Background Tasks – Part 3

Previously we looked at using standard threads to keep things off the UI thread and also covered various mechanisms for getting execution back on to the UI thread for when we need to update View objects. However our code was beginning to get quite messy with us having to define lots of Runnables in order…

Background Tasks – Part 2

In the previous article in this series we looked at the UI thread and explored the reason why it is important that we keep any slow, intensive, or blocking tasks off the UI thread. In this article we’ll begin exploring the tools available to help us to achieve that.

Background Tasks – Part 1

Regular readers of Styling Android will understand that it is dedicated to improving the look & feel (UI) and User Experience (UX) of Android apps. One particular area in which we can really frustrate our users is when the app does not respond to their touches / clicks, and it is vital that we keep…

VerticalText – Part 2

In the previous article in this series we began looking at how we can creat vertical text on Android. When searching for a solution to this problem I found was another approach that appealed to me because it is just plain sneaky! Also, it uses a vanilla TextView control and doesn’t break any of its…