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NorfolkTouring

NorfolkTouring is an Android application that presents various locations of interest in Norfolk, Virginia.

Its primary purpose is to showcase various features of Android - including RecyclerViews, DrawerLayouts, Adapters, Fragments (extensively used), click listeners, AsyncTasks, Handlers (used for automatic image cycling), Services, MediaSessions (including MediaStyle notifications that allow control of media playback as in apps like Spotify), Widgets, Menus, SharedPreferences, Jobs (using Firebase JobDispatcher to issue recurring notifications), ContentProviders, and more.

Location data is stored in a SQLite database, and SQL queries are used to manage it. Data that may not be cached indefinitely - namely, data retrieved with APIs such as the Google Places API - is not stored in the database.

Some APIs used in this project include the Google Maps API (both for Web and Android - using both URI queries and the Android API), the Google Places API (again, using both URI queries and the Android API), the YouTube Android Player API, the Fused Location Provider API, and the Volley networking library. ExpandableLayout by AAkira provides animation to the expandable feature items in the detailed views for tour locations.

UI tests are conducted with the Espresso testing framework. These tests can be found in app/src/androidTest.

Executive Overview

See a demo of this here!

The application opens with an introductory video and navigation instructions. The video can be controlled with the play/pause button on the video pane itself, but it can also be played, paused, and restarted through a MediaStyle notification with a musical note icon.

There is a drawer on the left that may be swiped open from the left side of the screen to the right side. Clicking on any of the drawer elements will open a list of tour locations (RecyclerView populated by an Adapter) - displaying information such as the location name, rating (from Google reviews), current open status, and distance (updated in real-time).

It is also possible to open a view of a location on a map by clicking on the nested View with the text "Google Maps View". Directions to a location can be obtained by clicking on the nested View with the text "Plan Route" (this opens the user's preferred map application with an implicit Intent).

Clicking on the tour location View (e.g. clicking on the image) will open a detailed view of that location. This view shows additional information, such as the operating hours, website, address, contact information, and a description for the corresponding location. Both the "Chosen Images" and the "Images from Google" can be clicked on to enlarge them and allow manual cycling.

There is also a widget that lists the categories of touring locations if it is large enough. Clicking an element of the list opens the app and shows the corresponding set of tour locations.

Notifications regarding the nearest location are issued every 5 to 10 minutes. Only locations that have been loaded so far are considered - i.e. only the categories opened since the app launched. Clicking on these notifications shows the appropriate group of tour locations in the app.

The settings menu can be accessed from the 3 vertical ellipses in the top right corner. Wifi and cell data usage can be toggled, which stops location updates and changes View visibility and contents accordingly. Notifications may be toggled as well.

Description of Software Components

Main Components

NorfolkTouring: Used to acquire a static instance of the application Context through getApplicationContext(), defines some API keys, and provides functions for setting the ActionBar title.

MainActivity: Initializes a Google API Client, contains and initializes the Navigation Drawer (a DrawerLayout), launches the IntroductoryFragment, and receives location updates from Location/LocationService if wifi and cell data usage is enabled.

IntroductoryFragment: Contains and initializes a YouTubePlayerFragment and the introductory text. Contains a MediaSession (this is often part of a containing Activity rather than a Fragment) that allows a YouTube video player (YouTubePlayer) to be controlled by a MediaStyle notification (used by media playback applications such as Spotify).

TourLocation: All information regarding a tour location is stored in a object of this type.

TourLocation.LocationFeature: A feature for a TourLocation. Has a name, description, and images.

TourLocationListFragment/TourLocationListFragment: The description of a list of TourLocation objects. Subclasses only define the TourLocation objects that are to be displayed. The list is a RecyclerView rather than a ListView to only store visible views in memory.

TourLocationDetailFragment: The detailed description of a TourLocation. Cycles resource images and Google images (obtained asynchronously through Utils/PlacesUtils). Allows resource images and Google images to be viewed in an enlarged view that allows manual cycling of images in forward and reverse with arrows on both sides of the screen. Features may be expanded and collapsed with animated views by clicking on them. Feature images are also automatically cycled. All image cycling in a TourLocationDetailFragment stops and starts with its lifecycle events.

Click Listeners

MainActivity.DrawerItemClickListener: Replaces the main view with the Fragment (a TourLocationListFragment) corresponding to a clicked drawer item. The Fragment launched will be one of the following: MilitaryFragment, MuseumsFragment, OtherFragment, ParksFragment, or RestaurantsFragment.

TourLocationListFragment.TourLocationClickListener: Replaces the main view with a TourLocationDetailFragment displaying more information than the TourLocationListFragment.

NavigationIconClickListeners.DirectionsIconClickListener: Uses an implicit Intent to launch a map application (e.g. Google Maps) that plots a path between the device's location and the location of the corresponding TourLocation.

NavigationIconClickListeners.MapIconClickListener: Opens a Google Maps view, places a marker at the location of the corresponding TourLocation, and zooms to it. Also allows navigation to the device location with a button.

Adapters

Data/TourLocationCursorAdapter: Used by TourLocationListFragment to fill a list of TourLocation objects with data from a Cursor provided by TourLocationContentProvider.

Services

LocationService: A Service subclass for obtaining location updates (serves as a singleton). The LocationService stops and starts with the Activity lifecycle, which includes stopping and restarting location updates (e.g. location updates stop being requested when the screen is turned off). Uses the Fused Location Provider API.

Utilities

Utils/PlacesUtils: Records Place IDs in the Google Places API for the locations presented in the application. Allows retrieval of images and information for locations via AsyncTask subclasses also defined in Utils.

Utils/PhotoTask: Retrieves 10 photos for a location using the Google Places API for Android.

Utils/AttributedPhoto: Displaying the photos retrieved via the Google Places API requires photo attribution. This class contains an image and its attribution.

Utils/LocationsByIdsTask: Not used, but shows how to retrieve latitude and longitude for a place from the Google Places API for Android (no URI queries here).

Utils/InfoByIdsTask: Acquires the location (latitude and longitude), hours of operation, rating (Google reviews), and the website for TourLocation objects using URI queries and Volley.

Widgets

Widget/WidgetProvider: Draws and updates widgets based on their options (e.g. height and width). Smaller widgets just have the application background. Larger widgets also have a GridView.

Widget/GridWidgetService: Populates a larger widget's GridView with the categories of tour locations. Clicking on a TextView item in this GridView will open the application to that category of tour location.

Database

TourLocationContentProvider: Maps URIs passed in from a ContentResolver to actions on the TourLocation database - namely, SQL queries.

TourLocationContract: Defines a URI for the database, which is needed by a ContentResolver to interact with TourLocationContentProvider. Also defines names for table columns.

TourLocationDbHelper: Creates and updates the SQLite database as needed.

Other

VolleyRequestQueue: A singleton for a Volley RequestQueue (used for networking). Used in URI queries in Utils/DirectionsIconClickListener and Utils/InfoByIdsTask.

About

NorfolkTouring is an Android application that showcases various features of Android (the Android SDK).

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