passwords Passwords: Longer, Not More Complex I was going through a mandatory security training course for my company when I came across a slide about passwords. Its advice was that the password should be at least 7 characters long and include a good mixture of lower/upper case characters, plus numbers and special symbols. Sony is
android Using Subquery Columns on Android with SQLite Take a look at this (contrived) query, as might be passed to [ SQLiteDatabase.rawQuery()]( http://developer.android.com/reference/android/database/sqlite/SQLiteDatabase.html#rawQuery (java.lang.String, java.lang.String[])): SELECT * FROM t1 A, (SELECT T2.id FROM t2 T2) B WHERE A.id = B.id On Android 2.
android Detecting the Keystore Signature in Code Here's a problem I'm sure many of us have faced: you've got code that runs one way when you're developing and another way when you're releasing. A few examples I've run into: * Logging during development, but disabled for
android HTML in TextViews There's a trick I've been increasingly using as I've learned how powerful it is: HTML in TextViews. I used to think that TextViews were pretty plain; they contained a CharSequence, and that was it. But it can actually contain a Spanned [http://developer.android.
android Image Sharing on Android One of the sillier projects I've worked on in my spare time is Rage Faces for Android [https://market.android.com/details?id=com.idunnolol.ragefaces]. It has almost no value to anyone, which is why it's free (in every sense of the word [https://github.
android Tiled bitmaps in layer drawables This is a bizarre bug that a coworker came across. There's a cool feature of XML drawables that allows you to tile bitmaps, using android:tileMode [http://developer.android.com/intl/fr/guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource.html#Bitmap] . There is also the ability to layer drawables in XML,
android Custom styles in Android libraries About nine months ago, Android added library support [http://developer.android.com/intl/fr/guide/developing/projects/projects-eclipse.html#ReferencingLibraryProject] . It allows you to define multiple Android projects where (at build time) it combines them all into one. These libraries have proven very useful in my work because there'
android Sending Emails on Android, Take 2 A while back, I wrote a post about how to send specifically send only emails on Android [blog.danlew.net/2010/08/19/sending_emails_on_android/]. Unfortunately, the solution I posted does not work 100% of the time. My previous solution was a hack and (as hacks are wont
android Drop shadow text Here's a little tip for creating a decent drop shadow effect in a TextView. The issue I ran into initially when trying the shadow effects on TextView is that I could rarely get it to look right - instead of a clean, single pixel shadow, it'd
android The True Problem With Google's License Verification Library (LVL) Google recently introduced a new method to fight piracy on the Android Market, the License Verification Library (LVL). It replaces the old system copy protection system, wherein your APKs would be put in a folder that you can't access. Unless you root. Oh, and anyone who can copy
palm Palm Shaking This is a small point, but I could find no one else who has ever commented on this issue before: minor filtering with Palm shake events via the Accelerometer. It's pretty easy to setup an event listener for the "shaking" event, just follow the instructions here
android Sending Emails on Android UPDATE 2/25/2011: There is a much better solution to the problem I have now posted [https://blog.danlew.net/2011/02/25/sending_emails_on_android_take_2/]. In this post I outline how to share information solely via email. There's some background information up front;
palm Palm and CRUD I've been working with some Calendar integration on Palm and it's a mess because their documentation is out of line with reality. The basic CRUD API I have some issues with because of their ill-defined error codes - for example, if I want to find out
android The Curious Case of the Missing HttpsURLConnection I ran into an Android OS bug recently that is pretty harsh related to HTTPS connections. Basically, what happens is this: 1. You want to setup a connection between the phone and a server, and you need to control both the input and the output. As a result, you use
android How to Change a ListView Row's Background but Keep Normal Android Selector Here's a problem which I thought would be super complex to solve but is actually rather simple. The solution assumes a bit of knowledge of ListView row types, though; if you've never dealt with them, here's a primer [http://android.amberfog.com/?p=296]
webos app-assistant handleLaunch and large numbers I've been working in the world of webOS for the last month, and while there's a lot of new APIs to learn I've not really run into an amazing "gotcha" moment until now. In our app, we show some banner notifications. When
android Android 1.5 Widgets, Google Maps API and VerifyError Here are two things that don't get along: Android 1.5 widgets and the Google Maps API. Trying to include both in your application results in a dreaded VerifyError when you try to create a widget on the home screen. The basic cause, according to Dianne Hackborn [http:
android Headset Blocker If you own a Nexus One, you may be familiar with this scenario: you load up your N1 with some rocking tunes. You plug in your headphones and go out exercising with it. Suddenly, the tunes start skipping. Why? The problem is that the headset jack is interpreting what you
android Android: Serializable Considered Harmful This is an old problem, but anyone I can convince not to use Serializable on Android will help the system as a whole. There is some data saved between launches of my application - a list of complex objects. When I first learned Android I assumed that the fastest way
android ViewFlipper "Receiver not registered" Error There is this error that plagued me for a few months. If you use a ViewFlipper, this error will pop up on Android 2.1 devices every once in a while: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Receiver not registered: android.widget.ViewFlipper$1@44b6ab90 It does not affect any devices before 2.
android Why They Can't Find Your App The Android Market is a mixed blessing; on the one hand, I much prefer the near-instantaneous publishing time for applications. It makes things a lot less stressful; if there's a terrible bug you can fix it quickly instead of having to go through Apple's approval process
android The Missing Manual - Android Drawables from XML I have been fairly frustrated with a gap in the Android documentation recently - the file formats for creating Drawables from XML. Drawables XML has been pretty useful to me in the past in creating gradients; I'd rather use it than create 9-patches all the time. However, the
android Uri and Android 1.5 I came across an interesting Android bug the other day that deserves some mention. I was creating an Intent, setting some data for it, then calling startActivity() . The data Uri was created via Uri.Builder. Let's say, for example, the Uri I wanted was "http://google.com&
android ViewFlipper and Memory Leaks Have you ever had a mysterious memory leak on Android when your code seemed clean as a whistle? I sure have, and I finally figured out why: ViewFlipper. It turns out that when you call ViewFlipper.startFlipping(), it sets up a loop via messages which flips between its child Views.
android Android Dialogs Created From Threads There are a lot of issues with Dialogs, but I've run into one recently that deserves mention. Suppose you've got a background task running with AsyncTask. At the end of this task (in onPostExecute()), you display a Dialog informing the user of success or failure. This
