Developing Android Applications

The OData SDK is used to develop a device application for the Android platform. An application consists of reusable building blocks, which a developer can use to start the application and perform functions needed for the application. The target audience is advanced developers who are familiar working with APIs, but who may be new to SAP Mobile Platform.

1. Setting Up the Development Environment
   Complete the prerequisites for setting up the development environment and then develop an application for the Android device.
2. Creating a Project and Importing the OData Libraries
   Create a new Android project in the eclipse workspace. Add library resources to the project and set other application properties.
3. Initializing an Application
   Initialize the application when it starts the first time and subsequently.
4. Invoking a Request
   Send an asynchronous data request to the backend through the SAP Mobile Platform Server. With the offline capability, Request library requests are queued in a persistent database, if there is no network connectivity, and invoked when the network becomes available. You can use the Request library to develop applications that have direct connectivity to Gateway or to register users on Management Cockpit.
5. Parsing the Data
   Parse the response from the backend to the device.
6. Caching the Data
   (Optional, offline mode only) Caching is an important part of getting an application to work in offline mode. Use the Cache API to cache and persist data, when the mobile device is out of the network range and process the data later when the device within the range of the network.
7. Changing Settings at Runtime
   (Optional) Update application settings (client and the SAP Mobile Platform Server) using OData SDK.
8. Enabling GCM Push Notifications
   (Optional) Subscribe to get GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) push notifications.
9. API Reference
   Use the API reference as the primary reference for all API listings and error code information.
10. Developing with MAF Logon for Android
    MAF logon components include MAF Logon UI and MAF Logon Manager, and support user onboarding.
11. Developing with Android Reusable UI Components
    MAF reusable controls allow you to use native Android UI controls (such as buttons and labels) that display a default SAP style, from a prebuilt library. You can skin these components at runtime to match customer branding, without recompiling the source code. MAF also contains a set of complex controls, such as the calendar, the tree view, and locale-aware controls. These complex controls, which provide additional runtime skinning capabilities, are built from the simple MAF controls.
12. Developing with the Android Extensibility Framework
    The Extensibility Framework is an SDK for Android applications, providing to developers the ability to add or replace screens or subviews, change navigation patters, update the data model, add custom actions, and so on. You can use it when developing new applications, but you can also extend existing applications with little effort; you need not recompile and redistribute the apps.