
JSONObject json = new JSONObject(responseData);
final String owner = json.getString("name");
} catch (JSONException e) {}
}
});

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Parse Results

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Parsing the results

● Implement method to receive and handle results

( onPostExecute())
● Response is often JSON or XML
Parse results using helper classes
● JSONObject, JSONArray
● XMLPullParser—parses XML

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 JSON basics

{
"population":1,252,000,000,
"country":"India",
"cities":["New Delhi","Mumbai","Kolkata","Chennai"]
}

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JSONObject basics

JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject(response);

String nameOfCountry = (String) jsonObject.get("country");
long population = (Long) jsonObject.get("population");
JSONArray listOfCities = (JSONArray) jsonObject.get("cities");
Iterator<String> iterator = listOfCities.iterator();
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
// do something
}

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Another JSON example
{"menu": {
"id": "file",
"value": "File",
"popup": {
"menuitem": [
{"value": "New", "onclick": "CreateNewDoc()"},
{"value": "Open", "onclick": "OpenDoc()"},
{"value": "Close", "onclick": "CloseDoc()"}
]
}
}
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Another JSON example
Get "onclick" value of the 3rd item in the "menuitem" array

JSONObject data = new JSONObject(responseString);

JSONArray menuItemArray =
data.getJSONArray("menuitem");
JSONObject thirdItem =
menuItemArray.getJSONObject(2);
String onClick = thirdItem.getString("onclick");
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Learn more

● Connect to the Network Guide

● Managing Network Usage Guide
● HttpURLConnection reference
● ConnectivityManager reference
● InputStream reference

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What's Next?

● Concept Chapter: 7.2 Internet connection

● Practical: 7.2 AsyncTask and AsyncTaskLoader

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END

Android Developer Fundamentals V2 40