ss173b / geoloqi-android-sdk

This is an example Android application that consumes the Geoloqi Android SDK. It's a good starting point for anyone interested in developing with the Geoloqi location APIs.

This is an example Android application that consumes the Geoloqi Android SDK. It's a good starting point for anyone interested in developing with the Geoloqi location APIs.

For more information, visit: developers.geoloqi.com

Installation

This app can be compiled and run in the standard fashion using Eclipse or the command-line Android tools and ant. However, there are a couple of quick tasks to complete before running the app.

If you have not already installed the Android SDK do so now! It's also a good idea to make sure you're running the latest version.

Note: This documentation assumes the reader is familiar with the Android SDK at a basic level and knows how to build a simple Android project.

If you find yourself struggling with the concepts outlined below, you might benefit from looking over the Android Developer Docs.

Credentials

After checking out the sample code, you'll need to create a geoloqi.properties file that contains both your Geoloqi API id and secret. These are needed to authenticate your requests with the server. A geoloqi.properties.sample file has been provided for you in the /assets directory that you can copy and update with your id and secret.

If for some reason you cannot provide a properties file, you can also set your client credentials manually:

LQSharedPreferences.setClientId("my_client_id");
LQSharedPreferences.setClientSecret("my_client_secret");
LQSharedPreferences.setGcmPushAccount("4815162342");
LQSharedPreferences.setPushIcon("ic_stat_notify");

Note: Make sure you set these values before starting the service!

Build Target

The sample app targets Android API level 5 (Android 2.0), but you can change the build target to any modern version. You'll need to use the Android SDK Manager to install the Android 2.0 platform or update the sample app to target a platform you've previously installed.

You can launch the SDK manager by running the android command from your terminal. You can also launch the SDK manager from Eclipse (if you've installed the Android plugin for Eclipse).

Note that you may have to check the Obsolete checkbox to find the Android 2.0 platform listing.

Building

Once you've installed the platform sources you're almost ready to build the project. If you're using ant you can build the app immediately by executing the build command in the project directory.

# Build debug version
$ ant clean debug

# Install to device
$ adb install bin/GeoloqiSampleAndroidApp.apk

Note for Eclipse users: One common issue when importing a new Android project occurs when Eclipse links your project against Java 1.5 instead of Java 1.6. If this happens you'll see errors generated for all methods with @Override annotations. You can fix this by updating your Eclipse/Project preferences to ensure the Java compiler level is set to 1.6.

Eclipse Javadoc

The Geoloqi Android SDK Javadoc is bundled with the sample application as a jar file in the libs/ directory. If you're using the latest version of the Android Developer Tools plugin the docs should be loaded automatically.

Existing Projects

If you have an existing project and would like to use the Geoloqi Android SDK you can simply copy the .jar files from the sample application's libs/ directory to your project's libs/ directory.

AndroidManifest.xml

You'll need to make sure your project's AndroidManifest.xml declares certain permissions and services, otherwise the Geoloqi SDK may not function as expected.

Note: You can run the included script tools/generate-manifest from a terminal to generate a new barebone AndroidManifest.xml.

The best way to get started is to copy the AndroidManifest.xml from the sample project and replace any instance of the package name com.geoloqi.android.sample with your own package name.

Note: Push messaging will not work if you do not update the manifest with the correct package name!

Starting the Tracker

The easiest way to get started is to spin up the tracking service when the user takes some action (such as launching your app). You can start the Geoloqi tracker like starting any other Android Service.

    // Start the tracking service
    Intent intent = new Intent(this, LQService.class);
    startService(intent);

This code will start the background service, create an anonymous user account and start requesting location updates from the system. It's that easy!

Push messaging

To set up your Google account as a GCM sender, please follow the tutorial on the Geoloqi developer site.

License

Copyright 2011 by Geoloqi.com and contributors.

See LICENSE.