Chapter 19: Completed Map Places Project. Lessons Learnt

📚 Official Books Android Apprentice
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Persevere! The current book version (Android Studio 3.0) needs an update for Android Studio 3.3 and you will find differences between the book and the AS 3.3 screen. But, persevere, as the final product, the Maps Places app, is simply beautiful in design and function. Chapter 19 is full of useful ‘touches’ and each is worth learning. The authors have done a fantastic job, sadly overshadowed sometimes by the book environment and code being out of date.

Your ‘friends’ in exploring the Map project are:

  1. StackOverflow. I solved all encountered issues by (rather diligent) search in SO.

  2. On a Mac, Option/Alt+Return. Most ‘red’ errors have recommended solutions. So, whenever you encounter an ‘Unresolved Reference’ or similar, seek the suggested solution (usually, it’s the ‘import’ option).

  3. Copy/Paste. You may find some code (especially the XMLs) tedious to type (not sure why the authors prefer code to visual layouts, but that’s the way it is), so copy/paste and move on.

  4. RW Forum. The forum would contain book readers reactions, issues and solutions. A valuable resource.

  5. Physical Phone. The map project feels ‘awkward’ on an emulator, so connect a compatible phone with Android Studio 3.3 ADB. It helps to feel the user experience (tapping, not clicking a mouse).

Good luck.

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@mazen_kilani Thank you for your feedback - much appreciated! We will update the book soon so stay tuned! :]

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HI @mazen_kilani,

Thanks for the great feedback! Congratulations for making it through the end of Chapter 19, and sorry it wasn’t a smoother experience. We are currently working on an updated version that reflects more recent changes in Android Studio and Kotlin. Hopefully this will address many of the pains you experienced going through the book.

Regarding item 3, describing how to build a visual layout can be challenging compared to providing layout XML files. This may be something we reconsider for future versions though.

I feel the same way about running on an actual device. It does make for a much better user experience, and we should probably mention that in the book if we don’t already.

Regards,
Tom