Android Lint - Firebugs for Android applications

Android Lint is a new tool introduced in ADT 16 (and Tools 16) which scans Android project sources for potential bugs. It is available both as a command line tool, as well as integrated with Eclipse. The architecture is deliberately IDE independent so it will hopefully be integrated with other IDEs, with other build tools and with continuous integration systems as well.
http://tools.android.com/tips/lint

ListPreference with values number type

In my Android application I tried to define preferences list with values of number type.

<ListPreference
      android:key="poll_list"
      android:title="@string/preference_poll_list"
      android:summary="@string/preference_poll_list_summary"
      android:entries="@array/poll_option"
      android:entryValues="@array/poll_option_values"
      android:dialogTitle="@string/preference_poll_list" />

I had to define lists in arrays.xml. But I had to define list poll_option_values as a string-array, like here:

<resources>
    <array name="poll_option">
        <item>1 Minute</item>
        <item>2 Minutes</item>
        <item>5 Minutes</item>
        <item>10 Minutes</item>
        <item>20 Minutes</item>
    </array>
    <string-array name="poll_option_values">
        <item>60</item>
        <item>120</item>
        <item>300</item>
        <item>600</item>
        <item>1200</item>
    </string-array>
</resources>

I couldn't use array type. Just another Android feature ;)

ProGuard - obfuscator for Android

How to encode your code written in an Android application?
Use Proguard.

ProGuard is a free Java class file shrinker, optimizer, obfuscator, and preverifier. It detects and removes unused classes, fields, methods, and attributes. It optimizes bytecode and removes unused instructions. It renames the remaining classes, fields, and methods using short meaningless names. Finally, it preverifies the processed code for Java 6 or for Java Micro Edition.

More information on the product page: http://proguard.sourceforge.net/

News from the JavaBlackBelt

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