Helper

An android library containing most of the helper classes every android developer needs

The Problem

Every Android developer faces few problems while developing Android Apps. Listing down some of them, which I have faced everytime I create a new android project.

1. The problem of writing boilerplate code while creating Activities, Fragments is annoying.
2. Need of readymade methods which can come handy such as showing a toast, or showing a progress dialog or launching a new activity.
3. The problem of applying proper styles and themes to activities and handling those for pre-lollipop and post-lollipop.

What if we had a library which takes care of all these problems and let the developers concentrate on writing the actual business logic and create awesome functionalities.

The Solution

Using the Helper library developer can solve the above mentioned problems. Using this Helper library is pretty simple and is currently in development phase so suggestions are welcomed.

Pre-requisites

For using this library you need to import ButterKnife Library and include Google's Maven repository for latest Support libraries.

You can do that as give below :

In your project's build.gradle file include as :

allprojects {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
        maven {
            url "https://maven.google.com"
        }
    }
}

In your app's build.gradle file include as :

dependencies{
    //Other dependecies...
    compile 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:<latest-version>'
    annotationProcessor 'com.jakewharton:butterknife-compiler:<latest-version>'
}

Including Helper

Include using gradle dependency

dependencies{
    //Other dependecies...
    compile 'me.rohanpeshkar.helper:helper:0.0.1'
}

Usage

Contents

1. HelperActivity
2. HelperFragment
3. HelperUtils
4. HelperPreferences
5. HelperStyles

HelperActivity

An abstract activity which can be used to create activities easily without writing the boilerplate code. It comes with methods which are required frequently. It helps in keeping activity's code clean and readable. Here is sample activity created using HelperActivity

public class MainActivity extends HelperActivity {
    @Override
    protected void create() {
        /*Write code for actual activity functionality,
        no need of writing any other initializations*/

        //Set title to actionBar/toolbar
        setTitle("Some Title");
    }

    @Override
    protected Activity getActivity() {
        //Return activity instance
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    protected int getLayout() {
        //Return layout resource id for layout of this activity
        return R.layout.activity_main;
    }

    @Override
    protected boolean isToolbarPresent() {
        //Return true if toolbar is needed
        return true;
    }
}

Following is the list of methods readily available in HelperActivity

More details at HelperActivity.java

HelperFragment

An abstract fragment which can be used to create fragments faster without writing the boilerplate code. It comes with methods which are required frequently. It helps in keeping fragment's code clean and readable. Here is sample fragment created using HelperFragment

public class SampleFragment extends HelperFragment {
    @Override
    protected void start() {
        /* Actual logic for fragment goes here, the code
         which is written in onCreateView() */
    }

    @Override
    protected Fragment getFragment() {
        //Return instance of fragment
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    protected int getLayout() {
        //Return layout resource id for fragment layout
        return R.layout.layout_fragment_sample;
    }
}

Following is the list of methods readily available in HelperFragment

More details at HelperFragment.java

HelperUtils

An utility class containing utility methods like method write log, check permissions for Android M & above, hide & show keyboard.

Following is the list of methods readily available in HelperUtils

More details at HelperUtils.java

HelperPreferences

Most widely used way to store key values in local storage in android is use of SharedPreferences. To make it easy to store and retrieve values from SharedPreferences this class will come in handy.

Here is example of how to use this class :

//Save String to Preferences
HelperPreferences.get(this).saveString("SomeKey","SomeValue");

//Get String from Preferences
String valueForKey = HelperPreferences.get(this).getString("SomeKey");

//Clear all the shared preferences
HelperPreferences.get(this).clear();

Following is the list of methods readily available in HelperPreferences

More details at HelperPreferences.java

HelperStyles

Finding the correct styles for different use cases is difficult, to solve this ready Helper styles can be used. Included styles take care of pre-lollipop & post-lollipop devices.

Following is the list of styles available

More Details at HelperStyles